Thoughts and Reflection from my first village visit (with video footage!)

I had the chance to do my first village visit and I don’t think I’m articulate enough to explain in words how moving of an experience it was to be at the Grameen center meeting. During the weekly meeting, the branch manager collects loan installments and does routine checks on Grameen Bank borrowers and their businesses. It was amazing to see a room of 25 women, once poor and destitute, now confident and hopeful for the future. Grameen microloans have given them an opportunity, an empowerment opportunity. These women were courageous and brave, spoke confidently when presented with questions and took great pride and satisfaction in their work. We had the chance to interview multiple borrowers and all of them had similar stories. In the video below, the borrower has been with Grameen Bank for 12 years. She has 2 sons and at first she used to live in a mud house. Through Grameen loans, she has been able to open up 2 businesses that her sons operate for her-one grocery stop and one telephone accessory shop.

The businesses are thriving and she has now built a spacious 6 bedroom home with a television, beautiful furniture, electricity, sanitary latrines, and a purified water system! There were stories of borrowers who had to learn how to sign their names when taking out their first loans twenty years ago, and now, their children are university graduates. This shows the progression of each generation as we move forward. There was a glow in the women borrowers faces, as they beamed with pride and accomplishment as they recollected their life stories and showed off their homes.

This reminds me of a Henry David Thoreau quote, “I know of no more encouraging fact then the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.” I believe even more strongly in these lines as I saw women, who once had nothing, rise to a level where they are above poverty and self-sufficient. People always assume that the poor are incompetent and lack necessary skills to be valuable members in community-this is blatantly false. All the poor need is a small boost; they have the necessary skills and motivation to take it from there. These women talk about their businesses in detail and it easy to notice their innate intelligence as they explain their business strategies and what they’ve done to improve sales, reduce costs, etc. Sure, they don’t have degrees or MBA’s but what they do have is extraordinary entrepreneurial capacity and a hunger and determination to improve their situation. They just need that first boost, and microfinance can be that very first boost they desperately need. Want to provide that boost? Remember that you can, through websites such as kiva.org and Microplace.

Check out the video footage of a center meeting: 1st-field-visit