Artisans

María Paula is a fierce woman who has participated as a Friendship  Bridge client for  15  years,  and she is in her 16  loan cycle.   She  lives  in  the  rural  community called  Caserío Santa María  el  Tablón of the  Department of Sololá.  Maria Paula  recalls  that she  was  forced  to  leave   school  after  only completing  the  sixth  grade. She immediately  began working  with  her father and  brothers  in  the  development of  sewing   products  and  handcrafts,  where she enjoyed working. Currently, María Paula's  father left her a place where  they offer a  variety of textiles and  crafts to  customers  and  pedestrians on Calle Santander  in Panajachel, Sololá.  María Paula is a natural-born craftswoman.   

Lidia is a strong and brave woman who wakes up every day with optimism and always strives to create opportunities for her two daughters. She is from a rural community called Cipresales in the western highlands of Guatemala and grew up in a family of 11 children (she was the second born). Lidia, who unfortunately had to miss more than a day of school each week to help at home, eventually was forced to drop out of school - this was right after she completed the fourth grade. Her father and older brother worked together selling handicrafts in two other departments in Guatemala. She often worked with them and helped earn income so that the family could have food on the table.

San Jorge La Laguna is one of the smallest villages in the department of Sololá. This is the home of Antonia, age 55, married, and mother of eight children between the ages of 13 and 35. Antonia shares with us that her childhood was very sad, as her father left her mother when Antonia was just three months old. Antonia's mother was very upset, and that point she made the decision to leave Antonia with her grandmother while she went to live with another man. Antonia's grandparents raised her. They were poor, which meant that they could only send Antonia to school for three years.

Women are drivers of development - locally, nationally, and internationally; today and in the future. They work hard to find ways to support their families in any way they can. However, in order to scale their small businesses, they need financing and training to build the necessary skills. That is what Angelina, a 36-year-old Maya Kakchiquel woman, needed. Angelina lives in a rural community in the department of Sololá.