Category Archives: books

What I’ve Been Reading…in the Last Year

13 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in book review, books, development, eating, Haiti, health, reading

≈ 1 Comment

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been a year since I wrote a comprehensive summary (is it grammatically incorrect to put those two words next to each other? ) of the books I’ve read. I’ve mainly been avoiding this because I wanted to do a grandiose post on what I thought of each book, with quotes, summaries, deep thoughts, etc. I’m realizing that might never happen, so something is better than nothing.

Of the three books I was reading when I last wrote something on this topic, I’ve finished two of the three. I still haven’t finished reading the White Man’s Burden…I don’t think I’ve even touched it since my last post about it. Oh well, I guess that one will stay on the shelf another year or so.
So, without further ado, here we go.
I absolutely loved this book. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” This is the main motto, which sounds a lot simpler than it really is. For example, a lot of the “food” that you eat isn’t really food, it’s highly processed stuff. So when he say’s “eat food,” there’s a much more significant meaning to what he’s saying than you might think (“But I contend that most of what we’re consuming today is no longer, strictly speaking, food at all, and how we’re consuming it–in the car, in front of the TV, and, increasingly, along–is not really eating, at least not in the sense that civilization has long understood the term.”). I think this is a great introductory book to changing eating habits, and how you see the food industry in general. There are some crazy statistics that really make you think about what you’re eating, and why you’re eating it (think: congressional lobbies). I’ve been wanting to read some more books on this topic since I finished this book, but just haven’t gotten around to it. One of the cleverest suggestions from this book: shop in the periphery of the grocery store: it contains the freshest and least processed stuff (produce, veggies, etc., versus boxed meals). Some of my favorite quotes:
  • “Thirty years of nutritional advice have left us fatter, sicker, and more poorly nourished.”
  • “…the processing of foods typically robs them of nutrients, vitamins especially.”
  • “By breaking the links among local soils, local foods, and local peoples, the industrial food system disrupted the circular flow of nutrients through the food chain.”
  • “Foods that lie to our senses are one of the most challenging features of the Western diet.”
  • “…and Americans are consuming a diet that is at least half sugars in one form or another–calories providing virtually nothing but energy.”
  • “It’s hard to believe that we’re getting everything we need from a diet consisting largely of processed corn, soybeans, rice, and wheat.”
  • MY FAVORITE: “[y]ou now have to eat three apples to get the same amount of iron as you would have gotten from a single 1940 apple, and you’d have to eat several more slices of bread to get your recommended daily allowance of zinc than you would have a century ago.” INSANE (emphasis added).
Jim (co-founder of Haiti Scholarships) sent me this book out of the blue. I actually was a little concerned about who had sent the book to me, since I had no idea where it came from, and someone clearly had my address, and new of my interest in Haiti, haha. But all was well, and no one was stalking me.
This is a really short and quick read, but very inspiring story–which, I’m sure, is why Jim sent it to me. It tells the real st
ory of one woman’s journey to Haiti, and how she started an organization to help feed children in Haiti. It was great reading about someone going through a similar struggle with getting an organization started and off the ground, and seeing it succeed. I hope Haiti Scholarships grows to have the same success that her organization has. Some of my favorite quotes:
  • “It took Haiti 125 years to pay off the debt to France (estimated at a value of $21 billion today with interest and inflation calculated in), and the effects on the society were devastating.”
  • “Iwas relieved to be back in the States, where the comforts and convenience and abundance overflowed. But at the same time, I felt nauseated.” A feeling that’s easily relatable for those who have traveled to similar places, I’m sure.
  • “Normally, I planned out every detail of a business trip, complete with a typed agenda neatly placed in a folder.” I was just relieved to see that someone else does this.
  • A topic Reuben and I have frequently discussed is religion, and how religion seems to be more abundant in poorer areas: “‘God is the first and last resource here. We feel God’s presence more and more, because there is nobody else some days who can sustain us to allow us to survive. It’s only God sometimes…Because the neighbor doesn’t have enough, the friend’s don’t have anything, so we’re praising God. God makes miracles. So we live by miracles, and as we live by miracles, we need faith. Our faith sustains us.'”
  • “This led to the importing of heavily subsidized U.S. rice, which was cheaper than Haitian rice. After a few years, Haiti’s peasant farmers could not compete and most went out of business.”
  • “Haiti is thethird-largest importer of rice from the U.S.–240,000 metric tons per year. Until the 1980s, Haiti was self-sufficient in rice production.” Crazystatistic.
  • “Or maybe because I was discovering more and more how unfair the world is, how cruel it can be. The disparity between my life and the lives of everybody I met in Tiplas Kazo weighed on me all the time.”

