A Hug from Afar Elba JustHope
Society & Culture, Practice & Voice

JustHope: A Hug from Afar





All Souls Teams making the world a better place in partnership with JustHope.

All Souls Village Banking partnered with our Green Team last year for a trip to Nicaragua. This blend between justice teams not only connected with women who are supported by Village Banking’s micro-lending, but also built Green Stoves for two families.

All Souls Village Banking and Sunday offerings to JustHope has generously contributed to help support some of Elba Luz Delgado’s salary. Elba is one of the few JustHope staff members residing in Nicaragua. [Note: All Souls has a culture of generosity. Our offering plate each Sunday goes to non-profits in our community and throughout the world who are also striving to make our world a better place.]

JustHope, based in Tulsa, OK, creates global, long-term partnerships that are grounded in solidarity, mutuality, and collaboration between Nicaraguan and U.S. communities to combat extreme poverty and nurture sustainable community.

It has been a challenging time in Nicaragua and JustHope’s Director of Partnerships, Marc St. Martin, translated a letter from Elba, sharing the gratitude of the partnership with All Souls.

“Please share this letter among the congregation and let our collective appreciation and thanks be known.  I consider All Souls to be an important, longtime partner and I look forward to working with All Souls teams as we move forward, hopefully planning a trip at some near future time.” —Marc St. Martin

Letter from Elba

Dear Friends,
Receive fraternal greetings from me My name is Elba Luz Delgado, I am 35 years old, I have worked for JustHope for 10 years, providing small loans to women of our community. They are the sustenance of their home through small businesses as pig breeding, chickens, small shops and agriculture. This beautiful project has been done, thanks to donations, that people like you have made to our organization. Our mission is focused on women, give it that prominence, that for machismo had lost, dedicating itself only to domestic work.

As a woman I identify with this cause, since I am a single mother, I have two children that are my raison d’être (purpose)  and my strength to move forward and it’s thanks to this work that I like every one of the women I work with.  We are the sustenance of our home and we are getting ahead of our sons and daughters and empowering more women who are still suffering and wings that our project wants to achieve, with these credits that we grant women they give an interest of two percent monthly for the purpose to increase working capital, are being an example of empowerment giving our contribution to the development of our communities.

Donors are our main contributors because without them this project would not be possible.  The loans have facilitated the dream of many families in Chacraseca and La Flor.

Our thanks that make this beautiful program possible and that we know that with much faith we will continue.

A hug from a distance,

Elba
Cover Photo: Elba Delgado from the JustHope Facebook Video. Watch here.

More about these amazing All Souls teams working to make our world a better place.

All Souls International

Contact: asucint@allsoulschurch.org

All Souls International is the umbrella group for the Sienna Project, Village Banking, and our Partner Church teams.

Sienna Project

Contact: Dianne Rusher at ddrusher@att.net

The Sienna Project builds schools in indigent Mayan villages in the Guatemala highlands in honor of the Lavanhar’s late daughter Sienna. Eighteen All Souls volunteers will travel to Guatemala and build the second All Souls Sienna Project elementary school (and the 12th Sienna Project school) in January 2019. Come join us on our next trip in 2021!

Village Banking

Contact: asucint@allsoulschurch.org

Offering the opportunity to learn more about economic justice, Village Banking supports projects that give people a hand up, primarily through microfinance loans. Even though All Souls is currently supporting microcredit projects through the work of JustHope in Nicaragua, we have historically supported banks in about 40 other locations in the developing world.

Partner Church

Contact: asucint@allsoulschurch.org

All Souls has a partnership with a Unitarian church in Énlaka, a beautiful Unitarian village in the hills of Romania. Our membership is enriched by this relationship and our cultural exchanges and visits. Travelers to Enlaka wanted!

Green Team

Contact: greenteam@allsoulschurch.org

The Green Team supports environmental justice by supporting Earth-friendly practices in our church and community.

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