[Overview]
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Sixty Seven percent of the population is living in poverty, 31.4% of the households have more than seven members and 46% of families have only one room to sleep in.1 One out of 8 children die before they reach the age of five. Life expectancy is 56 years (women), 52 years (men). The majority of the population earns less than $1.70 per day.2
 

WAYS TO HELP

Pray
Please pray for this project.
Go
Plan a trip to Haiti, with a group or join one that it already going, meet the people and let it change you.
Give
We need resources to pay for loans, wages, and trainers. Use the button below to donate using your credit card or PayPal account.
 


If you want your money to go to this program, in the “Send Us A Message” line of the donation form, please note if you want your money to help with a micro-loan, Haitian overseer wages, or to send a trainer to Haiti.
 


[How we’ll change that]
Microfinance, also called micro-credit, offers small loans to start business. Examples of businesses are: selling food products at the weekly market, making benches, or creating banana leaf mats. In Jolivert, Haiti, we’re offering $100 USD loans. We have created this program as a partnership, where Haitians have reviewed our policies, interest rates, and systems, to have the highest cultural sensitivity. We’re focusing on women, because research has shown that when women earn money, they are more likely to reinvest it in their children and families.3

Women work together in groups of five. They select one member that will receive her $100 loan. Each month she pays back $8.75, for a total of 5% interest. Other microfinance programs in the area have 20%+ interest, the women thought that was unfair, we agreed. Once the first woman pays back 2 months in a row, the second woman can get her loan, after she pays back two months, the next woman, until all five women have their loans. This encourages them to support one another, learn from mistakes, and spread the risk. Each year that the ladies repay their loans, they can take out a larger loan to expand their business.

We have identified one woman that will oversee the program. She will not be eligible for the loans. Her paid time will grow as the program grows from $120 annually for five hours a week, to $360 annually for 40 hours a week. Ideally we’d like to send someone annually to train the women in new approaches to microfinance, this will be paid for by donations that are not specifically earmarked for loans.


1 World Health Organization, 2007, available at http://www.paho.org/English/DD/AIS/cp_332.htm
2 U.S. Department of State, 2007, available at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1982.htm
3 Grameen Bank, 2007, available at http://www.grameen-info.org
4 Interest on the loans is used to pay expenses for on-line giving

  
[Why we’re different]
When MaryEllen Sanok first went to Missions of Love in Jolivert, Haiti in 1998, she had no idea how her family would be changed as a result of that trip. She expanded her nursing skills by going to graduate school to be more effective in her work at Missions of Love’s medical clinic. Several members of her family have gone to Haiti to serve with her, some leading groups and others starting new ministries, such as this project.

We have a personal connection with the Haitian staff at Missions of Love. We have seen children grow from little kids that we play soccer with, to being teenagers that now have to work. We see the dreams in Francia’s eyes to become a doctor or nurse. She knows that won’t happen without a vast knowledge of languages, so Francia is learning French, English, and Spanish, on top of her first language, Haitian Creole.

There is a personal connection to the people. If you want to send a gift to the family of the woman you sponsor, you can. You can visit her. You can email the clinic and give her updates on your family and hear about her business. Of course, most of the women don’t speak English, are not yet computer literate, and don’t read, but in some way you will give them the message that someone cares about them.

We don’t have any paid staff with this program, other than the Haitian that oversees the women, collects their money, and communicates with those of us in The United States. So 100% of your money goes towards what you want, whether that is her wages, a loan, or for a U.S. trainer to meet with the women.

Missions of Love is continually starting new programs. In the last three years, Missions of Love has partnered with the U.S. Center for Disease Control, helped start a peanut butter program that drastically reduced malnutrition, and built a clean water well in Jolivert.

We’re different because:
*Each volunteer and donor can have a personal connection with where his or her money goes.
*Every dollar is spent where you want it.
*We continually review programs and seek to enlarge the efficiency.

The Microfinance Program
is overseen by:
Joseph R. Sanok,
Director of Microfinance,
Tim Buys,
Chair of Finance and Technology, and
Christopher Stroven,
Chair of Marketing and Development.

Please contact Joseph Sanok with any
questions at joseph.sanok@gmail.com

Our address is: 206 Allen Blvd.
Kalamazoo, MI 49007

If you’d like to donate to
our program via mail,
please make your checks
out to Missions of Love
and send to the above address.

Missions of Love is a 501 c 3 Not For Profit

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