Hola a todos! My name is Meghan Rice, and I am currently a sophomore at Luther College working towards a double major in Chemistry and Math as well as a minor in Spanish! I chose to continue studying Spanish because I feel it is important to learn another language and also because I want to continue to do mission work in the countries in Central America. For this reason, I chose to participate in the Spanish J-term to Oaxaca, to improve my Spanish speaking skills as well as learn about and experience a new culture and style of life.
The time here has flown by and I can’t believe that we only have one week left. We have been attending school to learn more about Spanish grammar and the culture here in Oaxaca by participating in cooking classes, salsa dancing classes as well as the opportunity to have stimulating conversations with local high school students in both Spanish and English. This week we are volunteering for the nonprofit organization EnVia.
EnVia works to promote and support women in their business entrepreneurship in the valley of Teotitlán. Since the interest on microfinance loans in Oaxaca is between 80% to 200%, EnVia supplies women microfinance loans with zero interest. They also provide classes for the women to learn English to communicate with their clients, marketing tips and how to promote their business. EnVia‘s business model supports women and their business ideas which, in turn, directly benefits their families and the larger community.
This week we were split up into three groups and each group was assigned to a different woman. For the taller (workshop) this week, we are working with the women to reorganize their products to attract more customers into their shop. Our intent is to help the women advertise their business to their clientele and expand their sales.
I am very excited to see how the businesses will be impacted by our work!