On Saturday May 12th, fifty women, ages 16-76, gathered at the First Presbyterian Church in Harbor Springs to celebrate and support microfinance village banking as a solution to eradicating extreme poverty and achieving the UN Millenium Development Goals. After shopping at a Mother's Day bazaar filled with new and vintage jewelry, handmade cards, books, african violets, and handmade purses, an enthusiastic group of women (and one brave man)came together to to learn about the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) and their methodology called "village banking". A Village Bank consists of 30-50 low-income women and offers its members three key services: Access to small, self-employmentloans with no collateral required and a reasonable rate of interest; A safe and profitable place to accumulate savings; and group support for personal empowerment- creating a critical shift in attitude from " I can't" to "I can!"
Through the bazaar, african violet sales at Polly's Plucking and Planting, and many generous donations, we raised $5,000 to open a new village bank in Haiti. Profiles of the women members of this particular bank and their businesses will be available on this blog site as soon as the bank is operational.
The second focus of the day was creating a sense of community and personal rejuventation for the attendees.Critical to our success as women, mothers, business owners and activists is group support and personal practices to create inner peace and well-being. During our gathering on Saturday, we experienced meditation, prayer and the power of personal sharing in a group setting.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment