There’s an interesting article in this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, entitled “Can Poor People Be Taught To Save?” I admit, my first reaction was a bit negative. I’ve caught myself too many times making condescending assumptions about ‘the poor.’ But the article provides good food for thought.
As a middle-aged, would-be do-gooder, I’m struck by the creative ways that people are finding today to make a real difference in people’s lives, as opposed to simply starting up a new agency or a new program. A lot of them are focusing on giving people a financial hand up so that they can stay their on their own.
In the early 1980s, an Indian friend named Mohandas Mohanty asked me to serve on the board of an orphanage he was planning to start back in India, after he finished seminary. I agreed, as did a dozen or so others. We had the best of intentions, but at that time it was unbelievably difficult for a group such as ours to get financial or in-kind support to the orphanage. I remember one box of supplies came back to me fully two years after I mailed it, looking for all the world as though an elephant had stepped on it before the Indian postman sent it back.
The effort failed. The logistics were just too difficult. I finally lost touch with Mohanty and his wife Bulbul somewhere along the way.
Today I can microfinance a bakery while drinking coffee in my pajamas. Science fiction stuff only yesterday. Let’s see what we can do with the new options at our disposal.
Britt's Blog 