Sonañdo Juntos Ferretería y Tienda

June 2020

In 2010, 30 women in our microcredit program approached us with a new dream – a hardware store in Chacraseca. JustHope funded the building with a $10,000 donation and the store inventory with a $6,000 interest-free loan. All the women signed the note, and Ferretería Soñando Juntos (Dreaming Together Hardware Store) opened, aptly named for representing big dreams for a small but mighty group of women.

With help from SpiritBank and DoubleShot Coffee, this project raised the funds needed to start a microbank in La Flor, a small, coffee-farming community in the mountains of central Nicaragua. Access to the loans made available by this new microbank enable small-scale coffee farmers to prepare their coffee fields for the coming season without having to engage a loan shark (which is often the only option for small farmers).

A group of 270 farmers from the furthest sectors in Chacraseca sent representatives to us with an urgent request to help them buy a new tractor.

At that time their only option for getting their fields ready to plant was to rent a tractor from someone in a nearby community, which is expensive, and they have to wait in a long line, often meaning they can't get their crops planted in time for the short spring growing season.

Santa Emilia has a Primary School that goes through the 6th grade. However, going to High School has been a challenge for young people in Santa Emilia. There was no High School within the community.

The "Beca House" is a house that was gifted to the community of Chacraseca, Nicaragua, which they have chosen to use as a dorm for young women from poor communities who are going to college on becas (scholarships). It is now a wonderful resource, that houses between 6 and 12 women each semester. After a few years of partner support with upkeep and maintenance, it is now fully self-sustaining!

From 2008-2010, the entire community of Santa Emilia worked together with their project's founding partner and JustHope to complete a clean water system that serves all its residents.

In 2009, the families of the isolated mountain top community of La Flor organized to change the dangerous health risks that come from toxic water.

JustHope's first project in 2007 was to partner with community leaders in the town of Chacraseca to complete a potable water project for its 8,000 residents.