Alma’s Story

Alma resides in one of the areas most affected by Hurricanes Eta and Iota which hit Honduras in November, 2020. Alma is an entrepreneur who has been a borrower of micro loans from Adelante for six years. She is the owner of a prosperous pulpería (small general store).

Unfortunately, Alma lost a large part of her business due to the hurricanes, most of the items in her home, and the walls of her house cracked and broke. “Those were very tough moments. Here, nobody expected this…the water was at our waists. We had no choice but to flee, and leave everything underwater.” Alma returned to her home after it was safe to begin the process of cleaning up and to  see what she could recover. She reopened her business with the few things she was able to salvage, but she needed capital to invest to get back to where she was before. Her plan is to get her business up and running first, and later work on her home, in spite of the fact that she fears part of her house may fall down at any moment.

This is where Adelante comes in. Adelante Well-being Officers work closely with new and existing clients to ascertain their needs, strengths, and capabilities. We never want to add a debt burden that is not appropriate for an entrepreneur, so there is extensive assessment and discussion with a prospective borrowers beforehand. Disaster relief organizations are doing what they can, but Adelante is invested in the long-term recovery and resilience of underserved women and their families.