Fort Prinzenstein

After we returned from our eventful trip to Togo, Chris and I both needed some down time. On Sunday afternoon, we slowly made our way to Fort Prinzenstein in Keta- a village about 20 minutes away by tro-tro. We stepped out of the van with no fort in sight, but after stopping to ask directions a few times, we spotted the large crumbling shell of what was once an impressive seaside structure.
We were fortunate enough to run into the caretaker, James, on his way out for the day. He gladly reopened the locked door for us and launched into a well-rehearsed tour. I followed him closely as he rattled off facts in each room while Chris lingered behind taking photographs. I learned that James was from the royal family in Keta and had attended a special national school for historic site management.
The romantic mystique of the building quickly wore off as I gained a fuller understanding its history. Originally built by the Portuguese in the 15th century, it passed through Dutch and Danish hands before finally being sold to the British in the late 19th century. Each imperial power used it as a place to hold recently captured slaves until a ship arrived to bring them to the Americas.
In the first small room we entered, James explained that 50-100 female slaves were typically held for 1-2 months. Guards poured water under the door, so prisoners had to lap it up with their tongues, and food was thrown in for them to fight over. Bathtubs were situated near the center of the courtyard so that the governor could watch from above and choose the woman he wanted to rape. If the woman he chose became pregnant, she was kept in Ghana until the baby was born and shipped away immediately afterward. Much of Ghana’s present-day Mulatto population descended from these children.
James then showed us the room slaves were kept in just before boarding the ship, where they were starved for two days so that they would not be able to resist during transfer. Prisoners were strategically placed according to tribe; members of the same tribe were rarely housed together for fear they would communicate and organize a rebellion.
A series of quotes had been painted on the walls throughout the fort by villagers and visitors. I was particularly struck by one in the room that was used to imprison the strongest captives- with no windows or ventilation to relieve the unbearable heat: “Until the lion has a historian, the hunter will always be a hero.”
We wandered the expansive Keta beach for awhile after James finished his tour, pondering the horrific chapter in history the fort represented. My mood was lifted by chasing sand crabs with a young fisherman (whom I found very endearing, despite the fact that he guessed my age was 42), and flying a kite with a boisterous group of children who approached us yelling “Yavu! Yavu!” People often excitedly shout this expression for “white person” as we pass- similar to the response my family used to have upon spotting a deer from the car window.
On the way home, we stopped at a restaurant called Happy Corner to feast on grilled plump tilapia (which is served whole- Chris bravely sampled the head) and banku- a sticky paste-like substance made from cassava that’s used in lieu of a fork or spoon (I think it’s pretty tasty and always fun to eat with my fingers!). We finished up and made it back in time to walk home in the final few minutes of daylight. On our brief crepuscular stroll we greeted a few faces that have already become familiar during my short stay, were warned by a friendly stranger to hasten our escape from the evening mosquitos, and got serenaded by a comforting chorus of “Yavu! Yavu!”

Fort Prinzenstein

After we returned from our eventful trip to Togo, Chris and I both needed some down time. On Sunday afternoon, we slowly made our way to Fort Prinzenstein in Keta- a village about 20 minutes away by tro-tro. We stepped out of the van with no fort in sight, but after stopping to ask directions a few times, we spotted the large crumbling shell of what was once an impressive seaside structure.
We were fortunate enough to run into the caretaker, James, on his way out for the day. He gladly reopened the locked door for us and launched into a well-rehearsed tour. I followed him closely as he rattled off facts in each room while Chris lingered behind taking photographs. I learned that James was from the royal family in Keta and had attended a special national school for historic site management.
The romantic mystique of the building quickly wore off as I gained a fuller understanding its history. Originally built by the Portuguese in the 15th century, it passed through Dutch and Danish hands before finally being sold to the British in the late 19th century. Each imperial power used it as a place to hold recently captured slaves until a ship arrived to bring them to the Americas.
In the first small room we entered, James explained that 50-100 female slaves were typically held for 1-2 months. Guards poured water under the door, so prisoners had to lap it up with their tongues, and food was thrown in for them to fight over. Bathtubs were situated near the center of the courtyard so that the governor could watch from above and choose the woman he wanted to rape. If the woman he chose became pregnant, she was kept in Ghana until the baby was born and shipped away immediately afterward. Much of Ghana’s present-day Mulatto population descended from these children.
James then showed us the room slaves were kept in just before boarding the ship, where they were starved for two days so that they would not be able to resist during transfer. Prisoners were strategically placed according to tribe; members of the same tribe were rarely housed together for fear they would communicate and organize a rebellion.
A series of quotes had been painted on the walls throughout the fort by villagers and visitors. I was particularly struck by one in the room that was used to imprison the strongest captives- with no windows or ventilation to relieve the unbearable heat: “Until the lion has a historian, the hunter will always be a hero.”
We wandered the expansive Keta beach for awhile after James finished his tour, pondering the horrific chapter in history the fort represented. My mood was lifted by chasing sand crabs with a young fisherman (whom I found very endearing, despite the fact that he guessed my age was 42), and flying a kite with a boisterous group of children who approached us yelling “Yavu! Yavu!” People often excitedly shout this expression for “white person” as we pass- similar to the response my family used to have upon spotting a deer from the car window.
On the way home, we stopped at a restaurant called Happy Corner to feast on grilled plump tilapia (which is served whole- Chris bravely sampled the head) and banku- a sticky paste-like substance made from cassava that’s used in lieu of a fork or spoon (I think it’s pretty tasty and always fun to eat with my fingers!). We finished up and made it back in time to walk home in the final few minutes of daylight. On our brief crepuscular stroll we greeted a few faces that have already become familiar during my short stay, were warned by a friendly stranger to hasten our escape from the evening mosquitos, and got serenaded by a comforting chorus of “Yavu! Yavu!”

