Water for Chocolate

by Tiffany Nguyen Tiffany is a 4th-year undergraduate student visiting Oaxaca from the University of Texas at Dallas, where she studies public and nonprofit management. She is delighted to get to write about Oaxaca and its wonderful traditions. On the second day of En Vía’s Feria de Artesanas Emprendedoras, Isabel Lazo Chávez brings the tools…

La feria at Fundación En Vía

Words by Newell Searle. Photos by Lene Braeutigam. The day had just begun and in the shady courtyard two dozen women were preparing for the second Women Entrepreneurs Trade Fair at the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca. The feria was organized by Fundación En Vía, a Oaxacan non-profit housed at the Instituto. Through the organization’s micro-lending program,…

Moving the Smoke Out of the Kitchen: A Stove Build With Fundación En Vía

Words and photographs by Ehren Seeland A mix of sweat and clay creeps down my temple as I submerge a brick into an aluminum bucket full of water. As the terracotta absorbs the liquid, bubbles escape from the edges, rippling to the top like inspired banter at a cocktail party. When the last of the…

Fundación En Vía on CNN!

Did you see us on CNN? A nonprofit organization in Mexico helps women in poverty by providing microloans. Fundación En Vía was recently shown on CNN (link here), the clip also showing one of the women in our program, Guadalupe Lazo Hernandez from Teotitlán del Valle. Guadalupe has 3 sons, and supports the family herself through her…

Women’s workshops: Making goals happen

Education is an important component of the En Via package. As well as receiving no interest loans, participants have the opportunity to attend workshops on a variety of topics related to small business management and personal development. Previous workshops have included: financial management, marketing design and strategy, computer classes and English courses. The approach of…