Banker to the Poor

I am writing this from an internet cafe in Granada, Nicaragua. It's been more than one week since I got here. I study Spanish from 8am till 5pm every day, but my Spanish is still not good enough to become a fully functional intern at the microfinance NGO in Guatemala. I am a bit worried how I will be able to survive there, but I am also excited about the opportunity to work for microfinance with Guatemalan people.

I stayed in a cheap youth hostel for the first week, but I decided to try homestay to improve my Spanish. Now I enjoy living with a Nicaraguan family (which includes 3 generations) in an old small house. Nicaragua has a huge problem of its water and electricity services. Water and electricity stop very often. There was no water running for 8 hours a day for the last 3 days and electricity has been down for 2-5 hours every single day since I arrived. I needed to buy lots of water and one more flashlight.

I have a lot of interesting stories to share on my blog, but I want to wait until I find a computer where I can type Japanese so that my parents are able to understand well. I just wanted to introduce a book which I recently finished reading. "Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty" written by Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, was really really interesting. It details how Yunus developed the idea of microcredit and transformed the lives of the poor in Bangladesh. I was very inspired by his work and convinced that microcredit can be a strong means to eradicate global poverty. I would highly recommend it for those who are interested in microfinance!