MicroLoan Group 2
July 2010 Group 2 – Anesia Youte, Marie Mathe Pierre, Seresse Guillaume, Pétion Lilienne, Matania Charles
The women in group 2 are longtime residents of Bel Aire. They all live close to each other, just up the hill from the Espoir Haitien office. The group greatest strength are the three experienced and successful older women: a butcher, a household items reseller and an egg/poultry reseller.
YOUTE, Anesia – Anesia, 40, sells household and kitchen items at the markets on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. She and Lilienne often go to the Depo and purchase items together but they each manage their own selling. She estimates that she purchases about $1000 H ($125 US) each week and makes about $200H ($25 US) by selling the merchandise. In the past, she has sold rice and oil but found that business wasn’t strong. Anesia never attended school. She lives with her husband who is a jeweler. She has 2 daughters (19, 22) and 2 sons (23, 25) but they do not currently live with her.
PIERRE, Marie Mathe – Marie Mathe, 51, is a butcher. She sells meat by the airport on Fridays and from her house on Saturdays. She typically buys 5 goats on Thursday for $300 H each. She can sell the meat for about $360 H. For an outlay of $1500 H ($188 US) she makes a weekly profit of $300 H ($38 US). She has been a butcher for 3 years. Previously she sold bed sheets at the market but the days of selling were very long. She lives with her husband who makes jewelry on 10th street. She was educated through 10th grade.
GUILLAUME, Seresse – Seresse, 41, has had recent success selling eggs and chickens purchased in the Dominican Republic. Previously she has sold a variety of dry food from her house. Bu that business has slowed and she doesn’t have much to sell. In the past she’s made about $300 H ($38 US) a week but this isn’t enough to feed her family. Most recently she has hired a car to the DR and purchases eggs and chickens to sell locally.[1] With this loan she plans to purchase more of these items. The eggs from the DR sell very well and can make a nice profit. She lives with her husband, 2 sons (11, 20) and 2 daughters (16, 18). Her husband works at a health clinic and together they make enough to put a little extra money into private school for one of the children.[2] Seresse completed the 10th grade.
LILIENNE, Pétion – Pétion, 41, resells plates and other kitchen supplies at the Depo. She rents storage space there and makes between $100 H to $200 H ($12 US to $24 US) a week for an outlay of between $1000 H and $1500 H ($125 US to $188 US). She works everyday but Sunday. Up until a year ago she used to travel to Port Au Prince and purchase underwear to resell. But since her husband died she has been scared to travel and couldn’t continue that business. She lives with her daughter 17, son 16 and twins (son and daughter – 9). While they do eat every day and attend public school she is very much struggling to make ends meet.
CHARLES, Matania – Matania, 25, sells eggs and salami locally. She travels weekly by car to the Dominican Republic to purchase her eggs and other products. She would like to try selling clothes purchased at the Depo in the Dominican Republic when she is up there buying merchandise. In 2008, she used to sell rice and beans from her house. She lives with her mother who is a hot food vendor in the school district, her brother (20) and her sister (19). She completed the 9th grade.
[1]Eggs from the DR are less expensive then eggs from Chickens in Haiti. People buy them for the lower price and because they tend to have larger whites making them healthier.
[2] All schools private and public require tuition. All students are required to attend every grade; they cannot test out of a grade. This means that some children are quite old even in the younger grades because their parents could not afford school every year. Better schools are private, they are more expensive and often have age limits for children in each grade.