Brotherly Love

Some savings and credit associations groups’ members contribute just pennies a week, but together they are learning to manage their money and effectively save what little excess they may have.

Brotherly love, like the city of Philadelphia, can sometimes be an enigma. Brothers fight. Philadelphians can be rude.

Living in the same Rwandan village there were two brothers, neighbors, who would not talk to each other. Their families would not talk to each other, and their children were not allowed to play with each other. I don’t know how the feud started, and there’s a good chance that they don’t know either, but these things have a tendency to die hard.

Somehow the two brothers ended up in the same savings group. Probably because there was just one savings group, and both valued membership enough to somehow tolerate the other. This savings group, like many others, rotates locations in each member’s home. How did the brothers not see this coming?

The first time the rotation lands on one of the brothers, the other brother had to choose.

Surprised, at the end of the meeting the other brother returned home safely and nothing had happened. He shared his brother’s home for the first time, and both faced another day.

The next tense meeting, the brothers switched roles. Now the first brother entered his brother’s house and again nothing bad happened.

Actually, on this second occasion, something did happen. At the beginning of these meetings someone usually prays. At this meeting, someone read John 3:16 and began to discuss love. That was enough for the brothers to begin crying and ask forgiveness.

Reconciled brothers. I think something meaningful happens when you put faith, community, and what you do with your money in the same gathering. These are important matters.

Guest post by Rob Hartley, former Savings and Credit Association Specialist