From solidarity, to sustainability, to spiritual impact, we love to hear our clients’ reflections on how Christ-centered microfinance is making a difference in their lives—and we think you will too.
“Normally when you are married, your wife or your husband is the one who takes care of you. … The group members became like my husband. When I fall sick, they are the first ones to come and visit me and help me in each and every thing. They support me emotionally, physically, and psychologically.” – Marthe Myiramuhire, Rwanda
We love to see our clients stepping up to support one another and then hear them bragging on one another. Members of HOPE’s savings groups and community banks often become like families for one another, as this widowed woman from Rwanda testified.
“If you would give me 20,000 pesos [$525], I could buy clothes and food for my family, but then what? … Instead, Esperanza [HOPE’s partner in the Dominican Republic] gave me motivation.” – Angela Mercedes, Dominican Republic
Our clients get it. They understand the difference between help for today and a long-term, sustainable investment in their dreams, and they count it a privilege to have the opportunity to work hard to meet their own needs.
“As a result of getting loans from HOPE and using them in our business, we can show society that we are … helping ourselves and we are not indebted or dependent to someone else. … As a result of taking loans now my two children are going to school.” – Farshad*, Afghanistan
Parents express true dignity when they’re providing for their own children. We believe that work is part of God’s plan for provision and that dignity and independence are the result.
“We are not afraid of difficulties. Let difficulties be afraid of us!” – Svetlana Shepeleva, Ukraine
Part of what microfinance does so well is create safety nets. Before coming to HOPE, most of our clients had reason to fear challenges they might confront: One illness, natural disaster, or financial misstep might mean pulling their children from school, going without needed food or medication, or becoming indebted to a loan shark. Now many clients have savings, support, and the means to withstand the challenges they might encounter.
“HOPE International’s loans solved the great and urgent need I had for capital for my business. But also the knowledge of HOPE International staff allowed me to come to know the Lord, and that is the most beautiful blessing.” – Cheng Sun*, China
“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:26) We are thrilled when we help a client escape material poverty—a departure from the abundant life God desires—but we realize that any physical change is temporary. It is our privilege to share the love of Jesus with our clients and see Him touch hearts and change lives for eternity!
For those living in the lowest castes in India, there is little hope for the future. With few resources, many become trapped by moneylenders, who ensnare not only the current generation but also their children and their children’s children. In this video interview with the director of HOPE’s partner in India*, he explains how Savings and Credit Associations (SCAs) provide not only economic opportunities but also renewed hope for the future.
“Hello – My name is Fabia, how are you today?” That is all it took for my wife, Anne, to decide where she would purchase her gas once we had moved to Kigali, Rwanda. Today, we both make a real effort to return and visit Fabia. It is not because of “high performance petrol” but to enjoy and encourage the kind interaction that comes with Fabia’s consistently great customer service.
The leaders in Rwanda often publically state: “Customer service in Rwanda must improve.” This is a complaint I have heard all over the world—and very often in the USA. My belief is that customer service usually originates within the person as a sincere desire to serve and bless others, and HOPE provides clients in Rwanda training on customer service as an extension of the biblical Golden Rule: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). Logistically, it is much easier to provide great customer service in the developed world. Large industrial freezers with pre-cut meat and vegetables allow for quick delivery in restaurants. Fully integrated supply chains help make sure your favorite Superstore is never out of stock, and the simple swipe of credit cards ensure not coming up short on change will never be a problem Another shining example of great customer service can be seen in Emmanuel’s photography business.
Emmanuel used loans from his Savings and Credit Association to purchase a camera that he used to take pictures primarily for passports and visas. He’s since expanded to photographing weddings and family gatherings. After paying off the camera, he invested in a small printer that allows him to print on demand and reduces the time and costs of public transportation to access the nearest developer. This story became “customer service-relevant” when I asked him about the stack of unclaimed photos sitting next to his printer. “If they don’t like the photo, I don’t make them pay – but this lets them know I can be trusted and makes me sure they are happy.” I continue to be incredibly encouraged by the many great “customer servants” in Rwanda.
