"Welcome to Bangladesh, mam!" -
"Our country is beautiful, please!" - He continued proudly. I read something that is poor. Professor Muhammad Yunus, known as the man to defeat poverty, economists, bankers, and national hero in Bangladesh. He is famous for the fact that he was the first in the world have successfully used a system of microcredit, giving small long-term loans. Such loans are granted to entrepreneurs who have insufficient funds for their own traditional bank loans. Yunus is also the founder of the bank Grameen. In 2006, Yunus and his bank awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
It starts, I think. Insufficient pomuchili me
In Bangladesh, Yunus - has long been known personality. After awarding the Nobel Peace Prize last year, he has become a national hero, and the entire world finally began to reckon with him, to his activities.
In 70 years, returning to their homeland from the United States, where he defended doktorstvo on the economy, Muhammad Yunus has been a professor at the University of Chittagong, a poor province in southern Bangladesh. He loved his job, but it has not helped the country. Reasonable theory, and exact statistics are not found confirmation in the surrounding reality. Outside the university campus - a real life of Bangladesh. Millions of people in terrible poverty: homeless, jobless, the children die at the hands of their mothers, not even handfuls of rice. Men are not men, but roaming skeletons, shadows. Prospects for these young people - the so-called Yunus - no, especially in the villages. It was believed that a small increase, fearful leanness, sunken eyes and hollow cheeks are not just a consequence of hunger, but also a sign of mental retardation.
They were in awe, care moneylenders. The poor agree to a loan and fatally podsazhivalsya to hook generous lender. Interest is very high, the duty to return the money could not be accounted for to give labor.
For example, the beggar was taken on loan for the purchase of penny for the production of bamboo baskets. It is penny, we are talking about money, which sometimes hesitate to raise from the ground. It is time to repay the loan, but need to go to town on the market - to sell manufactured products to their own money and there. No time. Usurer does not forgive the delay, selects the finished basket, and is engaged in sale of goods with excess. Poor flows into slavery.
University of Chittagong is situated outside the city. On the way to work every day Yunus, a young American traveling Dzhobru diploma - the typical village of Little People of Bangladesh. "When I got back from the States in 1972 - says Yunus - Bangladesh only became an independent country. In 1971, he seceded from Pakistan. In 1974, the country began hunger. I was a young teacher. People are dying in my eyes, and I do did not do to help. I thought: maybe I can do something for them. To do this, go to the people, be with him, talk to him, find out what you need. This has been quite simple. Every day after school I went on Dzhobre, communicate with people. I saw how they were exhausted cruelty moneylenders, and asked one of his students compile a list of villagers who took the money. The list turned out 42 of a total loan was only 27 dollars, I was shocked. Are there so many people suffer because of so little money. I realized that the problem is serious, but her decision obvious. We need to give these 42 borrowers with 27 dollars, that they returned to their uncle. It did, and worked. People were just happy, thankful. I became thinking, why not try to do more. Again made. I went to the bank at the university campus and offered to give poor credit. I was sure that for such a small amount of the bank would have no objection. But the bank did not agree. lend money to poor - is nonsense . bickered months, I have to credit - the bank against it. In the end, I suggested itself as the guardian of: himself will sign all the papers, get the money and distribute them to poor.
Poverty varies
Nobel Peace Prize for Yunus received the world last year. Thirty years ago he established a unique bank with the only type of activity: lending to the rural poor of Bangladesh. Yunus therefore referred to as a banker and the poor, and Grameen Bank in translation means «Village Bank».
Yunus was teaching economics at the university of his native city of Chittagong. Every day on the way to work he passed Dzhobra village. Circle of poverty, illiteracy, powerlessness. In this small village Younus, one might say, and has been the practice. He put the books on the economy on the shelf and began to study the problem of poverty as it is. In search of an answer to the question who is the really poor, Yunus realized it before do not have guessed the best sociologists, economists and politicians around the world: it is divided into categories of poor and was the classification of poverty. In his view, it was necessary to deal with each category separately, otherwise the less poor will inevitably displace poorer. Another common problem was that all the focus is usually on the male population, bearing in mind that among the poor have more children and women.
Dzhobra became Yunus Laboratory, where he revealed the empirical formula of the medicine of poverty. This formula has been simple as all genius: to watch how the other banks, and to do the opposite.
Conventional banks do not lend to poor people, find them insolvent, require guarantees and contracts do not provide loans to women who are waiting for customers in their offices in the cities.
«Grameen Bank», according to Yunus conviction, must reach the poor directly in each of its doors to offer direct help here and now. Mikropomosch in the form of micro credit. «Grameen» does not require legal safeguards for their clients, working on confidence and mainly with women in spite of the laws of Shariah.
