How to build a barbershop in the campo

The picture below was taken nearly a year ago during jornada (workday) that Cat and I scheduled to improve a local hiking trail. I haven't written much about it here because it was kind of a fracaso (failure). Trying and failing is a big part of Peace Corps service but it's not the kind of thing that motivates one to lift the pen.

We still haven't completed the project.
 

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Junior earns part of his income as a guía turistica (tour guide). It was he who guided us out to the waterfall and did most of the work that got done that day. The idea was (and still is) to improve the conditions of local trails to make them more attractive (and safer) for tourists to visit local
gems.

This would clearly benefit Junior, because there isn't enough work as a guide to support him or his family. Most of the time works a barber but he occasionally works part time in construction, which is how he got a job painting the town park. Painting your house for the new year is a Dominican tradition that dates back to the dictatorship and our new síndico applied the principal to civic infrastructure.



Because he is an hombre serio Junior decided to use the windfall of cash to better his prospects by beginning construction on a peluquería. It was a good idea!

Junior is a talented peluquero (barber). Personal appearance is very important in Dominican society so the muchachos need to look sharp for school. Local parents prefer Junior over the other peluquería which is attached to the discoteque and sold rum. With a steady clientele all he needed was a work space that wasn't his living room.

But he started the project without a presupesto (budget) and his money quickly ran out. For months it looked like this.

Until my counterpart suggested to Junior that he get a loan. Lending in the DR is pretty precarious: my community-run institution charges 33% APR and we offer better rates than most banks! I was worried about Junior's prospects of paying back the loan so I suggested to him that we institute a system of contabilidad (accounting).

What we came up with was pretty simple. Junior wrote down them name of every client that came in, what service they wanted, and whether they paid en efectivo or whether he gave them fiao. We used this to estimate his average monthly income.

We also totaled up all they money he had spent on construction and used the data to estimate how many pesos it would take to complete construction.

Now Junior knew exactly how much money he needed to borrow and how long it would take him to pay it back.

So he was able to open the doors . . .

 . . . and start construction again.

 

This is what it looked like when I got my hair cut there last week.