A few things struck me as I listened to her. The first was that God can do anything through anyone. Here is a young surfer/poet/yoga instructor who found a need, asked her friends and family to help, and now only a few years later, has seen almost $100 million given. God will bless what fulfills his purposes, no matter how small a start.
Another thing that resonated with me was the notion that giving creates dependency, while loaning creates independency and responsibility. By loaning the money and taking the repayment, one can give a man or woman living in complete poverty the dignity and self-worth that independence creates. Its not just about throwing money at a problem. Its about helping someone financially, emotionally, and socially. Think about your husband, brother, or father being unable to support his family in such dire circumstances that he cant bring home dinner tonight. He cant provide new shoes for his kids as they walk miles to school. He cant provide medical care when his wife gets sick.... God has created man to provide. Its within his very make-up to have a deep-seated desire to provide for his family. And microfinancing can give him that opportunity.
The third take away from Jessica was these three ideas: Connectivity, Equality, Mutual Respect. Tied to the idea of creating independence, microfinancing produces an equality among people of different races, cultures, classes, and color. Because the loan is being paid back, the givers find themselves in the midst of connecting and respecting those who are working as hard as possible to pay that back off - while building a business from the ground up.
Its a powerful concept. How such a little thing can make such a big difference in a human life.
And worth noting, Hope International also has a microfinancing program.
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Lesson for Today: Growing news stories about your own community are extremely interesting to track - as well as the commenters that get involved.
1 comments:
You wrote: "Another thing that resonated with me was the notion that giving creates dependency, while loaning creates independency and responsibility."
Good point how we can foster dependence, when what we would desire to see is independence. But is a root cause our unwillingness to be generous with our involvement with the other person (the receiver of the gift ... I presume money in this case). Once we give, the problem or need can disappear ... at least from our perspective.
The loan however connects us with the other person. Now there is an expectation of repayment, but also of awareness of what the receiver is experiencing. We cannot so easily disconnect from the situation and circumstances of the life of the person receiving.
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