And there goes my last credit for this month. A wonder I made it until the 4th this time.
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=173221
Maggi Isabel Bahoque is 20. She arrived from Casacará in the Cesar department with her parents and brother about 15 years ago. Ever since she was a little girl necessity make her think of generating income.
She could not continue living in the town where she was born because of the fear of some of its inhabitants. This caused her to abandon the place where she was born and go to Soledad.
There she found international institutions that encouraged her to study by giving her school supplies and a book of stories. At that time her mother supported the literacy campaigns, and she helped women in the care and completion of the academic activities of their children. She did this with Maggi’s help to generate some income.
This was the start of a small school, which was part of her mother’s adjustment to the Nuevo Milenio neighborhood in the municipality of Soledad. Maggi also worked there part time; she is a very productive young woman.
Maggi has her own business, which she started with the help of a government program. She started with a computer, which she learned to operate. Then she got a loan with the same entity to buy other equipment and access the Internet. Then she gradually added a photocopier, a developing machine, and a photography machine.
At first she used a computer and a lot of books to offer librarian services from her house to neighborhood students. Most of the neighbors are displaced due to the armed conflict, just like her family. Although it may appear to be part of the story, Maggi does not want to return to Casacará like many people, who are supported by the state, have done. She says that with their businesses she and her mother have gotten ahead, helped her younger brother, and helped with the income her father brings home. This has given them some stability.
At the same time that Maggi has worked she has always gone to school. She has been focusing on pedagogy since high school. She is currently studying for her degree in basic education from the Atlantic University. She is looking to win a place in the formal education system. Therefore, she studies hard everyday, just like she did with her mother.
They prepared themselves together to have the pedagogy tools that applied to their work in the school. This allowed her mother to be close and take care of her. Magi got her high school degree at 15.
Maggi is a multi-faceted young woman.
She loves the art of photography. At her place she does more than photo montages, photos for documents, and social photos. For example, she does baptism photos, birthdays, and communions, etc. She helps people access the technology of the internet, make job resumes, or to find information about a program they are using. It is unusual in this community for the people to know how to use information tools, and even less common for them to have the use of the internet at their disposal. It is less likely that they know how to access the internet.
Maggi’s main business is a large internet café, where she also offers photocopy, photography, photo montage, collages for children, editing, and transcription services. She is an exemplary young woman because of her great sense of responsibility, her work capacity, her studies since childhood, and her aptitude for accessing the services that strengthen her personal and business growth. That is how it was when they recommended that she go to the Mario Santo Domingo Foundation to get a loan to increase her working capital and to get an advisor to formalize her small business. She immediately got a counselor, Milgen Sanchez, who is currently advising her in this procedure.
Maggi plans to expand her business using her current first loan for 1,500,000 COP. She will equip her internet café with the ability to take photos and make publicity banners. She will do this to become better known in nearby communities. She considers her business to be very stable. She does not have competition in the neighborhood, and many times her neighbors wait at her door for their turn to get the services they wish to access.
Her main challenge is the same as with all families.
She works intensely to support her father’s treatment. He suffered a work accident, and his health program does not cover the medications he needs to overcome the situation. She also dreams of helping her brother develop his potential and study for a career he would like in the university. Meanwhile, she dreams of climbing the ladder in the educational system and legalizing her mother’s school.Maggi and her mother describe their neighborhood, Nuevo Milenio, as a community where most are displaced. But, underneath it all, they are united and hard-working people. She explains that they had to organize themselves so that their streets would stop being a garbage dump into what it is now. It was a product of an invasion that the state is legalizing. Everyone has contributed to establishing community public services. Through her business she is contributing to bringing technology to the poorest homes. There are a lot of people who still cannot access the internet and do not know how to work with computers.
15 months loan from Fundación Mario Santo Domingo, Colombia (4*), CR covered
