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Hello DHf Family!
Yesterday was DHF's final Buy Day of the year. Nora and I arrived early at the Hope House and went straight to work setting up tables, printing out sign-up sheets, and preparing all the necessary materials that make Buy Day such a special time. All eleven participants anxiously waited as Nora and I carefully selected the necklaces, bracelets, and earrings to be shipped to the States. I could feel all 11 sets of eyes burning holes into the back of my head wondering whether or not I would give a thumbs up on their handmade products. Talk about nerve-wracking! But after two hours of careful evaluation, we had our final selection and all eleven participants went home a winner. After wrapping up the day, Nora and I were exhausted. So in true Peruvian fashion, we treated ourselves to a side of delicious doughnuts drizzled in honey called picarones. Fried dough never tasted so good!
Also, Ester (the socia captured below in Nora's blog entry) created some beautiful pieces. Her earrings were a hit and we ended up purchasing seven pairs. With Buy Day finished we are that much closer to wrapping up the year here in the Hope House. Time is flying way faster than expected!
~Desy
Yesterday a visit was in order to our literacy circle, out in the countryside. The women were learning how to subtract and they were using colored pencils as their counting tools. 10-3 = ....Esperanza counted 10 pencils, took away 3, then had her answer = 7! She did that over and over, not letting go of her precious pencils. Lily increased the difficulty with flashcards, but Esperanza just kept counting away with her pencils. It was so rewarding to watch. Esperanza has a little store and usually her son helps her make change when she sells a soda or crackers and the customer doesn't have change. But with a little more practice, I think Esperanza will be able to add and subtract her own change for her customers. 
While Esperanza and her fellow students were practicing subtracting, Ester, a fellow loan recipient, was in the back of the house prepping her jewelry for Buy Day this Thursday. DHF will hold the last jewelry Buy Day of the year - one more chance for our women to show off and sell their creations to DHF. Paz ~ Nora
Hello out there! Hello?It has been a busy start to the month, so I apologize for keep you all out of the loop here. Let's catch up.
On Tuesday we had our first Animal Husbandry class in the Hope House. We have held similar activities this year with a Veterinarian in the countryside, but never in the Hope House. The turnout was fantastic. While witnessing 
the session develop, my favorite parts were watching the women beam with questions throughout the power point presentation and their innocent and pure joyous reaction of watching different pictures of guinea pigs change on the wall through out "movie" presentation with the projector. There was the "ooohhh" and "awh's" throughout the afternoon. Some of the women that came on Tuesday raise cuyes (guinea pigs) for their own family consumption while others breed cuyes for their small businesses. Regardless of their reasons for breeding cuyes, I think everyone got a new tip or two out of the power point "movie" that our Vet presented. Some of the walk-away tips that our women got were; Give cuyes water (it is common practice to not give water to cuyes here), low-cost sanitation ideas, preferred breeding practices and disease treatment.
In addition to our guinea pig activity, we are continuing with our computer series on Tuesday. Berta, our amazing and motivational 
computer teacher, has designed a computer curriculum that allows our 7 students to practice and perfect their Word skills while creating various formal documents commonly used by Secretaries and Computer Labs here in Cajamarca. Her success can be noted in our near perfect attendance in the month of September. Our computer students come to class on time (often early!), with completed homework, and ready to engage. Amazing, really. This series will end in November when our students will receive an official certificate for their time and acquired new Word skills. Then, yesterday one of our countryside village banks started a new knitting class. The village bank Margaritas crocheted baby dresses last month and will continue crocheting a new dress model with their teacher Nelly this month. They want to expand their stitches for future dress orders. We like that!Finally (although there are still more activities this week), after visiting our dress makers, I got 
in the fastest combi I could find to rush over to the village bank Mujeres Unidas (United Women) on the other side of the city. This bank started their 2nd loan cycle yesterday. I arrived just in time to witness Desy in action, starting their meeting with a funny icebreaker to get them relaxed and laughing. The Directive was sworn in. Then, the Directive received 5,000 soles, which they then distributed to each loan recipient, and we had a little toast to the new loan cycle, with the words of the new president Socorro, "let's be united this cycle, like our name says!" 
