Socorro del Carmen Varela

Type of Grant: Micro-Grant

Use of Grant: To move her beauty salon out of her house into a real office.

Amount requested: $1500.00

Raised so far: $1500.00

Amount still needed: $0

Socorro del Carmen Varela lives in Jinotega, Nicaragua, one of the most important coffee growing regions. 20 years ago Socorro took the bus to visit her sister en Praderas de Pantasma, when it ran over an anti-tank mine with 40 people inside of it. She was lucky to survive but lost her leg in the accident. Socorro says that she often took this very bus to see her sister and never imagined that it could hit a mine. Now Socorro has her own hair and beauty salon in the front of her house. Socorro is full of energy even though she needs crutches to get around since her prosthesis is so badly deteriorated. Thanks to her outgoing, ever cheerful nature her business is flourishing and she uses the money to support her 5 children. None the less Socorro says it is difficult to have 5 children and be a single mother, especially since the salon takes up a large portion of the house. With this loan Socorro could go to school to become a certified hair dresser and move her business out of her home and into a nearby building.

Location: Jinotega, Nicaragua
In country partner: Walking Unidos
Grant ID: 223N
Profile ID: 18

A Micro-Grant was awarded to Socorro,
please donate towards another Micro-Grant.

People Affected

We've created this website to be a place where people who work in the coffee industry and coffee consumers can make a connection with the coffee farmers, workers and their families who deal with landmines on a daily basis.

Look through the profiles here and direct your money to be part of a Micro-Grant to someone trying to work, create a business or improve an existing one, or send someone in their family to school. Micro-Grants do not have to be repaid. They are one way the Trust can provide resources for people to help themselves.

Micro-Grants are handled via PayPal through the Polus Center for Social and Economic Development.

The Coffeelands Landmine Victims’ Trust works in partnership with the Polus Center, a non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to supporting people with disabilities since 1979.