This book was given to me by Reuben, and it’s
another inspiring story about a nonprofit who grew quickly to address some pressing issues around the world (and curiously enough, the nonprofit that a good friend of mine went to work for in Haiti shortly after I finished reading this book!).
The title itself gives you a synopsis about what the book is about. BRAC is similar to Acumen Fund, which I mentioned on my summary of The Blue Sweater, both organizations focus on microcredit a
s a way to relieve poverty. I think one of the things I liked best about this book is that it was honest about what worked and what didn’t work for the organization when it was first starting. It’s great to know that organizations don’t always get things right, but the difference is in manning up to that, and making it better. I’m gonna post some of my favorite parts, but this book is chalk full of great follow up resources, from other books, to articles, to organizations, etc. (I still have to follow up on all of these highlights, of course).
  • “[D]eveloping countries are littered with failed income-generation projects that have generated little more than loss and disappointment. While there has never been a lack of bright ideas and good intentions among aid agencies, there has too often been a surfeit of amateurism that, combined with money, can be deadly.”
  • “It is a sad commentary on countries in Europe and North America that provide foreign aid with one hand–dispensed with lashings of advice about how poor countries must liberalize their economies and eschew subsidies–while simultaneously undercutting the world price of grain, dairy products,and other goods through generous subsidies to their own producers.”
  • “Generally, increasing the average amount of education in the labor force by one year raises GDP by 9 percent, a statistic that holds for the first three years of education.”
  • “‘The role of education in reducing absolute poverty is decisive. Many research studies…[have] concluded that rising levels of education in a society were often accompanied by a sharp decline in absolute poverty. When poverty levels were correlated with such variables as mean years of schooling, adult literacy, and gross enrollment rates, it was clearly established that absolute poverty declines as education increases.'”

I read this book on the plan to and from Haiti. It’s a hugely successful book, with a movie in the works, as well as an organization of the same name that exists to combat all the ills against women that this book talks about.
The stories in this book, from real women around the world, are sad, and compelling. It’s crazy to think that in our day and age, this things are still happening to women…to people.
Similar to Freedom from Want, this book is full of great resources that I have yet to follow up on.
  • “‘More weight is still given to the crime of stealing a thing than to the crime of stealing a person.'”
  • “…21% of Ghanian woman reported…that their sexual initiation was by rape; 17% of Nigerian women said that they had endured rape or attempted rape by the age of nineteen; and 21% of South African women reported that they had been raped by the age of fifteen.”
  • “The United Nations Population Fund has estimated that there are 5,000 honor killings a year…”
  • “‘It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in an armed conflict.'”
  • “In just the Congolese province of South Kivu, the UN estimates that there were twenty-seven thousand (27,000) sexual assaults in 2006.”
  • “One of the great failings of the American education system, in our view, is that young people can graduate from university without any understanding of poverty at home or abroad.”
  • “The equivalent of five jumbo jets’ worth of women die in labor each day, but the issue is almost never covered…Some 99 percent of those deaths occur in poor countries.”
  • “The World Bank estimated that for every one thousand girls who get one additional year of education, two fewer women will die in childbirth.”
  • “‘Women are not dying because of untreatable diseases. They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving.‘”
  • “Another study suggested that it would cost an additional $9 billion a year to provide all effective interventions for maternal and newborn health to 95% of the world’s population…Suppose that the estimate of $9 billion per year is correct. It pales beside the $40 billion that the world spends annually on pet food…”
  • “To deny women is to deprive a country of labor and talent, but–even worse– to undermine the drive to achievement of boys and men.”
  • “If we believe firmly in certain values, such as the equality of all human beings regardless of color or gender, then we should not be afraid to stand up for them; it would be feckless to defer to slavery, torture, foot-binding, honor killings, or genital cutting just because we believe in respecting other faiths or cultures.”

I think this was the first book we read for our book club. Not as difficult for me to follow as The White Man’s Burden, but it’s up there. This book tackles many difficulties in getting people out of the “poverty trap,” including global health, education, economics, etc. My favorite parts of this book were the parts that made me look at situations through a different lens. Why don’t poor people save? Why don’t they get medical insurance for when they get really sick? Why don’t they go to a doctor instead of a local? Why do they have so many kids? Why don’t they realize the value of an education?
I’m not gonna lie, I’m pooped. So if you’re interested, I’ll have to owe you my favorite quotes from this book.

The Death of Bookstores…and Books

17 Wednesday Aug 2011

Posted by in books, economy, evolution, life, reading

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So originally this blog started with a reference to a prior post about my emotional breakdown at Blockbuster when they were all closing down…but then I went to look for the post and alas, I never wrote it. Sigh. In short: I was really bummed by the realization that movie stores are now a thing of the past. Sure, there’s redbox and netflix and hulu, but there’s something to be said for actually walking into a place, looking around aisles and aisles of movies, arguing with your husband over what you want to watch, finding nothing, and then walking out with something you’re kind of ok watching. And then having to physically return it so you don’t get charged late fees. Sounds less than glorious, but I kinda liked that experience. Knowing that future generations will never know what that’s like is kind of sad…and scary. Things are changing so quickly these days (I wonder if that’s how older generations felt also…).

