Through Partnership, This Farmer Can Withstand Drought
Doreen built a resilient farm with training and drought-resistant crops.
Africa
May 05, 2025
Everywhere Clemente looked grew a vast forest of banana plants, green leaves as tall as trees. They engulfed the entire province of El Oro, Ecuador, and filled the pockets of the wealthy landowners who exported the best bananas for consumption elsewhere. But none of this abundance was in reach for someone like Clemente. It was as if a locked gate stood between his family and the life they deserved.
Unable to envision a better future for his wife and their three children, Clemente stopped looking. He turned to substances for relief. Over time, the addiction pulled him further from the people around him. Some in the community didn’t know how to respond. Most kept their distance.
Most, but not everyone.
A New Hope
When the lead pastor of the local church invited Clemente to attend a service, he figured it couldn’t hurt. Clemente came a few times...then he drifted away again. This whole church thing didn’t feel right for him. Maybe he was destined to be an outcast.
But pastor Alfonso wasn’t giving up so easily. He persistently asked Clemente to return, even checking in on him when absent.
The church’s ministry—and our local partner—El Oro Partners (EOP) became a source of hope for Clemente. EOP leaders Alfonso and Lorena didn’t define Clemente by his past. Instead, they saw a man created in the image of God. Someone filled with potential.
Through them, Clemente came to believe this himself.
Clemente dove into our microenterprise program, where he learned how to start a business and look after his finances. All the while, Alfonso walked alongside him, offering unwavering emotional and spiritual support.
Clemente’s Chip Delivery Service
Clemente had learned how to start a business. Now, he just needed to figure out what that business would be.
He looked around town for inspiration, for something he could offer others. There were bananas and plantains, of course. But now that he looked at them, something felt different. Where once he used to see despair, Clemente saw endless possibilities.
He started buying plantains from local farmers and frying chips in his house—a simple process that didn’t require a lot of equipment. Then he went from restaurant to restaurant, knocking on doors and asking if they wanted to buy his chips. Though some restaurants said no, his persistence paid off.
With his profits, Clemente built a kitchen outside his home.
A Man, Transformed
When he first began, Clemente sold 800 bags of chips a month. Today, it’s more than 8,000. As the business took off, Clemente and his wife built an outdoor kitchen where they could increase production and expand into new chip varieties: green plantains, sweet plantains, sweet potatoes, and bananas. With their profits, Clemente bought a truck, which he uses to make deliveries throughout the province.
Clemente can reach businesses in neighboring towns, thanks to his new truck.
Through partnership, faith, and hope, Clemente has transformed into a man filled with gratitude and purpose. He’s providing for his family—including the university education of his oldest—and for his five employees. And he’s become an active member of the church, using his testimony to encourage and inspire others.
As a redemptive businessperson, Clemente is using his business journey to provide opportunities for others, investing in the future of his employees and their families. Where once he felt hopeless, Clemente has since become that source of hope for others. From Alfonso to Clemente to his employees, each act of love has rippled out to start exciting new chapters throughout his community and beyond.
