There I was, there I was, there I was Managua, Nicaragua on assignment for ACCION, a Boston based NGO that promotes financial inclusion.

Team:
Jordan Coriza, Head Honcho
AccionNicBlog101.jpgJohn Rae,  Photographer

Assignment: to document ACCION’s work in Nicaragua through the lives and stories of their clients.

Microlending assignments are great because you are in colorful markets producing portraits of hard working people.  Microlending is a development strategy that came into being about 50 years ago and has gained traction in the past 10 years. It is based on the understanding that people are willing to work hard, care about their futures, and if given a leg up onto the first rung of the financial ladder will take care of themselves.  The loans can be as little as $25 and go mostly to women.

In the 9 years working for ACCION I have visited tailors, cooks, toy makers, bakers, hat makers, mechanics, brick makers, furniture makers, potters, firecracker makers, butchers, florists, fish mongers, candy makers, water sellers, cobblers, spice sellers, burka makers, palm oil sellers, matt makers, hat makers, jewelry makers, perfume sellers, nan makers, knife sharpeners, restaurant owners, bike fixers, seamstresses, scrap metal dealers, soap makers, farmers, fruit sellers, fishermen, craftspeople, chicken feed makers, brewers, chicken ranchers, manicurists, dairy people, tea shop owners, banana porters, traditional healers, haberdashers, weavers, pot makers, broom makers, juicers, bee keepers, traditional reed flute sellers, t-shirt artists, pineapple truckers, fish farmers, mask makers, cheese makers, mushroom farmers, strawberry farmers, TV repairers, fashion designers, long distance phone operators, coal sellers, tire repairers, doughnut makers, pig farmers, vegetable sellers, bodega owners, plastic bag recyclers, among others.  I am proud to report that the human spirit is still strong around the world.