How do you see the world? - Mercy Corps

are providing much needed services and jobs to their communities, while
generating personal income that can be spent on essential items such as food,
education and shelter.
By anticipating challenges, we can prevent problems. In Iran, Mercy
Corps is working with Afghan refugees — many of whom have been
displaced for years — to enhance their skills so they can provide for their
families when they return to Afghanistan. Men and women learn technical
skills in areas such as carpentry, masonry and tailoring. The training will
make the refugees less dependent on their neighbors when they return
home, and diminish community tensions that might otherwise arise.
Challenges for the ages require creative solutions. At Mercy Corps, we
are constantly striving to find new avenues to solve ongoing problems.
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S U C C E S S A G A I N S T T H E O D D S
Ines Guerrero knows all too well the challenges that face
small business owners in the Flor Del Campo slums of
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where poverty and violence are
an everyday reality.
Ines used to own a small handicrafts shop in the
heart of the city, selling woven goods like clothes, quilts, blan-
kets, pillowcases, and purses to supplement her income as an
elementary school arts teacher. On two different occasions,
robbers entered the shop, forcing her to flee out the back door
for her life. They stole her money and her goods.
What they didn’t take was her determination to own a
business and her passion for producing high quality products.
She knew that if she could just get a little assistance she could
open a new shop and continue to share her love of handi-
crafts with her students and customers.
Like most people in the slums, Ines was afraid
to apply for a high interest loan from a local bank.
Her fortunes changed when a friend told her about
a small loan program run by Proyecto Aldea
Global, Mercy Corps’ local partner in Honduras.
The program assists small business owners and
entrepreneurs in Flor Del Campo.
Ines met with one of our field workers
and developed a business plan. She received
a loan of $500 to purchase materials and
to get her small business up and running
again. To repay the loan, she rented out an extra room in
her apartment.
With a lot of hard work and determination, Ines is once
again selling her goods and her business is thriving. She has
even started receiving orders from a company in Toronto,
Canada — it sends her the materials and she sends them
finished products for sale.
Ines is now sharing her business knowledge with others. She
teaches young women how to make handicrafts and helps them
market their wares so that they too can start their own businesses
one day — and live lives of independence, free from poverty.
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I N E S ’ S T O R Y