Hope
The majority of my blogs have been rather pessimistic in nature, certainly not uplifting. One thing I want to make clear, I work in this field because I believe in its hope. I believe whole-heartedly that the work of a few dedicated, passionate minds can in fact change the world.
The NFSC has enjoyed some recent victories in its crusade to expand services and enhance daily life for our community. We have established partnerships with FINCA, one of the world’s three largest and well-respected microfinance institutes in the world, and VEDCO, an NGO that provides support to small-scale agriculture projects.
A partnership with FINCA means that they will start providing access to capital to guardians in our program, on a group lending basis. While providing credit is, in itself, a monumental step forward for the NFSC; FINCA borrowers are immediately entitled to such benefits as life insurance, access to medical care and information, and business capacity building sessions.
VEDCO will work closely with us as we seek to establish poultry and piggery projects for the HIV+ caretakers in our program. This will hopefully lead to economic empowerment, better health, and eventually greater access to education for their dependants.
These connections, along with the recent addition of Megan Hatch, a Peace Corps volunteer and graduate of Boston College, into our network means that the NFSC has begun to realize its potential as a community building center.
Indeed, like so many other things in this world, as a single entity, we are weak and vulnerable. It is through creating meaningful partnerships and relationships with individuals and organizations that we accomplish life-changing acts of immeasurable contribution. Through our partnership with the Joint Clinical Research Centre we are able to provide free ARV’s (meds for HIV/AIDS) to nearly all of our clients infected with the disease. Through FINCA, we will be able to provide the family of any borrower who dies from illness or accident upwards of 1.2 million Ugandan shillings ($1,000). This is truly remarkable, when you think about the fact that the average monthly income for an adult in our community is around $30. As our relationship with FINCA grows, we expect to provide access to credit, within the next five years, to over 2,500 women.
It has been said many times and in words much more eloquent than my own; but the truth is, we are made strong only by the relationships we create. Imagine a network of organizations providing everything from medicine, to education, to access to capital, to insurance to every poor person in the world. This is a possibility in our lifetime. As monoliths in the NGO sector, such as TASO, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, etc. begin to connect with the grassroots level of work, possibilities exponentially increase.
We, as a generation, are allowed unprecedented potential to achieve what every kid dreams of…to change the world. If we stay focused, and realize that it is only through networking and cooperation that anything monumental is accomplished, we can alter the very make up of society; creating a world with universal access to health services and where every man, woman, and child has the resources to stay healthy, alive, and maybe even do their own bit to make the world a better place.
Robert Terenzi Jr.
