Watering the Desert

It breaks everyone's heart to hear the statistics of poverty. I think more people would donate money if they think it would help. We're so separated from extreme poverty that we can't feel the initial impact of giving. It also feels like the support does nothing long term. I can donate $100 to feed a village for a day, but then what? They'll need it again tomorrow, and there may be more mouths to feed. On a larger scale, we could spend several million dollars to feed the world, and tomorrow we'll be back in the same situation, needing the same amount or more to feed them again. I feel like we're watering the desert, only to wake up the next day to see that it needs the same amount of watering the next day, with no end in sight.

Supporting the poor has needed a makeover for a while. There have been some success stories. In 1983, Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus founded the Grameen Bank. In the heavily Muslim country of Bangladesh, it is forbidden to charge interest (or what the Old Testament would call a usury fee). This prevents the poor (especially women) from obtaining a loan to grow their small businesses. He visited a village to see what the women would need to get their businesses started. Forty-three villagers had to borrow 856 taka (about $27) of bamboo to make their beautiful artifacts. They were slaves to a system that would not allow them to prosper. Yunus decided to pioneer to what we now know as micro-finance lending.

I think the most amazing thing about this program is how it self generates it's support. The bank has a 99% repayment rate and creates a system for the borrowers to team up to make sure each member is repaying before any other member can apply for more funding. Just about everyone agrees with the Chinese proverb, "give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, and feed him for a lifetime," yet how rare is it that we see it being used. The greatest benefit of the micro-finance program is the decrease in the birthrate. If we set a goal of eradicating half of the world's poverty in 10 years, even if we accomplish it, what have we done if the population of the poor doubles? Micro-finance lending is not a system that forces them to have a specific number of children. It shows them that they can support a smaller number of children and better finance their future through proper nutrition and education. The phrase "women's rights" gets a bad rap when all you hear about is from Hillary and company. It's not a silver bullet, but it is a start.

Congrats to Muhammad Yunus, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.