It all started with a $27 gift.
When economist Muhammad Yunus distributed that money to more than 40 poor people in a Bangladeshi village three decades ago, they treated him like an angel.
“If you can make so many people so happy with such a small amount of money, isn't it time we do something more?” he asked.
The thought led him to create the Grameen Bank, which now gives tiny loans to 7.5 million borrowers worldwide, mostly women, to help them climb out of poverty. Yunus and the bank shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
Draped in a black gown and a yellow-tasseled cap, Yunus shared his story Friday at a graduation ceremony at EARTH University in the Caribbean Limón province. He encouraged 90 graduates from 21 countries to tackle poverty, malnutrition, health care, housing and drinking water quality.
Also in the audience were Ticas who have received Grameen loans. Nearly 3,000 women in Limón have borrowed money from the bank's Costa Rican branch, established in early 2006 with a three-year $1.3 million grant from the Whole Planet Foundation. The bank has lent $848,000 for such projects as fattening farm animals, making pastries, and selling clothes and crafts. Women pay back the loans in small weekly increments.
Arias said Friday he would try to find seed money to expand the program to other parts of Costa Rica.
While poverty is low and human development is high on a national level here, wealth is unevenly distributed. Some 20.2% of households in Limón are poor, compared with 13.7% in the Central Valley, according to the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC).
In his speech Friday, Yunus imagined a world without poverty.
“We will create poverty museums,” he said. “Because there are no poor people in the world, our kids will want to know, ‘what are these poor people you talk about?'” |
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