In less than a week I will be starting my work for Fundación En Vía, a non-profit organization situated in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Since their birth in 2008, En Vía has been fighting poverty in Oaxaca by supporting the growth and creation of income-generating businesses & encouraging personal development of Oaxacan women, their families & the community (click on the link to be rediricted to their website).
They do so through the innovative & purposeful combination of three major programs: microfinance (interest-free microloans), educational programs and responsible tourism.
En Viá came to life out of a need to solve two problems people living in poverty face: the interest rates on credit in Oaxaca, and the lack of direct pay from tourism to the people who need it most.
While the average interest rate in Mexico is 70%, En Vía doesn't charge any interest on their loans, making sure these loans have the chance to have a real impact on small businesses.
These interest-free loans are provided to women through microfinance tours; tour participants at En Vía meet with the women that have been supported by the fundation, thereby not only getting a special glimpse into life and small businesses in Oaxaca (e.g. tortilla makers, market vendors, artisans, seamstresses) but also the chance to learn about local culture and costums first-hand. Besides this, the tours provide the women with a platform to discuss their ideas and businesses & the tour participants with coming face to face with the real-life results of microfinancing. 100% of tour fees are used to provide these interest-free microloans.
Upon request of the women themselves, En Vía expanded in 2010 and started their educational program. They not only wanted the opportunity to communicate better with English speaking tourists and clients that visited their business, they wanted the opportunities for their children to be enlargened by giving them the chance to learn a new (and dominant world-wide) language.
Besides English classes, En Vía also provides and has provided business classes, branding and personal development workshops, nutrition classes & Diabetes prevention workshops.
In preperation of my work at En Vía I was directed through to their prepatory website & information directory. It was here I saw that they rely heavily on donations when it comes to materials for their English & business classes, and for the office.
These materials include:
- White board markers & erasers
- Printing paper
- 3 x 5 index cards
- Tape
- Scissors for adults
- Children's stickers & name tags
- Ringed binders
- Poster board
- Glue sticks
- Rubber bands
- Paper clips
- Sticky notes
Teaching materials:
- Bilingual books
- Illustrates vocab/verb flash cards
- English/Spanish dictionary
- Maps of the world
- Bingo games and other simple board games
Here my request to you: with a small donation to this fundraiser, you will enable me to go out and buy as much as I possibly can of these general & teaching supplies, with careful consideration as to what En Vía needs most at given time.
Even the smallest donation will sponsor an impoverished woman or child with a chance to broaden their horizon & learn a new language or skill and run their small business as successfully as they possibly can!