Iquitos: Meet Solange

The following is a post from Ben, who is an intern with his wife Karen at Iquitos.

The woman on the left in the picture is Solange. She had taken a class through the government to learn how to make marmalades. The government promised funds to help start her business but never followed through. Additionally, the government didn’t teach her how to properly run a business. When she heard about Eagle Condor and the business classes being offered, she decided that this was a way for her to get the proper knowledge of business principles and finally start her marmalade business.

Last week we had the opportunity to document the process. With the help of her friend they took the juice from fresh pineapples and turned it into delicious marmalade. The process took several hours and included digging out all the juice and pulp from the pineapples, adding the sugar and pectin, cooking it over a charcoal fire, and then separating it into little containers to sell. They told us that if they leave at sunrise to sell the marmalade by walking up and down the street, by sunset the same day they should be able to sell it all. Splitting the profits between her and her friend they both will walk away with about 15 dollars.

I’ve learned a lot about dedication from Solange. Even though she has a little 2-year-old girl that requires a lot of attention, she attends every single class, does all the homework she is assigned, and even goes to other meetings with us to tell others about her experiences in the class. Besides all of this, she is one of the most dedicated people in church. When her family was assigned to clean the church building one week, they went and did it practically by themselves, even though others were supposed to come and help but didn’t. I feel lucky to know such an incredible woman and I know that with her dedication and the help of these classes she will be able to become very successful.