Elephants and Micro-finance

Hey my good friends! So here we are, in a rural area close to Hyderabad (in Andhra Pradesh, one of the poorest states in India). This was a field trip to micro-finance - joint liability groups.

It was really interesting. I was surprised that I couldn't find a singe case of new businesses with the micro-loans. The majority of the women gave the money to their husbands for agricultural purposes. Some of them used the loans for improving their micro-businesses (a shop, cooking). Many of the women used it for consumption.

Now, the question that I have after this field trip is, to what extent large-scale uniform micro-credits are helping poor people around the globe? Are micro-credits many times just an expensive way of saving? Do we really understand what is it that poor families really need? 

Since June 15 I moved to Ahmedabad (state of Gujarat, India) to start the actual internship (before I was in an induction-course). This city is fascinating. Modernity and tradition, all in one.

There are so few turists in Ahmedabad that, approximately 10 times a day I must answer to the question "which country?". You can imagine that all these people think that all Chileans look like Japanese!!

(we have lots of other pictures @ www.esposopolos.blogspot.com)

Marigen & Kenzo.