Hartley-Hartley

Boda-boda

2009-06-15T03:46:00.003-04:00

A boda-boda ride with Dennis Ewalu

From The Guardian, here's a brief video showing the day in the life of a bicycle taxi driver in Uganda.

I've long wanted to follow a motorcycle or bicycle taxi to see what kind of money they make, what a day looks like. This is also a great example of someone who might want to join a savings and credit association. Small, somewhat irregular income ... could use some lump sums of capital, not really in the market for a microcredit loan.

Here's the summary:

Started with a loan from his brother to buy a bicycle frame only, worked hard for the rest.
Rides 45 minutes one-way, 3 days a week, to get to Soroti Town for the better business.
Best day yields about 10,000 Ugandan Shillings ($4.64 USD) from 10-12 customers.
Supports himself, a wife, his mother, and 6 children.
Pays for primary school, uniforms, books ... and he also saves.
One day hopes to buy a house with corrugated roofing and also some oxen.

Polly

2009-06-10T01:12:00.005-04:00

My eulogy for the funeral yesterday, 6/9/09, 4pm.

Her obituary in the Pensacola News Journal:

MARY ALICE "POLLY" SHERRILL BARANCO
1923-2009
Polly Baranco died peacefully in her sleep surrounded by her family on June 5, 2009.
She was born in Pensacola, FL on October 28, 1923 to Mary Alice and John Hall Sherrill. She graduated from Pensacola High School, attended Randolph Macon Women's College her first two years and graduated from the University of Alabama. She was married to the late Dr. Paul F. Baranco. Polly was devoted to her family, friends and to her community and spent the majority of her life in volunteer endeavors. She was a charter member of the Junior League of Pensacola and a former president of the league as well as receiving one of its highest awards, the Joan B. Gonzalez Award for volunteer work at the Pensacola Public Library. Polly was an active member of the Friends of the Library, the Escambia County Medical Auxiliary, having served as president, and she and her late husband were Founding Board Members at Azalea Trace. Polly was a life-time member of the First Presbyterian Church and a loyal member of the Calvin Sunday School Class.
She is survived by her daughter Fran Hartley (Ted) and her son Paul Francis "Speed" Baranco, Jr. (Sian), four grandchildren, Thomas Bryan Hartley (Gina), Robert Paul Hartley (Danielle), Nicholas Paul Baranco, and Matthew Patrick Baranco, one great grandchild Taylor Ashlyn Hartley, a sister-in-law Joe Sherrill, and many nieces and nephews, great nieces and great nephews who loved her dearly.
She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, her sister Peggy Bach, and her brothers Frontis W. Sherrill, John Hall Sherrill, Jr., and Alan Prather Sherrill.
A memorial service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church on Tuesday, June 9, 2009, at 4:00 PM followed by visitation in the church parlor.
Memorials, if desired, may be made to Friends of the Library; Covenant Hospice, 5041 N. 12th Ave. Pensacola, FL or to a charity of your choice.
Harper-Morris Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Published in the Pensacola News Journal on 6/9/2009

Kagame on aid and African prosperity

2009-06-10T01:01:00.004-04:00

Africa Has to Find Its Own Road to Prosperity
Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Financial Times

Government activities should focus on supporting entrepreneurship not just to meet these new goals, but because it unlocks people’s minds, fosters innovation and enables people to exercise their talents.

This article popped up in a conversation about Moyo's Dead Aid (HT: Joe's friend Claire).

Save Paste

2009-05-28T12:28:00.002-04:00

Haste makes waste. PASTE makes great music very readable. Paste Magazine. It's about music.

Anyway, a couple of years ago, PASTE Magazine offered new subscribers to pay whatever they wanted for a year's subscription. I paid $2.00 USD. For 12 months I received a steady flow of magazines, each containing a CD of select music, often containing artists I knew and liked (recognizable ones like Radiohead) and then artists I'd never heard of. Some was weird and awful, some was weird and great, and some just had to grow on me. The magazine was pretty good. My consumer surplus was great.

So, PASTE has fallen upon the fiscal woes of our times, and it is now asking readers for help. Many loyal readers had already offered. Many musical artists are falling in to help, too. The PASTE Campaign is trying to raise enough money to keep the magazine going. I contributed, maybe you'd like to, as well.

If you do contribute, you can help yourself to a vault of over 100 songs that artists have donated to the cause. Here's my favorite playlist at the moment from the 127 songs I downloaded:

Track, ARTIST

Once, ORTOLAN
sleep. when we die., anchor&Braille
Nothing Makes Me Cry, ROBYN HITCHCOCK
See the World, GOMEZ
Come Home Sam, LIAM FINN
Sucker Punch Town, DODD FERRELLE
Junkyard Julie, THE ROSEWOOD THIEVES
Better Go On Home, THE WATSON TWINS
Making the Move, ARI HEST
Morning Chrome, BLOODKIN
Sugar Tongue, INDIGO GIRLS
Great Ocean, DAN DYER
Deep in the Jungle, DAN ZIMMERMAN
Screaming Lobster, SOUL-JUNK
Dirty Dishes, DEER TICK
Elegant Chaos, PORTASTATIC
Wetlands Dance Hall, VENICE IS SINKING

Miracle of microfinance

2009-05-23T08:25:00.002-04:00

I am excited about this new paper (May 2009) by Banerjee and Duflo, The Miracle of Microfinance: Evidence from a randomized evaluation. 2 months and 3 posts ago, I had just posted about these two star MIT development economists. This new paper is presented on the Poverty Action Lab (J-Pal) site, and J-Pal is about as good as it gets for economic research on poverty.

Here is a very short summary of this paper – a summary clipped from a summary by the Private Sector Development (PSD) Blog:

the first large-scale randomized trial of access to microfinance"
microcredit does have important effects on business outcomes and the composition of household expenditure
microcredit … appears to have no discernible effect on education, health, or women's empowerment … in the short term (within 15-18 months)

Here is my first reaction after only skimming the paper and reading the PSD review:

Microfinance is not a miracle.
We don't need a scientific paper to say microfinance is no miracle. The fact that there are positive business outcomes after 15-18 months is great. The fact that people aren't smarter, healthier, and more egalitarian … normal. Maybe some people have been parading for some time as though microfinance were a miracle, there have been many such miracles in the past, disappointing panaceas for the developing world that have surged and failed. A point that Banerjee and Duflo would likely support is that there are also many development solutions that have come and gone untested by academic rigor. That is where I am very happy to read this new paper. But let's read it for the rigor, not for miracles dispelled. We're agreed on the miracle point.
PSD post: "The verdict is in on microfinance."
The first large-scale randomized trial is in. I wouldn't say that's the verdict. The best part about this PSD post is that the first sentence after the "verdict is in" is: "And it's not pretty." What? Positive business outcomes, uncertain social effects after 15-18 months of opening a new microfinance branch in a slum. How pretty are we looking for? We've seen 50 years of development efforts leave much of Africa poorer, I think we can give microfinance a little more than 15-18 months to see sweeping social change.

Ok, microfinance is a tool to alleviate poverty in a way that is sustainable and respects human dignity and responsibility. It's not a miracle answer, and the verdict isn't exactly in regarding its overall effectiveness. That being said, I'm excited about this new paper. I guess I should read it now.

Lancaster for rent

2009-05-22T14:12:00.002-04:00

2BR, 2BA, $550-$800/month, utilities included: W/S/T/H. Washer & dryer, dishwasher, 1st floor, hardwoods, good kitchen, living room + dining area, off-street parking, yard, pets OK. In-town, walk-able neighborhood. Move in July 1st!

Have you seen this ad above for Lancaster, PA? If so, let me know immediately, we'll take it! The above is our ideal, and we've seen this out there before so we know it exists, but I'm mainly posting it here so I can compare with what we actually do get in a month and a half from now …

Danielle gave a pretty good description of our search process so far.

Even after we confirmed our latest apartment love was a scam, Rob returned the scammers email asking for a picture of the back yard. It was a really beautiful apartment. Almost worth the scam.

Savings of the poor: Boston Globe article

2009-05-19T11:18:00.006-04:00

From the Boston Globe:
Q and A with Daryl Collins Financial secrets of the world's poorest people.

A new book, "Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 A Day" takes a detailed look at the daily income and expenses of 285 families in South Africa, India, and Bangladesh, studying how they pay doctors when their children get sick, put food on the table when they're out of work, and pull together money for weddings, funerals, and holidays.

The Economist article in the preceding post cites this same book, a book I am eager to see.

Savings of the poor: Economist article

2009-05-19T11:12:00.005-04:00

Even those with very little money have a sophisticated approach to finance
PAYING interest on your savings will strike most people as odd. Yet some poor people in the developing world do just that. In West Africa, for example, some people pay roving susu collectors a fee amounting to a -40% annual interest rate for looking after their deposits.

From The Economist print edition, May 14th 2009

(You may be asking why I would provide a hyperlink to the print edition … and that's a good question. As a disclaimer, the article is from the print edition, but the hyperlink will not deliver you that print edition, merely an electronic reproduction from that print edition. Too much explanation?)

MIT development economists

2009-03-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee are two star development economists from MIT. While the merits of microfinance are highly hyped, these two prefer rigorous science, particularly randomized experiments, before placing so much hope on the hype. Not that there's anything wrong with microfinance, but development fads come and go, sometimes before we even know if they were effective. Practitioners try one thing and move on without testing and knowing – that may be a paraphrase from one of the two, so I'll just give you their actual comments on microfinance from a recent interview at Poverty Action Lab:

ED: Look at microfinance. There is no evaluation yet of the impact of a microfinance loan – we have the first preliminary results ever of the impact of a plain vanilla, group lending microfinance model. That's it. It is not as if there have been mixed results before now. The studies don't exist. And that is microfinance, where there are already a hundred economists studying it.

AB: So, if microfinance suddenly doesn't make all babies do calculus by the age of five, it is deemed a failure. I think if we just accept that in the end a few things work and somehow that gives people the spirit or the enthusiasm or the hope to act a bit more and enable those things to accumulate on their own.

Why Christian microfinance shouldn’t go away

2009-03-05T14:00:00.000-05:00

Why should a nonprofit (or a Christian organization) use a business model like a bank instead of letting businesses do that? One of the trends in microfinance these days is big banks seeing the profitability of making big profits on small loans to the world's poor. Nonprofit microfinance institutions are in some places struggling to compete and stay in the market. Mexico is a great case study for big bank profits in an industry that has largely been nonprofit:

NY Times - Microfinance's Success Sets Off a Debate in Mexico

microLINKS - Mexican Microfinance: How Big Banks are Making Astronomical Profits

Why do nonprofits do microfinance? Easy. The world's poor are undercapitalized to grow their businesses and improve their welfare. Commercial banks do not make accessible loans to these poor entrepreneurs. Well, commercial banks used to not make those loans, but in some places they are beginning to see the profitability. There are a lot of poor consumers; it's a very big market. So now nonprofits are struggling to compete in some of these places where commercial banks are entering. The point is to bring in capital to stimulate the working economy of the world's poor, why does it matter if a nonprofit does it or a business does it? It still improves the lives of the poor.

Why should nonprofits compete to stay in the microfinance industry?

For one, and this is really my only one point, nonprofits can take risks that commercial banks cannot. Commercial banks enter and compete when the risks and rewards give them a green light, but when the light turns yellow, commercial banks turn back, when the light turns red, forget it. The poor are on their own. What happened to the banking industry that served poor business owners after civil war tore through Liberia? What happened to the banking industry that served poor business owners when a typhoon devastated Thailand?

It's a good thing that private sector industries bring services to the world's poor. But we cannot depend on the private sector when disaster happens. Nonprofit microfinance goes to the hard places, and it stays. If nonprofit institutions get competed out of the market, where will be the capacity when it is needed again?

What can I do for you?

2009-03-04T14:00:00.000-05:00

The Prime Minister of Rwanda visited a small village near Kibungo. A true politician of the people, while visiting Kibungo the PM asked the people, sincerely:

"What can I do for you?"

Nothing, thank you. The group addressed by the PM was an active savings and credit association trained by our champions. They didn't need anything. Well, one thing … the group requested that the PM just keep police on the streets and they'd be happy.

This savings group was already doing for themselves. They are particularly disciplined in working each other's fields, they have saved consistently, and if one of them gets sick, there is another one assigned to take care of them. They are extremely well organized. This group works together so well and so diligently that they have earned themselves one full month of vacation each year! Do you take one full month of vacation? Nearby is the Akagera National Park and a beautiful lake with the President's vacation house (I am typing right now from across that very lake). I can clearly imagine group members taking a travel day to fish or lay out by the lake. They are meeting their own needs with time to spare, time to enjoy. They told the PM no thanks.

Teach a man to fish

2009-03-03T14:00:00.000-05:00

Neal Baker introduced me to this modified saying:

Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll drink beer all day.

That's why it's better to teach a woman to fish, she'll feed her whole family.

In reality, our savings training teaches men and women to fish in terms of managing money and making it grow. We don't give out any fish, or money, but we teach to fish, or to manage money. Within the local church, our savings groups have also empowered men and women to become fishers of men and women. The church is drawing in community members who recognize the groups as more than pools of money. As a matter of fact, many community members might otherwise avoid a church scheme involving money/savings, but that's not what's happening, they are being drawn in because of how these groups are working.

Our groups' members are working in each other's fields, paying for each other's emergency needs, building houses and building relationships. That kind of success is visible, the fruits are good, the success inspiring.

It's hard to say that we just teach the very poor to save their own money, that we don't give them any food or money. But what we are teaching is how to manage their own resources. One day when we are gone, they will still be managing their own resources and making their money grow. Not only that, it's making their communities and families grow because it involves groups and it involves women.

Development theater

2009-03-03T03:00:00.000-05:00

Bill Gates opened a jar of mosquitoes at a TED gathering and said, "Why should the poor be the only ones to get malaria?"

Foreign Policy: "misguided and somewhat tasteless attempt to make wealthy donors experience the realities of Third World poverty"

The World Economic Forum at Davos featured a "Refugee Run" so that millionaires can experience the horrors of fleeing violence and oppression.

Bill Easterly, NYU Economist: "Did the words 'insensitive,' 'dehumanizing,' or 'disrespectful' (not to mention 'ludicrous') ever come up in discussing the plans for 'Refugee Run'?"

It's difficult to respond to poverty and injustice. Give money, raise awareness … these are the approaches generally available to the concerned public. For those desperate for change, there is also desperation to tell the story in such a way to motivate much more money and much more awareness. I respect the need to do something that motivates change. When we know the pain in the world we must mourn it and strive to be peacemakers. But when our attempts become theatrical or consumerist, and the results are indeterminate, does our response respect the dignity of those who suffer?

Paycheck to paycheck

2009-03-01T12:05:00.002-05:00

Part of spreading savings and credit associations is convincing beggars and widows and prostitutes and street youth to save amounts near $0.25 per week … Convincing subsistence farmers that they can subsist on a little less right now so that they can invest in better crops some four months later. It's hard sometimes to cast this vision to the very poor, that they can live with more purpose and greater insurance and brighter future by saving now. The very poor, however, are not the only ones who lack the vision to save.

Consider these numbers from Harper's Index, December 2008:

Percentage of Americans who say they live "paycheck to paycheck": 47

Percentage of those making over $100,000 per year who say this: 21

HOPE Haiti on YouTube

2009-02-27T01:22:00.002-05:00

Microfinance From Below

2009-02-26T01:35:00.004-05:00

The Fletcher School (a Tufts international affairs graduate program) is hosting a microfinance conference this March 26-28: Microfinance From Below: The Power of Savings & Savings Groups in Frontier Economies.

Here are a few conference papers related to savings and credit associations:

Start-Up Hiccups: Overcoming Challenges During the Formation of Savings Groups
From self-help groups to village financial institutions in Bali: How culture determines finance, and finance determines culture
Teacups and hand-hoes: Home-grown self-help groups in East Africa

New friends, new house

2009-02-06T12:00:00.001-05:00

15 gathered together every week for 2 years. On Fridays, they rotated to each member's home to work on that farm. Sharing work on farms is a very common trend added onto these savings groups. And we know the efficiency of having more hands to share the work, not to mention the encouragement. After they work on that member's farm, each free laborer then pays the recipient of the labor with their weekly savings. Wow. We all work on your farm this Friday, and then we pay you our savings for the week.

