When Leonora Calipay’s children finished school and she came home to the Philippines, she knew there was something more to her life than retirement.
Leonora’s neighbor noticed her desire to do meaningful things in her free time, so she taught Leonora to sew rugs. With this new skill, Leonora started her own small rugmaking business. She hoped to empower her neighbors—especially the single mothers in her community—to make a living through the same craft.
For those living on the vulnerable edge of poverty, just one unforeseen health crisis can set back their progress toward financial stability. The security they’ve worked so hard for can vanish in a moment.
For Cristina Benitez in Paraguay, selling homemade empanadas, sandwiches, and more to her neighbors on weekends was a bustling and effective means of providing for her family. A mother of seven children, she and her husband dreamed of supporting their kids through school so they could secure good jobs. Continue Reading…
Originally posted on Peter Greer’s blog.
For 476 days, we’ve heard about the dire realities of war in Ukraine: Thriving cities abandoned. Loved ones missing. Lives and livelihoods plundered.
In June, farmers HOPE previously served in the Kherson region woke up to the reality of losing yet another harvest. With fields under water from enemy attacks on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, their crops and profits have been wiped out.
While traveling to Ukraine to visit our HOPE colleagues recently, these scenes were at the forefront of my mind. The horror and destruction of war I’d read about was real. But as I spent more time with staff and entrepreneurs there, one thing became clear: Even as bombs weakened infrastructure and devastated neighborhoods, they most certainly did not crush the Ukrainian spirit.
Jovelee Maala didn’t know the Payatas Controlled Disposal Facility as the largest open dump site in the Philippines—for her, it was home.
Opening in the 1970s, the site served as a fixture in Jovelee’s hometown, Quezon City. Local families built their homes there, and thousands more traveled to the site to pick through the trash, searching for items to sell—and when she turned 18, Jovelee joined them.
Same mission. Same heart. Same spirit. Same name in two languages. We’ve worked together in mutual partnership for over 17 years, and we are excited that this union is about a Kingdom agenda.
Alex Nuñez, President and CEO, Esperanza International
HOPE International welcomed Esperanza International as its first network partner in 2005. Esperanza has served entrepreneurs in the Dominican Republic (D.R.) since 1995, coming alongside them with financial services, training, and holistic outreach activities such as health services. And we’re excited to now work even more closely with Esperanza through our new leadership agreement!
Over the past 17 years, HOPE and Esperanza have mutually benefited from shared best practices and technical expertise. With the same mission and heart, Esperanza has strengthened the HOPE network, and we look forward to the ways that they will help shape the way we grow and serve in these key areas.
Flora de la Cruz Girón dreamed of starting a business in her community in the Dominican Republic (D.R.). Ideally, the job would allow her and her husband to provide financially for their family, especially while their two children were still young and at home.
While Flora was working one day, selling items along the roadside, a friend invited her to learn more about Esperanza International, a microfinance institution in the D.R. that recently became managed by HOPE International.