Chris Ordway is a senior technical advisor based in Kigali, Rwanda, focused on HOPE’s Savings and Credit Associations throughout the country. He and his wife and three daughters moved to Kigali last August. Chris loves to tell people that Rwanda is safe and clean and that during his time in Rwanda he has had nothing but warmth and kindness from EVERY person that he has had the blessing to meet.
by Bryan Hoppe, Asia and Eastern Europe Regional Director
Hey all – Bryan here. I’m currently serving as HOPE’s Asia and Eastern Europe regional director. Matthew did a great job describing the main purposes around the Summit as well as walking you through the best of what is currently happening in Eastern Europe with HOPE and beyond. It’s now my pleasure to walk you through what I considered to be my favorite part of the Summit —dreaming of what could be. In a world where we spend so much of our time addressing and confronting challenges and constraints, we as a team were challenged to intentionally free ourselves from them and to envision a much more fruitful future. Imagining that 10 years from now each microfinance institution in the region has become the organization of our dreams—having a huge impact for Christ—what would that look like?
While the details looked different within each program, we all dreamed of a day when our spiritual integration efforts would be Spirit-led movements with a clear goal: to make disciples who become reproductive disciple makers. The team envisioned clear, simple strategies within each of our programs. Driven by local staff, our Christian witness would be a natural outpouring for all of our staff—from loan officers to country directors. We would be taking advantage of technology to make our lending operations more efficient so that we would be able to invest more time with our clients. Our clients would be using their businesses (and profits) to change society. Churches would be embracing and promoting Kingdom business principles and valuing business people. Above anything, we would be seeing holistic healing and spiritual transformation in the lives of thousands of clients and their families. We dreamed big, but we have a big God who can do all that we could ever ask or imagine (and more)!
We left the session encouraged and hopeful, and in our next post, Matthew will describe where go from here.
by Matthew Rohrs, Director of Spiritual Integration
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8 (ESV)
Greetings from Eastern Europe! In my first post, I explained the purpose of the individual lending Spiritual Integration Summit. I also realized how hard it is to write anything in only 250 words (sorry Marketing). Today, I’d like to talk about how we started the individual lending SI Summit.
To begin, I’ll share a bit of personal confession: My personality is naturally oriented toward noticing the things in life that are incomplete or need to be fixed. This mindset can be helpful and has its place, but I’ve been learning that an overemphasis on problem-solving has a sneaky downside. Sometimes it leads me (and maybe a few others) to forget to praise God for the amazing things He does in our midst. Sometimes it leads us to become discouraged by the brokenness of the world rather than inspired by the goodness and power of our God.
So with the SI Summit, we chose to begin by intentionally focusing on the amazing things that God has done in each individual lending program over the years. We celebrated a part-time micro-entrepreneur who grew to become the fourth largest pasta maker in Romania. We thanked God that the love of Christ has been shared with tens of thousands of children through the Tomorrow Clubs ministry in Ukraine and Russia. We shared many ideas and best practices that we will leverage throughout the network. And lastly, we looked outside of the HOPE network to identify other ministries and potential partners that God is using powerfully in each nation.
Focusing on the “commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy” things that God has done filled us with joy and gratefulness, which was a great foundation for the sessions that followed.
by Matthew Rohrs, Director of Spiritual Integration
Hello everyone. My name is Matthew Rohrs, and I serve as HOPE International’s Director of Spiritual Integration. In case you are newer to HOPE, for us spiritual integration refers to our intentional effort to put Christ at the center of everything we do. This includes client and community outreach, staff discipleship, partnership with the local church, and a deep desire to honor Christ in the way that we offer financial services to the poor.
Over the next few days, I am going to share some thoughts and reflections from the 2012 Spiritual Integration Summit for our individual lending programs. This is my first ever blogging experience, and as a rookie blogger, I hope to share some worthwhile thoughts with our friends in cyberspace.
In this first post, I’d like to explain the purpose of the SI Summit. The HOPE International network works in 16 countries, and our programs consist of three main types: group-based micro-lending, savings and credit associations, and individual lending programs. Each of these models presents unique opportunities and challenges and requires a contextualized approach to spiritual integration. However, this need for contextualization does not mean that our models do not share important similarities that can be leveraged into best practices.
Within the network, there are four programs that focus on extending loans to individuals: HOPE Ukraine, HOPE Russia, and our partners Invest-Credit in Moldova and ROMCOM in Romania. The leaders of each program came together on February 1-2 in Oradea, Romania, to push one another in spiritual integration in their individual lending ministries. In addition to these leaders from the field, a team of five U.S.-based HOPE staff also came to support the effort and learn together. The two-day Summit was designed to identify and celebrate the best of what God has already done in each program, to dream and pray together about His will for the future, and to make practical action plans for greater effectiveness in 2012 and beyond.
I hope that gives you a brief explanation of the purpose of the Summit. In our next few posts, Bryan Hoppe and I will write about what happened and share some stories from this unique event.
