Luisa stood at the end of the meeting, tears streaming shamelessly down her cheeks. “This,” she said, holding up her $100 bill, “is the first loan I’ve ever received. Never has anyone given me credit before.”

In Bolivia, many women like Luisa, find themselves abandoned and struggling alone to provide for their children. Yet with little or no disposable income, no access to commercial bank loans, and a 70 percent illiteracy rate, they often become marginalized and fall into desperation.

World Concern, an international non-profit relief and development organization based in Seattle, is bringing hope to these women through their Women’s Solidarity and Food Security Project. The project revitalizes women by creating community banks and equipping small, well-organized women’s groups with the skills needed to manage them.

Each bank is run through a local solidarity group, which provides management and financial training with an emphasis on Biblical principals and Christian stewardship. A portfolio of revolving loan funds is established with reasonable interest rates to insure future loans and to pay operational costs. Values of these “micro-loans” usually range between $50 and $500.

Luisa is now repaying her third loan of $250, which went toward expanding her empanada (meat-filled pastry) business. She has purchased a glass oven, a cooler, a blender, a table, four chairs, a dozen place settings, a gas oven, a natural gas container, a tarp, and a cooking set. In the four months since receiving her first loan of $100, her income has doubled and already she has $20 in savings. “I will always be grateful first to God and to World Concern,” Luisa stated recently. “There are many families who need help… may God always bless your work.”

As World Concern develops micro-credit programs around the world, partners are needed to create initial loan funds. Bolivia is working toward a $100,000 goal. This is a tremendous opportunity to participate in helping poor families become financially self-sufficient. For more information or to make a gift toward a revolving loan fund, visit World Concern online at www.worldconcern.org or call (800) 755-5022.