Peter Greer is the co-author of an important new book on poverty alleviation, The Poor Will Be Glad and President of HOPE International. Over the past 4 years, Plywood has seen first hand the work of HOPE International in Rwanda and The Dominican Republic. The first time we experienced micro-enterprise it transformed how we viewed poverty alleviation.  The life Peter lives as a leader and a father can only be viewed as inspiring. We had the opportunity to work with HOPE on a project called Never Ending Hope and recently had the opportunity to ask Peter a few questions about the organization he lives everyday:

JEFF SHINABARGER: You give loans to people in great need. Tell us what this does for the people you serve and how their lives are changed?

PETER GREER: As I have traveled around the world, I’ve seen one of the reasons the problem of poverty continues is because individuals do not believe that they have the power and the potential to change their circumstances. Microfinance challenges that mindset.  Microfinance comes in and says, “You have God-given potential” and then equips families to begin working for change. As long as we think that the poor need us to solve their problems for them, we will never see that potential.

There are more and more voices of economists and local leaders arguing that the charity model is bankrupt. Short-term aid is necessary in certain relief and disaster circumstances, but that model does not produce lasting change.  It’s like a band-aid on a broken bone. Microfinance is not just about the loan; it’s about having people recognize and then realize their potential.  It’s a transformation of mindset that has the potential to change the world.

JEFF: When we think of loans we think of thousands, but you think in hundreds. Unpack the size of a loan and what the recipients can do with that money?

PETER: It’s easy to spend $50 on a night out with my friends. But this same amount of money was the catalyst to change Esperance Mukasekuru’s life.  With her husband out of work, Esperance needed income to support her six children.  So the Rwandan client took out a $35 microloan to start her weaving business.  She purchased thread, used bed covers and bed sheets, and she began to make a variety of clothes and other household items.  Her monthly profits quadrupled.  Now she uses the money to feed her six children.  But she didn’t stop there.  She now feeds and provides shelter for seven orphans, opening her home to them. Not only does she feed thirteen children, she also provides for their education.  Esperance is an example of how the poor are ready and willing to work their way out of poverty – they just need access to essential tools to break the cycle of poverty.

Microloans—which average anywhere from $75 to $2,000 (but can be as low as $35)— really can make the difference between despair and dignity. They jump start employment in places where people want to work but don’t have the necessary tools to turn their dreams into reality. It amazes me how little it takes to put a family on the pathway out of poverty and then have the power to transform their communities.

JEFF: Why do you think microfinance is the greatest solution for ending poverty?

PETER: I think of leverage.  There are a billion people living on less than a dollar a day and through traditional charity, we cannot come close to addressing the magnitude of the problem of poverty. Microfinance takes a different approach because the funds we invest go to help a family start a small business, and we work with them until their business is self-sufficient.  At that point, the funds are then freed to help another family.   When we invest in microfinance, we can have an impact on a greater scale than if we use traditional charity.

Also, most of the other solutions for ending poverty are addressing surface issues. Again, it’s necessary to address surface issues, but microfinance is one of the few solutions that penetrates below the surface issues and addresses the root of poverty. Microfinance can jump-start an economy and help a family start a local business so they become the local givers in their community.  Many of our clients not only provide for their families, but they provide for their neighbors and take care of orphans in their community.

JEFF: In the last year, what is the greatest small business that you have seen started in the developing  nations?

PETER: The first business that comes to mind is a home shampoo-manufacturing business started by a woman in the Dominican Republic named Aura Trinidad. She is a true entrepreneur.  She recognized that she could use a distribution model to create an alternative to Pantene Pro-V for half the price the community was paying.  With her HOPE loans, she purchased supplies and an iron to seal single unit packages. She began to experiment with different scents, creating her own signature aromatherapy that became well known throughout the surrounding area.  I loved seeing her ingenuity; she took an iron and an old, broken washing machine, strapped them together and used it to seal single unit packages so people could buy a pack of shampoo for pennies.

JEFF: When you think about HOPE international and the people your partner with, who is the first name that comes to mind and why?

PETER: When I first met Milan, she had 240 students packed in her house and was providing both food and education for them.  A few years earlier, Milan had dropped out of eighth grade.  But her life radically transformed when she took a $150 loan.  With her funds, she bought a sewing machine and started to make school uniforms and other apparel.  She did well enough to hire eight employees. Not only did she prosper in her business, she also came to know Jesus Christ after attending a business training. With a changed heart and a changed economic situation, she wanted to give back to her community.

Milan realized she could make enough profits to reach the needs of the underprivileged children in her community.  She began a Christian school in her home using her profits from her school to teach, feed and share the love of Christ to her students.  What started as a small act of service has now become a full-blown community success story.  Today, Milan has a new school building with over 400 students.  I realize we could have gone to the Dominican Republic and built a Christian school, but how much more amazing is it that with a $150 loan that Milan repaid, an entire community has been impacted. And now the $150 initial loan to Milan is in the hands of someone else who is using the loan to write their own success story.

To learn more about engaging with HOPE International, visit Never Ending Hope Campaign or watch the latest short film below.

photo credit: Joyous Derner