Not sure how to celebrate leap day? Read how Alberto Francisco y Freuli used a loan from Esperanza, HOPE’s partner in the Dominican Republic, to provide a brighter future for his children, then take action to help others like Alberto Leap Forward at leapfwd.us.
Before receiving a loan from Esperanza, Alberto struggled to make ends meet. Though he worked 18 hours a day in the grueling heat of the Dominican sugarcane fields, he was paid less than $7 a day—barely enough to provide for his four children, aged 4-11.
With his first loan from Esperanza, Alberto opened a small store. As he faithfully repaid his loans and accessed larger sums, Alberto saved enough money to purchase a motorcycle, which he uses for deliveries. With his profits, he has been able to send his children to school, and he dreams of one day owning his own cooking store. “Before the loans,” he explains, “life was very hard. … Life is better since HOPE has come.”
![Before Eveness Mulungu joined the Walusungu (“mercy”) savings group through our church partner in Malawi, she faced days where she and her family ate animal feed because they couldn’t afford human food. But that changed when she joined the savings group. Eveness used her first group loan of about $1.70 (U.S.) to start a business selling doughnuts and beans.
“By the end of my first cycle I made $140 (U.S.),” Eveness shared. “My life is no longer the same now; [I] was regarded as no one in the community. ... This was the first time in my life that I ever touched and owned big money like this!”
Pictured: Eveness, with her husband in front of their piggery—a third successful business that she operates.](https://blog.hopeinternational.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)