Quality of Life Interviews and Documentary Filming

After completing the new loan applicant interviews, we switched focus to interview each current loan recipients in Granada. There are over 150 current recipients! These mid-loan interviews focus on collecting information about our clients' quality of life, how the loan has helped them, suggestions for how we can improve the organization, and what other programs they would like to see in their community. Clients' suggestions for new programs have included computer classes, sports programs for children, educational programs for children, vocational training, and groups for new mothers. My original idea was to try to incorporate health education into PHPG's micro-finance model, but later decided it would be better to gauge our clients' opinions on what they would like to see in their community in order to create a more widely accepted and sustainable program. Not all of the suggested programs fall within the mission of People Helping People Global, but for those that don't PHPG could help organize or link community members to other organizations that offer other programs in the area. We had hoped to be a later stage in analysing the responses to the suggestions for new programs by the end of the internship, but we will have to leave that for the PHPG members or future interns. Our progress on the interview front was slowed by two unfortunate events: the death of Gilberts's father and the death of Marcela's uncle, both about a month and a half ago. Since then, Gilberts has taken over his fathers' business, which has been a tough transition for him and left him with little time to work with PHPG.

We've really enjoyed getting to know our clients better and making stronger connections with the community. In addition to the interviews, a few of us have spent time shadowing and filming a few clients in order to create mini-documentaries that show a glimpse of their everyday lives: their jobs and families, what they did with the loans, and how the loans have helped them. These have been the most rewarding experiences for me.

Our first shadowing session was with Ana Mondoy, who has a pulperia (convenient store) from her house. Phoebe, Alex, Emma, and I met Ana at her house at 6am. Well, we arrived a few minutes late because we were distracted by her neighbor's monkey, Panchita. The early morning light was perfect, so we stopped for a photo op with Panchita. We spent a few hours chatting with her about her life, family, work, and goals for hours while she tended the store. She is an intelligent, welcoming, and wonderful person. Emma has been working on a short video using the footage from the interview. When that is finished, I'll post a link.

Phoebe and I also spent one morning and two afternoons with other loan recipients to catch a glimpse of their daily lives and capture it on video. Phoebe has been working on the editing of Oswaldo Calderon's video- learning how to use iMovie as she goes. It's coming along really well, and should be done soon! Oswaldo works as a casket salesman for a funeral home during the week and started his own business selling CDs with the loan from PHPG. He is also a community leader in Nueva Esperanza, the community in which he lives. We interviewed him at his bosses house and then took a ride with him and his two colleagues to witness him selling casket and funeral service contracts.

Miriam Mendoza with three of her children and two grandchildren 

We also spent yesterday afternoon with Miriam Mendoza. She used her loan from PHPG to buy firewood so that her and her husband can shop it, bundle it, and sell it to pulperias in their neighborhood. Miriam has nine children, ages 7 to 27! Her oldest daughter has two children and lives in a small house on their property. A total of 11 people live on the property. Her younger children and grandchildren are adorable! After the interview, they were climbing all over us and had a blast using Phoebe's camera to take pictures. We have a few photos of the family together and some with Phoebe and I with them printed out to bring to them to thank them for their time. I'll be working on editing the video of Miriam over the next few weeks, so I will add then when it's finished as well!