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 Our last day in Huaraz and actually in Peru, seems to have arrived quickly. I am wakened by the sound of suitcases being rolled over the cobblestones. At first, I panicked and jumped from bed, thinking I had overslept and everyone was leaving. As I peeked out the door of my room, I see dozens of teenagers arriving for the weekend and wanting our rooms! So much for sleeping in!
It's a beautiful clear morning and the snow covered mountains and babbling brook are a beautiful way to start the day. Life is sweet this morning at the ECCAME Hotel.
We get scrambled eggs for breakfast along with the rolls, matte tea and cafe con leche. We learn the kids are on a field trip for the weekend-they are giggly and high spirited. Then the bus takes us to the airport. There are 2 flights a day in and out of Huaraz. Crops are planted next to the runways and there are people working in the fields. Very different from the airport "security" we are used to! Our plane is late by about an hour, due probably to the pea soup conditions in the Lima mornings. The plane holds 16 and has one seat on either side. We get a nice boxed lunch and newspaper: What great customer care!
 The CCS staff and van are waiting for us on arrival in Lima and we are taken back to Home Base for lunch. This gives us a chance to pack to go home, check our email and eat lunch. There is one very funny moment at lunch when the platter of meat was being brought from the kitchen and you could see signs of panic on many of our faces. It looked a lot like the guinea pig we'd been feted twice with. We had this fleeting thought they were serving us this delicacy on our last lunch! But, we quickly realized, to our delight, it was chicken legs and wings!
Our afternoon visit began at the EDYFICAR Agency in San Juan de Lurigancho (in southeast metropolitan Lima. The Credit Manager, Marco Guzman, is waiting with refreshments for us (Cookies and juice-no cuy!) When we had visited with Milo Stanojevich CARE's country Director, he had explained that the micro-development projects had been so successful, that CARE had problems with the scope of the lending and accounting required, so they had partnered to form an independent bank network to serve this purpose. EDYFICAR is a mircofinance institution regulated by the Peruvian Superindendent of Banking and Insurace. CARE-PERU is the largest stockholder. They operate in 8 cities to serve the entrepreneurs. We asked a lot of questions and discovered how differently things work in Peru. The average loan length is 2-3 years and the interest rate was slightly below the country norm but still surprised us when we heard it was about 3 1/2% per month! Many of the entrepreneurs had taken out loan after loan-some having taken advantage of using the sytem 10 or more times.
We visited 3 families that had benefitted from the loans and had thriving businesses that were supporting them and allowing them to hire others. We saw sophisticated embroidery machines in one house where about a dozen people were working in every nook and cranny to produce baby clothes. At the next home/business there were knitting machines and we watched the sweaters being made for the markets and learned the difference between baby alpaca wool and "maybe" alpaca wool! And our last stop was to see a business making religious, clay handicrafts that were being exported to Germany and to other places. We learned that many of these entrepreneurs began with $500 or less and have paid back and taken ever larger loans to be able to purchase the equipment we saw and to expand. They were proud to show us what they were making. They were living and working in two- and three-story buildings that were filled with people and supplies.
What a week! We saw so much that an average tourist wouldn't have been able to see. I know each of us was appreciative at the work that went into planning our trip so that we could really experience first hand the country of Peru.
We went back to Homebase, packed and headed out for out last dinner together at a nice Lima Restuarant recommended by the CSS Country Director, Kique Bossio. We had taken in a lot this week and certainly were getting tired, but we celebrated and toasted out thanks to MORE and to CARE for creating an extraordinary adventure.
The Giving Circle will be "regrouping" in the coming weeks. We want to complete the pledge we made to raise $100,000. That leaves us about $76,000 to go!!!! After seeing the empowerment that CARE is bringing to their projects, I know each of us has passion to share our experience and to continue to share our resources! Thank you MORE!!!!(And especially Peggy for your vision) and Thank you CARE (and especially Amanada and Carol for you dedication!) -- Joeann Fossland, Founder, Web Women Giving Circle
3:23 PM - Jul. 31, 2007 - {0} -
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