Martha’s Story

Near the Cacao Lagoon 30 km east of La Ceiba, past the communities of Corozal and Sambo Creek, off the coast of the Caribbean Sea is an Adelante client of several years by the name of Martha Alicia Martinez who has received many micro loans.

Martha’s loans have been mostly for home improvement. She has also received a health/sanitation loan (sink pictured), and her current loan is for building a retaining wall to protect her home from the rising river which frequently floods (also pictured behind her here). Although the wall is still in progress, she anticipates being able to finish with her next loan. When Martha first started working with Adelante she was lending small loans to the palm tree workers. She currently makes her living selling animal feed.

“Thanks to the help of Adelante Foundation I have achieved many things. When I began with the foundation, I went thanks to a friend who told me about it. I started with very little and I thought that everything would be climbing, climbing. Although there have been setbacks, as long as you repay loans, you can keep the door open and qualify for more support. I am so grateful and I can say that I have a house thanks because of Adelante loans.”

Martha has two children aged 6 and 11. She has had some challenges…her first husband divorced her and kept the house. She started over and is now happily married to a man that has a good stable job and is a kind stepfather to the children. Their biggest current challenge is transportation and needing a vehicle to reach more clients to earn more income.