Adventures in Huancaquito Alto

This week proved to be a busy one, full of visits and a couple of issues to work out. Gloria, who just started a restaurant providing food for field workers of DanPer out of her house in Huancaquito Alto, has been having some trouble with success lately. Last week, they were informed that the workers would no longer be asking for lunches made from them. (It appears that maybe the food wasn't very good one day) This is the only source of income for the restaurant, so we were all very concerned when we heard this.

To help solve the problem, Brad and Matt went to Huancaquito Alto on tuesday to help Edy (an associate of Gloria) try to get the people to their menu. Edy spoke directly with the workers, essentially asking them for a second chance, but more importantly explaining what they would offer that would make their food better than the other option. For example, they are now providing metal utensils instead of plastic. In a moment like this, it was hard for us not to speak up, wanting to vouch for the people we support. But ultimately they are responsible for their own success, and Edy was doing a great job. Luckily things went pretty well. After speaking with several groups and a lot of people, they agreed to order lunch from Gloria's restaurant. We left pretty happy, feeling like things were going to be ok. 

Two days later we did a follow up visit and found out that things didn't go as well as expected. While they still sold a number of lunches, it was only about half of what we expected. Gloria lost money on the day because she prepared more than what was actually asked for. We're still confused as to how this all happened, but it boils down to the fact that there isn't a clear communication between supervisors and Gloria. All of this reinforces the fact that good communication and management are essential to running a successful business. Every country/people is different in how they do things, and that's ok. But a major common denominator to success is clear communication. Observing all of this from an outside perspective provides a great opportunity for each of us interns to learn so that we don't make the same mistakes in the future. Despite everything, we are hopeful for Gloria and their restaurant and are confident that things will work out.

Working on finances with Gloria

While in Huancaquito Alto on our second visit, we had the opportunity to teach english at a local school. Each of us taught two to four classes, ranging in ages 7 to 16. The kids were full of energy and excited to have us there. This will probably become a weekly thing, so we hope to be able to teach better each week. 

Teaching English

Throughout the week we visited a number of different businesses that started through the program. Morgan conducted several awesome interviews of loan recipients from past years. These interviews were neat because we got to hear from several people how their lives have changed through the program. They are all so grateful for having received the opportunity to start their own business through us. Great job Morgan!

This family has successfully run their taxi business. They have payed off their loan and recently moved into a new home.