Looking For Your Input

I've been reading Muhammad Yunus' book, "Banker to the Poor", and was hoping to get your feedback to a paragraph that he wrote. (Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, created Grameen Bank, which is a banking system specifically designed for the poor. Grameen Bank has provided 3.8 billion dollars to 2.4 million families in rural Bangledesh.)

"When we want to help the poor, we usually offer them charity. Most often we use charity to avoid recognizing the problem and finding a solution for it. Charity becomes a way to shrug off our responsibility. But charity is no solution to poverty. Charity only perpetuates poverty by taking the initiative away from the poor. Charity allows us to go ahead with our own lives without worrying about the lives of the poor. Charity appeases our consciences"

Give me your thoughts.

How Cute is She???

"Through crab, crayfish gets Water!"

Believe it???

Joseph: Kid Extrodinaire

So I never know what to title these entries, but I simply have to write about one of the most impressive kids that I have ever met. I recently returned from a 5 day trip up country, hosting guests from the UK, and showing some of our projects. In one of the villages, we stopped to spend two nights at a guest house. There were TONS of kids around the area, and once they heard about us they all flocked to come greet us. It was a great two nights of laughter and fun with the kids.

None of them made a stronger impression on me though then Joseph. The second night, we were all outside on the porch having our evening cup of tea, and just enjoying the very beautiful setting. Suddenly, without even realizing it, there was a young boy about 10 years old who was standing there on the porch. It took only a few seconds to realize that this young boy was blind. It made even more sense when we discovered that to understand why his pants were on inside out. He exuded such confidence that we all immediately engaged with him in conversation. After finding out his name, he very boldly said, "I hear there is a young white girl here. I came to greet her".

It's hard to capture in words what it was about Joseph that grabbed each of us, but for the next ten minutes we were able to enjoy his presence. He is known through the community, and a the youngest of 7 kids, he has plenty of family in the area. Living overseas has many perks and one of them is meeting these amazing people, especially kids, who have such resilience despite adverse conditions and who continue to impress me at their strong will to survive and overcome whatever obstacle lies before them.