Microfinance Whirlwind

Last Tuesday rounded out my week of action-packed, star-studded microfinance bliss.  The micro-marathon began the previous Wednesday, when I arrived in San Francisco for the second annual Microfinance USA Conference, which brought together professionals working internationally and in the burgeoning domestic microfinance field to share best practices and discuss the next frontier of poverty alleviation.

I arrived back in Seattle just in time to catch Muhammad Yunus give a Town Hall lecture about his latest book, Building Social Business.  I expected my evening in the presence of the father of microfinance to be the fitting capstone to my microadventures, only to be surprised with an opportunity to see Dr. Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of BRAC–yet another highly successful and well-established poverty alleviation organization–speak on two days later.

All that microfinance mania resulted in a broad array of industry perspectives, predictions, and personalities.  Here are some highlights:

The Neverending Story. Additional services MFIs could offer—such as business education, agricultural development, and health care—was a major theme both at the conference and in the subsequent lectures in Seattle.  BRAC offers incredibly comprehensive social programs in Bangladesh in tandem with the banking services the organization offers.  In addition to establishing primary schools and extensive public health initiatives, BRAC has been using social businesses—the theme of Yunus’ lecture and book—to answer clients’ needs since the 70s.  Dr. Ahbed explained that originally these businesses, such as urban retail outlets to market rural artisan goods, were called Program Support Enterprises and evolved from market opportunities to service clients.

To Profit or Not to Profit? This question came up on many of the conference panels, and is a debate Yunus has weighed in on in the past. Elizabeth Funk of the Dignity Fund addressed the fear that for-profit lenders will unreasonably inflate interest rates for excess profit.  Funk argued that market forces and wise investors would eventually disallow excess profit, but acknowledged that in a young industry abuses are slower to be corrected.  Funk also brought up “mission drift,” or the fear that institutions will lose focus on poverty in favor of profit.  Funk reasoned that in cases when people at slightly higher socioeconomic levels seek loans, it’s often to expand small business, which could lead to more employment opportunities.

Stephanie Cohn gave a great rundown of the pragmatic, high-level approach the Omidyar Network uses to maximize the social impact of their investments.  She used three examples to illustrate the spectrum of this flexible approach: 1) Grants in areas where subsidized capital is needed, such as communities with little financial literacy; 2) For-profit investment in areas that can reasonably offer a market return; 3) A hybrid of the two.  Cohn explained that it’s not so much about tradeoffs between for-profit and non-profit approaches as deliberate sequencing and deciding what is appropriate for each market.

The first microfinance institution in India to go public, SKS, came up several times at the conference.  Maya Chorengel of Elevar Equity pointed out that SKS has had an extraordinary rate of growth that’s made it the largest MFI in the world (over 6 million borrowers with almost $1 billion portfolio), which would not have been able to achieve without employing market-driven financial tools.  Chorengel compared this to the slow-growing pace generally facilitated by private donors and foundations, which makes it difficult to rapidly expand and reach more borrowers.

A Brave New World. Technology is enhancing microfinance worldwide, particularly the opportunities that widespread cell phone proliferation provide.  Kenya’s M-PESA system was cited at the conference as a preview into the future of mobile banking, and has been the subject of recent blogposts by David Roodman and Ignacio Mas.  The importance of wireless technology for tracking information in the field and possibilities such as mobile microinsurance came up as well.

Chuck Slaughter, CEO of Living Goods, summarized his vision of Microfinance 2.0 quite succinctly: franchising.  Microsavings was another hot topic.  Abed envisoned a collaborative frontier that facilitates “brain circulation” rather than “brain drain.”  Amidst all the opinions and predictions for what will be next for microfinance, there seemed to be a consensus that transparency and consumer protection are crucial for ensuring an honest, socially successful future in microfinance domestically and abroad.

A Divine Union

Happy (belated) World Fair Trade Day!

After my colleague Melinda told me about a cool fair trade company she’d recently discovered, I decided some arduous primary research was in order.  I eyed the glossy wrapper of a bar that claimed to contain “Heavenly Chocolate with a heart,” took a deep breath, and sampled the 70% dark chocolate inside.  Mmmm…now that I can safely vouch for the blissful sensory experience that Divine Chocolate’s name implies, I thought I should explore the “heart” of the products and the story behind their creation.

I didn’t have to look further than the inside of the wrapper for the second phase of my research.  Assuming that a Divine bar consumer doesn’t tear the packaging to shreds in a hasty craving-fueled frenzy, he or she is treated to a rich organizational narrative printed on the paper jacket in addition to the rich cocoa it contains.

The Divine story begins in 1879, when the first cocoa was exported from Ghana.  During the next century, cocoa farmers in Ghana have endured a “precarious business” in which “the world price for cocoa often dips below the level at which it pays enough for small-scale farmers to survive.”  In order to weather the tumultuous industry more effectively,  a group of farmers banded together in 1993 to form the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative.

By 1997, the farmers had secured outside investors and were able to launch their own fair trade chocolate company in the United Kingdom.  Profits that Kuapa Kokoo members earn from Divine Chocolate sales are invested in their communities so that “each year more villages can sink their own drinking water wells, build schools, or benefit from healthcare schemes.”

A few years ago, Divine Chocolate crossed the Atlantic thanks to investments from Oikocredit, Lutheran World Relief, and Serrv international.  Chocolate from the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa farms has been available in the US since 2007, and can now be found at over one thousand locations across the country.

To learn more about how you can support fair trade companies like Divine Chocolate, visit OikocreditUSA.

Microvational Analysis

By Martina Welke
Communications Fellow

What Motivates You?

At a professional development seminar in a previous life, I was introduced to David McClelland’s Theory of Motivation, which locates the impetus of human action in three basic needs: the need to influence, the need to achieve, and the need to affiliate.  I’m always skeptical of theories that seem to be overly simplistic—particularly when they attempt to taxonomize something as unpredictable and complex as human behavior—but  something about McClelland’s trifecta resonated with me, and I’ve since found it to be useful for reflecting upon my own choices and the actions of those around me.

I recently found myself ruminating on two themes that routinely occupy my mind—microfinance and communities—and realized that the needs trio provides a great framework for discussing some of the exciting community building strategies that two of my favorite microfinance organizations are beginning to employ.  OikocreditUSA and Vittana are both engaging their lenders in a variety of ways that feed our “basic needs” and incorporate us into an interactive, international microfinance community.

Influence:  Both Vittana and Oikocredit share client stories with investors and offer updates on the impact loans have made.

Vittana, which partners with microfinance institutions in Latin America and Asia to offer student loans, provides a biography for each student listed that includes their goals and the projected earning potential the investment in education could facilitate.

Oikocredit’s new Community Hub features a Meet the Entrepreneurs section where investors can read detailed stories about individual clients and browse through profiles of Oikocredit’s partner organizations in order to better understand the influence their loan could have.

Achievement: Both sites have plenty of information to help illustrate collective and individual achievements.  Vittana’s Community Page includes an update summarizing the total amount loaned through the website and the total number of community members.  A summary of individual’s loan history is listed on the each lender profile page.  In the spirit of friendly competition, Vittana organized a March Madness lending contest, during which lenders were encouraged to organize groups and compete with other Vittana groups for the most members and dollars loaned.  The leading groups were highlighted on Twitter and in comunity e-mails to recognize their achievement.

