I greatly admire Muhammad Yunus, the winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. A Bangladeshi banker and economist, Yunus first got involved in fighting poverty following a 1974 famine in Bangladesh.
He lent $27 of his own money to women in a small village who were making bamboo furniture to support their families, and he realized that small amounts of money could make a tremendous difference in the lives of the very poor.
Traditional banks were not interested in making loans in such small amounts at that time (and still aren't today). And that realization led Yunus to found Grameen Bank, a bank that specializes in microloans in developing countries.
Emailing with Andy Long over the holidays, we realized that there is a similar opportunity available to us at First Presbyterian. We, too, could use small sums of money to help the very poor in the world start a business that would help lift them out of poverty. And we'd liked to start with the small village in Haiti that is currently home to the Longs.
Andy reports that there are no good stores in their village and when supplies are needed, someone has to go to Cap Haitien, traveling an hour and a half both ways.
The mission committee would like to propose that we start a microloan fund through our church, with the first loan recipient to be Andy's confidante, Roger, a trusted local Haitian and teaching elder at the nearby church.
With roughly $3,400 seed money, Roger would stock up on supplies in Cap Haitien, and then he would sell these supplies at a small mark-up from a building he already has (so there'd be no rent). Clever guy that he is, Andy proposes the name Roi-Mart (pronounced "Wah-Mart" in the local Creole).
Roger would repay the loan in small increments each month and the repayments would be used to capitalize a pool of money from which future microloans would be made to other individuals. Andy has spoken with Ivy, the woman who runs the school where the Longs are staying, and she has agreed take charge of administering the program. She would be responsible for collecting payments and making future loans.
My deepest thanks to Andy for thinking through all of the details of this program and making it available to us at First Presbyterian.
If you would like to help some of the world's poorest people change their lives for the better, I invite you to contribute to the First Presbyterian Microloan Program. No amount is too small -- all monies will be pooled and made available for microloans.
Our intent is not to recoup our "investment," however; rather we would like the money to continue to funnel back into the program to help as many people as we can. This first loan, it should be noted, is more of a macro microloan. It's expected that future loans would be $500 or less and most would go to women, who have more difficulty getting traditional loans and who ironically, experience has shown, present a better risk than men.
There is a possibility that some of folks could default on their loans, so it's probably best to consider any involvement as a charitable donationalthough your generosity could echo in Haiti for many years to come, helping many people rise out of poverty.
If you'd like to participate, checks should be made to First Presbyterian Church (marked "Microloan Program") and given to Terry or Teresa or Daryl Knauer. If you have any questions, please talk with Daryl Knauer, 442-9348.