Interview with Pedro Lacen

Pedro Lacen, director of microfinance Esperanza International Peter: What is the difference of Christ-centered microfinance as opposed to other microfinance, other great work, that’s happening in Haiti and the Dominican Republic? Pedro: Well the difference is not money, definitely. You have other organizations that do microfinance, that have a lot of money. You have very, very large microfinance in both countries— very powerful in terms of money, in cash. So we do think that the difference is Jesus Christ, centered in our decisions. So, this is the difference. And we listen that even from our clients. Clients that are not attending to churches, clients that maybe they do believe in voodoo, they believe in black magic, etc., in spiritualism. But they say, “You know what, you are different from these organizations, because they give me money, they can give me more money, but you bring me something different. You bring me the Word of God.” Even, I mean, it’s incredible how many people have been transformed through our years serving in both countries. As, for example, Ciprian, Maritza Ciprian, one of our stories [clients], she saw one of the movies that we are doing with the support of Crown Financial Ministry. And she saw that movie one day, and it was talking about 2 Kings 4, the widow and the oil, and she saw the movie, and she was crying immediately because she saw herself, she was seeing herself, in the movie. So how she didn’t have anything before we come into the community and give her the opportunity to have a very small loan, but with this small loan she was able to grow up their family, to send the kids to school, and to be better now. So she was crying and she told us the testimony, and it is amazing the way that God has been working with us through this ministry, through the loans that we are disbursing, that we are giving to them, but also the Word of God every day, in every opportunity, in a way as a testimony to them.