Hipolita: A Life of Just Enough
Giving monthly funds instead of donated goods is virtually unheard of in the nonprofit industry. To hand a Mayan mother cash and to trust her to utilize it wisely and for the benefit of the entire family takes a level of credibility we don’t often give our participants. Finding Freedom through Friendship volunteers work diligently to bring in donations to our organization and we have a duty to our donors to use their financial gifts wisely.
Hipolita is one of the widows in our program who qualifies to receive funds instead of monthly food supplies. Her appointed facilitator lives several hours away and delivering food, school supplies and home goods is not feasible. Hipolita and our facilitator have known each other for years and their respective credibility is beyond question.
Saving some of our funds to start a bank account for herself is a new level of self-sufficiency for this Mayan mama. Never in her life has she had such a cushion of financial support to protect her family against climate induced crop failure, a family member needing health care or the need to pay for a funeral for her aged mother.
The slim margin between having the basic needs met for Hipolita’s children or going without was immeasurable for most of her life. Hipolita’s maternal malnutrition and the resulting short stature is testimony to a life of scarcity.
The interview (below) between Hipolita and her FFF facilitator offers a glimpse into what a rural Guatemala mother who has lived a life of “never enough” feels like when she is offered “just enough” for the first time in fifty years.
Hipólita came this afternoon to open her bank account. She was very pleased to deposit $456.00 in the bank! She asked good questions, showing she is really thinking about this new tool in her economic kit.
I asked her about how things are going and she was happy to tell me that she is content now that she has her “things”: she bought dishes and a bed with a foam mattress, among other things.
Today she bought some chicken wire fencing to keep her many chickens from wandering into her brother´s newly planted corn field, since he has sprayed the area with insecticide. She also has been able to pay men to plant some corn and beans on her land near her house.
I asked her how she has improved her nutrition. She said she and her daughter Claudia eat their chicken’s eggs rather than sell them at this point with the size of her flock. They have expanded their palette of food choice to include more beans, rice, vegetables, bread, Incaparina, milk and cheese. She noted that she can now give Claudia a few quetzales every day she goes to school so she can buy some fruit or a snack.
When I asked her about herself, she said she feels much better with her better diet. She used to frequently feel dizzy or weak. Now, she doesn´t experience that and feels much more energetic. And she said she never tires of thanking God for “esa señora” (that lady and her organization) who has made her life so much better, and repeated that she no longer has to make sleeping mats all day for so little pay. Now she is free to take time to take classes in CONALFA, the national literacy program. And she never tires of asking God to abundantly bless Finding Freedom through Friendship.
Hipolita, Guatemala, April 2018
(Hipolita was interviewed by Bernice Kita, Finding Freedom facilitator living in Guatemala)