Paz ~ Nora
To finish out the month of September, 13 of our loan recipients attended a baking class where they learned to make Lemon Pie. And boy were they in for a treat! The classed commenced by sampling a slice of instructor Meche Paredes' best selling recipe. Everyone's eyes, including mine, were glazed over as we sunk our teeth into a really delicious pie. The women learned from start to finsh how to make homeade dough, a delicious lemon filling, and fluffy merengue topping. But most importantly, they left inspired by Meche's story. Meche owns a really small bakery across the street from the Hope House. She's always had an entrepreneurial spirit and her biggest obstacle in the beginning was her husband. When she finally decided to start her business, she started out small, selling to friends and family until her clientel begin to expand. Meche now makes S/.300 daily and is most proud that her two sons are able to attend a prestigious high school on her tab. The irony of Meche's story is that her husband is now her right-hand man and dough boy. Yes, dough boy. She depends on him to prepare all her dough and wait on her beck in call regarding the bakery's daily operations (since its her business that sustains the family). What most inspired me was her willingness to teach our women her best kept secrets in the hope that they too would pay it forward. So you may be wondering...if the women ate a pie and made a second, what happend to the second one? Half went to the nuns that run the facility we are housed at and the second half went into Nora, Hugo, and Berta's (our computer teacher) belly. Ohhh....and mine too.
~Desy
Let me fill you all in about Peru news. It is Election Day this Sunday. What does that mean? Parades, candidate songs and free balloons. I have never been in Peru for an election day, but the weeks leading up to it have been action packed song and dance routines in the street. It is almost like a Carnival celebration, in September. This also means that change is in the air, although from my conversation with Peruvians, most people do not have a lot of faith in any of the candidates.
In the little microcosm of our village banks there is also change in the air, as women are electing their new Directives. This week two village banks, Senor de los Milagros and Mujeres Unidas (United Women), are entering into their 2nd loan cycle. In-between Loan cycle 1 & 2 the village bank meets to adjust their group agreements and elect a new president, secretary and treasurer. This a good group process test to see how the women have come together in their 1st loan cycle. Yesterday during the group meeting of the village bank Senor de los Milagros, the group decided to vote out a village bank member because she wasn't able to continue with the bank agreements and furthermore because of her constant travel was holding the group back from holding regular meetings. It was a tough democratic process to come to consensus. But, they did it.
Let's hope the elections on Sunday can follow in this village bank's footsteps.
Paz ~ Nora
The surprises of working here in and outside of Cajamarca is that sometimes when I go to visit a loan recipient I get to witness her recently, less than a day, old piglets. 
Desy and I had to visit a crochet class yesterday outside of Los Banos. Before visiting the crochet students we made a visit to another loan recipient's house closeby. Juana and Silvia are in the village bank Azucecans that formed only 2 months ago. Since I haven't seen them since they formed their village bank I wanted to see what they were up to and why they haven't come to classes at the Hope House. Well, my answer was clear. 1. Their pig was giving birth that very afternoon and (pictured above) you can see the new piglets. They were attentive to the pigs needs, as they didn't want Mama pig to squish little piggies, which have a market value of about $50 each. 2. They have to take care of their pigs and give them a good amount of food every afternoon. The pig feeding and cleaning starts at 4 and goes until 6pm. That is when most of our Hope House activities are planned. 3. Their houses are not next to the Hope House. They have to walk 10 minutes to the street where buses pass, get on a Cajamarca bus for about 1/2 hour before they are within close walking distance to the Hope House. When classes end around 5:30-6pm, they have to do the same thing in reverse. So, it is not that easy to just sign up for a class. Desy and I were getting a taste of the campo reality that doesn't allow all our loan recipients to easily sign up and participate in the learning opportunities that Hope House offers. Solution: Let's do a class here in your house. We are in the midst of looking for another sewing machine so we can hold a sewing course in Silvia's house. Then, the only people that need to travel are Desy, myself and the teacher! Paz ~ Nora