Oikocredit also updates lenders on the total amount loaned and allows lenders to track individual loans.  The site clearly outlines 5 Levels of Engagement for community members, so that those motivated to become increasingly involved in the organization might map their progress.

Affiliation: The opportunities to affiliate with other community members through both on and offline activities are abundant after joining OikocreditUSA or Vittana.  As I alluded to earlier, both websites offer users the chance to create and populate lending groups. The OikocreditUSA hub allows members to create blog posts, share photos, and even video chat with other community members.  Additionally, members can download a toolkit with materials to host a Community Organizer Toolkit that inculdes materials for developing local groups and hosting informational houseparties.

Never underestimate the power of a party.  Over the weekend, I attended a Seattle party that Vittana hosted in partnership with SeaMo to celebrate passing the $100K loan benchmark (which happened in early March) and the great success of their March Madness campaign (they exceed their goal of $50K in loans and fully funded every student listed on the website).  As I mingled among a few familiar and many new faces, I happened to bump into OikocreditUSA’s new Northwest regional comunity organizer.  I chatted about all the great developments on the OikocreditUSA website and the exciting potential for growth.  I toasted to Vittana’s wonderful achievements.  I met other people with an avid interest in microfinance (and even someone who shares my enthusiasm for cupcakes!).  At the end of the night, I left feeling well-fed–in McClelland’s terms–and very motivated to do more.

Partner Profile: Lumana

Last night I had the privilege of joining some Re-Vision Labs colleagues and two accomplished Seattle social entrepreneurs in a conversation about global development and sustainable business models.  Samantha Rayner and Cole Hoover are part of the International Management Team of Lumana, a microfinance startup serving clients in Ghana.  In less than two years, the Lumana team has implemented a comprehensive entrepreneurship program in two communities in Ghana with ambitious plans to increase their client base and enhance client services in the coming months.

Lumana founder Samantha Rayner.

As an undergraduate business student at the University of Washington, Rayner was inspired by the teachings of Muhammad Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance.  She began researching global microfinance markets and learned that only 1% of funds invested in microfinance worldwide were going to Africa.  In 2008 Rayner’s research took her to the village of Atorkor in Ghana, where she partnered with Chief Samuel Adjorlolo to provide the business training and small loans to several village entrepreneurs
(read news article about Chief Adjorlolo and Atorkor here).

During her first trip to Ghana, Rayner worked with six cooperatives, each with five to eight members, to develop a pragmatic business training curriculum and lending process.  Rayner dedicated much of her time to job-shadowing cooperative members in order to gain insight into Atorkor’s economy.   In the seashore village with a population of about 2,000, many people already operated three or four small businesses, such as selling porridge, weaving printed cloth, or fish-mongering.

Upon her return to Seattle, Rayner started talking to fellow Foster Business School students about creating a sustainable business model that could be replicated in other villages.  Rayner currently works with a team of 15 volunteer in Seattle, many of whom were recruited from her network of classmates and community collaborators.  Hoover joined Lumana’s International Management Team as the Outreach Coordinator, and Re-Vision Labs founding partner Brett Horvath currently serves on the Board of Directors.  Hoover pointed out that helping to build Lumana has allowed him the opportunity “to take all these things that you’ve learned from the amazing Seattle business mentorship community and start trying them out, which is really, really cool.”

Since Lumana serves a relatively isolated rural population, the client service model differs from other microfinance institutions located in urban areas.  Hoover explained that the Lumana team realized early on that a focus on agriculture was essential for providing clients with food security.  Rayner is proud that Lumana has “made [microfinance] work in a community that has traditionally been very difficult to reach.”

Lumana currently has two loan officers and eight entrepeneurship educators working in Ghana.  Clients are required to take business training before

Cole Hoover, Eric

Appesland, client Ellen Adjorlolo, and Karin Avellaneda.

qualifying for a loan, which has proven to be an important part of Lumana’s success.  Hoover emphasized that “education always helps, especially if you’re doing in a targeted way that benefits [the clients].”

Other global development organizations and several media outlets have taken note of Lumana’s rapid success.  Rayner and Hoover traveled to New York in January for the 2nd Microfinance and Sustainable Development Summit, where Rayner was honored to speak on a “Models that Work” panel alongside other social entrepreneurs.  Last month, Lumana was the featured organization at Microfinance and Microbrews, a recurring event sponsored by SeaMo, the preeminent Seattle microfinance network.  Lumana has also been highlighted in The Seattle Times, The Daily at the University of Washington, and the Foster Business School Journal, in addition to many other news sources.