Ok, now we can move on to this post. I’m having a similar emotional breakdown about Border’s closing down. One more down. It makes me wonder: how much longer until Barnes & Noble closes down? How much more after that until books are no longer published? Which just made me think back to Blockbuster…how much longer do you think DVD’s and Blue Ray’s will be around for? I wonder if it’s just a matter of time before all movies will only be available for download, online or directly through your cable provider.

There’s been talk for a while about the death of the publishing industry, and it honestly makes me sad. Indeed, the title of this blog is less than creative, since a simple google search of “death of books” or “death of bookstores” will come up with ample reading material (including this one, which is a great sentimental piece about the love and affinity of books, compared to e-books: “‘I wonder if anyone has ever cried while reading an e-book'”).

As great as I hear they are, the idea of reading on a Nook or Kindle just doesn’t cut it for me. I like having the actual book, I like being able to put it on my bookshelf when I’m done reading it. I like turning the pages. I like highlighting parts of it, and writing notes in the margins (yeah…I really do that). Jeff agrees with me on the sentimentality of having physical books to hold and turn pages to, but he also made a good point: in our day and age, we really shouldn’t be cutting down trees just to make books; it makes complete sense to move to electronic forms of publishing, which are cheaper and have less of a negative impact on the environment. He compared it to using gas as fuel for our cars: it’s something our society should be past already. Like one of the articles linked on this post mentioned (but I’m too lazy to find it, quote it and re-link it), I do understand the utility of e-books when traveling, or for large reference books, etc. I couldn’t agree more, but the idea of books someday being a “1984” thing of the past is scary. Kindle has actually taken all of the sentimentalities into their ad campaigns, and I think I hate them just a little bit for mocking my emotions:



As mentioned in the Huffington Post: “Electronic books may make rare texts available to the world and allow us to pack dozens of books in our carry-on bags, but they also single-handedly responsible for the decline of print publishing.” The whole article is actually a good read, and in closing expresses the sentiment which has keep me away from the closing sales at Borders: “Surrounded by red and hornet-yellow markdown tags, I couldn’t help but feel I wasn’t witnessing the death of a bookstore, but the slow, succumbing death of the book itself.” That was my exact thought when I heard of the closing of Borders. Books, in their entirety, will someday cease to exist. In someone else’s words: “…the idea of reading printed books will be a tiny boutique experience, not unlike collecting vinyl.”

I imagine that our kids are going to have all of their textbooks downloaded to their laptops. They won’t have to lug around heavy textbooks for French class or Algebra. They’ll just have their laptop with all their textbooks on there. Will libraries become nonexistent? I loved going to the library in elementary school and junior high. It’s sad to think that my kids will not experience that (although maybe they’ll be more normal than I was and just not like to read at that age), although I’m sure they’ll be replaced with other experiences that I didn’t have as a child. Who knows.

(Speaking of kids and reading and coolness. Jeff mentioned that he was listening to Kevin & Bean on KROQ the other day, and they were talking about the closing of Borders and how they basically couldn’t care less, because reading is stupid. For those not in the Southern California area…Kevin & Bean are morning DJ’s for an alternative radio station. They’re over forty…catering to high schoolers. Apparently there was only one guy on the show that talked about books in a positive light, and expressed his enjoyment of reading. The forty year old made fun of him for reading…and I couldn’t help but wonder if they just got stuck in the mind set of a high schooler who thinks that reading is lame, or they’re just pretending because that’s the age group that they’re catering to. Either way, I don’t think Jeff has been able to listen to them since, ha.)

Just like the era of movie stores being over…I sadly feel that the era of bookstores, and books for that matter, is quickly coming to an end. And I mourn our loss.

