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Mariela Del Carmen is a single mother and the sole provider for her four daughters, aged 2-14. While Mariela was growing up, her family's economic situation prevented her from attending school and getting a traditional education. When she started her own family, she dedicated herself to working to provide more for her children so that they could have better lives.

Mariela found a job working in the infamous maquillas, or clothing factories, where she made less than $2.00 a day. With her daughters, Mariela lived in a small home made of salvaged materials. Due to a leaky roof and a dirt floor, family members were frequently ill, yet Mariela always managed to scrape by on her salary from the factory. Then, when her youngest daughter Andrea got sick with pneumonia, Mariela, who was working six to seven days a week at the factory, could not afford the medical expenses and found herself without hope or motivation to continue the life that she was living.

She quit her factory job and set out to find a better way of life. The factory paid her $37.00 severance for her two years of work, and with that money she began her own home-based seamstress business. Mariela started out small, sewing school uniforms, dresses and skirts, and was barely making ends meet. When Bridges began working with her community, Mariela applied to receive a small loan under the Small Business Program.

This Bridges program awards small, interest free loans to individuals with business plans. Each person must become a member of a "credit group," or a five family support system that provides a forum for creative development and re-payment oversight. Mariela received a loan of $50.00 from Bridges which she used to buy higher quality fabric and to expand her clientele market. After receiving this loan her income doubled from $60 a month to $120.

The business was a family effort as her daughters supported their mother by doing extra chores around the house, cooking, washing clothes or running errands. Fernanda, Mariela's eldest daughter, helped by teaching her mother how to keep the books. For Mariela, who never learned to read, this was a huge accomplishment. As a family they saved enough money this year to buy an official land title. With this land title, and a stable income, Mariela felt ready to apply for a housing project with Bridges. Fernanda again helped her family by writing the formal letter of application for the project. The leadership committee in Guanacastillo will decide this month if the family will be selected as one of the recipients of a house. Now that her daughters are going to school Mariela's hope is that the new home will provide a safe and dry place for them to study.

Fernanda has already decided that she wants to be a businesswoman like her mother. Mariela hopes to give her girls the opportunities that she never had...and she is very hopeful.