It was not easy to decide who should get the leading role in my report on people receiving microcredit in Latin America. I started the search in a sea of life stories. I dived into the water and landed in Nicaragua.

My leading lady is Linda Flores who is being supported by Pro Mujer, one of the region’s most important Non-Governmental Organisations. Pro Mujer (For Women) is based in León, just under 100 kilometres from Nicaragua’s capital, Managua. Linda makes tortillas, the famous corn pancakes which are eaten throughout Latin America. She has used microcredit to extend production and buy a special oven.

Kneading and rolling out
I phone from the Netherlands to make an appointment for Sunday. Cameraman Paul Bergsma and I want to be able to get a first impression of Linda before seeing her at work at four o’clock on Monday morning. That’s how early she starts kneading and rolling out the dough. She carries doing this until the afternoon.

It takes us a while to find her home. There are no clear addresses in Nicaragua. We have been told: La Providencia district, five blocks south of such-and-such school. Linda is waiting for us with her husband, Jorge, and their three children. The children make an immediate start on the Gouda waffles which I’ve brought from the Netherlands together with Radio Netherlands T-shirts and other little presents.

Dawn
The following day begins at dawn to a chorus of cocks crowing in La Providencia, a poor but pretty neighbourhood. We’ve had breakfast, rock-hard Gallo Pinto (a local dish made of rice, beans, eggs and cheese). I’m amazed that so many women are already at work so early in the morning. Gloria Ruiz, the director of Pro Mujer, later tells us that it’s Nicaragua’s women who are the business people. The men only get interested “when they see the women’s projects have met with success”.

We start recording and hear how Linda has worked her way out of poverty and how Pro Mujer helps women with education and healthcare. But the most important thing for us is to witness how the women of Nicaragua are working to increase their self-respect.

Paradoxical
It must be said, however, that the picture isn’t all rosy. Two of Linda’s children have not been able to go to school this year because of helping their mother with her work. The situation is paradoxical. Without the children helping, the family’s situation cannot improve, but without education, the youngsters have no future.

We take our leave of the family and are promised that the children will go to school again next year. The family hopes to receive more microcredit to enable them to open a small shop selling bicycle parts. Linda will be in charge of the tortillas and Jorge will manage the shop. And the children? They, of course, will be off to school.