Meg's Travels and Other Thoughts

The Woes of Central America

Meg — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:29:33 +0000

I pulled this map from an Economist Article. It was especially striking for me to compare the stats between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. From living in both places it was obvious that they were in really different places in terms of development, but it was still a interesting to see that in numbers.

I enjoyed the whole article in the Economist. It does a pretty good job of laying out the multifaceted web of problems (lack of education, vulnerability to natural disaster, polarized political climate) instead of just discussing the drug trade and leaving it at that: http://www.economist.com/node/18558254?story_id=18558254&fsrc=rss

Photos from Mali

Meg — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 06:52:24 +0000

At last, I created an album from my trip to Mali with Oxfam America. It really was an amazing experience that gave me a lot of new perspectives on everything from microsavings to soil fertility.

Check it the full album on Picasa here: https://picasaweb.google.com/mgray2/MaliWithOxfamFeb201?feat=directlink

Clearly, it was the dry season in Mali.

Learning money management early

Meg — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:49:49 +0000

I was blown away by the group of children we visited yesterday. They were taught by their mothers to replicate the Saving for Change group concept. Their ages ranged from about 3 to 21 with most around 8-9. Every week they save 20 cents each. The whole group (even the 3-4 year olds) seemed so disciplined and motivated. It was excited to see the group so invested in money management at such a young age. And it makes you wonder what other unexpected effects the Saving for Change program is having.

Microsavings up close

Meg — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 20:13:48 +0000

After a day of program background and talking to local partners yesterday, I was pumped to see Oxfam’s Saving for Change groups in action. These groups of 15-25 women meet each week to put their savings in the cash box (each woman saved 50 cents each in the groups we saw today) and make loans to group members using the group savings.

Things I really like about the model:
-It’s designed for women who are illiterate and this clearly works in practice. All if the record keeping is done orally and all trainings are done with picture-based manuals so that an illiterate woman can even train a new group

-The women cite group solidarity as a primary benefit of the group. Over and over today, they talked about how beneficial the group dynamic is.

-Women can get loans for health or other emergencies quickly and easily. Even better, the women talk about how great this is and how it relieves stress to know they can take care of there children if something comes up.

More soon…

Jokes and Ethnic Tension

Meg — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 20:12:06 +0000

Over the past few days I’ve learned that Mali is an incredibly diverse country with different ethnic groups in each region and even within regions. The are more than 10 distinct languages not to mention all the dialects. Even with this incredible diversity there is ( or at least there appears to be) very little ethnic tension in the country.

Why not? Joking is the answer I get from OxfamAmerica staff. There is an elaborate system of “joking cousins” that has developed. Depending on your last name you are “cousins” with people who have specific other last names. Even though these people are not actually related to you, you are committed to helping them. When they don’t need help, however, you just tease/nag/harass the heck out of them. This system of teasing crosses ethnic lines and ensures some joking and laughing will break the ice in any group situation.

Oxfam Program Intro

Meg — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:43:35 +0000

We had a great intro to Oxfam’s programs in Mali today. The real highlight was talking (via translator) to staff from Mali’s local partners. It was particularly interesting when the partners involved in the Saving for Change program identified challenges and problems the program has had. Most of them seemed to be challenges as well as opportunities. An example: groups start being pro-active and confident and they want to see other changes in the community like a maternal health clinic. This is a great outcome. The problem is that the local partners don’t have the resources to support these additional projects.

Another fascinating moment was discussing the role politics and politicians could play in Saving for Change. Since the women are organized in groups, engaged, and empowered, the role they could take in political life is just waiting to be defined. With recent publicity it seems like the possibility of interactions between these groups and local and regional governments is growing.

The Extractives program, which we also heard about today, has already had success engaging Deputies in the Malian Parliament in an effort to regulate large mining companies that are operating in the country.

Cloth purchase

Meg — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:07:13 +0000

From the market today

Mali day one

Meg — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 17:24:33 +0000

Got my first glimpses of Bamako in the day light. All the bright patterned cloth makes people watching (already one of my favorite pastimes) even more interesting.

The National Museum was also interesting. Great exhibit of Chiwara. It was a bit discouraging that a lot of them were on loan from museums in Paris

Why you all should move to San Francusco?

Meg — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 21:58:27 +0000

Went to the beach in capris and sandals today.

Paying the poor is working?

Meg — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 05:59:00 +0000

People have been watching these programs for a long time. In Mexico and Brazil, it looks like they are working both in alleviating poverty and lessening income inequality. Sounds promising…

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/to-beat-back-poverty-pay-the-poor/?src=me&ref=general