They save a total of 1,100 RWF ($2.00 USD) per week, 1,000 rotates to the host farmer, and 100 goes into the accumulating fund. They make loans at 10%, and right now the group has a total of 40,000 RWF ($72.73 USD) on account and 24,000 ($43.64) out on loan. Marita uses her rotating lump sum to buy paraffin and soap, Susanne was able to purchase a phone. Francis took a 5,000 loan plus his own 2,000 and purchased a goat for 7,000 RWF ($12.73 USD). Ngendahayo has bigger plans.

Ngendahayo is quite a young man who seemingly spends much time on the farm by himself. Before this savings group, he was isolated. Isolation is a common theme for many in poverty, but here is this young man, hard working, plenty of promise, and his future is soil and toil. His future is poor and alone. Recently, his future changed. Ngendahayo has joined a savings group where he thrives, and he says that he now feels free to meet others. In fact, he is just energized about life. With a supportive social network and 16,500 ($30.00) on loan for materials and nails, he is now building a house … and plans to marry soon.

Mothers Union

2009-02-06T07:27:00.000-05:00

The 12 members of the Mothers Union in Butare meet on the 3rd Friday of each month. Each contributes 600 RWF ($1.09 USD) monthly; 500 rotates to one member each month, 100 accumulates on account. The group has a total savings of 12,000 RWF ($21.82 USD) and they make loans at 10% to group members.

An interesting addition to this Mothers Union group is their extra monthly activity. On that 3rd Friday after they pool their savings, they contribute some equal share of expenses for purchasing materials to make mats. With their mat materials, these mothers make as many mats as possible. For any mats made on that Friday and sold later, they contribute 100% of the sales into their accumulating savings account. That's a pretty crafty way that these mothers value their savings.

Mats sell for 1,500 RWF ($2.73 USD). I'll have to take some pictures and then you can place your orders.

Example of a farming/savings setup

2009-02-05T13:31:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick example of a farming-based SCA.

The group meets weekly to farm and save. When they meet each week, they rotate to another member's farm to work together there. Each week, 100 RWF from each member goes to the one member whose farm they're all working on. Another 50 RWF goes into an accumulating account just for emergencies.

Once a month, the group gives another savings contribution of 750 RWF each into an accumulating account just for savings and loans. They currently have 26,000 RWF on account.

Farmers do not have the most consistent cash flow; a lot depends on weather, land, workers, and then sales. Monthly is better for regular saving. At the same time, weekly is better for small contributions towards seeds or manure fertilizer. The emergency fund is useful if someone gets robbed or maybe an animal dies or there's just no farm production and one family needs food.

Our groups are given much guidance on how to set up consistent, transparent, and understandable pay-ins and pay-outs, and also how to handle different group situations. Within that training, groups still have a wide variety of ways of making the savings group fit their lifestyles and needs.

Reactions to savings groups

2009-02-05T07:23:00.000-05:00

As we collect stories about our savings groups, members and their purchases, we also collect reactions to our programs within their communities. Here is a sampling of reactions so far:

Our training in record keeping and policy guidance has restored some of the trust and faith that were lacking in some traditional savings groups. Before people feared pooling their savings because some won't pay back loans, others leave the group early, and still others argue about pay-ins or pay-outs. The structure we give in training frees them to get the benefits of community saving and lending while also drawing people together in healthy relationships. It's all about the trust.
Some churches report that their cell groups had no objective. They meet, pray, and go home. Groups thrive on having purpose, and we have heard that saving together and participating in their personal and community-level economic development has given groups vision. Moreover, many have said they are encouraged by hearing testimonies and principles like starting small and growing big, and they are realizing the importance this has in their lives. Giving vision is giving hope.
One trainer said that our savings program has been different from all the other trainings he's been to. "Many go start something but don't go back to see what's happening at the grass roots level." The groups we visit really appreciate and feel encouraged that we go to see what they have done.
As we assess programs, our group leaders and trainers in the field are realizing that they too can go assess their programs. They have commented on the benefits of sharing stories and discovering groups' challenges, and our monitoring and evaluation trips are becoming a model for trainers to monitor and evaluate the groups they have created. That's an exciting by-product for the health of our programs!
Unfortunately, we have also learned that people have been burned before with savings and credit. Some MFIs (not us) have moved into the area, taken savings and given unsound loans, and then they have folded up shop and gone home without reimbursing people's money. Of course, SCAs are different in that we do not hold people's money, they do. Still, we deal with the repercussions of doubt left by unsound agencies in the past.
Some (in one particular area) have been reluctant to join savings groups because they are active in trading business in town. The ones who find savings more attractive are women, mainly widows. This system of savings is somewhat new in this area, so the advantages are not readily apparent to everyone, even though those same traders may be able to make better purchases and better profits with improved access to informal credit and social networking.

Of hens and goats

2009-02-04T13:30:00.001-05:00

Velerie belongs to a savings group in Kayenzi that meets every Tuesday. She puts in about $1 every week; $0.90 goes into the rotating amount that goes to one member per week, $0.10 goes into an accumulating savings account.

Before belonging to a savings group, Velerie probably never thought that she might be able to put away an extra $1 per week. She never would have thought that if she could put away $1 for 4 weeks in a row that she could buy a hen for $3.65. Now that she's saving in a group of others who support and encourage her, she sees a bigger picture. Velerie comes each week, puts in a dollar, and soon the ROSCA rotates to her and she receives a lump sum of $13.50!! Velerie buys two hens and is left with money to spare for household expenses, health insurance … I don't know, chicken feed? The ROSCA payout provides her with a large sum of money at once. Money that would have never been around if she just had a little bit each week that seeped away into other, smaller, pedestrian purchases. Now, she has two hens.

Velerie cares for her hens for months and sells eggs in the community. During this time, she has built up $5.50 in egg money. Velerie sells her two hens, adds in her egg money, and she's got another large sum of $12.80 – which just happens to be the going rate for goats.

Velerie now owns a goat. She's not counting her eggs before they hatch (awful metaphor choice – we've moved on to goats now), but she's hoping to sell baby goats when her goat gets old enough to give birth, if she could be so fortunate [her words]. In case you're wondering, the Rwandese aren't big on consuming goat milk or goat cheese, just the goat.

An interesting part of this story, looking at it from our point of view, is that Velerie could have bought a hen without the group if she just disciplined her saving over one month. Only within the group, however, was she able to see a bigger picture and receive a bigger lump sum of money than she would ever otherwise have to spend. The "before" Velerie would never have bought those hens, even if we think she could have. The "after" Velerie invested in hens, sold eggs, and then attained a goat. The "after" Velerie is in business.

For reference: Hens cost 2,000 RWF; egg sales totaled 3,000 RWF; goats 7,000 RWF; Velerie saved 600 RWF weekly.

Saving high schoolers

2009-02-04T07:29:00.000-05:00

When I did graduate school at Georgia State, I also worked in the Office of Civic Engagement. During my time there I had the privilege of being an interim staff advisor to the Economic Empowerment Initiative (EEI), which was student led by my friend Terrance Rogers.

This group was fantastic. They trained students to be smart with their money: How to save and invest, wisely take out loans, and buy responsibly. Most students aren't learning these lessons elsewhere. They also have a Match Savings Program in partnership with Bank of America. If students continue membership in EEI, earn good grades, and save x amount of dollars, Bank of America will match their savings when they graduate (that's a loose description).

Rwanda doesn't have an EEI for students that I know of. What Rwanda does have is the Christ's Friends Anglican Student Association of Butare. These students go to high school for 3 months then break for 2 weeks. While they're off from school, they meet and save money. They are not exactly banking a lot of money being in high school, but the group puts together 100 RWF each and they have 40+ members, so the total every three months accumulates over 4,000 RWF ($7.27 USD). In total, though, they have now accumulated about 25,000 RWF ($45.45 USD).

Each student's individual share is still not very much money, but as a group they have mobilized $45 that they can make loans from. Where else can a high school student get a loan? Where else can a high school student save? More importantly, nowhere else are high schoolers learning how to save.

2 students have loans out right now. They take loans through their parents and repay them through their parents at 10%. They see their pastors saving, see their parents saving, and now these high schoolers are saving. They are practicing managing their money and making it grow. Where else is that happening among the very poor?

That's economic empowerment and a lot of initiative.

Pastors and savings groups

2009-02-03T13:39:00.000-05:00

HOPE's savings and credit association (SCA) model in Rwanda partners through the local church. This provides a great institutional framework for training volunteers and mobilizing new savings groups. A danger to using the church, however, is that money is a root of all kinds of evil. Trustworthy reputation for a church (or for a microfinance institution) is vital.

So, for the savings programs to grow and be successful, we need pastors and ministry leaders to be excited and involved. For savings programs to not endanger reputations, we need pastors to keep out.

In Rwanda, the message has been clear throughout the trainings, don't handle your people's money. How have Rwandan pastors responded? Beautifully. They start their own groups.

In Kigali, Pastor Sam Mugisha has an SCA of 46 pastors, and pastors only. They are excited, involved, and they know the value of saving and how it works. In other dioceses, we have seen the same story again and again. Most pastors are in a group with other pastors, and they have passed the training on to their churches and communities. There are several good stories of the ways pastors use their own groups, and I know of one group of diocese employees that also includes the bishop (though he doesn't hold any leadership position within his group). Most pastors' groups have similar variations, but here is one example:

The 3rd Sunday of every month, 5 pastors from nearby parishes gather together in one of their parish churches, which rotates each month. A visiting pastor will preach that week. After service, the 5 gather and each save 3,000 RWF ($5.45 USD) of which 2,000 is given to the host parish pastor, and 1,000 is put into an accumulating account. Their accumulating account has grown to 30,000 ($54.55). The rotating fund typically goes to something for hosting like utensils, plates, cups … but sometimes the rotating fund goes to community projects in the parish, like new roofing for the church. When church members see visiting pastors use their own money to fix the roof, they feel it would be good to contribute, too. The pastors not only set a good example by their fellowship and savings, but also by their giving in the community. This particular group of pastors takes their monthly visits a step further toward helping the community, they dig coffee holes. 60 cm deep, 40 holes per pastor, they prepare fields for coffee plants that are purposed solely for the community to benefit.

In different pastors' groups, the stories are similar. Often the pastors are empowered to care for community members better than they otherwise could. One pastor was robbed, and with an internal loan from his group he was able to restore his household quickly and pay it off slowly, and when students came by for help with school fees, he was prepared to help. Even after an emergency like being robbed, a pastor on a pastor's salary was able to restore his house and help students with extra money, too. That is a strong statement to the parish.

Emergency giving

2009-02-03T07:31:00.000-05:00

A cell group in Shyogwe meets together each week representing 15 different families. Each agrees that the weekly contribution will be 200 RWF ($0.36 USD), which makes the group's total weekly contribution 3,000 RWF ($5.45 USD). After meeting for a short time, there was an incident that changed the way they saved. A single mother in their community became unemployed and had difficulty caring for her 3-year-old child. Economically empowered and mutually encouraged, the cell group intervened.

Each of the members agreed to contribute an immediate emergency fund of 20,000 RWF ($36.36 USD) per person, a total of 300,000 RWF ($545.45 USD). This is an impressive amount of capital. The purpose of this emergency offering: 50,000 RWF ($90.91 USD) per month for rent over the next 6 months.

They paid her rent for a half of a year in advance.

This cell group decided their policies needed to change. Now, the 15 members still contribute 200 weekly, but 150 goes into the accumulating ASCA account, and 50 goes into an emergency fund they can use to support their community. That's how they do economic development.

Ability to buy small things

2009-02-02T15:32:00.001-05:00

When we gather stories about SCA group members benefiting from saving together, we always like to hear that they saved $0.10 per week and then started their own barber shop franchise. I was recently very pleased to learn that is exactly what one group has done, in effect. They have saved and bought hair clippers and then saved and bought more hair clippers and they are growing their business of cutting hair as a geographically dispersed group serving different areas.

Ok. But what about the lady who wants to buy soap. That's good, too.

A widow in Byumba says that she was "poor behind the others." She had no soap. But also, she had nothing to eat so she couldn't even think about soap, but she wanted that. Joining the savings group, she has now managed her finances so that her purchases work better for her; she can purchase using lump sums and she can also see her savings grow over time and with interest on others' repaid loans. She says she has something to eat now, and she can buy soap easily. She can buy soap easily. That means something. That changes your days, makes you happier.

When Danielle and I were in graduate school, both fulltime students, we were newly married with no money so we decided no purchases. We ate cabbage and rice and beans, drank water, studied on the weekend, and didn't spend money. We would have to have a discussion before going to the dollar store. Now, it wasn't so bad, we had budget to buy cokes when guests came, we rented movies sometimes; we weren't poor. But, we had decided not to spend extra-budgetary money without serious need.

One day, I had an opportunity for extra-budgetary income. I was asked to speak at a weekend college retreat that would pay some small amount. I told Danielle, "I am going to buy you shoes." She said, "No, husband, don't do that." I said, "No, I don't care, it's my money, it's extra money, I'm going to buy you shoes." Well, all of our money is really our money, but it won the argument. She had not had new shoes in a long time and the ones she loved were ripping at the seams. When I told her I would buy her new shoes, my dear wife cried.

Another widow in Byumba said that because of her savings group, she was able to buy shoes. My eyes watered up a little. That means something, to be able to buy shoes.

What can savings group members buy?

2009-02-01T16:17:00.002-05:00

Many savings group members don't save much. Many don't have much. Marie-Jeanne was asking a group, "If you have 100 RWF, what can that buy in the market? 1/2 kg of salt is 150 RWF. If you eat a cup of sorghum porridge, that's 250 RWF, you do that twice per day and that's 500 RWF. So you can save if you just miss one cup of porridge each week."

What then? What can you buy when you save that you cannot otherwise?

First, there are two types of purchases, those made from ROSCA funds and those from ASCA funds. Most groups contribute either monthly or weekly into one of each kind of fund.

–

ROSCA is the rotating savings and credit association, so if my group of 10 each saves 100 per week, one week we meet I will receive the whole 1,000.

ROSCA spending is typically:

school fees, books, and supplies
agricultural purchases like seeds or manure
small animals like hens, rabbits, and goats
household items like soap or salt
clothing, shoes
medical insurance

A few people report that their ROSCA amounts helped them clear debts, like one family owed 10,000 RWF for their daughter's wedding and their ROSCA cleared the whole debt in one day. The groups tend to allocate the ROSCA distribution according to the timing of members' needs, but each member definitely gets a turn before the next rotation.

–

ASCA is the accumulating savings and credit association, so one meeting my group may put 500 into ROSCA, and may also put 100 into ASCA. The 100 accumulates until it is large enough to loan out at some group determined interest rate.

Some ASCA purchases have included:

larger farm investments for seeds, labor, or land
bicycles
phones
home rental and home building

Obviously there are varying amounts of what people can save, but there are also different degrees to which the savings and loans enable purchases that otherwise wouldn't have happened. Susanne was very proud to purchase and own a phone; that was a big purchase for her that may create new opportunities for her. In Shyogwe, we heard of a more elaborate use of an ASCA. One group member used a loan to purchase 216,000 RWF worth of musical instruments to donate to the church and for the use of the group. That's about $393 USD. A purchase like that means they already had some money and some purchasing confidence, but then again, they may have never felt capable of mobilizing that much money at one time and paying for it slowly.

Spreading out payments on what would otherwise be inaccessible purchases, that's what savings and credit can do for individuals.

SCAs on average

2009-01-31T10:58:00.002-05:00

After visiting three Rwandan dioceses and their respective savings and credit associations (SCAs), we are beginning to get a picture of what the average group looks like. Of course, we haven't seen enough groups to be scientific about all of this, but again, we're getting a picture. There are lots more stories forthcoming that illustrate what individual groups may look like, and in the next post, what group members actually buy with their savings and loans.

