The women filed one by one into the dirt courtyard, taking seats on a long log bench after greeting each other quietly in Zapotec. They wore traditional full aprons over their everyday dresses; most had ribboned braids and dusty sandals. There was an electric air of anticipation, as though something important were about to happen.

En Vía's Executive Director Carlos Hernandez Topete hands out microfinance loans to women in the town of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Susan Bean Aycock

It was. These women in the town of Teotitán del Valle, in the mountains of south-central Mexico, were gathered this summer evening to receive loans from Local Travel Movement partner Fundación En Vía, a non-profit microfinance organization based in the nearby city of Oaxaca. The small loans they were to receive – just 1300 Mexican pesos (about US$100) or approximately what an upscale American couple might pay for an evening out – meant they could turn their business dreams into reality: buy yarn and dye to weave rugs, ingredients to make bread, corn to feed chickens or seedlings to grow into a fruit orchard.

Microfinance the En Vía Way

Microfinancing is a brilliantly simple idea: making small loans to those with no resources so that they can work their way out of the crushing cycle of poverty. En Vía employs a model that has proved successful around the world: prospective loan receivers define their goals and put together a business plan; a series of interest-free loans of increasing value are then disbursed once the borrowers prove they are able to fund their projects and repay the money. To them, the initial $100 represents several weeks’ work and is nothing they could acquire on their own, even if there were a bank in town.

Microfinancing loan recipient Eulalia demonstrates how she hand-spins yarn to weave rugs, purses and table runners, which she sells from her home in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Susan Bean Aycock

After the first loan, En Vía recipients have one week to buy supplies to put their plan into action. Repayments are 130 pesos a week (about $10) for 10 weeks, successful completion of which makes local entrepreneurs eligible to apply for a second loan of 2,000 pesos. A third loan pushes the amount to 3,000 pesos. En Vía collects seed money for these loans through twice-weekly tours to Teotitlán; 100% of tour participants’ $50 fees goes into the loan pot. It’s responsible tourism that makes a real difference in people’s lives, both for the women who receive the loans and for the travelers who have the privilege of entering their world.

From Vacationing to Volunteering

I first took a tour in November 2009, when a three-week vacation to Oaxaca turned into a love affair with the local culture and my new home shortly thereafter. As a student at the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca (ICO), the language school that sponsors En Vía, I began to tag along on trips to Teotitlán. One September day, En Vía’s Managing Director, Emily Berens, mentioned that they needed more tutors for the free English classes offered to the Teotitlán community twice a week. It took me about two seconds to commit to at least a month of volunteer teaching.

Tutors Susan and Eliza with English students Celyflor, Eulalia, Zoila and Crispina in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Susan Bean Aycock

Though I’d never taught, I felt as immediately at home with the students as I had upon landing in Oaxaca: this is where I belonged more than anywhere else, even though I’d never been here before.

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