Updates and New Beginnings (Again)

25 Monday Jul 2011

Posted by in accountability, books, career, exercise, family, food, life, reading, work

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(Disclaimer: it’s a long one)

So many things to update on that I’ve actually been putting this off for a few days. Which, within the first line, leads me to digress already: I’m not sure why I feel the need to write; those that are close to me know what’s going on, and I don’t think I have too many random people following the intricacies of my life that I, for whatever reason, chose to post on the world wide web. Regardless, I feel I have the responsibility to let you all know what’s been going on. So here we go.
WORK. I haven’t written [too] much about my frustrations with TBM and my job because 1) I’m sure it gets old and most people seem to dislike their job to some degree; 2) it’s minor complaining compared to what other people have to deal with in their lives; 3) as someone once said before, “be ye not so stupid” and don’t write about your work on the internet unless you have permission to. So yeah, I wasn’t so keen on the idea of my boss finding out about my blog while I was still working there and reading all the things I hated about the position (although I’m pretty sure he knew anyway).
This job was meant to be temporary, but it actually started looking like it would turn into something more permanent, and then it didn’t. Woah, what does that even mean?! An attorney I used to work for (“TBM”) was in need of a legal assistant since the one he had left him high and dry. I needed the money, so I agreed to work in his office part time doing administrative work. He later asked me to start working full time, and told me there was room for me to grow and possibly start a family law practice within his firm. Which sounded great, except that 1) there wasn’t really enough time left in the week for me to “start a family law practice” while also keeping on top of all the other things I had to do (you know, important stuff, like correspondence and filing and making court and deposition appearances when him and the other attorney weren’t available); and 2) I didn’t really want to bust my ass to start a practice for someone else: if I’m going to put in the time and effort to learn a whole new area of law and make it work, I wanna make it work for me, not for someone else.
I could go on forever, but for your sake and mine, I’ll just say that the administrative and “personal assistant” duties became a bit much for me to handle, and I realized that any promises made were not going to come to fruition. I was planning on putting in my two weeks notice when TBM let me know last Friday that he was gonna have to let me go due to some financial difficulties. It wasn’t a huge shock, and aside from not having a steady check every two weeks (which is HUGE), I was actually relieved.
Here’s why.
I’ve been thinking about what I want to do, or at least what I could enjoy doing, that would help bring some income into our household. I’ve got some business ideas floating around with Jeff, my friend Brooke, and an old colleague also, but I haven’t been able to do anything with these ideas because I’ve been wasting forty hours a week at a pointless job. Sure, not having a source of steady income is scary as all hell, but I think it’s something that needed to happen to make me do something for myself. I’m so used to things working out, and always being able to get things done with minimal effort, that I’m not used to having to work really hard at things. This is my challenge, and I’m nervous/excited to see how I deal with it.
One thing Jeff and I did have to laugh/cry about: I wrote before about how our lives seem to be a roller coaster, but one that never careens out of control: there’s always a very delicate balance that keeps us holding on. I mentioned in the “Failure to Launch” blog (which I still have to respond to, thank you everyone for your very thoughtful comments!) how Jeff and I would be moving into his parents house. We were both so excited to be able to save up some money. But with the whole loss of income thing…it seems like we’ll be, once again, just getting by. Thankfully we won’t have to worry about paying rent, but we also won’t have the income we had…which we were hoping to save up. Just so typically us :)
FOOD. Salads. They’re kind of my jam right now. I grew up on salads that contained minimal ingredients, and figured that was the norm. I’m discovering that you can throw just about anything into a salad and make it delicious. Like almonds. Or bell peppers. Or feta cheese. Or cilantro! I know, they may seem obvious to you, but for whatever reason, they’re new discoveries to me, and I’m excited about it. I think I’ve been pretty good the last few weeks on not over-indulging on stuff. I did have Mickey D’s on Friday (right before I found out I was getting laid off), but that was because I had few alternatives, plus, it came out to about five bucks. Sigh.
This last picture is from dinner with Jeff’s parents on Sunday. Holy glorious. Those potatoes? Yep, amazing. Foil paper, slice, salt, butter, put some onion chunks over them, smear some italian dressing over them, put them on the grill, and voila. Not pictured: stuffed chile. I don’t know enough to give details, other than it was delicious. And it sent me into a food coma.
EXERCISE: I haven’t been the greatest at this, but with being unemployed and Vegas being around the corner, I’m really gonna try to kick it up a notch. Jeff and I are trying to go on little walks before/after dinner, and I actually made it to the gym this morning! It was probably my most lame attempt at working out, but I at least made it there. Baby steps…
THINGS I WANT: Remember that iPhone case I wanted? Here’s a reminder just in case. (Ha! iPhone “case”…”just in case“…get it?! wow…Lord help me…) Well….I GOT IT! Turns out Jeff wanted to give me some sort of compensation for helping him get his art show set up at Mesa, and it’s absolutely fabulous. It’s taking some getting used to, but I really like it. I still haven’t dropped my phone, so I can’t attest to it’s protective powers, but hopefully they’re good…because my phone falls quite a bit. Needless to say…I need to set up Jeff’s next art show before my next installment of “Things I Want”…this could be great!
Unemployment accountability: I think I might go back to my old accountability reports from my last stint of unemployment. It shamed me into being productive, and I might need that up and running again. I think this post is long enough as is, so I might skip my accountability from the last couple days, but I am proud of everything I did yesterday and today, so I’m off to a much better start.
The Walking Dead: One thing I did do yesterday was go to Barns & Nobel and buy Volume 13 of The Walking Dead. As if I didn’t have OCD issues on my own, this comic makes it nearly impossible to put down. I read volumes 11 & 12 on Sunday at Jeff’s parent’s house, and although we had volume 14…we were missing volume 13. So I went to B&N yesterday…then sat in the parking lot of Trader Joe’s reading about a third of it before I forced myself to go buy stuff for dinner and go home before finishing it. Which I did. Then I finished Volume 14. Holy cow. The father-son relationship reminds me so much of Roland and Jake from The Dark Tower, which I love. I actually keep wanting to call Carl, Jake. It’ll be interesting to see what they keep for season 2 of the show. And I’m hoping volume 15 comes out soon…
Well, I hope that wasn’t entirely boring. One thing I’m excited about with this whole unemployment thing is working on more substantive blog posts…so hopefully that works out to your advantage :)