SCAs ON AVERAGE

18 Group members

5:1 Ratio of ROSCA (rotating) contributions to ASCA (accumulating) contributions

8:5 Ratio of groups contributing monthly to groups contributing weekly

MONTHLY-MEETING GROUPS

1,800 RWF ($3.27 USD) - Monthly individual contribution, ROSCA + ASCA

21,000 RWF ($38.18 USD) - Monthly group contribution, ROSCA + ASCA

ROSCA

1,500 RWF ($2.73 USD) - Monthly individual ROSCA contribution

18,000 RWF ($32.73 USD) - Monthly group ROSCA contribution

ASCA

300 RWF ($0.55 USD) - Monthly individual ASCA contribution

3,000 RWF ($5.45 USD) - Monthly group ASCA contribution

WEEKLY-MEETING GROUPS

350 RWF ($0.64 USD) - Weekly individual contribution, ROSCA + ASCA

5,800 RWF ($10.55 USD) - Weekly group contribution, ROSCA + ASCA

ROSCA

300 RWF ($0.55 USD) - Weekly individual ROSCA contribution

4,000 RWF ($7.27 USD) - Weekly group ROSCA contribution

ASCA

50 RWF ($0.09 USD) - Weekly individual ASCA contribution

1,800 RWF ($3.27 USD) - Weekly group ASCA contribution

**Remember, ROSCA goes to one member each week; ASCA goes into a loan fund or bank account.

Wife update

2009-01-31T10:51:00.002-05:00

Danielle (wife) has some great news. No, she is not pregnant with triplets (that we know of), but it is her birthday on Tuesday (Feb 3) and, more directly, she just got a job!

So far, Danielle has been volunteering with HOPE and also with a local orphanage, and she helps direct the children's ministry at church. Now, she can add to the list working for World Relief Rwanda. She will be supporting the Office of the Country Director as well as the Programs Department. Her work will be research and communications related to HIV/AIDS and community/economic development, marketing and church engagement, and support for their 3-year strategic plan. Great for Danielle's experience and talents, and also it will be 25-35 hours per week. This is perfect for what she has been wanting for the rest of our short time here in Rwanda, and we really like the people and the mission of World Relief.

First assignment: pictures and stories from the WR child survival program in Cyangugu. If you'll note my travel schedule from my last blog, I'm going to Cyangugu next week. It's all very perfect.

She'll be able to work from home a lot and continue her volunteer work. She'll get incredible experience doing exactly what she likes with an organization we both admire. (Side-note: World Relief is also a partner with HOPE in our microfinance institution here in Rwanda, Urwego Opportunity Bank). We can honestly say that this opportunity fits every criteria Danielle was looking for, and the country director is looking into free World Relief caps and/or shirts for Danielle's husband. Very good.

Diocese campaign tour

2009-01-29T11:14:00.007-05:00

As I've mentioned we are traveling around Rwanda assessing our savings programs to date - more stories are forthcoming. Malu and the core team trained for a year, so before we train some more, we're seeing what has happened.

We are encouraging groups and leaders, gathering stories of success and challenges, casting vision and receiving advice, and laying the groundwork for a wholesale group-by-group reporting scheme to get the hard numbers on the economic development.

Below is a brief schedule of the diocese campaign tour. Each week, we spend Tuesday through Friday on the road hitting dioceses in pairs.

Byumba, Jan 22-23
Shyogwe, Jan 27-28
Butare, Jan 29-30
Kigeme, Feb 3-4
Cyangugu, Feb 5-6
Kibungo, Feb 10-11
Gahini, Feb 12-13
Shyira, Feb 17-18
Kigali, TBD
Kivu, TBD

If you want to visualize where we are, and I'm sure this is particularly helpful for my wife who is wondering where I am right now, then this map gives all of the Anglican diocese locations with an added bonus of emphasis placed on dioceses with the most churches. Byumba has 327, Cyangugu has 76.

(Thanks to Gary Hobday for reminding me how much I love maps.)

Brotherly love

2009-01-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

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.

Supporting the church

2009-01-27T16:50:00.000-05:00

HOPE's savings program in Rwanda is partnered through the local church. Church leadership has decided that poverty is not a good condition for the human soul, and so their churches are involved in various development endeavors to strengthen the local community, Christians and non-Christians.

Hopefully, our savings programs also support the church and its ministry. Well, we see that happening in hundreds of ways through the stories of these savings groups, but here is one story that does more than support its local church.

In Shyogwe diocese, a group of about 11 households have been meeting together and saving together. They were trained by a pastor who was trained by HOPE. The pastor set up the group, taught them the foundations and principles, help them set guidelines, monitored their progress. The group traveled long distances to attend church and they consistently met and saved.

Over time, the group decided they would not travel long distances to come to church anymore.

Instead, they took a portion of their savings and rented a house for 5 months. Everyday … full time. They plan to buy the house. The house is where they meet, where they save, where they discuss common concerns. The house is also where they gather on Sundays. They have asked the parish priest to provide a catechist who will lead their "home" church. Not only has this group of households decided that they no longer accept poverty, but they have also decided that they will be responsible for shaping their own community - even starting their own local church. That's one way to support the local church.

(As a side note, successful savings groups in the area are drawing many Christians and non-Christians who want to join these church-based cell groups that are "doing savings.")

Price of development aid

2009-01-27T16:46:00.002-05:00

Prices are interesting. I asked my dad once how much my George Brett rookie card was worth; he responded, "Whatever someone pays for it." What a bad answer. I knew at that young age that my dad had surely fallen to the fallacy of circular reasoning; his answer was worthless. Later in life, I look back and have decided that I owe him because I finally figured it out (I also figured out that my father, too, was an economics major).

Most things are scarce in that there is no endless supply. The more scarce something is, the more an additional amount of that something costs. Salt is very valuable, but additional salt for the average person is not so scarce and not so expensive. Economist magazines are not so abundant on the street of Kigali, so if I'm lucky enough to get another issue (I have only one Christmas edition issue now) then I would gladly pay over $10 USD. So price, what I am willing to pay, depends on the happiness that an additional magazine issue brings me. My demand for an additional unit of something plus the relative scarcity, this is where we get price. Some like to just say, supply and demand. Economics, … whatever.

Let's talk about the price of development aid. In Rwanda, NGOs flooded the market for social services after the war in 1994. There was great need, and there is still great poverty.

Made up scenario to illustrate the price of development aid:

One typical NGO response to poverty is to give a family a cow. The family receives the cow at a price of zero (0). After giving the family one cow, their demand for an additional cow is less than before. If every family in the village gets a cow and more than one NGO is competing to give away more cows, then cows at zero cost are higher in supply, and demand for an additional cow is lower. Now if an NGO wants to give away more cows, they may find that families are willing to spend less than zero to get that cow. What's less than spending zero? You pay me. I mean, if I'm willing to miss out on work that could make me money, there are opportunity costs for me to get your free cow; and if I have to travel to the village center to meet you then I incur transaction costs to get my cow. I find that I'm no longer willing to come get it, that is, unless you pay me. In fact, if NGOs are competing to give me a cow, and it is important for NGOs to fulfill their missions and report back to their donors, then the best strategy for the NGO is to compete on their respective pricing for free cows. That is, the prices for cows become more negative, NGOs pay for meeting attendance and pay extra for transportation allowance.

What is the cow worth to the villager?

That's not the primary question to the NGOs; they like to ask, "Is poverty being reduced?" If poverty is defined by not having cows, then poverty is being reduced. If poverty is defined by not having sick cows … It costs money to keep a cow from getting sick, by the way. NGOs can train people to care for cows, but the cows are not worth very much, relatively speaking. The cow has worth, but is it worth more than my time and effort in taking care of the cow, or worth more than the money spent to buy medicine for the cow? Not when an additional cow is provided to me at negative cost. I can get paid for receiving more zero-priced animals, so my time, effort, and money are better used elsewhere. Possibly, I'll want to devote more time to leisure, and that's a completely rational response.

Prices are supposed to align people's motives so that their pursuit of self-interest is guided by the invisible hand that makes society better off. How does society react with negative prices?

NGOs ask families to take care of their free livestock and to then donate any offspring to the next family in the program. However, neither of these things makes rational sense to the participants. Why invest in the cow? I don't have much money or high expectations for my future and more negative priced cows are available. Why give away the offspring? The same people that gave me my cow can just give my neighbor a cow, I can sell mine, we're both better off. What makes sense to NGOs does not make sense to the villagers because it's not in their best interest. You get the cow at a negative price, sell the offspring for a positive price.

When you artificially change prices, you distort people's choices, their incentives, and their actions. You do not, necessarily, change poverty this way.

Follow up pointers about foreign aid

2009-01-27T16:25:00.002-05:00

Bill Easterly is blogging now at Aid Watch: "Just asking that aid benefit the poor."

Bill Gates [First] Annual Letter, optimistic and impatient, he tells us what's working and what's not. Also, it's gratifying to see an email in my inbox from Bill Gates and it's not asking me to forward to my 50 closest friends, even though now I am sort of doing that. Hmm.

New book – The Trouble with Aid: Why Less Could Mean More for Africa (African Arguments), Jonathan Glennie

Slight tangent, but relevant to foreign intervention/regulation in an academic kind of way (thanks to Jeff Kern for this gift of an article).

Cato Institute Trade Policy Analysis Paper: "While Doha Sleeps: Securing Economic Growth through Trade Facilitation," Daniel J. Ikenson

How do you define poverty?

2009-01-27T16:00:00.004-05:00

How you define poverty makes a big difference in how you respond to poverty. Do you think poverty is …

Lack of money?
Lack of education?
Lack of health?
Lack of voice?
Lack of security?

Is lack of money a lack of cash flow (income) or cash stocks (savings)? Is lack of education a lack of trade skills (sewing) or human capital (ingenuity)? Is lack of health disease or malnutrition? The point that follows from these questions is that there are many pieces in the poverty puzzle.

If we have an idea that we need to do something about poverty, then we also probably have an idea what we mean by "poverty." If it's just a lack of money, well, let's send money. The last 50 years of sending money, however, has proven poverty more complex. Bill Easterly, a critic of foreign aid (Amartya Sen critiques his criticism here), describes in The Elusive Quest for Growth some economic growth panaceas that have failed chronically poor countries over the last 50 years:

Capital accumulation: there is insufficient savings and investment, but if foreign aid supplies investment for machinery and factories, then what about human capital plus the incentives to make capital productive?

Education: schooling is just part of human capital (think information networks for entrepreneurs), and does more education funds mean better education or increased national income? Sometimes it means educated people leave the country or learn to redistribute existing wealth instead of stimulate the economy.

Loans conditional upon policy reforms: how do you measure true reform instead of encouraging shifty adjustments, and does this still reward neediness instead of growth?

Debt forgiveness: perhaps poor countries want to grow but we've saddled them with too much debt … let's wipe the slate clean, right? Data from 41 high-debt countries from 1989-1997 shows that these nations were forgiven $33 billion in debt, yet in the years thereafter these same countries incurred $41 billion dollars of new debt.

Bono and the ONE Campaign have argued for debt forgiveness (somewhat as a Judeo-Christian "jubilee" concept) and have taken a lot of flak for such a bad idea, but they have worked with Jeffrey Sachs, noted economist and UN advisor, and have coupled their strategy with policy reform conditions for better future results. Philanthropists and scholars are working toward better responses - especially after years of seeing Africa grow poorer - but the lesson learned is that poverty requires nuanced strategy, holistic approach, noting that we treat poverty by how we perceive the poverty problem.

As Chalmers describes it, poverty is a mix of material poverty, isolation, physical weakness, powerlessness, and vulnerability. HOPE International applies Chalmers materials in our Savings and Credit Associations (SCAs) because our view of poverty is spiritual, physical, and social; poverty is a condition of the whole person and all of her relationships.

Read here how a Rwandan HOPE staffer describes the purpose of our savings groups.

SCAs are empowering at a micro level, they do not encourage dependency, and their results are more than just savings. SCAs are supporting renewed communities that believe in their ability to end their own poverty; progress that may well lead to a more sustainable development for economic growth.

For more reading:

Stuart Rutherford, The Poor and Their Money (FREE DOWNLOAD)

Connecting the coffee mugs

2009-01-26T13:22:00.004-05:00

The families were like a bunch of coffee mugs with no spoons or mobile phones or napkins.

That is to say, we need to connect the coffee mugs.

There was a church program to increase food security in the village. There were no regular meetings, but every so often a grant would provide cows or goats or pigs that would be distributed to the community according to need. Most vulnerable families received first.

Once livestock was given, instruction provided, the families returned home. However, families were still isolated. They did not come together, and even if they were Christians, they did not pray together. The families considered themselves very different and for various reasons did not feel comfortable praying with those other people.

After everything, the families still had a poverty mindset. There was no money to care for the cows if they got sick, and there was little incentive to do so because they might just get more animals through the next grant.

A few years later, our savings program was integrated into the food security program. This is how things changed:

People met together. They heard that they could save money together, let it grow, and have access to larger lump sums of money. Perceptions changed. Before if someone was given a cow, he then had more disposable income for drinking or smoking. Now, the more he saves the more he has. The money has purpose and the community begins to take account of their assets. Not only do people meet together, they rotate meeting in each family's home. After they meet and save money, they fix one family's roof and next week work another family's field. Now, the communities cherish praying together because they truly share concerns, and they also share enthusiasm.

No more isolation. Community reconciliation. Praying together, working together. Perceptions of poverty change when people are empowered. That's what we try to do with our savings training. We don't just train in counting money, that's why other groups in the region that do similar self-help models are asking our "champions" to help their groups, too.

Our champions are bringing the coffee mugs into the village and connecting them with straws and pens and napkins. That changes the poverty mindset.

Beggar’s savings

2009-01-26T12:08:00.004-05:00

Sylvain used to beg. He lives in a remote area in northern Rwanda, almost to the Ugandan border. There is a church in the area, not a building, but a church. It sits on a hill overlooking the market, and there the community members gather to pool their savings and generally support each other.

Group members enjoy sharing how the savings program has helped them and changed their lives. Sylvain stands up. Sylvain was known to be a beggar, yet still he was invited to bring 100 RWF (18 cents USD) per week to join the local savings group.

This group uses a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA), so when each of 16 people put in 100 RWF, they distribute 1000 to one person one week and then rotate to another person the next week. Each week, someone gets a lump sum that is larger than what they would normally have on hand to spend. This is very useful, even though still very small. After the 1000 is given, there is still another 600 each week that goes into a general savings pool of which everyone in the group owns an equal share (like an accumulating savings and credit association, ASCA). When that pool of savings is big enough, they may lend it to some better use with a nice return, or they may start a joint venture together and purchase livestock or seeds.

For Sylvain, he has changed. The savings itself is useful, but he has also changed in how the community sees him. He has changed in how he sees himself. Sylvain has a purpose for his time and money, and more importantly, because this savings group shares his concerns and works together to lift everyone up, Sylvain no longer feels isolated.

Isolation is a significant part of being poor, especially for a beggar. But Sylvain is no longer isolated, and in fact, he is no longer a beggar. Lately he has been working in agriculture and some carpentry. And he is still saving and thinking about the future.

Time to make baskets

2009-01-26T12:07:00.004-05:00

Her husband left her with two children. It happens sometimes. They are very poor and he is not happy; the husband can always go off and start fresh with another woman. He can make a new try at life.

Meanwhile, the poor family is now poorer. The abandoned woman still must feed her children, and she is committed to providing their school fees so they can have a decent try of their own one day. To take care of everything, the woman must work very hard. When you work so hard to get by, it's even harder to look ahead and insure against harder times, which will come. In spite of the difficulties, this woman joined a savings group and contributed her 18 cents USD per week.

This particular group is partnered with other programs that help them get medical insurance and some agricultural assistance. The woman now has a burden lifted, if but slightly. When the burden is lifted, she is able to take more time away from barely getting by and to spend time on higher and better uses: making baskets. Through the savings group, the money for schooling is there when she needs it. Imagine the stress relieved …

People are designed to be productive and enjoy life. Both are difficult when you struggle to get by. Struggle leaves little room for the joy of creating something beautiful and valuable, something you can sell in the market instead of just toiling in the dirt. Lighter burden, more joy, kids in school; now you are able to make baskets. And smile more.

Young man’s hope

2009-01-26T11:51:00.004-05:00

When you work for an organization called HOPE International, you hope that when you ask someone about our impact, they say that we bring hope.

I'll be bringing lots of stories from the field over the next few weeks because we are traveling and speaking with group members. Many of the group members we meet will be women, but recently we met a young man who stood up and wanted to share.

He is young; he is energetic and handsome. He is also sitting around with mamas with babies, some widows, and others. He can make money because he is a young man. But he is still quite poor, relatively, and lives in a remote, poor area, so the question is: what is the point of making money? He will not go to the University of Florida, won't become an entrepreneur. He won't open a franchise coffee shop.

