Community Development. Gospel
Return on equity is a way of measuring the profitability of an investment. However, when talking about relationships, it is hard to measure the return on those terms, so I try to ask myself two questions: am I building long-term relationships? am I being intentional on that? I recognize that I might be being quite ambitious in my …
Continue reading "A different approach to measuring results"
A spoon banged against a pot at the "colmado" window situated on the dirt road in front of Ramona's house. At the signal, Ramona gets up from the table again for what seemed like the 10th time since we sat down with her to have a cup of coffee. Her thin, muscular legs tell the tale …
Once a year we organize our Microfinance (MF) retreat, an excellent opportunity to spend time with our associates and invest in their development, both from a physical and spiritual perspective. This time we wanted to share about how to bring order into our lives, and we invited two well-known community leaders. Ivelisse Barbosa, wife of …
As soon as Clairy’s mom walked out the door for work, she and her friend would pull out their secret stash of makeup. They would take turns painting each other up while her mom worked. Clairy was 10 and her mother didn’t permit her to use makeup, but she and her friend made sure it …
Jose sits back in an Adirondack chair he made himself. His eyes shine brightly and his contagious smile lights up the dimly lit wood shop where we sit. Jose tells us of his 11 years’ experience working as a machine operator in a factory in a nearby town. The factory closed, and like many, he …
When helping matters 