Pame isn’t completely new to the program, in January she chose ANADES and Velasco Program to do her social service with the Ellacuría Program of the UCA. “I was struck by the work they did and with a large group of people from the communities near my home. I felt that I could learn beyond what the classes teach,” Pame said, about her motivation for choosing Programa Velasco. During her service experience with the program, she worked in multiple areas, from classrooms to accounting, even though she was not initially familiar with these activities. Pame is a very positive and dedicated person who put forth effort into learning how to perform all of her duties well.
When the social service ended she wanted to continue supporting Programa Velasco as a volunteer saying, “Being close to my house, I felt that I could invest my time in continuing in the areas where I had been during service hours. The feeling that I could be useful in different activities even for a few days motivated me.” During the past couple weeks she became more involved with the entrepreneurs in the workshops and in the planning with the Project coordinator.
An important part of the Project is the mentorship and technical advising the women receive because it means that a person is dedicated to evaluate the progress of the entrepreneurs in their business by identifying difficulties and possible solutions, but this must also be done with a lot of tact so that the entrepreneurs understand that the changes mean improvement in their business.These are some of the responsibilities that Pame has been developing and she told us how this time with the program has affected her personally, “Having to work closely with women and knowing each of the ventures with their difficulties and goals makes me realize the challenges that we have as a society. It has impacted me to see how everyone is oriented to work in a committed manner in the different areas as well as the warm and harmonious environment that they maintain here.”
It is encouraging to see Pamela so motivated as she also comments, “it inspires me and encourages me to see the results of mentoring, to see how women improve their living conditions, the development of their enterprises and become more empowered.” Pame’s plans for the future are related to the work she does, “I would like to study the issue of gender equality more in depth because I believe it is a fundamental axis of change that our country needs and I also want to continue to study the area of community psychology.” We are very grateful to Pame! We know the value of all the work that she is doing to help entrepreneurs succeed.