As many of you know, our church traditionally features a mission project as a Lenten discipline -- so that as one gives up something for Lent, one also brings forth something for Christ.
In 2007 Daryl Knauer spoke from this pulpit to propose just such a Lenten discipline, and so our church helped establish a microloan program in Haiti (where Anna, Thad, and I were living at the time). The fund began with approximately $5000, raised primarily through that Lenten discipline; and it has been administered by two of our most trustworthy Haitian friends ever since.
Women receive interest-free loans of $120 (approximately the cost of a donkey), and repay them in installments of $10/month for 12 months. As of 2010, when the we were back in Haiti seeing to the adoption of Rosemanie, the fund had provided 82 loans to 37 different individuals, many of whom spoke movingly of how the program had helped them in their projects. The original "donkey loan" was not just a convenient and picturesque hook for the program: many of the women actually buy donkeys to carry sand up the mountain for construction projects, as well as to transport goods (and children!) to and from the markets. Several women used their loans to stock a small store in their homes. Others begin commerce in a certain trade item (e.g. cashews or almonds), or buy a sewing machine. Our family witnessed numerous examples of the "tremendous transforming power of tiny microloans" (as Daryl proposed we would in 2007).
The fund has now operated for 8 years, with a nearly 100% repayment rate (one of the woman in the program died during the course of her loan; and one donkey died soon after it was purchased, so that loan was forgiven). We now have the opportunity to help re-finance the operation, which has seen a slow but steady drain because of administrative costs of about $30/month.
Our good friend Tom Durant, who travels to Haiti regularly, reported in August of last year that he attended a meeting of program participants; that the financial accounts (of which 35 are active) were in order; and that "...testimonials included several moving statements of the program's benefit (i.e., the ability to buy some food, arrange for schooling of children, and tend to medical needs, all of which would not have been possible otherwise)."
This has been, and continues to be, a worthy and successful project. We often suggest some "Lenten discipline" levels, so how about