Former Arkansas priest promoting micro-loans to Haitians

Published: September 18, 2010

By Malea Hargett
Editor

The home page of www.zafen.org.

The home page of www.zafen.org.

Father Miles Heinen, CM, knows what Catholics who want to help rebuild Haiti can do. They can fund a micro-loan to small businesses through a new Catholic organization.

Zafèn, a microfinance program that means "It's our business" in Haitian Creole, was launched in April, less than three months after an earthquake struck the island.

Zafèn was established by the Vincentians, Daughters of Charity, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Ladies of Charity, DePaul University and other organizations to mark the 350th anniversary of the death of St. Louise de Marillac and St. Vincent de Paul. The initiative has partnered with Fonkoze, the largest microfinance group in Haiti.

Father Heinen, executive director of the Vincentian Solidarity Office in Philadelphia, was visiting Arkansas to help fill in at Masses at St. Anne Church in North Little Rock and assist with Hispanic retreats for 10 days in early September. The Vincentian priest is familiar to many people in northwest Arkansas because he helped to start Hispanic ministry in the area from 1993 to 2004.

Part of Father Heinen's work now is to help Vincentian priests in poorer regions of the world with grant-writing and fundraising. He also assists in promoting Zafèn.

Father Heinen, 59, said the "Vincentian family" worldwide decided to expand its work in Haiti in 2009 because it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

"People want to do something for Haiti," he said. "But they ask, 'How do I do it? How do I get the money there and will it get there?'"

Making micro-loans has become an idea popularized in recent years by websites like Kiva and the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, whose founder, economist Muhammad Yunus, won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

For as little as $25, someone can loan or donate money to an individual not served by traditional banks. Entrepreneurs can emerge from poverty if their businesses are given a short-term loan while they establish or expand their trade. All businesses and initiatives are vetted before they are accepted by Zafèn.

Unlike other micro-loan programs, Zafèn currently gives its loans interest free.

Father Heinan said Zafèn can be successful because its partner, Fonkoze, is an established group in Haiti and can review projects for sustainability before they are accepted by Zafèn and put on their website (www. zafen.org). Fon koze requires its clients complete an 18-month training program before they are given a loan.

On the website as of Sept. 13 were 25 projects to fund. A committee reviews the new projects each week and gives a project 90 days to get its first lender. If within the next 30 days the project is not fully funded, it is taken off the website and the lenders are repaid immediately.

Many of the projects center on agriculture, such as helping lettuce farmers buy their seeds at a wholesale price ($75 loan) and improving coffee production ($50 loan). The loans are not for rebuilding projects associated with the earthquake.

Catholics can get involved in Zafèn by making a micro-loan or donation as an individual, family, parish, choir, school or religious education class. Micro-credits can be given as a gift for graduation or birthday. Or someone who is not looking for a financial return on their money can make a donation to pay for one year of school tuition, supplies and a daily meal for a child.

"There is so much infrastructure in place to make sure that the money is going to be used well," Father Heinen said. "It's going to be productive. Usually when people give internationally there is this huge fear if the money is going to get there. With this project, the answer is 'Yes, it is.' Not only is it going to get there, we are going to oversee it so that it is used well."

Since Zafèn was launched April 1, 50 projects have been supported, of which 25 are already fully funded, $60,000 has been loaned and $25,000 for scholarships has been collected. Father Heinan said 70 new jobs have been created, 1,000 scholarships funded, 410 fruit trees and 540 coffee plants were planted and three projects were launched to end the production of wood charcoal in Haiti.

Father Heinan said the projects funded will help the Haitian people become independent.

"What attracts us is this is not dependent on the outside; it's partnered with the outside," he said. "The people on the island are learning and being given the capacity to sustain what they are going to do so it becomes a growth that will be able to last."

Those who are evangelized by the new initiative are the Vincentian priests, Daughters of Charity and other lay women and men who work in Haiti.

"It evangelizes us because it puts us in solidarity with the poor," Father Heinen said.