Books Galore…and my dream job.

24 Tuesday May 2011

Posted by in books, life, reading, work

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A few years ago I distinctly remember making fun of our friend Pat for having a half dozen half-read books around his room. This came up specifically because he was still only half way through the second or third book of Stephen King’s Dark Tower, and I couldn’t believe he hadn’t finished reading it yet. What I couldn’t believe even more was that someone could start reading a book, while still having another book unfinished. WHAT?! This made no sense to me…I just didn’t see the logic in starting another book when you still hadn’t finished another one.

Here I am, a few years later…and here’s where I’m at:
  • Currently reading In Defense of Food, page 160 of 201
  • The White Man’s Burden, I’m about half way through…partially lost interest, partially found more exciting things to read (it’s a little dense for me, but I plan on finishing it up soon-ish)
  • Half the Sky, about two-thirds of the way through–great read, and probably would’ve finished it by now if I hadn’t gotten distracted by the first book on this list.
Not to mention all the books I already have a list of that I want to read next:
  • Letters from Burma was a Christmas present from my brother in law and his wife, and I’m really looking forward to that
  • The Idea of Justice by Amartya Sen
  • Uses of Haiti by Paul Farmer (not sure I can actually make my way through this one, but I want to try)
  • Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders
  • Poor Economics
  • Armed Humanitarians: the Rise of the Nation Builders
  • Stranger Things Happen (short stories)
  • Getting Better: Why Global Development is Succeeding–and How we Can Improve the World Even More
So much to read, so little time.
Which brings me to something I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately–and of which I’d like to write a longer blog someday, but that hasn’t happened yet so here’s the short and sweet of it all. What do I want to be when I grow up? Honestly? I want to get paid to research and write (um, not sure blogging is “writing” per se…) about things I’m interested in (I have a never ending list of things I want to write about on this blog, but some are subjects I actually want to research and write something half intelligently about, alas the time is seriously lacking), and I want to get paid to do the kind of volunteer work I really enjoy doing, ranging from hands on stuff like going to Mexico and building houses, to more office/admin/legal stuff like helping non profits get incorporated, grant-writing, fundraising, etc. I just need to figure out how I can get paid to do those things :)

Haiti Stories: Bamboo Bar & Microfinance

07 Saturday May 2011

Posted by in books, development, Haiti, Haiti stories, microfinance, research

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It’s a terrible picture, but through the wooden window you an see the t-shelter inside which has the sound system and VIP area


Because three bars within a block radius were not enough options for us, Christa recommended we check out a small little bar she had walked by before and was curious to check out. Getting to the Bamboo Bar was much more of an investment than the local bars by the AHV base. This struck me as unfortunate for this particular bar owner, since we all know: location, location, location.


Christa, Abby, Kisa and I headed out anyway. We walked passed Joe’s, Jackson’s, and Meritas’. We passed Christa’s popcorn lady. Turned the corner and passed the church were I saw more funerals take place in two weeks than some people might see in a year. Turned another corner and passed the Mayor’s office that is still in shambles, and the huge water “bladder” that services the local IDP residents. Walked straight past the pale green model home that doesn’t look like any house in Haiti. Passed street vendors and avoided countless mishaps with tap-taps and moto-taxis.


The Bamboo Bar is owned by a woman named Nadia. She gave us the warmest and most sincere welcome I’ve ever received from a complete stranger. She rushed to set up a table for us in the “VIP” area, which was in the t-shelter section of the bar. Nadia had put her temporary shelter to use by converting it into a bar, and enclosed the area surrounding the shelter, probably doubling the size of her bar.


We enjoyed a few moments of normal conversation before the typical level of music in Haiti started: beyond loud. Oh well…screaming is a good way to exercise your vocal chords anyway. Christa mentions some of this in her blog.


