While interviewing Ka-Tiwala (“trust-fellows,” or savings group members) clients and spending time with savings staff in the Philippines, these are some of the most encouraging things I’ve heard.
Archives For Stories we love
Becky Svendsen
Nov 15 2012
Becky Svendsen
Staff / Travels Stories we love
The staff of CCT, HOPE’s partner in the Philippines, value savings and seek holistic transformation for families and communities so enthusiastically that they have pioneered a new twist on the HOPE savings model: savings groups for children. CCT savings facilitators have initiated groups for teens, elementary students, and even preschoolers. The idea took shape when mothers requested that their children join groups so they could learn the discipline of saving from a young age, which, like most habits, becomes easier and more permanent.
HOPE Intl
Aug 14 2012
By HOPE Intl
Stories we love Working with the poor
The Romani people, often called gypsies, have long been scorned and marginalized throughout Europe. Historians suggest that they migrated from northern India around A.D. 300-700, finding little acceptance during their centuries of wandering. Still viewed as outsiders, Roma continue to face racial violence, government-forced evictions, school segregation, and employment discrimination in many European countries. For example, 61 percent of the Romani population in Moldova lives on less than $2 per day, compared with 24 percent of the non-Romani population. In this interview, Senior Loan Officer Dan Popa talks about how Invest-Credit, HOPE’s partner in Moldova, is breaking stereotypes and providing the Roma with new economic opportunities.
HOPE Intl
Aug 14 2012
HOPE Intl
Stories we love Working with the poorYou’ve helped us fund over 300 businesses in Rwanda, pushing us more than halfway toward our goal of 500 businesses! Watch the latest video featuring HOPE’s capable, accomplished, joy-filled clients to see the difference you can make when you become an adventure capitalist.
Become an adventure capitalist!
As we walk through the bustling marketplace, the spiritual integration officer at HOPE Congo, Precy Ndongui, calls out “Hello!” in English to anyone who has been part of the HOPE Congo family, and without fail the clients respond with the expected “Hi.” As an excellent former loan officer, Precy knows this call and response well and energetically greets the clients as friends. As we navigated through the market from one busy client to another, clients’ words of friendship and community through times of joy and difficulty stood out. I invite you to meet a few beautiful women from the HOPE family:
“Now I have another family,” says Euridice, a member of a HOPE community bank in Brazzaville. As she smiles and confidently sells us a bag of peanuts, Euridice explains how she has not only benefitted from the business trainings on investing wisely, managing cash flow, and developing savings, but has also grown closer to other women who sell in the same market as they learn together and visit one another.
It is common in our culture to assume that living in extreme poverty must inevitably be a depressing, hopeless experience. People are suffering. Conditions are challenging. Systems are broken. The scale of the problems is huge. Reasons for optimism are fleeting.
Let’s make this a little more personal. When you step back and consider your subconscious thoughts, is this what you expect from those who live in economic poverty? Do you subtly assume that the lack of certain resources and comforts must naturally produce lives full of discouragement—if not outright desperation?
Well, I want you to join me on a morning of visiting clients at their businesses in the Marché Total market in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. The pictures you see below show each client we met that day. I recognize that one picture does not accurately encapsulate a person’s entire perspective on life, but if you had to assign one word or phrase to each picture, what would it be?
Gauthier Ntibila started attending church as a result of his relationship with HOPE. Continue Reading…
