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mayag 's review for:
Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
by Muhammad Yunus
I just finished reading "Banker to the Poor" by Muhammad Yunus, and WOW. This book is amazing, inspirational, and eye-opening. I hope everyone reads it.
From the book cover: “In 1983, Muhammad Yunus established Grameen, a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with miniscule loans. Twenty-three years later they won the Nobel Prize for Peace for their work in eradicating poverty. This is an inspiring story of one man’s realization that access to even a small amount of credit can transform the lives of the poorest citizens of the world.”
The key difference between Yunus’ approach and everyone else’s approach isn’t in the policies his bank uses (well, they are very important, but they came about as a result of this): he sees and treats poor people as people first, and as competent, trustworthy, talented people who are survivors. Over and over again he had to deflect opposition from people who believe poor people are lazy, they are too unskilled, they need training, they’ll never pay the money back, they’ll waste the money, and so on. But Yunus knew that the poorest people would realize the chance the micro-loan really was: a chance to save their life, and their children’s lives. Yunus has proven that people do not live in poverty because they are stupid or lazy, they live in poverty because they are trapped there by unfair systems (credit systems, governmental systems, charity). He says Grameen shows that credit is a human right, and “breaks the bondage of collateral.” He has a dream to end poverty worldwide (which Yunus describes as a world in which no one dies of hunger and every person can take care of his or her basic life needs). I think if enough people read this book and take action we will achieve his dream.
Grameen hasn’t stopped at banking…over time as they see the needs, they’ve created many businesses designed to give power and a chance to the poorest people: cell phone companies, fisheries, wholesale/middleman for hand-woven cloth, and others. Grameen has positive effects on the environment: reduced birthrates are a result of the micro-loans to the poorest of the poor and Grameen has been bringing solar power to the villages in Bangladesh to power cell phones through it’s “phone ladies.”
Micro-loans are a powerful tool for women’s liberation (95% of Grameen’s borrowers are women): women in Bangladesh, where Grameen was started, typically never even leave their homes, much less have jobs or interact with men outside of their families. But the women who get micro-loans go on to interact more with people outside their families, they gain their own independence by becoming financially able to care for themselves and their children. Birth rates even decrease after micro-loans! And it isn’t limited to a third-world country in Bangladesh. A few similar programs have been created here in the United States and this is a quote from the book by a woman in Chicago “I never expected that I would ever earn money. My husband never gives me any money to spend. We shop together. He pays. I never had money of my own. For the fifteen years I have lived in America, I have never even had a bank account. Now I have money and I have my own bank account. I have a checkbook. My husband does not know anything about it. I have not dared to tell him yet.” That woman had never really experienced true adulthood until her micro-loan.
These are real loans; each borrower is fully expected to pay back both principal and interest, even after a disaster like a cyclone. Grameen is a for-profit bank. And at the end of the day, the borrowers gain self-confidence, self-esteem, independence, and money—they gain a real life.
Amazing transformative change from a $25 or $600 loan! This is truly revolutionary. Please go to www. GrameenFoundation.org and see what they are doing. Read the book Banker to Poor: Micro-lending and battle against world poverty. Donate $100 (or more!) to the Grameen Foundation today.
From the book cover: “In 1983, Muhammad Yunus established Grameen, a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with miniscule loans. Twenty-three years later they won the Nobel Prize for Peace for their work in eradicating poverty. This is an inspiring story of one man’s realization that access to even a small amount of credit can transform the lives of the poorest citizens of the world.”
The key difference between Yunus’ approach and everyone else’s approach isn’t in the policies his bank uses (well, they are very important, but they came about as a result of this): he sees and treats poor people as people first, and as competent, trustworthy, talented people who are survivors. Over and over again he had to deflect opposition from people who believe poor people are lazy, they are too unskilled, they need training, they’ll never pay the money back, they’ll waste the money, and so on. But Yunus knew that the poorest people would realize the chance the micro-loan really was: a chance to save their life, and their children’s lives. Yunus has proven that people do not live in poverty because they are stupid or lazy, they live in poverty because they are trapped there by unfair systems (credit systems, governmental systems, charity). He says Grameen shows that credit is a human right, and “breaks the bondage of collateral.” He has a dream to end poverty worldwide (which Yunus describes as a world in which no one dies of hunger and every person can take care of his or her basic life needs). I think if enough people read this book and take action we will achieve his dream.
Grameen hasn’t stopped at banking…over time as they see the needs, they’ve created many businesses designed to give power and a chance to the poorest people: cell phone companies, fisheries, wholesale/middleman for hand-woven cloth, and others. Grameen has positive effects on the environment: reduced birthrates are a result of the micro-loans to the poorest of the poor and Grameen has been bringing solar power to the villages in Bangladesh to power cell phones through it’s “phone ladies.”
Micro-loans are a powerful tool for women’s liberation (95% of Grameen’s borrowers are women): women in Bangladesh, where Grameen was started, typically never even leave their homes, much less have jobs or interact with men outside of their families. But the women who get micro-loans go on to interact more with people outside their families, they gain their own independence by becoming financially able to care for themselves and their children. Birth rates even decrease after micro-loans! And it isn’t limited to a third-world country in Bangladesh. A few similar programs have been created here in the United States and this is a quote from the book by a woman in Chicago “I never expected that I would ever earn money. My husband never gives me any money to spend. We shop together. He pays. I never had money of my own. For the fifteen years I have lived in America, I have never even had a bank account. Now I have money and I have my own bank account. I have a checkbook. My husband does not know anything about it. I have not dared to tell him yet.” That woman had never really experienced true adulthood until her micro-loan.
These are real loans; each borrower is fully expected to pay back both principal and interest, even after a disaster like a cyclone. Grameen is a for-profit bank. And at the end of the day, the borrowers gain self-confidence, self-esteem, independence, and money—they gain a real life.
Amazing transformative change from a $25 or $600 loan! This is truly revolutionary. Please go to www. GrameenFoundation.org and see what they are doing. Read the book Banker to Poor: Micro-lending and battle against world poverty. Donate $100 (or more!) to the Grameen Foundation today.