News & UpdatesMarch/April 2010 WMI ANNUAL POTLUCK FUNDRAISER A HUGE SUCCESSWe delayed distributing this Update for a week so that we could report on the results of the Annual Potluck Fundraiser held May 2nd at the Carderock Club House in Bethesda. With over 125 guests in attendance the Club House was bursting at the seams. It was a wonderful turn out that raised over $12,000 in donations to WMI. A concurrent Fundraiser held by a supporter in Tampa, FL added another $1,500. Thank you so very much for all of your generous donations and support. The evening's presentation, by WMI President Robyn Nietert, included a step by step explanation of WMI's Transition to Independence Program, developed in conjunction with PostBank Uganda. This is WMI's economic model to take an impoverished woman from first loan through to independent banking in a 36 month cycle. After the 36 month cycle is fully funded in a village, the loan program is self-sustaining. Women transition out of the program to independent banking at the same rate new loans are issued to first time borrowers, thereby allowing funds to be recycled is an economically efficient manner. Guest speakers at the Potluck included John Wanda, a native of Bumwalukani village in the Bududa District of Uganda, where WMi issued the first round of loans in April. Elizabeth Ongeo, from Siaya, Kenya, also spoke about her village and the impact of the first round of loans which WMI issued there, also in April. Finally, Fran Cotter-Weaver, recently returned from Ol Moran, Kenya in the Laikipia Valley, described her meeting with the village women who will receive WMI loans in the next month. This first-hand reporting gave everyone a clearer idea of the profound impact the loan program has on improving local household living standards. The WMI loan program has now issued over 1,000 loans totaling nearly $170,000. The loan repayment rate is still 100%. As the program expands to other regions of Uganda and new villages in Kenya, we are optimistic that the commitment and determination of the borrowers will continue to result in a 100% repayment rate. GLOBAL GIVING 50% MATCHING DAY ON JUNE 16If you were not able to attend the WMI Potluck Fundraiser, but would like to support WMI's annual fundraising event, please consider making a contribution to WMI on the Global Giving (GG) web site on June 16. GG just announced that on June 16 it will match 50% of any donations up to $1,000. GG will still deduct 15% of the donation amount (but not the match) as a processing fee. So for every $100 donated up to $1,000, they'll deduct 15%, but then add $50. The extra income on a $100 donation is $35 and on a $1,000 it is $350. This is a great way to maximize your contribution. Donations must be made through the GG web site, must be by credit card, and must be made on June 16. The link to WMI's project page on the GG site is:
Thanks so much! THE GREATER CONTRIBUTION SUPPORTS WMI; VISITS BUYOBOKaron Wright, President of the California-based non-profit, The Greater Contribution, contacted WMI last fall. After numerous telephone calls and due diligence submissions, the organization made a substantial donation to WMI and pledged ongoing support for WMI's mission. In March, Karon travelled to Buyobo to see the WMI loan program in action. On her return she provided us with this account of her visit: "As the President of The Greater Contribution, I had been working in microfinance for four years and yet this was my first trip to Africa, to meet the people our organization was serving. Frequently during this three week trip, I would ask myself, how will I ever convey to people at home, what this experience has been like? I was prepared to see a lot of poverty. I was prepared to be saddened by it. But I was not prepared for two startling things. First, I was not prepared for how pervasive the poverty is. I arrived late at night at the airport at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In the morning, I thought, this is a nice enough hotel but it's in a bad part of town. I was soon to realize that there is no "good" part of town. In Africa, in the cities or in rural communities, poverty is the norm, not the exception. Secondly, I was not prepared for the absolute buoyancy of the human spirit in the face of the almost overwhelming daily challenges that poverty brings. Last fall, I met (by phone) Robyn Nietert, President of Women's Microfinance Initiative (WMI) and shortly before I left for Africa, The Board of The Greater Contribution, having done its due diligence, decided to fund a microloan group through WMI. I was very excited when I was able to alter my itinerary and include a trip to Buyobo to see WMI's program. After visiting two other microloan programs in Tanzania, I soon realized that WMI has created the Rolls Royce of microfinance programs and I am thrilled that The Greater Contribution will support WMI on an ongoing basis. When I arrived in Buyobo, Olive Wolimbwa, WMI's Local Director, came out to greet me. She ushered me into the meeting hall where approximately 50 women stood and sang an amazing welcome to me. They sang of their joy, their gratitude for the microloan program, their gratitude for my visit. I had to fight back the tears. It was a welcome beyond my wildest dreams. Before I left