Part of the Esperanza team in Santo Domingo (which is the local partner in the Dominican Republic for Kiva.org)

I was interested to see these USAID boxes - I'd heard about them but never seen them before. These were being held at the Esperanza office

This is where it all happens, inside a microfinance meeting. One of the members didn't show up which caused real problems.

This is a loan book -- for RD$5,000 or US$135. When the first loan is paid back they can apply for larger ones, the biggest I saw was RD$25,000 (US$676).

This was a second microfinance meeting and I am sitting with "my" loan book as the other members do.

This is what the loans enable -- this mother has 2 daugthers she supports by selling clothes out of the suitcase. She was very proud of her "portable" business.

This lady is half haitian and half dominican. She appeared to be doing quite well and was quite the saleslady.

This woman has had a microfinanced business for 3 months. Her dream is to get RD$100,000 (US$3,000) to expand her home based store in this space in front of her house.

2 kids were playing outside the microfinance meeting while their parents are inside

Me sitting with some of the kids of a microfinanced family.