The Prologue

This is the entire staff of SosteNica, the micro-loans non-profit that I am currently interning with in West Chester, PA. They are preparing me for ten months in Nicaragua, where I will be working with their partner bank, CEPRODEL, and at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in Leon. I'm impressed with this project, how just a few people are responsible for the success that this project has had in the rural sector of the second poorest county in Latin America. So far I have been learning the North American side of the story - working to find institutional investors and learning some new financial lingo.

It's strange how connections overlap and that a random suburb of Philadelphia can have so many things to offer me. I'm staying about three miles from the office with my mother's cousin, and Morgan, a friend who worked me last year at the Food Bank Farm, is coming this weekend because his parents also live in this little town. So even though I am so far away from where I have lived and most of my family, I'm still connected in these strange ways.

In fact, I met Alan, the President and founder of Sostenica, fifteen years ago at a family summer camp run by the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS). Our families spent several summers contra dancing together, and I got to know his children, who are a few years younger than me. He has kept in touch via this micro loans project, and now my interests line up with one of his life projects.