California, numerous women volunteers in The Greater Contribution told me, "Be sure to let the women there know we care about them." Later that day, they took me up and down the main road of Buyobo, stopping frequently to visit one after another of their businesses. The women business owners proudly posed in front of their business or their inventory. I photographed these women with enormous, proud smiles on their faces as they showed me the evidence of their new found business and their new found stability. Their joy and pride was palpable. During the two days I spent with these wonderful women, I saw over and over again, how joyous and loving they were. I heard story after story of how microloans transformed their lives. I heard the pride they now had in being able to send their children to school, to take a child to the doctor, to provide regular meals - not to have to wait until Christmas or Easter to eat meat! Not to have to beg! I saw that they were happy to work and help their families in such a big way. I heard from their husbands how glad they were that their wives had taken out these loans. I heard how the love of their families had prompted them to dream big and step out and work to create a better life. Over and over again, the women of Buyobo told me: "Be sure to tell the women of America how grateful we are for their help." In short, I heard that love was overcoming poverty. I was proud that the love of some men and women in Bethesda, Maryland and Thousand Oaks, California for their brothers and sisters half way around the globe, was making a transformative difference in the lives of these people in Buyobo. Yes, the depth and breadth of the poverty in Africa is vast, but so is the love that is fighting it." UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC SELECTS WMI FOR A FULLY PAID INTERNSHIP POSTINGThe Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of the Pacific has developed a unique internship program called the Global Ambassador Corps. The Global Center is focused on creating a new generation of solution-minded pragmatists that are pioneering practical, inventive, and sustainable approaches to address the world's most pressing social issues: poverty, disease, malnutrition, environmental degradation, injustice and illiteracy. One of the key elements of the Center's program is global community outreach. Launched in the fall of 2008, the Global Ambassador Corps Program integrates the University's interdisciplinary education to the field of social entrepreneurship and sustainable development. Through a privately funded endowment, the Global Center sends a corps of fully funded undergraduate and graduate students to selected Non-Governmental Organizations in developing countries around the world for a period of 8-12 weeks in the summer. During the internship, the students integrate their academic disciplines, knowledge in social entrepreneurship and development to the NGO's mission. WMI is very pleased and grateful to have been selected to receive a fully funded intern from the University to serve in the villages in Uganda and Kenya for the summer of 2010. WALT WHITMAN INTERNS ON A FUNDRAISING ROLLThe 14 interns from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD who will work in Buyobo this summer have been working hard to raise funds for a special project. In addition to bringing the lap tops donated by Discovery Communications and helping launch the Internet Café by training students and borrowers on the computers, they wanted to undertake a project that would improve the dilapidated local primary school and give the students in Buyobo a better chance to obtain an education. Their goal: to raise $2,000 to build a foundation for a block of new classrooms. The students have thought up a number of innovative fundraising ideas. They raised nearly $350 at the Talent Show at Whitman and have received a $250 grant from the Whitman Educational Foundation. At the Potluck an anonymous donor pledged to match the next $500 the students raise at activities during the Festival of the Arts and the Spring Fling. They are also collecting school supplies at Whitman for the students in Buyobo in a Pens, Pencils and Paper campaign. This is a terrific outreach effort. NEW WMI VIDEOS ON LINETwo new WMI videos are now posted on YouTube. The first is a 2 minute video of the joyous parade of all 360 WMI borrowers in January. They are celebrating the graduation of the first borrowers to the Transition Program with PostBank Uganda and their enthusiasm is infectious. Led by the local youth band playing instruments donated by Walt Whitman high school students, they marched 2 miles to the trading center amid the cheers of village children. The second is a 5 minute video produced by Voice of America for a multi-part series on microfinance. VOA's veteran reporter Paul Ndiho interviewed Robyn Nietert and other microfinance professionals for the piece, including Mohammed Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Check them out! Please feel free to contact any board members with your input. Thank you so much for your ongoing interest and support. We are all helping change the face of poverty, one loan at a time. Gratefully,
Robyn Nietert rgnietert@aol.com |
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