Accounting and Program Audit Team
Log # 4
By: Shawn Chowdhury
When I think about poverty I think of millions of people around the
globe who go days without food. Although I have a vague idea
of the problems of poverty, I do not understand what actually goes
on in the life of an impoverished human being. In classes
like GLOBE or Ethics, when discussing distribution of wealth, I
think of the people, rich and poor, as hypothetical people.
The idea of extreme poverty is so foreign to me that it is hard for
me understand the problems that a poor man in any developing
country faces. Fortunately, my view of the impoverished
struggle changed when Peter Kimeu spoke about his personal
experiences growing up in Kenya.
Mr. Kimeu, an energetic African man, come up to the podium and
repeated the phrase “God is good.” Although his
narrative started off on an optimistic note, his story soon became
a little more somber. Mr. Kimeu recalled a time when he and
his family had not eaten for 4 days. His mother, who did not
have any food available, told a white lie to scare his siblings
into going to bed without food. Since Mr. Kimeu was
older and wise enough to see through the ruse, he asked his mother
when they would actually be getting food. His mother told him
to put a finger in his mouth and swallow the excess saliva that his
mouth would produce.
For me, this anecdote put a face and a story on poverty.
After listening to Mr. Kimeu my personification of poverty became a
little more personal. Instead of the faceless sea of
emaciated African, South American and Asian people, I was able to
focus on one man and his account with hunger. Instead of
hearing about generally starving people, I was able to take in Mr.
Kimeu’s tale of everyday life, and meditate on the implications of
poverty. I am truly grateful for the presentation that Mr.
Kimeu gave. His insight shed light on a situation that was
previously hypothetical for me. I hope that St. John’s will
have more speakers like this, that our GLOBE class could have a
chance to visit.
Finance and Risk Assessment Team
Log # 4
By: John Marchi
When I drive home to Staten Island along the belt parkway, there is
a woman who is always standing on the service road, selling flowers
and bottled water. I have never really given her any thought,
with the exception of occasionally making eye contact. After
last weeks class though, I realized she is a micro-entrepreneur
trying to make ends meet. The different economies of scale
between the United States and many of the third world countries
where GLOBE has operations is huge, and exemplifies how
microfinance has a converse relationship to the economic condition
of the country. In the countries such as Vietnam or the
Congo, it is a tool for people to break out of the poverty
cycle. In countries in the United States where the cost of
living is so high, it is a tool to assist you in trying to make
ends meet.
Tonight, in lieu of a formal lecture, we attended dinner as a class
with Peter Kimeu, the Regional Technical Advisor for Catholic
Relief Services in Kenya. Peter shared with us first hand
experiences of the living conditions that people in Kenya face,
similar to the conditions in which our GLOBE loan borrows live
in. I realized that we have the same mission and are all
compassionate people who are dedicated to making change in the
world, and we all have to start somewhere. For the GLOBE
managers, this is the start of our journey. We are taking the
skills learned in our GLOBE class, and applying them to charity and
justice, that is, helping individuals meet present needs, while
providing them with the tools to correct long term problems in the
communities, as well as break the poverty cycle.
People need to be part of the process, and one legacy the finance
team wants to leave the future managers of GLOBE with is a business
plan that they can use in conjunction with borrowers in the field,
to use alternative energy solutions to break the poverty
cycle.
These communities plagued with poverty maintain hope, hope that one
day, they will live better lives, hope that someone will come to
the rescue. As GLOBE managers, we are that person, and I am
extremely motivated after this lecture to follow up on current
loans, as well as read through applications for new loans.
Marketing and Fundraising Team
Log # 4
By: Claire Cilento
I am happy to report that the Marketing Team decided on and ordered
our promotional item this past week! It’s great to see things
starting to come together and even though we have a lot of work
ahead it is still satisfying to get some of our objectives checked
off our list. With the help of Sally who is on the Accounting team
(just proving further how even though we are all assigned to
different teams, we depend on the help and creativity of each
other), we decided that our promotional item would be GLOBE
reusable tote bags. It took us a while to settle on an item, and
believe me, we went through many options! We wanted something that
would be useful so that people would want to buy it, but of course
we also had to think about our budget. We also think it’s good that
the item is something that encourages environmentally responsible
behavior, particularly after we read about the dangers of global
warming and its contribution to poverty in Yunus’ “Creating a World
Without Poverty” last week.
In this past week’s class, we watched a video about KIVA, a company
that brings the idea of micro lending to the world of the Internet.
I had never heard of KIVA before this class, and in fact, I had not
heard much about social businesses in general. Our reading for the
week in chapter 8 in “Creating a World Without Poverty” discusses
further this idea of having a business that works for social
change. In it, Yunus claims his belief that it is a failure of our
economic system that it does not accommodate the human desire to
have these kinds of businesses. He reminds us that not all humans
are simply profit-motivated, but they may instead be searching for
some kind of social, and not monetary, goals. With the economy the
state that it’s in, I sometimes feel that all I hear from people
who find out that I’m graduating in January is tips on finding a
job that makes a lot of money. Many people I know were guided to
pick certain majors just because they felt it was a degree that
could get them one of few high paying jobs in this economy. Of
course, there is nothing wrong with wanting to earn money to live a
nice lifestyle, and following the right career path to do so. I
just think it is interesting that not as many people talk about
finding a business where you can work to help right the wrongs of
the world. Yunus gives hope to the idea of being able to combine
the idea of business with the desires we have to make some kind of
difference in the world. This chapter, as well as learning about
KIVA, has really encouraged me to start researching and thinking
about different career paths that could help me to do this.
Technology and Communications Team
Log # 4
By: James Vanie
After hearing Mr. Peter Kimeu’s story today, I must say that I am
humbled and inspired to say the least. During the brief discussion
in class after the event, I shared the same general feeling as the
others in the class – we were all emotionally moved. Since I
started studying more about aid assistance in developing countries,
I have become cynical to an extent - regarding humans as numbers or
statistics and evaluating developing countries for growth
opportunities and emerging markets. Granted, it is all a genuine
effort in my small steps toward alleviating global poverty. But I
dropped something important along the way. I realized today, more
than ever, that charity is necessary AND it is ok.
Mr. Kimeu pulled me away me from the social business perspective
that I had become so familiar with. He took me back to the point in
time when I decided to pursue a life dedicated to helping people.
It was during my time in Haiti that I had no business knowledge and
was exposed to death, hunger, and extreme poverty. I feel like that
passion slowly dwindled and it was replaced by a social business
theory. I could compare it to that disconnect that some people have
who eat meat, but never consider that their meal was actually
living at a time.
I have ambitions of starting a non-for profit within a social
enterprise corporation. For my “Solitary Promise,” I will search
for innovative ways to raise money to support my cause and raise
awareness during my time in college. I will also think about ways
to share the voice of those who have benefited and excelled due to
charity. I believe that Western people would receive a great amount
of satisfaction from giving if they were able to hear a success
story from the distant recipient in their developing country.