The young man stands up and says that his savings group has taught him hope. You don't save if you don't have hope for the future. You don't have hope for the future if someone doesn't believe in you, support you, and share stories of transformation.

In my thinking, it was not possible for me to have a cow. In future, I hope to buy [another] free range cow.
(He now already has one cow.)

The truth is, that village won't see a new Starbucks franchise in my lifetime (maybe I'm wrong), but the young man can become an entrepreneur. He has time, and now he has hope.

The cobbler

2009-01-26T11:40:00.002-05:00

So I'm in Africa, and my shoe starts to burst from the seams and a piece of rubber is extending out to the side.

We drive down dirt roads by new construction into somewhat of a city center. We find a concrete megaplex of shops and people. We walk towards the back where it opens up to a great view of the mountains. Then, in the corner, I see old tires, scraps of rubber, and stalls of men with piles of old shoes and shoe parts. This is where the cobblers work.

I was first quoted 100 RWF. That's about 18 cents USD at my last exchange rate. The quote was for him to crazy glue my shoe. I'm not crazy, that's not going to work. I'm going to need a much more expensive fix. I go up to 500 RWF and have him sew it up with the aid of some fancy shoeing tool. Now we're talking 88 cents USD, but believe me, it was well worth it. My shoes are now fit for dancing.

U.S. History Update

2009-01-20T11:24:00.002-05:00

Far away from home, yet I feel happily American. Regardless of politics, there is something symbolic to the inauguration of our 44th U.S. president, Barack Obama.

The Washington Post quotes a boy speaking before the Obama family and the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church:

Rosa Parks sat so that Martin Luther King Jr. could walk. Martin Luther King walked so that Barack Obama could run. Barack Obama ran so that all children can fly.

I'm listening to the live broadcast on Voice of America radio, and an interviewer asks an older woman why she is there in D.C. for the inauguration. She replies:

Because there was a time I wasn't allowed in restaurants and office buildings and laundromats.

We can visibly see in Kigali that this presidential inauguration is an international event. There is talk in the streets, movement and whir, and many are gathered now to follow along live at the U.S. embassy.

Our world is not at peace. Our president faces great challenges. But today, the symbol outweighs the doubts. Symbolically, for the world, the greater hope of our new president is the fact that we have chosen him, we are willing to change, though we may fail.

Change is not always good, and hope is not certainty; but overcoming, persevering, giving, trying, and believing ... that is American.

President-Elect Obama Recommended Reading List

2009-01-20T10:57:00.003-05:00

From the same Washington Monthly article as the Obama Campaign Trail Reading List, below are the 25 books that the new president should read. Washington Monthly gives detailed descriptions for why each book is important for the incoming administration.

The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Pardox of Modern Iran, Hooman Majd

Irony of American History, Reinhold Niebuhr

The Will to Believe, William James

Character and Opinion in the United States, George Santayana

Memoirs, 1925–1950, George F. Kennan

The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS, Helen Epstein

A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn

America’s Defense Meltdown, Center for Defense Information (FREE download)

The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World, Peter Schwartz

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

India After Gandhi, Ramachandra Guha

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War, David Halberstam

The Floating Island: A Tale of Washington, Garrett Epps

The Quiet American, Graham Greene

The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World, Avi Shlaim

The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation, Stephen Flynn

A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds and the Perils of Financial Innovation, Richard Bookstaber

The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Warren Buffett

Lost in the City, Edward P. Jones

The Pretence of Knowledge, Friedrich Hayek (FREE at Nobelprize.org)

Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes, Irving L. Janis

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams

The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream, John Zogby

Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America, Garry Wills

Beyond Human Scale: Large Corporation at Risk, Eli Ginzberg and George Vojta

Obama's Campaign Trail Reading List

2009-01-20T02:03:00.007-05:00

According to the Washington Monthly, here are some books President-Elect Obama was seen with on the campaign trail:

The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, Jonathan Alter
Unequal Democracy : The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age, Larry Bartels
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, Steve Coll
The Post-American World, Fareed Zakaria
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin

Couch’s chairs

2009-01-17T14:05:00.003-05:00

On average, my friends bring my coolness way up, and this is especially true of Justin Couch. Ever since our wedding, Danielle's dad asks how Couch is doing ... "He is one interesting guy."

Around 2004, Couch left his home in Georgia heading for the 'Frisco bay, which I understand is San Francisco. (As a matter of fact, I missed an SFO connection once and was graciously hosted at his brother's dinner, his favorite coffee house, a bayside tour, and his home.) Georgia Tech for Couch was industrial design, so San Francisco was a venue to test the waters and build a portfolio. Having tested those waters, Couch came back.

Now, Couch is testing new waters in Washington DC. As another matter of fact, he's making a few waves this time. Couch's work has been featured in the Express, the Washington Post's free daily that every living soul reads on the metro in the morning. In the pictures below, his chair and table were selected as the #1 style pick, and also, they called his District Table an irreverent approach to home furnishings, which I guess is good.

I love the way Couch has been designing furniture. For one, he's been poor. You've got to start there as a dreamer/artist. So how can you create and experiment with no money and no equipment? On top of that, could you even add in some time to invest in community and give to others? Yes. As Artist-in-Residence, Couch has been working with inner city youth at Off The Block Artisans Program where he teaches woodworking skills as well as job-related and life skills. In his free time, he can use all of the woodworking machines to do fancy designer things like above. He gets paid a little, he gets design time a lot, and he gets to give a lot. That's about as good as it gets, or at least until the next door opens for his creativity. Right now, that door looks like it may be Barninger & Couch. I've met Barninger, he's wonderful, and so I think this might go well.

Choices for/against prostitution

2009-01-16T15:33:00.008-05:00

Nicholas Kristof had a couple of articles that got me thinking about a paper I wrote on illicit labor market efficiency back in economics grad school. He wrote one article on sweatshops and one on prostitution. Would you believe he was for sweatshops? (Not that I necessarily endorse this view, Private Sector Development Blog gives another view.) Where do you think he stood on prostitution?

Well, ease your mind, I think Mr Kristof and I are both against prostitution, so you can keep reading.

Why is he for sweatshops? Sweatshops offend our charitable Western sensibilities … no one should work in such conditions. Mr Kristof, however, asks his readers to consider the alternatives: no job or worse conditions. On a macro scale, how can a poor nation become an industrialized trading partner if it doesn't climb up through the mire and muck of difficult working conditions and low wage employees? We did it once long ago. People choose to work at sweatshops because it's their best choice given their circumstances.

Economically, the choices people make are often assumed to be the most efficient choices for them – rational choices. People know what makes them better off. Sometimes we would prefer better for people who work in sweatshops, but there may not be better alternatives. Refusing to trade with countries that "exploit" labor means that those people who were getting exploited are now out of a job.

Pro-sweatshops, anti-prostitution.

So, why not prostitution? Even worse, travel to Poipet, Cambodia, or Mombasa, Kenya, among others, and you will find a high premium on child prostitution. Economists may argue, though, that measures to prevent prostitution, even for children, will just leave those poor people with even less choice and much worse conditions … starvation, violence, death.

My question, and my economics paper from before, is about the efficiency of slavery, prostitution, and other forms of illicit labor. Don't people make rational choices to maximize their own welfare, and if we mess with that, then do we mess them up? Is prostitution an efficient labor market outcome?

Some economic papers concerning such illicit labor markets suggest that the main objection to jobs like prostitution is moral repugnance. We don't like the thought of it. We would hope for something better. Economically, they claim, illicit job choices are efficient, prostitution is efficient; prostitution is the best (sic) choice for some young women and young boys.

Ok, here's the quick of it: endogenous choices. The decisions that, say, prostitutes make are based on a predetermined game … where they lose. The idea is that, yes, if people choose a job then it must be their best alternative. If you ban prostitution, it doesn't help prostitutes, they'll just starve now. But here's the thing, what if prostitution is their best choice because someone has restricted their choices? – and therein lies the problem.

Forgive me here, but I'm reading a book on game theory, so let's construct a game:

First, let's simplify. All women in Mombasa can choose between two jobs, basket weaving and prostituting. All employers in Mombasa can choose to be good (respect their workers and pay fair wages) or choose to be bad (take advantage of their workers for higher profit). The chart above shows the payouts to employers in the upper right of each square, and the payout for women is in the lower left square. A payout of 4 is great; a payout of 1 is pretty poor.

Scenario A) Let's say that all employers in Mombasa are good (left column). Now the only choice is what work women prefer if employers are good. Women will prefer a payout of 4 instead of 3, so if all employers are good, women prefer basket weaving. Even if prostituting involves making more money, the payout for women may include more than just money, payout can be dignity plus income. Basket weaving wins out.

Scenario B) If every single employer in Mombasa is bad (right column), then women will prefer to prostitute because their payout is 2 instead of 1 for basket weaving. This may be the case because bad employers take advantage of all of their workers, but prostitutes can bring in more than weavers so there's a bigger take for the women to prostitute.

So the choice of basket weaving or prostituting, for the women, depends on whether all employers are good or all employers are bad. In a perfect world, however, the best a woman can do is 4, so any woman would ideally want to weave baskets for good employers.

What about the choices for employers?

Scenario C) Let's say that all women weave baskets (top row). Now the employers must decide: should I be good or should I be bad? If all women weave baskets, being good gets an employer 2 and being bad gets 3, so the employer will prefer to take advantage of her employees and be bad. Scenario D) What if all women are prostitutes (bottom row)? Well, the employer still gets a better payout for being bad, 4 to 3.

Note here that employers will choose to be bad, take advantage of employees, and receive a bigger payout regardless of whether women weave or prostitute. In game theory, this is called a dominant strategy: when one player has a choice that is always better than any other choice that player could make regardless of the other players' choices. Dominant strategy does not mean best overall outcome, just that one player has a choice better than all of that player's other choices no matter what others do.

If employers have a dominant strategy to be bad, they're going to be bad. If employers are always bad, we know that it is better for women to choose prostitution, as in Scenario B above.

Just because women choose prostitution, it doesn't mean that prostitution is an efficient economic outcome (much less an efficient human outcome).

The best choice for a woman in our model above is by far to weave baskets. Prostitution is simply the best choice given that the game is rigged against them.

The model above is very simplified, so what are some ways that the game is rigged against women or children or the poor and vulnerable? … Education, social stigmas, discrimination, AIDS, slavery, corruption, sexism, drugs, vicious circles of poverty.

Prostitution is bad, and repugnant. Do we fight to ban prostitution at the expense of the very poor? Mr Kristof wants to see brothels become unprofitable through systemic changes. Where illicit labor markets prevail, the economic, social, and justice systems are broken; so how can we see prostitution become a bad choice and how can we restore women's best choices?

Further Reading

Kristof, Nicholas. 2009, January 10. "Striking the Brothels' Bottom Line." New York Times, Op-Ed.

Kristof, Nicholas. 2009, January 14. "Where Sweatshops Are a Dream." New York Times, Op-Ed.

Dixit, Avinash K. and Barry J. Nalebuff. Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life. London: Norton, 1993.

Imperfect Outcomes for Illicit International Labor Markets: short bibliography.

Genicot, Garance. 2002. “Bonded Labor and Serfdom: A Paradox of Voluntary Choice.” Journal of Development Economics 67(1): 101-127. [More on endogenous choices.]

Loyalty Class

2009-01-15T02:32:00.008-05:00

Merry Christmas and thank you to the Loyalty Class! We received your card about five minutes ago.

Friends we have never met read along about our savings program and then sent a card of encouragement and support. That is a very sweet Christmas gift. To the Loyalists, as I now refer to you, please post one of your emails in the comments (I will keep it private and not publish that online) so I can send a personal thanks and an update on how we use your contribution.

For others that might be like you and want to contribute, I plan to put up a permanent link on the sidebar, but until then feel free to visit these HOPE links:

A note on gifts:

Yesterday I was talking to a Rwandan church partner about economic development and women's empowerment. He said that if you give a widow some food or money today, she will come back next week and ask for more. The vision of microfinance is not to give money to the poor today and give money to the poor tomorrow, we want to give the poor the resources to end their own poverty, for today and tomorrow. Your giving goes towards the training of local leaders to empower their communities to save, build wealth, gain insurance, generate income sources ... but also to work together, reconcile communities, build confidence, and restore people to their created purpose, vocation, and identity as people of worth. Thanks for giving!

Market rate

2009-01-10T10:39:00.002-05:00

I've heard the term "market rate" in economics classrooms, but it is much more tangible when I stand in a market. Kimironko Market is the big one that we go to, and there is an immense selection of potatoes and bananas and anything else that grows in Rwanda. "How much do your potatoes cost?" If the answer seems to high, there are dozens of other sellers with identical quality potatoes. I keep walking around enough and I will learn exactly what the "market rate" is. Everyone in the market knows what the market rate is, too. But again, it's different to get the concept and feel the concept as I walk around and shop.

I bought market rate flowers, recently. Downtown, flowers are cheaper. I have to figure that out, because it doesn't make sense. The flowers don't grow downtown, how do they magically get cheaper the farther they travel? I've bought flowers downtown before, our 2nd wedding anniversary, and got a great deal on an assorted bouquet ($2.69). So, this time, we have friends coming over for a dinner party and it's Friday and it's a new year, so I decide to get Danielle more flowers. Some young men stand with bouquets near a market going uphill towards town, and I pass there on my way home or into town, just near Stipp Hotel. Why not check the prices and save myself a little longer trip?

I pull over, the first young man walks over quickly with his bouquet. Immediately, three others run over with their identical bouquets. Now I'm thinking, maybe these flowers will be market rate. The first bouquet enters my driver-side window under my nose. He asks 2500 RWF ($4.50). In my pocket, I know I have 1000 RWF ($1.80). I ask if he's willing to take 1000. He's not so eager for 1000, but his bouquet is still inside my window. So I then ask the other three if any of them are willing to take 1000 for their identical bouquets. Before they have any chance, the first seller is now willing to take 1000.

Living in Kigali is not cheap, so I enjoy the luxury of fresh flowers at market rate.

Growth, entrepreneurship, savings clubs

2009-01-08T12:38:00.002-05:00

Savings clubs got a mention by a favorite economist recently. Abhijit Banerjee discussed economic growth and entrepreneurship (PQRS and the Mechanics of Growth); here are a couple of points that came out:

Lots of poor countries have people working for themselves, but that isn't the same as productive entrepreneurialism. Working for yourself in those contexts, in Banerjee's words, is like "buying a job and not a particularly good job."
The poor could spare small luxuries, save more money, avoid large interest and increase daily income, but what is the point? At the end of the day, the extra income is very small, they're still poor, life's not so different. Lot of discipline, little gain.

Here's some detail about #2:

Dean Karlan and Sendhil Mullainathan, in a recent paper, put this point rather starkly. They study fruit vendors in Chennai, India, who make about two to three dollars a day by buying fruit in the morning on credit and paying it back at night. It turns out that the interest rate they pay is 5% per day and at that rate, saving the ten cents they spend on tea for just one day would allow them to pay back their entire loan in six months (the power of compound interest) and add a dollar a day to their earnings. Yet most of them seem to be permanently stuck in their business model.

My point here is not to suggest that there is something egregiously irrational about the poor. Looking at it from their point of view, it seems clear that what they are missing out on is not really an opportunity to transform their lives: we are talking about a few more cups of tea or a few more meat dinners, in return for a few months of discipline. They would remain poor, indeed very poor.

When offered something that would make a significant difference to their lives—say the opportunity to join a ROSCA or a savings club that would help them buy a television—the poor seem to be happy to make the sacrifices. It is more that business-wise they do not see themselves being able to do anything very different. And most of them are probably right.

Banerjee's article focuses on PQRS: differentiated PRODUCT, better QUALITY, reputed RELIABILITY, and SCALE of operations. That's how an entrepreneur establishes real economic growth for herself.

My interest, of course, is that he mentioned savings clubs and significant differences in people's lives. And the difference is more than buying televisions, though that is also significant. The fact is that for the very poor, a savings club may be the difference maker that unlocks the potential for real entrepreneurialism, real community investment, and real lifestyle change. I also like the point that for that kind of change, the poor are happy to make the sacrifice and save. That is a development litmus test, to me: do the poor want this development enough to be happy to make sacrifices to pursue it?