Plans for growth at Lumana include launching a fellowship program, expanding service to six or seven nearby villages, and building partnerships in order to offer more comprehensive client services.  Eventually, the leadership team would like Lumana to become an information hub for the villages it serves in order to help clients access healthcare, further agricultural training, and entrepreneurial mentorship opportunities.

I look forward to watching Lumana’s progress and providing future updates.

After the Race

It’s done.  Yesterday was the perfect day to run a marathon in Seattle–it didn’t even rain!  I woke up promptly at 6 am after a night of fitful rest (I got all of my anxiety out of my system the day before).  I drank some coffee (still haven’t broken that habit), ate a banana, and stretched quietly as my sister continued to sleep.  By 7:30, I couldn’t stand being cooped up in the apartment anymore, so we walked over to the start line to watch the half marathon walkers start.

I think the anticipation at the start line is my favorite part of races.  The blend of nervousness, excitement, and optimism running through the crowd makes me so giddy that I’m often tempted to hug strangers.  At this particular start line, there was a man dressed as Elvis attempting to break a Guiness record (not sure if he succeeded), a couple of men determined to run barefoot (I know that at least one of them put on shoes around mile 6), and a man well over six feet tall wearing a pink tutu.  I’m really going to have to get a better costume next time.

I stayed pretty close to my target pace until mile 20.  I slowed down a bit after that; I decided to take it slow on the last big hills in order to reserve some energy for the finish.  Some of the staff from Vittana came out to cheer, which I really appreciated.  My mom and sister also popped up unexpectedly on a corner around mile 22 (I only expected to see them at the beginning and finish), and my friends Britta and Will were staggered at different points to cheer.  After seeing a familiar face, I always felt a burst of energy and noticed myself passing a few more runners.  Despite my deceleration in the last 6 miles, I made my goal time of 4 hours 30 minutes.  Well, almost…my chip time was 4:30:46.  I blame the 46 seconds on a volunteer offering chocolate at mile 24–it’s just not in my nature to turn down candy, so I wasted a few seconds pondering the decisions as I shuffled by in slow motion.  I opted to continue sans Snickers until the end, but I made up for it by loading up on all sorts of wonderful calories in the recovery area.

Stairs are a bit difficult today, and I moan softly in pain as I get in and out of my car, but I can’t complain.  The tenderness in my quads is strangely satisfying, in the sort of way that serious physical excertion lingers in the body.  I’m hoping I’ll be up for running again tomorrow, but for tonight I’ll rest and savor the joy of completion and the impending adventures ahead.

Thanks so much to everyone who has been following my progress and sending all sorts of support.  If you didn’t get around to making a loan on Vittana, I’m sure there’s no penalty for procrastination, so I encourage you to take a peek at the students currently listed on the website.  I guess this is goodbye to this blog, but I have some other projects in the works…stay tuned.

PS Almost all of the titles for the posts on this blog have been literary references…if you’re feeling sleuthy, there are clues in some of the hyperlinks.  Dorky, I know, but it was a fun little challenge.  So far, my friend Shelley has figured out all but one.  Today’s clue: consult the table of contents in a well-known short story collection about the citizens of a certain Irish city.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Tomorrow, tomorrow…I’ll be racing tomorrow!

After a delightful weekend of carb-loading with my little sister, mom, and some dear friends, I’m feeling ready and excited (and a little nervous, of course!).

I’m going to keep this short, because my mom is taking pictures of me.  Action blogging shots. She has promised not to stand at mile 24.5 and yell “Only a mile to go!” like she did last time.  In my fragile exhausted state, I thought “Wow, I must have passed mile 25 without noticing!  Excellent! I’m so close!”  When I passed the 25-mile marker a few minutes later, I nearly cried.  Moral of the story: don’t lie to racers, don’t round down.  It may seem helpful and encouraging, but it’s not.

Thanks so much to everyone for the loans that you’ve made to Vittana over the past few weeks and the texts, cards, and thoughtful e-mails that have come my way.  It’s really going to make tomorrow special.

 

Sometimes a Great Notion

Last week a wet, windy winter set in and made me question my love for Seattle.  My morale was strained on a few of my runs, when it sometimes felt like I was running in place against oncoming gales.  Luckily, two events transpired that helped to re-inspire me and reconnect me to the home I’ve grown to love (even when I don’t glimpse the sun for days on end).

