My old buddy, musician
friend, and designer of my website, has gotten involved in this
project. Village Banking
offers micro-loans to people in 20 countries on five continents - programs in 8 Latin American countries including Central America,
Mexico, South America (Mexico, El Salvador, Ecuador, Nicaragua,
Peru, Honduras, Guatemala and Haiti); programs in 5 African countries
(Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa and Malawi); and programs in
the 7 countries/areas of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the former
Soviet Union (Kosovo, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and
the two Russian oblasts (provinces) of Samara and Tomsk).
In some of the poorest countries in the world, FINCA is offering small
loans to women and the miracle begins: women quickly increase
their cash flow so that they can feed, clothe and educate their
children. Even
a small loan ($50-150) helps a
woman move from hand-to-mouth subsistence, to running a small
business. Micro-financing has been found to
be the most effective way to permanently bring families out of poverty,
through their own efforts, not hand-outs.
The return rate on these loans is
97%! From there, the money (plus the interest) goes to
finance other micro-loans. This is a program that really works: it
doesn't just treat the symptom of poverty, it actually changes the
underlying problem of poverty, by empowering people and giving them back
their self-esteem through self-help. I encourage you to
check out their website at
www.VillageBanking.org
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