Historical Cookbook Reading List

2009-01-06T11:51:00.002-05:00

I love books; cookbooks in particular. Cookbooks, to me, represent the origins of economics, Greek oikonomia, home management, scarcity and value of goods. Cookbooks represent an economic revolution from bread and cheese to warm brioche and marmalade, a transformation of the quotidian. So I pass along an historical list of cookbooks that I stole entirely from the special 2008 Christmas double issue of the Economist. I will have to add my own modern list of favorite cookbooks sometime later. Excerpts or wholes of the older texts may be available free online, but I linked the titles to best choice Amazon.com versions. Cookbooks that changed the world:

"Pluck a Flamingo" - Economist

De Re Coquinara, Apicius (circa 400 CE)

The Book of Household Management, Isabella Beeton (1859-1861)

A Gift to Young Housewives, Elena Molokhovets (1861)

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Farmer (1884)

Le Guide Culinaire, Auguste Escoffier (1902)

Mediterranean Food, Elizabeth David (1950)

"Food for Thought" - Economist (not a reading list, but another good article)

Barilla, after 90 years of being the world's biggest pasta-maker, became perhaps the world's greatest gastronomical library. The Academia Barilla, designed by Renzo Piano – renowned architect whose High Museum renovation premiere lecture we attended along with Noel Porter – is now the home of a library of ancient cookbooks and menus as well as an instructional theatre and classrooms. If you're planning a vacation to Parma, Italy, plan a trip here.

Rwanda Rising, produced by Ambassador Andrew Young

2009-01-04T11:08:00.002-05:00

Andrew Young Presents … a documentary about Rwanda. Ambassador Young is a personal hero of mine as a missionary turned Civil Rights leader who became an Atlanta mayor and then Ambassador to the U.N. under President Carter. Danielle and I both attended the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, and I have long been interested in his NGO, Good Works International (GWI).

Rwanda Rising is a film that Ambassador Young produced as part of his effort to communicate stories of growth and progress in Africa. GWI is a consulting organization that works with African national leaders and American businesses to encourage productive environments for foreign direct investment, which also promote positive development reforms in Africa.

We met Ambassador Young at honors night at Georgia State (Danielle's honors, not mine) and he was very gracious. Perhaps we will make his acquaintance again on his many trips to Rwanda.

cODE

2009-01-03T12:53:00.002-05:00

VRUSQO GSKOI IAVKQ WQ V RSXZ OWUA OS MA UVKKWAL, DSBA ISC UVFA WO VO RAVQO SXA USKA. DVNA V DVBBI LVI VXL XATO OWUA JA UCQO DVNA V BVKOI.

Kiesshauer’s music

2009-01-03T04:35:00.003-05:00

Ryan and Bethany sang at our wedding (and Neal). They sang at many of our friends' weddings, I'm just glad they did ours before they become famous and inaccessible. One of the Third Day guys went to CCF, too, but does he respond to emails? Ryan still responds to emails, for now.

Ryan quit his job doing Techie computer stuff so that he could work for himself and do Techie computer stuff, but this time he would make his own hours and devote many hours to writing his own music. So now it has happened, Ryan has now made his final demo mix and sent it off to Ed Cash. If you know Ed Cash, put in a good word. I don't know him, but with a name like that he's got to be legit.

Here's a guy (Ryan), married to a great woman (Bethany), and they're both willing to forgo normal income in order to make music. It's hard to do that as a young married couple, other couples don't do that. Luckily Ryan is very talented and gets more Techie business than he can handle, so they've not been out on the street, but here's another couple of friends not afraid to dream and shake their lives up to make their dream happen. One of his songs has already become famous among a very large group of friends, it is a memorial to Pa Harper; you'll want to hear it at your own funeral one day. As soon as his music is publicly available, I'll let you know. If you want to read more about his process, Ryan blogs.

On a personal note to Ryan:

Ryan, we raced Mario Kart together … don't forget me.

On an impersonal note:

Third Day is a very successful group of Christian music artists, and if anyone knows Mark Lee, please ask him to give Rick a call. Rick would love that. Rick is very sorry he didn't think you were good enough for the CCF band.

Rachel’s beans

2008-12-31T14:29:00.003-05:00

Many of our friends do very cool things, so it's a pleasure to share them with friends and family. Rachel, one of Danielle's bridesmaids, moved to Colorado where she uses her Georgia Tech Industrial Engineering degree to count beans. I am IE'00, so I know something about bean counting myself.

Actually, I'm sure Rachel is a much better IE than me, and I'll be excited to share what her next steps of IE and helping the world will be, but for now, she is helping poor women in Colorado gain self-confidence and work skills to turn their lives around. Here is their video, a PBS report: Bean Project Helps Poor Women.

Bob Lupton Reading List

2008-12-31T04:02:00.001-05:00

Bob Lupton is an Atlantan, introduced to me by Angie Allen. When I was at CCF we worked with his organization, FCS Urban Ministries. Bob also happens to be a great writer of gritty substance when it comes to the mission of the church. Theirs is the Kingdom is one of my earliest reads on theology, a collection of stories that leave you to resolve within yourself. Here is Lupton's list:

Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor (2007)

Renewing the City: Reflections on Community Development and Urban Renewal (2005)

Return Flight: Community Development through Reneighboring Our Cities (1997)

Theirs is the Kingdom: Celebrating the Gospel in Urban America (1989)

A friend once taught me that the goal of ministry is to comfort the uncomfortable, but also to discomfort the comfortable. A 2008 Lupton article is particularly discomforting for the international missionary, his comments are bold, and you'll not want to read it unless willing to be humble and challenged. As a disclaimer, the intensity of Lupton's argument does not reflect the cooperative attitude and optimistic spirit of my organization or me personally, but his admonitions serve as a warning of the unintended consequences of benevolent intentions.

18 Top Public Intellectuals, 2008 (also a reading list)

2008-12-29T04:48:00.004-05:00

Foreign Policy produced (in May 2008) their list of Top 100 Public Intellectuals. I have stolen away some of my favorites below, many of whom are economists, but certainly not all. 2 DISCLAIMERS: Many of FP's top intellectuals also contribute for FP, and many of my selected favorites are those I've written about before, so we each have our biases. I have also edited somewhat for length and content.

George Ayittey, Ghana - Economist: Ayittey is a prominent Ghanaian scholar, activist, and author of Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future. As president of the Washington-based Free Africa Foundation, he argues that "Africa is poor because she is not free." He is an economist in residence at American University.

Paul Collier, Britain - Development and conflict economist (previous post): Author most recently of The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, awarded the 2008 Gelber Prize, Collier is professor of economics at Oxford University and a leading expert on the governance and development challenges faced by the world's poorest countries.

Esther Duflo, France - Development economist: Duflo is the Abdul Latif Jameel professor of poverty alleviation and development economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studies health, poverty, and credit issues in the developing world. Duflo's papers apply field experimentation and quantitative analysis to development issues.

William Easterly, United States - Economist (previous post) (previous post #2): Easterly views much foreign aid as messianic, wasted, or even harmful to developing countries. He is professor of economics at New York University, author of The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good.

Umberto Eco, Italy - Medievalist, novelist: Eco's dense novels, such as The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum, are a dizzying blend of philosophy, biblical analysis, and arcane literary references.

Thomas Friedman, United States - Journalist, columnist: Friedman—New York Times foreign affairs commentator, three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and author of The World Is Flat
and From Beirut to Jerusalem—is one of the world's most popular and influential syndicated columnists.

Francis Fukuyama, United States - Political scientist: Renowned for declaring The End of History
after the fall of the Soviet Union, Fukuyama is professor of international political economy at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and author most recently of America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy.

Malcolm Gladwell, Canada/United States - Pop sociologist, journalist (previous post): Author of Blink and The Tipping Point, Gladwell is a National Magazine Award-winning staff writer at The New Yorker.

Robert Kagan, United States - Author, political commentator: An influential columnist for the Washington Post and elsewhere, Kagan is senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author most recently of The Return of History and the End of Dreams.

Garry Kasparov, Russia - Democracy activist, chess grandmaster: Since his days as a world chess champion, Kasparov has become an outspoken critic of outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is chairman of the United Civil Front, a democratic activist group.

Rem Koolhaas, Netherlands - Architect: Koolhaas is Pritzker Prize-winning principal at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, but his influence extends to urban theory, journalism, and beyond. The cofounder of Volume magazine, his most famous works include Maison à Bordeaux, the Seattle Public Library, and the Casa da Musica hall in Porto, Portugal. He is professor in practice at Harvard University's architecture department and author of Delirious New York and S,M,L,XL.

Paul Krugman, United States - Economist, columnist (previous post): A fiery political commentator for the New York Times and a respected trade theorist, Krugman is a John Bates Clark Medal-winning economist at Princeton University. His most recent book is The Conscience of a Liberal.

Steven Levitt, United States - Economist, author (previous post): Best known for coauthoring Freakonomics with Stephen J. Dubner, Levitt is the Alvin Baum professor of economics at the University of Chicago. A 2003 winner of the John Bates Clark Medal for economists under 40, his most famous work links the rise in abortions to the drop in crime rates in the United States.

Samantha Power, United States - Journalist (previous post): A former foreign-policy advisor to Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Power is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. She is the Anna Lindh professor of practice of global leadership and public policy at Harvard University's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

Jeffrey Sachs, United States - Development economist (previous post): A former special advisor to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the Millennium Development Goals, Sachs directs the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is author of The End of Poverty.

Amartya Sen, India - Development economist (previous post): Sen is an Indian-born economist whose influence spans the globe and ranges far beyond his field. He won the 1998 Nobel Prize in economics for his work on poverty, development, and democracy. Presently, he is the Lamont university professor at Harvard University. In 2000, Sen authored Development as Freedom.

Wole Soyinka, Nigeria - Playwright, activist: Winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, Soyinka is one of Africa's most distinguished playwrights. Soyinka was imprisoned during the Nigerian civil war and became a fierce critic of subsequent Nigerian regimes. He is formerly the Elias Ghanem professor of creative writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and one-time professor at Emory University. Soyinka has prolifically written plays as well as novels, poetry, essays, and more.

Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh - Microfinancier, activist (previous post) (previous post #2): Recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Yunus is the founder of the Grameen Bank and a pioneer in the field of microfinance. He recently wrote Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism.

Thank you

2008-12-28T12:00:00.003-05:00

Danielle and I have received cards and gifts and know of more on the way, and without naming names we just want to say thank you. Thank you also to the friends and family who've mailed or emailed their Christmas pictures; they make us feel like we are sharing the Christmas season with you. Thanks also to Rodney who deposits my paychecks in Rwanda, and a special thanks to a group of people who don't know us but have sent us gifts and encouragement anyway.

I want to thank you publicly since I requested pictures and Christmas stories publicly, and I want to share with our family back home how supported we feel by them, our friends, and friends we haven't met.

I hope you all have a great new year's celebration!

Christmas family portrait

2008-12-26T09:58:00.002-05:00

Christmas movie ranking

2008-12-26T02:58:00.002-05:00

Because I can't help myself, one last Christmas post: Christmas movies – top 20 according to IMDB rankings with my top 10 in bold.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946, 8.6)
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965, 8.4)
The Snowman (1982, 8.3)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966, 8.3)
Scrooge (1951, 8.1)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, 8.0)
A Christmas Story (1983, 8.0)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947, 8.0)
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964, 7.9)
The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974, 7.9)
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970, 7.8)
Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983, 7.7)
A Christmas Carol (1984, 7.7)
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992, 7.4)
Christmas Vacation (1989, 7.3)
Frosty the Snowman (1969, 7.3)
White Christmas (1954, 7.2)
Elf (2003, 6.8)
Home Alone (1990, 6.8)
Scrooged (1988, 6.7)

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T15:57:00.001-05:00

They're singing Deck the Halls, but it's not like Christmas at all, as I remember when you were here and all the fun we had last year ...

Christmas in Kigali

Christmas Eve was crossword puzzles, last minute gift shopping, remoulade and olive dips, candlelight service at Christ's Church, last minute grocery shopping for ham, calamari, and chocolate at Nakumatt, Christmas music and dancing at home, dinner while watching Elf, and going to bed.

Christmas Day is singing "Once in Royal David's City" in the St. Etienne's adult Christmas choir during morning service, Danielle directing the children's Christmas play [picture below], coming home and eating, listening to more music, playing Scrabble and Skipbo, maybe visiting with a few friends in the area, and talking to family on Skype.

The Christmas menu today includes French toast flavored with ginger, cinnamon, and caramel extract, and accompanied with local honey and local oranges that also taste like lime. We also enjoyed the best coffee from Kivu region near the lake in West Rwanda. In addition, Cadbury has introduced me to what I now consider to be what Christmas tastes like, the Grand Seville: a subtle blend of milk and plain chocolate with raisins, orange oil & orange liqueur flavour.

Danielle is wearing new, silver, dangling fish earrings and I am perusing the current Economist and Newsweek magazines.

Have a very merry Christmas!

Mobile banking

2008-12-24T08:29:00.004-05:00

6.5 billion people in the world ... only 1.5 billion have access to a bank account.

There are 3 billion mobile phones around the world.

Wizzit is a mobile banking company trying to reach the unreachable with banking services through mobile phone technology, and they are partnering with World Bank to get their services out there.

YouTube video for those who want more: Banking the Unbanked.

In many developing countries, particularly in rural areas, access to financial services is costly and very limited. This translates to a large percentage of the population operating on a cash basis only and outside of the formal banking system.

It is estimated that 40 percent of South Africa's 45 million population are un-banked or under-banked. However, nearly 60 percent of South Africans have mobile phones. The proliferation of mobile services worldwide has created a unique opportunity to provide social and financial services over the mobile network.

More on mobile banking? Here's a presentation by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, an independent group housed at the World Bank).

More Christmas music

2008-12-22T10:12:00.002-05:00

I posted our wedding Christmas playlist from December 2006, but we have added some favorites since then that are on heavy rotation. They are in alphabetical order, but I bolded some of my particular favorites. That's two Christmas playlists from me, but seriously, are there any other worthwhile Christmas songs out there? I'd love to hear your favorites that I can add to the list.

Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
Christmas All Over Again - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Christmas in Hollis - Run-DMC
Christmas Will Really Be Christmas - Lou Rawls
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
Do You Hear What I Hear? - Bing Crosby
The Little Drummer Boy - Johnny Cash
Little Saint Nick - The Beach Boys
Mamacita, Donde Esta Santa Claus - Guster
O Come O Come Emmanuel - Sufjan Stevens
Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt
Silent Night - Etta James
White Christmas - The Drifters
Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney

Better than a Christmas tree

2008-12-20T14:11:00.004-05:00

I just saw a picture of my parents' Christmas tree tonight on video Skype, it was beautiful. We don't have a Christmas tree, but what we do have is Christmas cards on the buffet right next to a beautifully Rwandan hand-carved nativity scene. Thanks to Brenna for both of our two Christmas cards, she was our house guest and the namesake of the O'Brien room upstairs. Danielle got a card, I got a card, very nice.

Can't say we're not nostalgic for a Christmas tree, but our Christmas is different this year, and we appreciate that. This year, it's us and our nativity scene … and some woven Christmas ball ornaments and Brenna's two cards.

Note: Nostalgia is not Christmas, but that doesn't mean we won't vicariously enjoy pictures of your Christmas trees and presents and parties. Please send pictures. Email us if you have the address, post comments to picture links, otherwise, but we'd love to share your Christmas by seeing your pictures. You know we'll share ours.

Tatum’s 100

2008-12-20T11:40:00.004-05:00

My friend Jason Tatum has lost 100 lbs this year! I have shared that story with some friends and family because I am so proud of the tremendous accomplishment, but here are the pictures to prove it and here is a story to boot.

Your first thoughts: camera tricks and a haircut. The truth is that I have read everything he's eaten and every time he's exercised for the last year. Actually, hundreds of people have read everything he's eaten and every time he's exercised for the last year. I am one of many who receive the Tatum Daily Update.

Jason is losing this weight to become mission-field-ready in order to join the campus ministry startup in Birmingham, England (a ministry with a fantastic start, so far). To me, the weight loss is the side story; the main story is an incredible young man leaning on community and pursuing his dreams. Mr. Tatum is very talented, and his mind is endlessly focused on others, on ministry, on justice, on stories, on grace … he has limitless creativity and it's all focused on being a light in the world.