I became am American citizen last May, after years of being known as the “Crazy Canuck” or “Gangly Canadian.”  It seemed like the appropriate moment to take the plunge, since for the first time as a legal adult, I had lived in one place for more than six months.  I embarked on the process very deliberately, and spent some time thinking about the responsibilities of my new citizenship.  I vowed to take an active role in democracy, and even teared up slightly during the video montage that played at the oath ceremony while swaying ever-so-slightly to “Proud to be an American.”

So this fall, at the invitation of a friend, I took to the phones.  The mayoral candidate who caught my eye before the primary made it into the race against the odds, and I decided to volunteer to convince others that he was the man for the job.  I had a surprising amount of fun talking to strangers about local politics, learned a lot in the process, and met some great people.  And then…Mike McGinn won!

At his victory party on Friday, McGinn took the stage after a rousing introduction by a high school marching band and an excited Latino community leader.  The ecclectic crowd went wild as McGinn launched into an eloquent speech about the power of people who organize and the hope he has for Seattle (at one point I had to restain a toddler who was attempting to storm the podium in her enthusiasm).

The man of the hour, the new mayor of Seattle.

That evening reminded me of the pride and attachment I have for the city of Seattle, as well as the admiration I have for people who have the tenacity and vision necessary to impel change.  McGinn remained the underdog for the entire race, with far less money and big-name endorsements than his opponent, yet he was optimistic and persistent.  In less than a week, as I run through the streets that McGinn will soon preside over, I hope that I’m able to channel some of the energy in that room to help propel me to a personal victory.

I was also fortunate enough to see another great agent of change speak earlier in the week, Vittana CEO Kushal Chakrabarti (who was, in fact, recently voted #1 Philanthropy Game Changer on Huffington Post).   Chakrabarti intoduced Vittana to a cozy crowd of microfinance enthusiasts, and talked about some of the difficulties they have encountered as a young nonprofit, as well as some of the first victories (after only a year, students are already beginning to get jobs and pay back loans!).

Chakrabarti did not plan to start a nonprofit when he left his position at Amazon.com.  The idea for Vittana was seeded after he read a NY Times article about the ultimately successful struggle of a young man in India to get higher education (I haven’t verified that the link is the actual article Chakrabarti read–just my best guess based on his description and the NY Times search engine).  Chakrabarti started thinking about the obstacles people seeking education in developing countries face and decided to take action.   Thus, with a whole lot of scrappiness, Vittana was born.

 

Peel off the Signs and Stigmas

Musings on Microfinance and Mediation

I chose the above heading partially because I am fond of alliteration, but mostly because I’ve been contemplating these two important “M’s” in my life (while I train for another big “M”), and an unexpected similarity that they share dawned upon me today.

For almost a year, I’ve been studying mediation at the Dispute Resolution Center of Snohomish County, which has significantly impacted the way that I perceive conflict and influenced the way that I communicate.  One concept that I’ve found particularly resonant is the idea of a mediator “holding hope” in the room for the disputing parties.  In the midst of a bitter divorce or costly, demoralizing business conflict it can be difficult to imagine mutual, lasting settlement.  Clients often enter into mediation with very low expectations, and might even view it as merely a formality before battling it out in court and letting a judge decide.  The best mediators whom I have observed are able to empower clients in order to create a space for productive discussions.  The tone and energy of a mediation session changes remarkably when clients begin to see possibility for change and new hope for resolution.  After opening this window of hope, the clients are ready to proceed with the hard work of negotiating, collaborating, and finding peace.

Most people have probably experienced some degree of hopelessness in their lives–an unfortunate time or situation when there seems little potential for change.  We each seek out hope in our own way, which sometimes leads to drastic action like moving to a new city or embarking on a different career, or can be as simple as saving a promising slip of paper from a fortune cookie.  Or sometimes, hope comes from an outside source, like a compassionate friend, a mediator, or maybe a microloan.

In the countries Vittana works with, student loans have not generally been available in the past.  Each loan funded through the site opens a new window of hope for another human being to learn and pursue a career he or she might not have previously thought possible.  If you have not yet made a loan, please explore Vittana’s website, read a few student profiles, and make an investment that creates a little more hope in the world.

“We must prepare [the next generation] to peel off the signs and stigmas of poverty, and instill in them a sense of human dignity and hope for the future.” (Muhammad Yunus, Creating a World Without Poverty: social business and the future of Capitalism, my emphasis).