“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to sell fish and he eats steak.”
Celebrating Life is one of my new themes and this is for my my current girlfriend and ex Katherine who have exposed me to women issues. Well this week at work I did a little project on a FINCA video and was very impressed by them.
FINCA as described by Wikipedia, "The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA International) is a non-profit, microfinance organization, founded by John Hatch in 1984. Sometimes referred to as the "World Bank for the Poor" and a "poverty vaccine for the planet", FINCA is the innovator of the village banking methodology in microcredit and is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern day microfinance. With its headquarters in Washington, DC, FINCA has 21 affiliated host-country institutions (affiliates), in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Along with Grameen Bank and Accion International, FINCA is considered to be one of the most influential microfinance organizations in the world...." (Read More)
Interesting. The idea is to use microfinancing, the concept of village banking and women to help societies and nations build from the ground up. This is truly investing in the little guy since 50% of members in a village bank are severely poor and predominantly run by female heads of hoursehold.
Well there is this short documentary floating around staring Natalie Portman as she travels to Mexico to meet women who have used FINCA's loans to start their own business and have done very well for themselves. It is both touching and empowering to realize that these women live in a "machisto" society but they're still working hard to support their families. I just feel this is an organization that is headed in the right direction and if you believe in a better world, they deserve your support. So take action and donate today.