Losing weight is more than an exercise; it is a spiritual journey of identity, fear, and discovery. The discovery for those of us who support him in his future ministry is what calling and purpose await after such a difficult road.

[Note: today we are at a negative 108.2 lbs. As Tatum would say, "fist pump." Also, I think I hear that he'll be working at CCF some while fundraising, that's great.]

Google Earth view of our Kigali neighborhood

2008-12-20T02:29:00.005-05:00

Interested in exploring our Kigali map on Google?

This is our neighborhood: Biryogo. We are in the province of Kigali, district of Nyarunge, city of Kigali (Kigali-ville), and then the neighborhood of Biryogo. Some will want to say that I live in Kiyovu but that's where the president lives, we're Biryogo people.

Let's begin with the Anglican guest house compound. We first lived in Mercy House, small bedroom, shared bath, breakfast included (thanks Janet). Now we live in Hope House, 2 floors, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, living/dining room, kitchen, it's wonderful. Hope House is the closest to the street of two apartments in the same building shared with Shalom House. Our neighbors in Shalom, David and Liz, return from England in January/February to work with Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Mercy House is where we enjoyed the porch with the amazing view. It's rocking chairs looked out over a sizable garden and then a vast hillscape of neighborhoods and lights. The right-side boundary of the compound is where the hill starts sloping down away from Avenue Paul VI, sloping toward the Gikondo neighborhood and sloping back up beyond that to far areas with houses and fields and lights.

Across the street is the Anglican Church compound with the church labeled and slightly up and to the right is the main hall where we do some of our trainings.

Left out of our gate heads toward the Muslim Quarter and some shops where I buy airtime for my mobile phone. Right out of our gates goes toward downtown - 30 minutes walk/short drive: Urwego Opportunity Bank, hotels, restaurants, shops. Within close walking distance is New Cactus, a casual French/continental with free Internet and a great view and lounge chairs in the grass by the hillcrest.

We love our location and it's easy to reference by KIST or St. Etienne's. Now you know where to drop by, but don't come unannounced, Lazarus the guard dog is very protective.

Expatriate Christmas party

2008-12-19T15:47:00.004-05:00

Eating, caroling, and glad-handing expatriates. It was actually quite a neat experience to celebrate Christmas carols with a room full of people we don't know who are also away from family and also doing work in Rwanda that is pretty strongly influenced by this baby Jesus we kept singing about.

Favorite carols this year: O Come, O Come Emmanuel and Little Drummer Boy (Johnny Cash version).

In the background of Danielle singing carols you can see Phil and son Sean playing guitar. Phil directs World Relief Rwanda, and Sean is finishing a policy master's at Duke. We see them both at St. Etienne's and we sing with them and Phil's wife Becca in the Christmas choir. Also, note the Christmas ornaments that we bought earlier today and brought to the party; they're in the background of the songbook shot below.

Kimironko Market in Remera

2008-12-19T08:16:00.004-05:00

Kimironko is the market's market in Remera near the Kigali airport. We made a brief trip to grab extra ingredients for a Christmas party tonight; we're taking Macadamia Meltaways.

$0.86 = 6 eggs
$0.81 = 1 kg tomatoes
$2.50 = 2 kg flour
$1.25 = 1 kg sugar
$17.89 = 26 Christmas ornaments

Saving-in-kind

2008-12-19T00:19:00.002-05:00

How do the poor save? I've written before about how can the poor save. They want to, they can, they do. But for this edition of "how" do they save, let's talk about saving-in-kind.

1968, 1 oz. of Hershey's chocolate costs $0.05

2008, 1 oz. of Hershey's chocolate costs $0.59

40 years, over 5 times the price, simple inflation.

Germany once had inflation so bad that bar patrons would order two beers at a time so that the second beer would not cost twice as much as the first, even though it would be a little warmer.

If you are super poor in a country that has super inflation (I think that's a technical term), then how in the world can you save anything for a bad day? This is hypothetical, of course, not happening here and now, but you could kind of imagine that happening right? Oh, by the way, Zimbabwe's inflation is somewhere in the range of 231,000,000% right now.

What would you do if inflation were to happen in America (again, hypothetical)? Put money in gold or silver? How about cows? Cows actually make a good form of savings, especially if you like milk. Inflation can come and go, but a cow is still worth a cow. Maybe you can't afford a cow … that's a problem. Or maybe you have a cow and you need $5 to go to the dentist; do you just sell a whole $60 cow?

Q: Can you sell 1/12 of a cow?

A: Only if you're ready to eat the other 11/12 of it.

Me, I prefer goats. Danielle prefers goats, too, but mostly as friends. Goat milk or cheese is tastier to me, and you can diversify your investment with 4 goats instead of 1 cow. Then it's easier to cash in just one goat. Pigs will do in a pinch, but they're not kosher.

If you really like easily accessible assets, go rabbits. Quick breeders, easy to cash, tasty to eat, ... but I hear they can catch and spread disease quickly, too. But hey, when one cow gets a disease and one cow is what you got, what are you going to do?

Babies for Christmas

2008-12-18T13:43:00.005-05:00

I love Christmas, so Christmas is what I'm writing about once a day until the day. Today, it's babies and Christmas. That's what Danielle wants, but I was thinking a necklace or something. Seems like all of our friends are having babies, at least two of them (who blog about it):

jesse & keight plus one. Does Keight spell Kate like "K" and the number 8? Yes. Keight is what I consider a Christian with Turret's syndrome, so I expect wildly blunt and overly detailed descriptions of what pregnancy looks like. Hilarious.

The Del Angel Family. Tiffany posts monthly mug shots of her belly. I particularly like the sonogram of Madison throwing up the peace sign. They should soon be getting a pink baby blanket on the way from Rwanda via Pennsylvania.

Danielle is not getting a baby for Christmas this year, maybe on layaway. But what I can do is preview some potential Hartley baby names. Also, feel free to use these names, I have no problem with our children having the same exact names and growing up best friends. I think that's great. Merry Christmas Danielle [revised 12/27/2008]:

Elijah Paul (Eli)
Frederick Norris (Rick)
Joseph Elliot (Zeph)
John Francis (Jack)
Moses Oliver (Moses)
Luke Thomas (Luke)

Emma Catherine (Lucy)
Eleanora Mae (Nora)
Mary Alice (Alice)
Gabriella Ruth (Gabby)
Margaret Ansley (Maggie)
Evelyn Esther (Evie)

Danielle over Heaven any night

2008-12-18T11:46:00.002-05:00

Give me the choice: Danielle or Heaven? Danielle … any night of the week.

I've been to Heaven, and I love it – great view – but now that our kitchen is up and running, I'd rather eat in. Did I mention Heaven is the best restaurant in Kigali? Well, Indian Khazana was the best restaurant in Kigali, but until they pay their taxes, our Christmas dinner plans will be elsewhere.

So anyway, we've moved into the Hope House after a month in the Mercy House, and we now have our own kitchen, pantry, refrigerator, stove, microwave, toaster, coffee maker. Mmhh, this is nice. Danielle prepared our first meal recently: beef and tomatoes with pasta, cheese, bread, and avocado. We have had tea and coffee in the morning, snacks when we want them. It's a nice welcome home to settle in and stock up on groceries and eat when you want.

A Heaven side story: I ran across Heaven's co-owner Josh Ruxin on Nicholas Kristof's New York Times blog recently. He guest writes. Interesting. We met Josh at Heaven; he insisted we try his strawberry ice cream on the house. It was fantastic.

Our Christmas playlist, what's yours?

2008-12-18T00:49:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Krista Greiner, I recovered my Christmas playlist that we made for our Christmas wedding 2 years ago. That makes Danielle and me pretty happy to hear those songs in that order. It also makes me happy to hear that Krista and also Marisa/Justin are still listening to those songs in that order.

Being far away from home, we would love to know what Christmas music you are listening to. Here is our list:

All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey
Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes
Run Rudolph Run - Chuck Berry
Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
This Christmas - Donny Hathaway
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
Merry Christmas, I Love You - James Brown
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Barenaked Ladies
Please Come Home for Christmas - Eagles
Winter Wonderland - Bing Crosby
The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Lou Rawls
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams
Baby, It's Cold Outside - Dean Martin
Carol of the Bells - Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Christmas present suggestions

2008-12-17T10:19:00.006-05:00

What do you get someone who has everything? A mug. That question is much easier than most people make it out to be. Get him a mug.

If you're shopping for me, I would like a polo and some books. I have an Amazon wish list that takes care of all of my book needs, but where on earth (or online) can you find both a mug and a polo?

Besides alleviating world poverty, HOPE International has now solved the Christmas crisis. Mug? Polo? Same place: HOPE International >> Get Gear. Note: I would be proud to have friends wear HOPE, and though the detail on the polo is hard to see, I definitely want one. I'm not sure how it works, do HOPE employees get to pick out one piece of gear for Christmas?

Disclaimer: Please don't ship me that polo (or at least post in the comments that you are going to so I don't get 20 polos). I once said "please send socks" and now I'm getting socks, but really, I can buy them here for much less than you can ship them. It was rhetorical. But, yes, I do need socks, so thank you who've sent them.

2nd Anniversary

2008-12-16T10:33:00.004-05:00

Day 731

Our second anniversary. I surprised Danielle with flowers I bought downtown (at $0.09 a stem) and a long anniversary note on a Joyeux Anniversaire card. Tonight, we go for pizza and beer at Sole Luna, supposedly the best pizza in town and about 50 varieties.

Not too late for Christmas cards

2008-12-10T07:23:00.003-05:00

Casa Cards. Do you like child advocacy AND Christmas? This may be right for you.

These Christmas cards are beautifully designed by abused kids who need advocacy. Buy 20 5x7" cards with envelopes for $16, order them today, make your address list while they ship to you, then you are ready to mail them back out for Christmas. Also, if you are like my mom, then you can buy cards in bulk - no matter the season - and save them for when you need them.

Let me know which ones you order, I have many favorites. We're in Rwanda this year, but next year you may see one of these cards in the mail from us. Here are my Christmas favorites:

Wedding season

2008-12-10T06:54:00.005-05:00

Two big wedding announcements: my cousin Nicholas Baranco & fellow CCF intern alumna Malissa Jones are getting married.

Not to each other, though that would cut down on gifts and travel for me.

Nicholas & Ellie

Malissa & Winfield

This is wedding season in Rwanda, too. Every week in church there are 6 to 10 wedding announcements, but sometimes they are announcing the same wedding. I found out last Sunday that if you want to be married in St. Etienne's (which a lot of people do, it's big and beautiful), then you must be announced three Sundays in a row. These announcements give the church opportunity to speak now or forever hold our peace; we are encouraged to speak with a pastor privately if we have reason they should not be married. Every week couples are announced, they stand, and we all check them out. I try to decide if they look good together and would make good babies, but so far I have not had reason to speak with the pastors.

This is my final announcement for the weddings above. I hope you approve.

DIY African paper bead necklace

2008-12-09T10:49:00.003-05:00

Interested in making your own African jewelry? I know my mom is. Here are the steps to Doing It Yourself.

Materials: colorful magazine pages, scissors, toothpicks, and glue.

Step 1

Cut colorful magazine pages into long triangles.

Step 2

Apply glue to one side of the triangle.

Step 3

Roll the triangle around a tooth pick, starting with the base.

Remove the toothpick once it is rolled, and now you should have yourself one bead, African jewelry style. This is the beginnings of a beautiful necklace if you keep going and thread the beads together. You may add some finishing touches like some kind of sealant and some accent beads. Here is what the final product should look like:

African paper bead necklaces: 3500 RWF, $6.26 USD each

What do savings groups do?

2008-12-09T10:23:00.002-05:00

During our core team planning meeting, we began by reviewing our purpose, our successes, and our future. What are we here to do? Why did you get out of bed and come sit around this table to talk about savings and credit associations? Here is one pretty good answer, courtesy of Marie Jeanne, paraphrasing is my own:

In Rwanda, we have had war and division between people. Our savings groups bring the people back together, reconciled, and we introduce Christian community and faith. Our groups do not just meet and do savings, they meet and build relationships. They are on earth for a purpose and are created in the image of God. Division was not created because of physical differences or cultural differences, but because of sin. We are all created in the image of God, and savings groups mean being able to bring those people back together, not to focus on differences, but to find solutions to the challenges they all face.

Empowerment, reconciliation, savings groups mean more, something deeper … restoring right relationships between people and God and between one another.

Worklife update

2008-12-09T10:22:00.004-05:00

Update: lots of debriefings, some core team planning, training sessions, and the Champions' graduation

Part I: HOPE people debriefings.

Roger Morgan, an Englishman living in Brussels, is HOPE's Europe & Africa Regional Director. He flew into Kigali for a MFI board meeting with Urwego Opportunity Bank, of which HOPE is part owner. While I am in Rwanda, I work for Roger. He spent a week and a half here when we first arrived and helped me understand the program, my expectations, and he also introduced me to a lot of people. Roger left November 20.

Malu Garcia is a Filipina, and she has many Filipino friends. We hope to convince them we are from the Philippines, too, because they like to get together, celebrate, and eat. Malu is a sweet, wonderful woman who is expert on savings and credit associations and training (see Chalmers Center). She has been training trainers here, and she got me up to speed on daily operations and what she has accomplished here so far. Malu has been year 1 of HOPE's savings programs, I am year 2. Malu leaves December 10.

Brenna O'Brien comes to Lancaster by way of Atlanta, a nice route, and she is a multitalented woman who works with me on the programs team back at CSU (central strategic unit). Brenna now specializes in IT systems for HOPE's network, and she actually came to Rwanda by way of the Philippines where she was helping a partner institution. She is helping us do some strategic planning for the next phase of the program. Brenna leaves December 15.

Part II: Core team planning.

Our core team for the Rwandan savings program consists of Emmanuel Karegyesa, Marie Jeanne Uwimana, Malu Garcia, and yours truly. We have done some strategizing for next year. 2008 has been training intensive, training trainers to train savings group leaders for a goal of 5,000+ savings groups. 2009 will be monitoring and evaluation, program growth, and more training. Also, we are working to strengthen the Anglican Church's capacity to do transformational development, and we are equipping the core team to be self-sufficient after I leave, though Malu and I will likely continue supporting them regularly. We are now establishing our action plan for the next year, a Gantt chart, some new policies, and trying to wrap our minds around the reporting challenges for a program operated mainly through volunteers with high costs for communication and travel. How many groups do we have and how much are they saving? Suggestions?

Part III: Training sessions.

Champions Graduation. There are 3 Champions per diocese that train trainers and promote savings. They have gone through intensive training with the core team, and on November 20^th, we held a graduation ceremony for those Champions who completed all of the training. It was a great celebration with speeches and gifts and songs and food and diplomas. Check out the slideshow of the graduation:

I also attended part of a savings group training for members of a child-headed village. There is a significant population of orphans after the war of 1994, and they have now grown up and are self-managing their own communities with the assistance of a social worker (Aunt Harriet), church staff (Especio), and some government housing. With drumming and singing in the main hall of St. Etienne's, orphans from the child-headed village prepared for another day of savings lessons including discussions on discipline and guidelines to create an atmosphere of trust and order. They have some very sophisticated ideas of how to establish trust because they have relied on their own leadership for so long now. Not all attendees were heads of households, some were younger, some missed training because they were caring for their household or working part-time somewhere or visiting a friend in a mental hospital, most were in school between early college and early high school. They all valued savings group training highly.

Soon we have another training here in Kigali, and on the 21^st there is a new bishop's ordination in the new diocese, Kivu. On the 23^rd Christmas vacation begins and goes until January 5^th.

This week, we have a new office to set up at the provincial headquarters … not to mention saying goodbye to Malu. Don't worry, she'll be back for four more trainings next year.

Part of being rich

2008-12-08T12:21:00.002-05:00

Money is one part of being rich, perhaps just a small part, though.

When Danielle and I lived in East Point, we were both fulltime graduate students. Not rich. At least, we did not have much money. What we did have was two cars and lots of options.

If I needed socks, for instance, I could get in the car and drive to Wal*mart and have any kind of sock I desired. Fancy socks, maybe argyle. Duke Blue Devil socks. Whatever socks I wanted, I could buy, and I could buy them very cheaply. Wal*mart stocks a lot of socks.

