We need to change the single narrative of how the world poor depend on wealthy nations. In general, people in poverty are ashamed of taking charity and want to be able to be self-sufficient. But they need access to capital. A way has been developed to allow people in one country to make small loans directly to people in a different country, bypassing governments. We will view four TED Talks about this micro credit phenomenon:
- Jessica Jackley was motivated by her Christian faith to create the micro credit website, Kiva
- Julie Hannah was a refugee from Egypt who later became Kiva's chairman
- Sangu Delle is an African who insists that micro-loans are not enough for success
- Gayle Lemmon uses the woman's perspective to explain why micro-loans succeed
And another thing. One of our members has a very special relation to one of the speakers above, more at the meeting.
We have heard the 4th speaker before - she wrote the book about female almost-combat soldiers in Afghanistan (Ashley's War) as well as the Dressmaker of Khair Khana. She is also the daughter-in-law of James Fallows.
ReplyDeleteThe third speaker left two questions unanswered which Gayle responded to.
Yes, we heard from Gayle Lemmon in a previous TED Talk about female soldiers. Both of her talks burst stereotypes about the limitation of women, but from different angles. As Hillary Clinton is expected to be the first female nominee from a major party, we need to hear more stories like these.
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