It took me a while to place what I saw reflected in this woman’s face. She was so HAPPY. She was happy to have patrons. But I think it went beyond that, she was happy to just be doing what she was doing: running her own business. It’s something most of us in the developed world take for granted: the ability to finance and start your own business. I complain that I don’t have the means or ability to start my own firm, but the reality is that I’m just scared shitless of doing it. If I wanted to make it happen, I could. Sure, my credit might be crap, but that’s my own fault, and I’m sure I could still figure something out to get a small business loan. But for the rest of the world, that hasn’t always been an option.


I want to stop here before going forward and give a disclaimer: I have no idea how Nadia financed her business or how she got started. But the Bamboo Bar got my mind thinking about microfinance (“MF”) again, and I wondered if I had just witnessed micro-lending in action.


So what is microfinancing? In the words of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (“CGAP”): “[m]icrofinance offers poor people access to basic financial services such as loan, savings, money transfer services and microinsurance.”


How is this different than your bank or my bank? Your bank or my bank most likely wouldn’t lend money to the poorest people in the world. They tend to have no credit history, no collateral, and most likely no steady source of income. This makes it difficult for them to get started with a business, since they don’t have the capital to invest in starting a business, and they usually can’t obtain a loan to get that capital. MF gives small loans to people so they can overcome these obstacles, and get their business off the ground. These loans can be as little as $20 or $100, but in developing countries, this might be all that people need to buy into their initial investment.


The idea of MF was popularized by Dr. Mohammed Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank (“GB”), one of the first MF lending institutions (if not the first). GB has some pretty impressive statistics:


  • GB’s equity is owned by 95% of the borrowers and the remainder by the Bangladeshi government
  • It has more than 8.36 million borrowers (97% of which are women)
  • Since it’s inception, it has lent $10.38 billion, of which $9.2 billion has been repaid
  • It doesn’t take donations: it functions solely off of loans made and paid (which is pretty impressive given the demographic of who they’re lending to, IMHO).


Malhotra, Heide B. “Microfinance at a Crossroads.” The Epoch Times [Southern California] 21-27 April, 2011, Issue 201100016: A1, A6.


Jacqueline Novogratz wrote extensively about micofinancing in her book, The Blue Sweater . She wrote about the difficulties in starting a MF institution: how do you hold borrowers accountable? How can you ensure that they pay back? It’s certainly no easy feat.


Like all things, there are pro’s and con’s. It seems that MF was mostly a positive solution to the poverty trap dilemma until it started expanding beyond its grassroots beginnings. It started as a movement to help the poorest of the poor, but as the years have passed and momentum has grown, so have the populations it benefits. The problem with expansion? People always get greedy when they start seeing a profit in something.


The 2011 Banana Skins Report states the risks facing MF as the following: “growing commercialism, as evidenced by an increasing focus on size and profitability, a decline in standards, particularly in the area of lending, and a sense that the industry may be drifting away from its original ‘double bottom line‘ purpose,” page 5.


One criticism I’ve read about is the high interest rate some MFI’s (microfinancing institutions) charge. According to Kiva, a nonprofit that works in MF, these high interest rates are attributed to the following: MFI’s have to cover three kinds of costs. 1 & 2: “cost of money that it lends and the cost of loan defaults,” and 3) the transaction cost. CGAP also provides a more in depth explanation for higher interest rates (parts of it are actually identical to each other, not sure which one came first). Basically transactions costs are higher for these smaller institutions, and the cost of loan defaults is most likely higher than your typical loan.


Other criticisms refer to the lack of regulations in the MF world: no one regulates, so institutions can take advantage of people who need these institutions to survive. The obvious solution would be to create a regulatory body, or have government regulation of the institutions. A blog I came across had an interesting point about this: people who benefit from these loans are predominantly in countries where the government isn’t the most trusted, efficient, or transparent regulatory body. So who do you turn to?


A BBC article published just last December (2010) reported that “[m]ore than 80 people [had] taken their lives in the last few months after defaulting on micro-loans.”. Why? “Multiple lending, over-indebtedness, coercive recovery practices and unseemly enrichment by promoters and senior executives.” I think this is bound to happen when you start getting larger institutions involved that want to make sure they get a return on their investment, like Citigroup who is apparently now in the MF industry as well (by “this” I mean “coercive recovery practices,” etc., not suicides–I wonder if that’s cultural or just human desperation?).


For all the criticisms, and I’m sure improvements can always be made, I don’t think it takes away from the fact that MF has actually helped hundreds of thousands of individuals get on their feet and make a living. Organizations like Fonkoze seem to be doing the right thing, and their achievements should not be overshadowed by the shortcomings of other organizations that have profit in mind over the well being of those they are meant to serve.


