Would you like to start a conversation with someone in an informal settlement on the outskirts of Dakar?

(if you speak French, that would be really cool)

Exploring ways of localising it will certainly help in the responses and make it an ongoing discussion or exchange as opposed to a one-off.

I tried to emphasize with each person to focus for a few moments just on what they could give, not what they could get, in answering the questions — and I keep trying to brainstorm the best ways to help that happen. Ultimately there must be some good ways to break the cycle of dependency that both sides invite and reinforce through their actions. Any ideas on how to best do that?

You know, we didn’t ask that question you mention directly, but there were moments were you could tell there was some surprise that “foreigners” had the same problems which they had too.

It especially came out in the question about how Joey could get money. Lucy started to answer the question that she assumed she heard - trying to tell him how could he give money in the best way. When she realized that his question was how he could get money, she couldn’t help but laugh.

On the other hand, listening the “the Chairman” talk about going from penniless (not even having sandals) to where he is today (renting out 80 rooms for 800,000 Ugandan Shillings passive income a month), it is obvious that he has been better with finances than almost anyone I meet in the U.S. or Europe. For example, he is awesome at:
* finding unmet needs to generate initial income,
* keeping a good relationship with creditors,
* saving, saving, saving,
* being smart about using borrowed money and hard cash for different things,
* investing and reinvesting income, savings, and credit into passive/residual income sources,
* etc…

Honestly, there is so much to learn from that guy about being disciplined and clever with money!
If you became as good with finances as he is, and with the opportunities you have, you would become financially independent in a short period of time.

i think that by giving them the opportunity to serve is when they realize their own strength, and that strength grows.

The only true way to give someone independence from others help is for the to realize that everything they need is within them already.

You’re my hero clint.

more videos please.

Something of a poignant lesson for me actually is this. In the last months I have been with some of the richest people in the world, and with some of the poorest, and everything in between.

It seemed at least one concern for almost all of them is how they can get more money to do something else that they want to do (this feeling of not having enough, needing more, regardless of how much they had).

I’ve been left wondering if it is human nature that we often either don’t realize or don’t appreciate the riches that we already have (monetary or otherwise) nearly as much as we could, in our pursuit to chase “something else”?

How did you come to realize that everything you need is within you already?

One other thing that really impressed me about Rose was after the interview was over. Her and Christine were walking us to the road, and I was toward the back. We walked past this little boy with a dirty face (about 2 or 3 years old) who sitting in the mud and crying uncontrollably. I stopped to just crouch down and rub his back, but he just kept crying. Rose reached down and offered him some little of what she had and he stopped crying. That just stuck out to me.

That is a great questions:
What would others do if they had the opportunities that we have had?

So, how do we help give people jobs or responsibilities? Do you think microcredit fills the need, at least in part? In what instances? I have heard some horror stories, such as a woman whose business failed. She was so ashamed of not being able to pay off her loan that she locked herself in her home, and her daughters actually began to prostitute themselves to help her. I’m not saying it was the lending institutions fault, just wondering how to avert instances such as this.

However, I have a friend in Botswana named Angelina who used her loan to buy a small oven and started selling muffins. Soon she was able to use the profits to buy more ingredients and sell even more, until she ended up employing four people to help sell while she stayed home and cooked. The solidarity groups seem to pretty effective as well.

What is the difference in the two cases? Just luck, or personality, or a failure to administer microcredit in the right way? Does microcredit ‘force’ some people to be entrepreneurial? Reading the E-Myth made me wonder if some people just are entrepreneurs and some just are not. What is the best way to give people responsibilities or give people knowledge that will help them be self-sufficient? I really like her response, but the next question is how? And when, and where, and to whom?

Even living in the US, I’ve often needed a push or consultation with many people to decide what I want to do career-wise or make other decisions in my life. All I really had to do was save some money for school and pick a major. Choosing one seemed to be this daunting, confusing, and excruciating process when it should have been easy. Study something and interview for jobs once you graduate. Pretty straightforward?

