Kelli's Project

Amy's Thoughts on Kelli's Project:

Yesterday I got the chance to "shadow" my sister on her project with the Grameen Foundation. I am going to explain what is going on so that everyone reading understands. I have learned that the banking profession has a language of their own that can sometimes be hard for outsiders to understand. This includes myself.

I like Ghana banking, because it is much simpler to understand. I can sit down with their loan officers and understand how they track data and accounts. We spent most of our time yesterday with one of the female loan officers. I will give you a run down of our day and the interesting things that we encountered.

The first thing that we did was go out into the "field" with the loan officers. The loan officers have a really fun job and have a chance to really impact lives. They have to have a combination of skills in order for them to be successful. They must have finance, marketing, communication, and social work skills. They deal a lot with money and simple spread sheets and so they have to have a finance back ground. They are in charge of getting more clients and spreading the word and so that is marketing. They have to be able to communicate with all types of people, which is communication. Last but not least, they have to have a passion to work with the poor of their country and the ability to teach the people how to run successful businesses and have good stewardship of the loans.

We went to three different group meetings that the loan officer had. This loan officer we shadowed specifically worked with group loans. This is when the women have group accountability for paying back the loan. If one woman is struggling, the other women are responsible to step in and help her out financially. This is very similar to support groups in America. Each group consisted of anywhere between 8 to 15 women.

The groups met and the meetings were always opened in prayer. The SAT bank is a very Christian organization and they see microfinance as a way they can minister to the poor. I have been very impressed with the faith of the leaders and the loan officers of this organization. The women are constantly challenged to be good stewards of finances and money. The SAT bank uses the parable of the master and the talents to explain stewardship. I even understood this when they spoke their language.

We met women with all types of businesses. We met everyone from a bread maker to a natural medicine maker. The women all had a special spirit about them. They were survivors and were willing to do whatever it took to provide for their family. The loan officer told us that the women of Ghana were the "bread winners" of the family. She said that they were the ones that were most likely to provide for their families, and that is why they loaned to women.

The loan officers have to really get to know the people that they loan to. They go to their houses, businesses, and get to know their family. They put their heart and soul into making sure that they do whatever they can to help these women fight poverty one loan at a time.

It was a humbling experience to be able to watch the loan officers really invest their time into the people.

Stay tuned for a blog on our market place adventure where we saw HUGE live snails and many other interesting things. I am off to school today. I will update you when I get home. I will also tell you more about Kelli's project!