The Land of ‘Milk and Honey’
Sekepe is a micro-lending and business skills training ministry that I launched with a friend and supporter in the summer of 2009. We wanted to be a catalyst to ministries helping women break the cycles of poverty.
In September of ’09, I was in Mexico City and meant Rosi Orozco, a Mexican congresswoman, who through her civil association had started a foundation / safe home that rescued and restored girls from human trafficking. Rosi and I sat next to each other over dinner and we talked about the need for some business training and experience to help prepare the girls for a new life once they leave the safe home. The next day, I met with some leaders at Casa Sobre la Roca who were helping launch entreperneur projects but it never seemed to work to work on a loan. Then last Spring, I felt lead to open the discussion again. So when I was down last May, I met with German Villar, who directs the Camino a Casa foundation and we agreed to move forward. And over the summer, we worked out the budget and got the loan approved by the Sekepe board.
Previously, Camino a Casa had a small bakery project where girls made baked goods and sold them on Sunday morning at church. German’s desire with Sekepe’s help is to take this to another level and make it a legitatamate business. We also talked about it being something the girls could get paid for more than just raise funds for the foundation since the last thing we wanted to do was re-exploit them.
So this month, I took $2500 down to Mexico and German and I signed official papers for a loan for “Milk and Honey” – the new name of the bakery and catering business. They already had an oven and other equipment but our small loan will enable them to pay for culinary classes for the girls, baking materials and a marketing strategy. German is lining up shops to sell their baked goods and will advertise catering options for parties. Milk and Honey will be run by 20+ girl who are survivors of human trafficking who are experiencing the promised land…. and Sekepe gets to play a small part.