MF alone won’t eradicate world poverty, but if implemented widely, correctly, and efficiently, it’s a step in the right direction. Like all other problems though, we just have to figure out how to do that…will it be through government, international or self regulation? Or something completely different?


One thing I do know: Nadia was happy.


What I’ve Been Reading Lately…

01 Tuesday Feb 2011

Posted by in book review, books, development, Haiti, poverty, reading

≈ 1 Comment

Over a year ago, I wrote about reading series of books, and how it had become a bit of an obsession of mine. Lately I haven’t been reading any series of books, per se, but have definitely fallen into a very particular genre of books. For Christmas, Jeff and I each got a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble from his parents. Let me tell you, we are both huge fans of reading, so we were pretty stoked about this gift, and didn’t wait more than a day to hit up B&N and find something exciting to spend our money on.

Jeff mentioned I should spend my money on getting something “fun” to read this time, since every book I’d read before then was pretty serious in nature. I tried. But I just couldn’t. I went to the Spanish section, where I usual find a good, light-hearted and entertaining read (and I get to brush up on my Spanish). There were several titles that looked intriguing, but not nearly enough so to make me want to spend my Christmas gift on them. I was itching to head back downstairs to the section that really interested me. And so it was that my gift card was used for the same type of “serial” reading that I’ve been doing lately. I feel the books I’m choosing lately are almost a self-education in a new area of study: I can’t afford to pay for a masters in international development, but I’m reading a lot of literature about it, and maybe that’s enough for now.
So here’s my list of serial reading in international development/non-profit development so far:
It all really started with an ad in the online version of the New York Times for Three Cups of Tea. Jeff will tell you I’m a sucker for advertising. The reviews were great, I bought it, I read it. My initial reaction is to say that it was great, inspiring, moving, entertaining, etc. And I think it was (it’s been a while), but I do believe it took me a while to actually get into it. If you haven’t heard about this book before, it’s the story of how Greg Mortenson started the Central Asia Institute, a non-profit that raises money to build schools in Afghanistan, and now Pakistan. It really is an inspiration of how much one man can accomplish, and a testimony to what a difference education can make.

The first book I bought after I returned from my trip to Haiti was Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. It tells the story of Doctor Paul Farmer, who I’ve already mentioned several times in Cielo Azul. With this book I started to fold the top corner of passages or quotes that I liked, or stuff I wanted to research more (but still haven’t). Here are a few:
  • “‘Clean water and health care and school and food and tin roofs and cement floors, all of these things should constitute a set of basics that people must have as birthrights,'” quoting Dr. Paul Farmer, page 91.
  • Page 116 describes Dr. PF’s writing of The Uses of Haiti, which I want to eventually read.
  • “There are more billionaires today than ever before…We are talking about wealth that we’ve never seen before. And the only time that I hear talk of shrinking resources among people like us, among academics, is when we talk about things that have to do with poor people…Margaret Mead once said, Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world…Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have.” Quoting Jim Kim, page 164.
  • “Change the world? Of course they could. [Paul Farmer] really believed this, and he really believed that ‘a small group of committed individuals’ could do it. He liked to say of PIH, ‘People think we’re unrealistic. They don’t know we’re crazy.'” Page 169.
  • “If one pushes this ology to its logical conclusion, then God is to be found in the struggle against injustice. But if the odds are so preposterously stacked against the poor–machetes versus Uzis, donkeys versus tanks, stones versus missiles, or even typhoid versus cancer–then is it responsible, is ti wise, to push the poor to claim what is theirs by right? What happens when the destitute in Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, wherever, are moved by a rereading of the Gospels to stand up for what is theirs, to reclaim what was theirs and was taken away, to ask only that they enjoy decent poverty rather than the misery we see here every day in Haiti? We know the answer to that question, because we are digging up their bodies in Guatemala.” Paul Farmer discussing his distrust of ideologies, page 195.

Next came Travesty in Haiti: A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, fraud, food aid and drug trafficking, by Timothy T. Schwartz. This book gives a critical look at how foreign aid has really affected Haiti. I think it’s a great read for anyone wanting to work in this field, so you know what you’re dealing with, and what you want to avoid. He spoke a lot about the effects of food aid, and large NGO’s that work in Haiti. With this book, I moved it a step up from folding pages to….highlighting!
  • “I came to understand that food aid crashed the local agriculture markets, driving peasants off the land…” (page 47).
  • Speaking about what little there was to know about wind generators that had been installed in the early 1990s, and quickly fallen into disrepair: “But it was enough because it is the typical story regarding development all over Haiti: ‘It is broken, can’t be fixed, and nobody knows anything else about it.'” (page 66)
  • “When I first arrived in Haiti…I was enthusiastic. My enthusiasm and belief that I could make a contribution kept me returning despite the hardships, the violence, the coups, and the embargoes. But ten years later I was a different person. Perhaps I was simply burned out…Perhaps more than anything else, by 2000, I no longer was an objective researcher. I was deeply angry at what I perceived to be the widespread fraud, corruption, arrogance, greed, self-interest and apathy that afflicted the entire development community which was, in my opinion, a total failure, serving only to make the poor poorer and the rich richer” (page 216).

