Will the Poor Always Be with Us?
Let’s explore this often-quoted saying of Jesus in its full context.
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June 03, 2025
Ruth’s entrepreneurial story began over 40 years ago near a football stadium.
Displaced by civil war, young Ruth—along with her mother and brother—fled to the capital, where they hoped to find a better life. Their new home was disorienting at first, and her mother couldn’t find employment.
But Ruth’s mother refused to give up. She began selling street food by the stadium’s bus stop, employing Ruth and her brother to help as they could. Although they began with just a stove, a small table, and two chairs, their location ensured they always had an influx of customers.
La Norteña
As Ruth grew up, she discovered her own passion for cooking and decided to invest in a proper restaurant, La Norteña (The Northerner), taking out a loan to afford the expense.
Guided by the lessons of resilience and dedication she learned from her mother, Ruth steadily grew her business, rising at 4:30 every morning to purchase the freshest ingredients from the market. She became renowned for her vaho, a labor-intensive dish of meat, plantains, and yuca cooked and served in banana leaves.
Predatory loans, however, threatened to spoil everything. Every day, debt collectors came and went, taking half of her profits. Ruth needed a way out if her doors were to remain open.
Ruth’s Financial Freedom
Through a local Central American partner of Partners Worldwide, Ruth achieved financial freedom. They purchased Ruth’s loan, offering her a new payment plan with a fair interest rate.
With her debts consolidated, Ruth was free to focus on improving her restaurant, purchasing new stoves, kitchenware, tables, chairs, and more. Further, she could also focus on adapting her menu to market trends.
To date, Ruth has taken out seven loans, which have enabled her to better serve her customers, who declare her vaho the best in the city. Her vision is to one day buy her restaurant outright instead of renting.
“Fight for your dreams,” Ruth said. “It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible, either. We’ve come a long way, and our partners have been a great support.”
A Team Effort
Ruth doesn’t run her restaurant by herself. Her daughter, who is attending university for marketing, helps Ruth with social media promotion of her restaurant, including menu updates.
Ruth’s restaurant also provides seven full-time jobs for people in her community, primarily single mothers. It’s a way of honoring her mother’s legacy while equipping others with what they need to provide for their families. And it’s why PW believes in the importance of investing in small businesses, so that they can invest in the future of others.
“We women are intelligent,” Ruth said. “We entrepreneurs are capable.”