How much harder it must be for people who are living hand-to-mouth with only enough resources to have the basic necessities of life and often having no access to education as a child, and in areas where it is nearly impossible to interview for and find a job? How to help give them that extra little push or inspiration to find something to do that they like and get them enough start-up resources to do so? How to help people have confidence they can do so and where can they find the training they need to make it successful? How to do it in a way that they receive training and mentoring without relying on outside sources?

Maybe once they have a successful venture they can mentor others in their community so as not to be dependent on ‘foreigners’ who end up leaving once their program is finished.

I like the church’s neonatal resuscitation program because it teaches local people how to teach it to other local people and therefore affects a lot more people. How do you set something like that up with business training?

I liked the approach of MicroBusiness Mentors in Provo as far as microcredit goes. We provided basic business training, helped people submit proposals and business plans for their idea, and provided continued mentoring for a year after the loan was given. But, our scope was small, there were only a limited number of us, and our understanding of the community was limited.

How to increase the scope of these kinds of programs without abandoning people? How to use local people so as to branch out even more and not put ‘foreigners’ who are less familiar with the real needs or the culture in charge?

Okay, I am just babbling now. Any comments?

You have articulated so well some of the additional questions, thoughts that I have had over the last little while. (It took me a while to reply as I was in Senegal, etc - but I loved reading and thinking about your post)

In this community, I saw several instances of how micro-credit had helped certain individuals, and I can see your point about how it is not the solution for everyone.

Maybe one of the things I could do is try and capture the essence of your thoughts/questions and bring them to these people, to at least include them in the conversation? Maybe together, with your insight, their insight, and other people who might also participate, we could come up with something that could work? Even if it doesn’t solve all the world’s problems, perhaps we could do something together that would really work for these particular people?

Already, I have shared this with some local Ugandan mentors in entrepreneurship and general problem solving, (who are really phenomenal by the way), that have made contact and are starting to help some of the people in this community, at the same time that the people in this community are helping them, and together they will be mentors to help others.

At least that is the idea, and it seems like the first tentative steps are bringing us all forward in it.

Thanks so much for your thoughts, questions, ideas, etc - keep them coming, they are very helpful!

I just didn’t like one thing, the tittle. “the poor” I know you mean it as a social class and really this people are at the lowest social ground possible in the world, wich is very sad, because we never stop to think that we have everything plus the knowledge and power to make it better. However the word poor sounds negative. As I could see in the videos they are very rich in hope, dreams, expectations of life and good willing to be better and as Rose and Lucy said they only need to learn how to grow seeds, they want knowledge more than anything. How can I girl who doesn’t have enough food, a small sister with AIDS and no tools to change things have so much hope in life? It this poor?

I used to work for the government in Brazil, I worked in many projects for the development of tourism including really poor areas that had great natural potential. One of the areas is full of slaves refugees, all african descendent wich we call them Kalungas. they are fortunate to leave in one of the most beautiful places i’ve seen in my life, even tough they leave in very poor conditions. We did a project of almost 6 months in that place integrating it with the other destinations around, and our target was to improve tourism in the area. What I was amazed is that we didn’t give much of our knowledge but we were able to wake them up to see with different eyes what they had, and they were able to tell us what they could do to make the place better and attract people. (It’s just like the girl said in the video, give them work and we’ll be amazed what they are capable to do). They organized activities and improved their places to receive visitors and everyday they try better. After the project finished and I went to visit (not on work) and I was amazed by the changes and talking to some people we could notice they had more hopes and wanted more and more. Based on this I preffer calling them not “the poor” but the developing comunities as once you put them in better conditions even in the terms used, there is already a change happening.

Hope you like my story!

Now, your blog really helps understanding the power this people and it’s a big change you are making by interacting “fortunate ones” (social conditions) with “fortunate ones” (hope).

I didn’t know you used to work for the government, and it sounds like you had a cool job.

Your point about the label - I totally agree with. I don’t think they are in the same kind of poverty as a lot of people in the world who have so much stuff but so little meaninging or joy. That is why I put it in quotation marks - to indicate that they are the so called “poor”, but really, as you so beautifully mentioned, they can often be extremely rich in things like perspective, hope, industry, drive, etc…

In that way, opening up the communication between these two groups of people (fortunate in different ways) will hopefully unlock a two-way flow of “riches”

Thank you for your great thoughts, and for that story about your past work!