My work continues with MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) in Honduras:
Interim Country Rep
The current country reps are leaving and there were not permanent reps in place, so MCC hired me as the interim rep to keep things running until new reps can get here. You can read more in my post. Still a lot to learn, a lot to adjust to and a whole lot of challenges to come.
Santa Rosa de Copan (Sept 2011-2013):
ACDIM (Christian Association for the Integral Development of Women)
The current focus of ACDIM is working with women in 4 rural communities about an hour outside of Santa Rosa. The first phase was organizing the women into community groups that meet regularly and receive trainings in different areas such as: domestic violence, health & hygiene, the environment, family gardens, etc.
The second phase of the process was small business development. We have collaborated with other organizations to provide more skills/technical training for the 4 respective small businesses. Our current work is accompanying the women in growing and developing as microbusinesses; workshops regarding business planning, finances, marketing, etc., and varied tasks to help coordinate a hundred other little details!
In one case we were trying to help the women rent/build/borrow a space to run their snack shop...in others we were trying to get better utensils to increase the volume of bread they can produce...some days it means meetings with the mayor...other days it means running around to get a carpenter to make me a custom slicing mechanism for plantain chips ;) All in a days work!!
Check out our blog/website.
Or better yet, stay more up-to-date with the work of ACDIM on our Facebook page.
Nueva Suyapa, Tegucigalpa (2010-2011):
MCM (Ministerios Cristianos de Mayordomia)
I worked in the Income Generation Program of MCM that managed small loans for women in the community of Nueva Suyapa. I learned about the work of the loan officers and then began to write curriculum for training the women in how to run a better business, how to manage their loans, etc.
