Carmen del Rocio

Carmen Paccha is 30 years old and lives on the outskirts of the city of Loja in southern Ecuador. She is married with three children, although only the elder two attend school. Her husband helps her on their smallholding and also works as a builder when he can find work.

Carmen wakes up early each day to make breakfast for her children and get them ready for school. They have a long walk to school each day. She then collects eggs and feeds her chickens. Then she starts caring for her vegetables. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays wholesalers arrive at her farm to buy vegetables from her. She learned farming from her parents and started cultivating independently when her parents gifted her a plot of land. Carmen thinks everything is difficult when done the first time, but it becomes easier through perseverance. She earms around $200 profit per month from selling vegetables. Carmen requested a loan to purchase fertiliser for $1,000, seeds for $100, and the remainder is to buy materials and pay labour to repair her home which has become damaged. She stores some of her harvest in her home. The loan is repayable over 24 monthly installments and her husband will help to meet repayments.