I need socks. Some things fall in priority when you get a new job and move to Rwanda, so I left America with old socks that have holes in them (not to mention the smell). Part of my problem now is that I don't know where to go to get the cheapest socks of the best quality. The other part of my problem is that, relatively, America is richer than Rwanda. Sometimes richer means more options for cheap goods at low transaction costs.

Please send socks.

Money don’t last forever

2008-12-05T16:06:00.003-05:00

I've heard before that the world's poor has trouble saving. Well, there're lots of reasons for that. But sometimes money just doesn't last. Sometimes moth and rust destroy, thieves break in and steal. Sometimes money withers away.

Here, below, is cent francs. 100 RWF. It's worth about 18 cents USD. They also have 100 RWF in coin version, and this we prefer. We spend these bills as fast as we get them because they feel like they are about to disintegrate in our pockets. Danielle wants me to say something about the velocity of money, MV = PQ, quantity theory of money, but basically small bills get worn out.

Things we buy

2008-12-05T15:43:00.005-05:00

Danielle and I decided to go ahead and pick up some Rwandan things as we see them and enjoy them here and now. Here's some local products:

Vase, 5000 RWF, $8.94 USD

Bowl, 4000 RWF, $7.33 USD

Baskets, 2000 RWF, $3.67 USD (each)

Feel free to place your order with us online. I'll be honest, though, shipping and handling is where we get you.

Poverty triangle

2008-12-01T12:00:00.005-05:00

Most of the world is not rich. You may have heard this before. Most of the world, however, is also not destitute. There are people in the world who rely on bilateral transfers: donated food, water, clothing, and more. Think natural disasters, refugee camps, post-conflict zones, droughts and famine. We are philanthropically called to answer those needs.

How can we best answer the needs of the economically active poor? This is most of the world.

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide services and products that target specific groups of economically active poor clients, just as commercial banks segment the services and products they provide. In the illustration above, the small tip of the triangle is the world's rich (probably you) and the bottom base is the destitute poor. In between these grayed out zones are three very broad segments of economically active poor.

The upper segment of poor clients (purple) generally demands small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) loans. These SME loans range from $5,000 to $50,000 – think dentist's office in Romania. Have you heard that in America, it is harder to get a loan these days? In Romania, it can be very hard to get a loan, especially something bigger than $500.

The middle segment of poor clients (blue) typically demands small business loans in the range of $50 to $5,000. This range is where most MFIs do their business, including HOPE International. Do you know what the minimum loan size is for Citigroup in Congo? I'll check, but I think it's about $1m. That small "m" stands for million. It's hard to jump from poor to million dollar business renovations overnight.

The lower segment of poor clients (light blue) is not ready to take out a $50 loan, or maybe they are too remote to access an MFI. This group may not have any experience handling money or making business decisions; may want to work, may not have the opportunities. Here is an opportunity for a savings and credit association (SCA). A group of widows in Rwanda start saving about $0.10 a week, six years later these women are leveraging their savings to buy a couple of used cars to resell for profit. Instead of being a microfinance "provider", the SCA organization becomes a microfinance "promoter." That's what I do. We empower the poor to use their own savings – along with our education, materials, support – and build financial independence from where they are. That's good outreach. That's bootstraps economics … and the thing is, that's what works, too. They own their own successes, keep their capital in their communities, build social networks and self-confidence, and one day they'll be taking out the business loan from some MFI and they'll be hiring employees from the community.

We're eventually trying to make that little gray triangle on top get bigger.

[The triangle concept and stories are borrowed from Jesse Casler, but the Rwanda story is local, that's from Marie Jeanne.]

Happy 90th Aunt Mae!

2008-11-29T15:23:00.005-05:00

90 years, 100 grandbabies

Ok, not that many grandbabies, but when you sit in Aunt Mae's living room, you feel like a grandbaby.

I remember once visiting Mae and AJ with my friend Josh, and I warned him: they'll both hug you, both kiss you on the mouth, and somebody's going to ask about your relationship with Jesus. I was a solid 3 for 3.

The first time Danielle met Aunt Mae, we saw a picture of the two of us on her mantle. We had taken the picture earlier that week, and I still don't know how it got up there so fast.

Aunt Mae is one of the warmest, most prayerful, and dearest people in my life. She has meant a lot to my mom in particular, and that alone has shaped me a lot. What has shaped me the most is how I have always been so welcome in her home, so loved, and so prayed for.

Thanks Aunt Mae, happy birthday.

Facebook philanthropy

2008-11-26T05:42:00.002-05:00

Kevin Tordoff, HOPE's marketing director, issued a Facebook fundraising challenge. Some of my friends Facebook more than I – because I don't – so maybe you'd be interested in sharing this with your friends:

"Thanks for joining on in support of HOPE International on our Facebook cause. We're celebrating 10 years of Christ-centered microfinance this year. In ten short years, we've been blessed by God as our work has expanded to 14 countries and reaching more than 220,000 entrepreneurs. If you're not yet familiar with microfinance, in short, it is making available small loans, sometimes as small as $50, to the working poor. These entrepreneurs use the access to our capital to fund their business needs often buying inventory and raw materials. The funds are paid back with interest enabling us to re-loan to more people for larger sums. We do all of this while administering the love of Christ in specific ways.

We can't wait to impact more people in more places, so we came up with a radical idea and that idea involves you. We are asking all of our Facebook friends to make a minimum donation of $10 directly on our Facebook cause page and invite ten of your friends to our cause. Just think, if all 1,700 cause members donated at least $10, we would raise $17,000 for HOPE. What can be done with $17,000? We can open 3 new Bank of HOPE branches in the Dominican Republic. These three banks would provide funding to support the loan requirements of more than 150 new businesses. These businesses would impact the lives of more than 600 family members and in future loan cycles even more people would be affected.

There is one small catch though. We want to fund these new banks this year to bring even greater HOPE to the people of the Dominican Republic this year. This is why we are asking you to make your $10 contribution by December 31, 2008. Don't forget, please invite 10 of your Facebook friends to our cause and share this message of HOPE with them because ten can make a difference."

Bethanie

2008-11-25T09:36:00.003-05:00

A Presbyterian guest house in Kibuye on Lake Kivu, Centre Bethanie is described by Will Kendall as the most beautiful place in the world. I consider it one of the best I've known. I've never seen a place like this, but imagine that it must be what Hawaii looks like, maybe.

Malu was planning a retreat to write up her experiences with the savings-led program here in Rwanda, so Danielle and I were able to tag along. We drove here on Sunday, and we have been doing some reading and planning in order to prepare an agenda over the next few months, and Malu has continued to debrief us on our savings operations.

During our spare time, we look out over the lake and feast on fried bananas and sambaza (minnow-size fish that I eat like popcorn shrimp), which goes nicely with a cheap local beer, Primus. We took a boat tour of the nearby islands, which included some fancy birds and a hilly island with grazing cows. The cowboys swim their cows out to these islands to graze!

Danielle and I have been able to debrief about our new home and soak in some of our new experiences. We have had a whirlwind weekend and no Internet access, so the following blog entries are a barrage of writings accumulated.

Pastor Sam’s savings group

2008-11-25T09:35:00.002-05:00

Pastor Sam Mugisha, from St. Etienne, is charged about savings groups. So here is his great idea: Sam invited 46 pastors to join him in a pastors-only savings group. Savings groups often form out of pre-existing groups, but Sam's initiative is pretty special.

First, these are pastors in Kigali who may otherwise never have joined a savings group. Being part of a group is the absolute best way to understand how it works, value what it does, and excite pastors to promote savings in their churches.

Second, this savings program is partnered with the Anglican Church, so many of the implementers are pastors, archdeacons, and ministry leaders. What you don't want, though, is a pastor holding his congregation's money or hunting down loan repayments. Sam's pastors group gets pastors involved but removed: involved in the process of alleviating poverty, removed from handling funds and endangering the church's mission.

Sam gets it, his idea is great, and he is pretty excited. His grace Archbishop Kolini thinks these pastors should be saving to buy a home, so he's pretty excited about this idea, too.

SILC – Savings and Internal Lending Communities

2008-11-25T09:34:00.003-05:00

I am getting debriefed on HOPE's savings-led programs every day, but while that picture comes together I am also looking at other models. SILC is a model very similar to ours, and it is outlined clearly and I just read it, so here is the synopsis:

SILC, a soft approach to microfinance, is a Catholic Relief Services (CRS) model of an accumulated savings and credit association (ASCA), developed by Guy Vanmeenen. The notes below are sometimes paraphrased, sometimes direct quotes, of Guy's paper:

Guy Vanmeenen, Savings and Internal Lending Communities, a basis for Integral Human Development, Nairobi, Kenya, Catholic Relief Services, October 2006.

Guy is the Senior Technical Advisor for microfinance in Africa, and he is based in the CRS East Africa Regional Office in Nairobi. He also attended the SEEP conference and was very helpful; I plan to visit their savings-led operations here in Rwanda at his invitation.

So, the guidelines below for SILC are very representative of the ASCA models we use.

Group Formation

10-25 individuals, self-selected: trust, honesty, reliability, punctuality, hard working, savings potential, similar social stratus.
If mixed gender, at least 3/5 elected committee members should be female; members who hold some public office outside the group are ineligible for committee leadership but their advice is welcome.
Groups that grow larger than 25 are encouraged to split.

Fund Development

Members' savings becomes loan capital for group members.
Savings-led finance provides access to financial services otherwise limited by high transaction costs or other entry barriers.
When savings are sufficient, members can borrow and repay with interest so the fund grows as do members' share values.

Ownership

Groups are owned and managed by their members.
Self-reliance is the basis for group operations and long-term sustainability leading to group and financial independence.

Governance

Members elect 5 governing committee members: chairperson, secretary, treasurer, and 2 money counters.
Committee members are reelected annually at the start of a new cycle, or by extraordinary means when necessary.

Self-regulation

Members agree on a constitution that governs the committee members and provides a framework for dispute resolution.
The constitution specifies terms and conditions of savings and lending, and the operations of any special funds.
Each group member has one vote.

Transparency and Accountability

All transactions are carried out in front of the group during meetings.
A lockable cash box holds excess cash and record books.
Loan requests are made publicly before the entire group.
The group approves loans for consumption, investment, or household expenses, depending on the terms set in the constitution.

Duration

Savings and lending cycles are time-bound for an agreed upon operating cycle.
At the end of each cycle, accumulated savings, interest earnings, and earnings from other economic activities of the group are disbursed to members according to shares.
A minimum of a 6-8 month cycle is recommended, and meetings usually occur weekly.
Regular meetings and a longer cycle are important for the first cycle, after which groups may graduate to more custom schedules.
At the end of a cycle, groups may reorganize and individuals come or go.
New cycles may correspond to seasonal needs.

Insurance

Groups are encouraged to create a social fund with some agreed upon regular contribution.
Social funds may address emergency assistance, educational costs, funeral expenses, et al.
Social funds are not included in end-of-cycle share-outs and not included in lendable funds.

Savings

Minimum and maximum savings contributions per meeting are set by members and fixed for the entire cycle.
The maximum permissible contribution should not exceed 3-5 times the minimum amount.
Members may agree to suspend savings during lean periods, though loan or social fund activities may continue.
Weekly contributions in Africa tend to be from $0.20 to $0.60.

Credit

Members' savings and group earnings become funds for internal lending, and members set the loan terms.
Loan terms typically span from 1-3 months; agricultural loans may require up to 6 months.
Interest on loans falls due every 4 weeks, normally set as a flat rate from 5% to 20% as set by the group.
Fines and accrued interest are assessed if the principal is not repaid on time.
The amount a group member can borrow is something more than that member's total savings, but less than double or triple (some agreed proportion) of that member's savings.

Rick Harper, mentor

2008-11-25T09:31:00.006-05:00

January 1998

The first time I walked into Georgia Tech CCF was 10 years ago. 33 retreats, 12 leadership retreats, 3 campus minister retreats, 1 year of interning, 2 years of seminary, 3 years on staff, 219 Bible studies, 82 runs around campus, 503 meals at no cost to me, 1 wife, countless friends, and 1 life-changing piece of advice later, and here I am with Danielle in Rwanda.

"Give God the glory and anything is possible."

CCF is where I learned to dream and change the world. My marriage, my career, my faith, my relationships are all different because of CCF, because Rick and Beth Harper have used their lives to introduce university students to Jesus.

As Danielle and I studied economics and dreamed about changing poverty, we wondered where and how we might serve, how our gifts would be used. Reflecting now from Rwanda, I praise God a lot for the direction we're going, and I have to thank Rick and Beth for the sacrifices they've made and for believing in someone that must not have seemed worth it at the time.

Hard places

2008-11-25T09:30:00.003-05:00

Afghanistan, Burundi, China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Dominican Republic, Haiti, India, Moldova, Philippines, Republic of Congo - Brazzaville, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Ukraine.

One of my favorite things about HOPE is its commitment to the hard places. Have you been following the violence in Goma or eastern DR Congo? Perhaps you're familiar with the perils of Afghanistan? Sometimes, "hard places" also means there is no microfinance there; how would your life be different if you could never open a bank account of any kind? Those are some of the places HOPE looks to expand.

DR Congo and Rwanda are surrounded by a hard region. We realize it every day when a bishop from South Sudan visits and prays for Darfur, when we visit the Kigali Memorial to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when a church member returns from Goma because someone from his NGO was killed, when people share stories of poverty and displacement in Central African Republic, Uganda, Congo-Brazzaville, Burundi. The Rwandan genocide and the Sudanese conflicts of the last 30 years ripple throughout the region and place even more constraints on the poor.

The bishop from Sudan came to St. Etienne to ask for prayers and advice because the violence in Sudan will not relent, and he sees people in Rwanda moving past their troubles – while not forgetting – and moving forward. Rwandans may have some advice that we can never give, but we can join the church in prayer.

Bourbon Café

2008-11-25T09:27:00.003-05:00

Downtown at the UTC complex, where the Nakumatt is, sits a beautiful café that resembles a Starbucks in its style and atmosphere, but does both better with a wider menu. Here are some prices, and don't forget, 1 hour of Internet with any purchase.

$6.36 = bacon cheeseburger
$6.36 = milkshake
$5.45 = croque monsieur
$4.91 = omelet
$4.18 = beef tenderloin brochette
$4.18 = crepe
$2.73 = slice of apple pie
$2.18 = coffee
$1.82 = french fries
$0.91 = 6 cookies
$0.91 = coke (glass bottle)
$0.73 = chapatti (best of pita and tortilla ~ torpita)
$0.55 = samosas (beef or cheese)

1 hr free internet w/ purchase

State of savings-led programs

2008-11-25T09:22:00.003-05:00

Who is doing savings-led finance? During the SEEP conference working group on savings-led financial services, these groups were mentioned (besides the 1,000s of NGOs doing savings-led in India): Pact, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), CARE, Oxfam, Freedom from Hunger, Aga Khan Foundation, CONCERN Worldwide, and of course, HOPE International.

How many savings groups were out there, say, at the beginning of 2007? Here's the representation from these big 3 organizations:

January 2007: CARE, Oxfam, CRS

1,250,000 - India
220,000 - Niger
90,000 - Mali
75,000 - Zimbabwe
75,000 - Uganda
45,000 - Tanzania
30,000 - Mozambique
29,000 - Cambodia
25,000 - Kenya
25,000 - Rwanda
20,000 - Ecuador
17,000 - Malawi
10,000 - Ethiopia
10,000 - Afghanistan
7,000 - Sierra Leone
6,000 - Angola
6,000 - Eritrea
4,000 - Lesotho/South Africa
3,500 - Senegal
1,000 - Zambia
1,948,500 - TOTAL

CARE wants to scale up their savings-led programs – Village Savings & Loan (VSL) – from 1.2 million to 30 million groups through a new grant they've received.

Oxfam/Freedom from Hunger are also growing their "Saving for Change" program with the help of a generous Gates grant, and they are planning for 400% increase in membership over 3 years.

The excitement about savings-led is its reach to the poorest poor as well as its organic growth and replication; also, people are empowered by starting small and keeping their funds in their community.

HOPE has savings-led programs in Rwanda and India, and we are planning to expand to reach the harder places and also further empower the church to participate in addressing poverty and reconciling communities.

Rwandan bank accounts

2008-11-25T09:19:00.002-05:00

I have two bank accounts in Rwanda, now: one at the Bank of Kigali (this is where you can wire me money, if you'd like), and the other at Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB).

