Charity
Rebuilding Lives for as Little as $50
By
Sep 13, 2006, 09:39

(ARA) - Americans generously donate millions of dollars each year to help eradicate world poverty. But recently, Dabbs Cavin, 41, a banker from Little Rock, Ark., and his family of four decided they wanted to make a tangible difference. So they jumped in with both feet, packed up their lives and moved to Rwanda, Africa, where Cavin took a position as CEO of a bank that offers small loans to the poor that make a big impact.

The idea of granting loans to poor entrepreneurs, called microfinance, has exploded around the world in recent years. Donations from average Americans can fund loans as small as $50 – for the same amount an American family could spend on one dinner out, a Rwandan can start a business that will feed a family and inject life into a community.

Cavin is at the forefront of this microfinance trend with the new Opportunity International Bank of Rwanda (OIBR), scheduled to open in Kigali in December. At OIBR, he will help people who would never be able to secure money from a traditional commercial bank become self-reliant, increase their business and pay back their loan with interest at local market rates. The re-paid loan funds are then re-used to support more poor entrepreneurs.

For example, Elizabeth Byaruhanga of Uganda lost her husband to AIDS in 1993, forcing her to feed her family of eight children by herself and live in the family’s unfinished house indefinitely. She struggled for several years, but her break came in 2002 when she learned about Opportunity International’s lending programs. She founded the Kabalagala Widows Group Trust Bank in 2002 and found 19 others who had lost spouses to AIDS to join her. She used her first loans from Opportunity International to start a banana business, buying them in bulk from suppliers and selling them to townspeople. With her profits, she expanded her business and put her children through school. Currently, four of her children have gone to university – one has graduated – and she supports three additional AIDS orphans.

OIBR will be modeled after Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, which has signed more than 40,000 savings clients and 6,000 loan clients since opening in May 2003. The Malawi bank uses advanced technology including biometric fingerprint scanning to serve clients faster and provide security. Most poor entrepreneurs cannot afford identification, so the bank imprints a customer’s fingerprint on a computer chip and embeds that chip on a smart card. When the customer visits the bank or uses an ATM, they swipe the smart card and place their finger on a scanner – transactions may only be made if they match. In addition, in contrast to traditional banks in Malawi, basic financial services like savings, insurance and loans are offered, and these services are delivered to rural areas through mobile banks.

Opportunity International offers microfinance services to more than 810,000 poor entrepreneurs in 29 developing nations on five continents. Cavin considers OIBR an important addition to this list, as the country is still rebuilding from the loss of 800,000 citizens in the genocide of 1994.

“We’ve been here in Rwanda for just three months, but already the people have welcomed us with open arms,” said Cavin. “People here are so anxious and willing to work hard to provide for their families and neighbors. I have a strong feeling that my family and I will be able to look back on this experience and feel really good about what we did.”

You can help Opportunity International make an impact on global poverty. To learn more about the organization, examine volunteer opportunities or make a donation, visit www.opportunity.org or call (800) 7WE-WILL (793-9455).

Courtesy of ARA Content



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EDITOR’S NOTES:

About Opportunity International

Serving more than 760,000 poor entrepreneurs in 27 developing countries, Opportunity International creates entrepreneurial empowerment by providing small business loans and job training directly to poor people at the grassroots level. The loans are then paid back to grow new businesses or expand existing ones. With small business loans, women and men are able to develop a steady income, provide for their families and create jobs for their neighbors.

SIDEBAR

While AIDS is a global crisis, the statistics regarding the effects in Africa are staggering. According to estimates by UNAIDS, approximately 95 percent of the nearly 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2004 were located in developing countries. The problem is especially prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS has taken 30 million lives and is predicted to take 65 million lives by 2010. In fact, every 24 hours, 6,500 Africans die of AIDS, while 9,500 are infected with HIV.

* Nine out of ten children living with AIDS are African.

* In Botswana, life expectancy decreased from 65 years in 1985-1990 to 40 years in 2000-2005.

* AIDS will have claimed the lives of at least one-fifth of agricultural workers in southern Africa by 2020.

* Globally, approximately 50 percent of all HIV-positive people are female; in sub-Saharan Africa it averages nearly 60 percent.

* Sub-Saharan Africa is home to just over 10 percent of the world’s population and more than two-thirds of all people living with HIV.

Source: Opportunity International.

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