A Hard-Working Immigrant

Milouse Accilien is one of the businesswomen who have joined Esperanza’s programs in a community called Villa Linda (Pretty Villa) close to the capital Santo Domingo. She is also one of the many Esperanza loan recipients who are originally from Haiti, and migrate either temporarily or permanently to the Dominican Republic in search of economic opportunity. Milouse has been living for years in the DR, selling used and new clothing, shoes, and accessories in order to help provide a comfortable life for her three children. Now in the process of re-paying her third business loan with Esperanza, Milouse is eager to see continued growth for her business because she is renting a space for her store instead of selling from her house or door-to-door.

Milouse heard about Esperanza through a friend who was an associate in a city 3 hours away from Santo Domingo. She liked the program at once, and was relieved at not having to acquire loans informally anymore. She has used her three loans to invest in more merchandise, which she now has the room to display. Then, with her earnings, Milouse has been able to fix up her house. In the near future she hopes to apply for a housing loan from Esperanza so that she can finish the remodeling.

A Spiritual Leader
As Esperanza offers more than just financial services, Milouse has participated in many health trainings that have helped her learn to “take care of my family and myself,” in addition to the regular cervical cancer exams that Esperanza facilitates. Perhaps Milouse’s favorite part, however, of being an Esperanza associate is the spiritual focus of the organization. Many of her fellow church members belong to her solidarity group, or Bank of Esperanza, and Milouse is in charge of leading devotionals during the repayment meetings where they read and discuss passages from the Bible. “Esperanza is the best thing that has happened to me,” she shares, “because they host activities for group leaders, and [the employees] are Christians [who] always put God before everything.”

Together with her husband Belvino, Milouse has lots of future plans. She hopes to purchase her business locale in order to fix it up the way she would like it, finish remodeling her house, and one day save up enough to be able to travel to Boston.