Bank of Kigali requires a minimum deposit of 10,000 RWF (Rwandan francs) for a new account, but there is no minimum maintenance amount. My payroll is directly deposited here. My USD becomes RWF and I walk them over to UOB.

Urwego (UOB) requires a minimum deposit of 1,000 RWF, also. At this bank, I can never have less than 1,000 RWF unless I am closing out my account. I am allowed 4 free withdrawals per month. The money I deposit here is used to lend to the poor so that, along with supporting savings groups, I am doubly supporting economic development in Rwanda. Many of Urwego's poorer clients begin with a group account, and their loan officer supports the economic, social, and spiritual transformation of the group members.

Between the two banks, I spent much more time wandering around, waiting, not being spoken to or looked at while I was at the Bank of Kigali. I was handed an information booklet about my account but which I was not permitted to read before I had to sign my contract. They took one signature profile and 1 passport photo. At Urwego, I was greeted warmly; they answered all of my questions, and issued an ID card. Also, they took my fingerprints and two signature profiles.

At Urwego, I met Patrick and Daniel and was greeted by the branch manager who continually checked in on the quality of client care. I think the manager must have been pleased.

Local markets

2008-11-25T09:16:00.004-05:00

We had previously decided that Nakumatt, the Kenyan grocery, is too expensive for our daily groceries, so Danielle and I took a guided tour of the local markets and their respective specialties. I think, however, that we are still unsure what we will eat, and from where, and for how much …

BCK (pronounced "behseka")

Another grocery store, closer to a Piglet than a Piggly Wiggly. Similar to Nakumatt on most prices, but this store would contribute more to the local economy. BCK and Nakumatt are close together and close to where we live. It is also right down the street from the Chinese store …

T2000, "the Chinese store"

Cheap chocolate, only Christmas trees in town, maybe a radio; they have everything non-grocery for great prices. You should expect to lay down about $30 for the smallest pre-lit fake Christmas tree, which is quite more substantial than our Charlie Brown Christmas tree at home. Bonus: a friendly Filipino friend gives us free paper bags for our purchases (it usually costs extra).

Frulep

Great place for vegetables and lots of fruit. I think a lot of foreigners come from the fruit. Here are the Frulep prices:

$6.42 = 1 kg tilapia
$5.50 = 1 cheese wheel
$4.59 = 500 g coffee
$2.94 = 400 g peanut butter
$1.83 = 500 g jam
$1.56 = 50 bags of tea
$1.47 = 1 kg rice
$1.15 = 500 g pasta
$0.73 = 1 kg oranges
$0.73 = 1 kg bananas
$0.64 = 1 kg pineapple
$0.18 = 1 kg avacados

La Gallette

French name, German subtitle: "the German butchery." Good meat and bread. Smaller store, full range of groceries, also quite a package shop, to boot. Close to town, closer to the prison, so we can take the back way home and pass through the Muslim Quarter.

Ndolis

Good place for butter, meat, and fish. It's on the way to the provincial office, on the way to Kimironko Market.

Kimironko Market

Wow. This is what an open-air market should look like: endless piles of bananas and potato with bountiful islands of every green been, onion, fruit and vegetable you could want on your plate. In addition, you can shop for any manner of clothing, cookware, or other normal need.

We drive about 15 minutes to Remera – another Kigali neighborhood, ours is Biryogo – and we pass the Anglican provincial office where the savings program is based, and we pass the best chapatti in Kigali, and there's a sports complex/soccer stadium back there by the office, too, and then you arrive. When we arrive, we are surrounded by 15 young men in yellow vests offering to help us park, watch our car, and/or carry our bags. The market used to be so loud, with vendors talking/yelling over one another, that vendors are now encouraged to pacify themselves with small radios. I can only imagine how loud it was before, but I have to say this strategy is effective – and it's still loud. The market is overwhelming and wonderful.

The prices are better than Nakumatt, as you can see with a couple of comparisons below, but most vendors are definitely skewing prices towards Nakumatt level when they see us coming.

850/kg Tanzanian rice (1744/kg at Nakumatt)

750/kg sugar (790/kg at Nakumatt)

Rose Kabuye Day

2008-11-22T15:27:00.005-05:00

November 19, 2008

Do you know what’s happening with Rose Kabuye? Everyone in Rwanda knows.

Not only is she the subject of 4 out of 5 articles on the front page of yesterday’s New Times, but today Rwanda stopped. Our training seminar this week has halted. About 2:30 pm yesterday, word reached our group that the following day would be a national holiday to protest the arrest of Rose Kabuye.

I woke up to the sounds of preparation. You could already hear people in the streets and music in the neighborhood. By 9:30 am, there was a large crowd near our guest house, gathering with banners, loudspeaker announcing and music blasting. They would wait there until receiving word to leave on their march to the city center. Groups like this formed around the city, ready to converge all at the same time at the German Embassy. Every business and every church is closed. If you are in the city, you are participating or staying home.

Rose Kabuye works in President Paul Kagame’s office. She was recently arrested in Germany and extradited to France. Could this have happened if Rose worked for another country?

The rally today is expected to be peaceful and organized. Everyone in Kigali is paying attention, and there may be upwards of a million people converging downtown. As I write (11:07 am) I can hear activity from very far distances, activity which may well continue throughout the afternoon.

[I’m posting this after the day of the rally. The rally was in fact very peaceful and very well organized. I am certainly no expert in the details of Rose Kabuye, her trial, or Rwandan feelings about the events of 1994. Please read more, online or otherwise.]

PEAR/HOPE core team

2008-11-22T14:21:00.007-05:00

PEAR = Province Eglise Anglican du Rwanda

HOPE International partners with PEAR to train trainers for the Anglican Church's savings program. Allow me to introduce the core team.

Emmanuel, Danielle (that's my wife), Roger (that's my boss, other than my wife), Marie-Jeanne, Malu, Jairus (Malu's son, not on the team), Rob (me).

Roger is HOPE's regional director over Africa and Europe. He lives in Brussels but visits Africa often. Roger's been in the business world for a while before choosing microfinance, he has wild stories about rabbit mating and chicken killing. He's everyone's best friend.

Malu has been here for one year but is now returning to the Philippines. Her son Jairus has taken some great pictures which I'm putting on my slideshow [top right of blog]. Malu is wonderful and a master trainer, so now everyone in Rwanda is masterly trained. My job is to not mess up what she has done. She has been debriefing us very well, but she is gone in three weeks. We'll miss her. Everyone here will.

Emmanuel and Marie-Jeanne have taken over what Malu has established for this amazing training program. Over one year, their champions have trained about 33,000 trainers and established over 600 new savings groups and converted over 1,600 informal savings groups. I will be very happy to work with them for the next 8 months. Hard working and dedicated, they will have much to teach me about savings, poverty, and development in Rwanda.

So, that's the core team, in essence. We were celebrating Malu as she prepares to leave soon. The name of the restaurant ... Heaven. I have to say, there was a pretty good view up there.

Champions on leadership

2008-11-19T11:20:00.003-05:00

The “Champions” – three key leaders per each of 10 dioceses – reflected on leadership qualities during their final savings groups training session this week. These Champions are the ones that go out and train the trainers who train the group leaders who lead the very poor in starting their own savings groups.

Here’s what the Champions describe as most important leadership qualities:

Patience, Telling the truth, Loving the ones you’re leading, Being brave, Putting actions with words, Transparency, Treating all people the same, God-fearing, Taking precautions when necessary, Giving advice, Ignoring rumors, Humility, Having a common goal, Promoting development, Serving the ones you’re leading, Not being corrupt, Knowing how to train

In addition, here are some biblical leaders and the traits the Champions admired:

Moses: Finished well, Prepared his successor, Joshua
Nehemiah: Hurt for his people, Loved repentance
Esther: Redeemed her race
Solomon: Wisdom
Joseph: Hated revenge
Jesus: Sacrifice
David: Hero, Humbled himself before God

Malu added that a leader:
Influences others to use their gifts, not to admire the leader’s gifts.

Church in Kigali

2008-11-19T11:09:00.004-05:00

St. Etienne Cathedral
And the Prince of Peace Choir

Our first Sunday, I think we’ve found our new church home. English service starts at 8:30 am, Kinyarwanda service follows afterwards.
This week Pastor Sam Mugisha preached and Pastor Adriaan Verwijs read scriptures and made announcements. They began with some of our favorite contemporary worship songs – Blessed Be Your Name – along with the very lively and young Prince of Peace Choir.
Our friend Diana sings, and I love this guy Eddie who sings and plays the keys (I have another favorite Eddie that played keyboard at Tech, so I like new Eddie all the more). This choir and band is very talented – apparently they travel and do appearances that pay, which makes it possible for them to travel and perform at orphanages and other pro bono concerts.
Between worship songs, Adriaan read scripture as the band played softly, and the scripture connected the meaning of the previous song with that of the next, and it was all rather beautiful. Formal scripture was read from the lectern after the contemporary music and then we sang some hymns.
I think Adriaan and Sam will be friends. Adriaan and his wife Lisette took us to an expatriate Bible study that afternoon, and just yesterday evening Sam dropped by our porch to visit and welcome us again. Sam invited us over to his home with his wife Jackie and 3-year-old Iris.
Sam is 38, Rwandan, and along with marrying about 3 couples a weekend plus funerals and baptisms, he is excited about another degree in business administration. Sam hopes to expand his ministry into something more, something that engages people outside of church walls and enters into a public context: education related, young people, professional people, microfinance maybe.
Adriaan is Dutch, and he and Lisette have served the Anglican Church in Columbia and the last 4 years here in Rwanda (and also in Holland). Adriaan speaks Kinyarwanda very well. They have two boys in school at the Rift Valley Academy in Kenya, and one boy in university in Holland.

One church we look forward to visiting:

Congregation of the Blessed Mango Tree
And the God Help Us Choir
Reverend Nathan Amoti, Administrator for the Kigali Diocese and a very funny man, asked the Archbishop – who is also Bishop of Kigali – for permission to start a new church. Nathan wanted a new church building. His grace, the Archbishop, was more than happy to endorse a new church, but why start with a mortgage. His grace recommended beginning the new church under a mango tree. Rev. Nathan actually liked that suggestion, so that’s what he did. I’m not sure how good the God Help Us Choir is, but I think they have their theology right.

Brief comment on communication ...

2008-11-15T09:54:00.003-05:00

Danielle and I are writing when we can, but for the moment our Internet access is limited. I will post a bundle of posts when I can, and soon we may become more regular.

Also, for anyone interested, my cell phone number will never work again. We will get new Pennsylvania numbers when we return. For now, I skype as robertpaulhartley and Danielle skypes as daniellehartley. We have Rwandan cell phones, I don't see us calling America often.

As an aside, we are sitting on the steps of the office for the Kigali diocese of the Anglican church (there is free wifi somewhere inside the building) and at this very moment, there is a wedding marching out of the church. It's pretty much incredible: marching band, soldiers, children's choir, fancy clothes. We're hidden just out of sight, but we're actually right by the procession and can see everything.

This is how we blog.

How can the poor save?

2008-11-15T09:24:00.005-05:00

I have heard the question a few times: How can the poor save?

A new microfinance institution was set to open in Lilongwe, Malawi. A huge crowd lined up for the doors to open; at the front of the line, a blind man. The blind man was a beggar, and his son led him by the hand to this new bank. Though everyone was pushing to be first through the doors, no one pushed the blind beggar out of the way. When the doors opened he was first to deposit is 20 cents. Every Friday, his son leads him to the bank, places his hand on the fingerprint reader, and the blind beggar deposits his money.

A quiet gentleman overheard this story at the Mercy House dining room, and he softly noted, "That man knows what it's like to have nothing at all."

Details: Nakumatt grocery prices

2008-11-15T08:46:00.004-05:00

Kenyan grocery chain Nakumatt has everything from furniture to pharmacy, cookies to milk. We decided to shop around and see what the prices were and plan a budget. These prices are certainly higher than what we can find at a local market, but this will help later when we are shopping for bargains. Rwandan francs (RWF) and U.S. dollars (USD) exchange around 550 to 1, so a 2 L coke would be 1700 RWF and spinach is only 60. Some of our favorites so far are the bread, pineapple, small bananas, macadamia nuts, and chips (french fries ... best in Africa).

Below is a summary of what groceries cost. By the way, if you asked Danielle after pricing the rice, we can’t afford to live here. I think we’ll find a way to make it work.

Nakumatt grocery store
$19.20 = 6 fruit/nut breakfast bars
$15.85 = 5 kg rice
$9.84 = 500 g ground beef
$9.67 = 1 box of cereal
$9.27 = 200 g bacon
$8.98 = 4 sticks of butter
$8.84 = 900 mL mayonnaise
$7.35 = 2 L corn oil
$6.73 = lg. bag of mixed nuts
$6.44 = 500 g beef sausage
$5.45 = 500 g coffee
$4.82 = 800 g peanut butter
$3.67 = 1 mango
$3.13 = 10 scouring pads
$3.09 = 2 L coke
$2.91 = 12 eggs
$2.87 = 2 kg sugar
$2.73 = sleeve of chocolate chip cookies
$2.62 = 1 kg oranges (green local variety)
$2.55 = 750 mL dish soap
$2.45 = 1 L passion fruit juice (any juice really)
$2.36 = 4 rolls of paper towels
$1.64 = 1 kg cucumbers
$1.45 = 25 tea bags
$1.27 = loaf of bread
$1.18 = 1 kg tomatoes
$1.05 = 1 papaya
$0.96 = 1 L water
$0.91 = 1 pineapple
$0.89 = 2 rolls of toilet paper
$0.84 = 1 kg onions
$0.78 = 1 kg carrots
$0.75 = 1 kg bananas
$0.65 = 1 kg green beans
$0.40 = 1 head of cabbage
$0.35 = 1 kg potatoes
$0.20 = 1 avocado
$0.11 = 1 bundle of spinach

New friends in Kigali

2008-11-15T08:41:00.002-05:00

Jean-Pierre
This new friend runs a shop downtown called Objets d’Art (a common name but an out-of-the-way location). Danielle found a red woven bowl that is beautiful, and now it is ours. It cost 4,000 RWF, so about 7.30 USD. We will probably return for jewelry, too – very beautiful jewelry and priced right for a certain anniversary coming up (December 16). Jean-Pierre speaks “petit francais” and “petit, petit English.” Danielle told him goodbye in Kinyarwanda, “murabeho,” and he repeated it back for us with better emphasis. He then taught us “mwakoze cyane” or thank you very much. We then thanked him very much, and said goodbye again. That’s called speaking the language.

Charlie, Adam, Scott, Roger
These guys are filming a travel documentary in Rwanda; we met at Bourbon Café (drinking coffee, not bourbon). They’ve been in Rwanda before and mentioned some favorite dining spots like Republica and India Kazana (sp?). They have shot some film here before with Right to Play, a great NGO that uses sport to invest in children and unite communities. I’m hoping to meet the Right to Play people and maybe volunteer to play on the weekend. I have the right to play, too, right?

Mercy House

2008-11-14T11:26:00.007-05:00

While we are in Rwanda, our home will be in the Anglican Guest House complex, which includes the Hope House where we will live and the Mercy House where we currently live. Right down the street from us are Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), USAID, UNDP, and President Paul Kagame. The Kigali diocese of the Anglican church is across the street. Both guest houses are fairly humble but lovely with a great garden and great view.

The Hope House is fully furnished, 2 stories, 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, living/dining room, and kitchen. There is a guard dog named Lazarus, and he will open the gate for you when you honk. I assume he only opens it when the right car honks, but either way he comes out barking.

Hope House
75 Avenue Paul VI
Biryogo, Kigali
Rwanda

We’re expecting Christmas cards. Better send them now.

The Mercy House is more of a hotel in that guest rooms have a bed and a desk. We can take our meals there if we choose, and I am inclined to choose so because we eat very well there. Incredible pineapple, small bananas, eggs, toast, tea – breakfast. Janet prepares our food, and she speaks Kinyarwanda and English. Another guest at the Mercy House is a young medical student from Ghana – she is doing her overseas residency here for another month.

Here is a short video of Danielle and me on our back porch at the Mercy House; it’s so great there at night.

[I think we're bad at doing videos online and we have poor bandwidth. Something's got to give, so we'll try again to get this right. Sometime later.]