Then, per a friendly recommendation, I read The End of Poverty, by Jeffrey Sachs. This book was a little challenging for me, since it’s heavy on economics and numbers. Let’s just say that in college I took the “economics for dummies” course. It had a lot of interesting information and thoughts on how poverty can actually be eradicated in time to meet the Millennium Goals. Curiously enough, the book I’m currently reading, The White Man’s Burden, is a response to some of Mr. Sach’s arguments. One of my favorite parts of the book was actually the forward by Bono.
  • “More than one million African children, and perhaps as many as three million, succumb to malaria each year…There is simply no conceivable excuse for this disease to be taking millions of lives each year” (7).
  • “The rich countries do not have to invest enough in the poorest countries to make them rich; they need to invest enough so that these countries can get their foot on the ladder [of development]” (73).
  • “Eliminating poverty at the global scale is a global responsibility that will have global benefits. No single country can do it on its own” (327).
  • “American political leaders and the broad public rarely recognize that the U.S. government has repeatedly made international commitments to do much more than the United States is doing, and even less do they realize that the lack of follow-through carries an enormous foreign policy cost” (337).
  • On page 350 Sachs discusses the importance of education: “The wider the education, including in social and political principles, the more peaceful, sound, and progressive the entire society would be.”

After scanning a few stands at Barnes and Noble, I came across The Rainy Season by Amy Wilentz. What I loved about this book is that it was an interesting way to learn about the historical context of Haiti, including the end of the Duvalier regime, and the rise of Aristide.
  • “Haiti’s stuck in an uncomfortable position now: the earthquake has opened the country up to all sorts of interventions, speculations, and exploitations, but unquestionably the help is needed. There’s very little room for resistance in this disaster. The country’s lying there like a rape victim waiting for further onslaught” (introduction, xiii).
  • “It took me a little while to realize that if you wait long enough in Haiti, and really not so long, the tyranny and violence is likely to return, and that a people’s victory is not always in the end what is seems to be in the beginning” (20).
  • “Whenever change is effected without bloodshed in Haiti, it means that an equitable deal has been struck among all interested parties” (129).
  • There is an interesting paragraph about the culture of voodoo and it’s perseverance despite foreign opposition to it; too long to type out now though :) page 165.
  • Page 183 provides great insight to the relationship between poverty and religion.
  • Page 267 talks about trees, and how there are many NGO’s that want to give trees to farmers in order to improve deforestation, but farmers are weary of planting trees because they can’t afford to use what precious water they have on growing trees, trees that are not going to be quick cash returns.
  • Speaking to an AID worker about Haitian’s that don’t support NGO projects because they know these projects fail to follow through on promises made: “‘I know, I know,’ he said. ‘But at a certain point, who cares if they want it? They need it, and they’re going to have it. They don’t understand. What Haiti needs is infrastructure, and we are going to make sure they get it whether they want it or not'” (284).
  • Some of the most sobering passages of Wilentz’s book are graphic descriptions of violence surrounding elections.

I then went back to the beginning, and decided to read the sequel to Three Cups of Tea: Stones into Schools, by Greg Mortenson. This book follows Mortenson’s quest to start building schools in the most difficult regions of Pakistan. I sadly just realized I didn’t highlight much on this one, but I did find it a much more entertaining read than Three Cups.
  • “Amid the rush to provide tents, food, and medical supplies, few of the western NGOs seemed to be giving much thought to schools. Based on past experience, however, the militant groups who were busy setting up their aid networks fully understood the power of education under such circumstances” (179).
  • Mortension writes about Chritopher Kolenda, and a book written by him called Leadership: The Warrior’s Art. On my follow up list.
  • “…I am told that there will be roughly 200 children who will study at the school; and that the skills they will learn and the ideas to which they will be exposed may usher in changes–some good, others bad–which no one can foresee” (epilogue, 375).

My last read was The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World, by Jacqueline Novogratz. Novogratz is the founder of Acumen Fund, and talks about how she began developing for-profit enterprises by and for the poorest populations around the world.
  • “I began to see what it meant to put into practice the idea of extending basic services as simple as bank accounts that the middle class took for granted to people who are often invisible to those in power” (17).
  • “Cote d’Ivoire became a place where just walking down the street filled me with questions about justice and compassion, power and money, and the randomness of where we are born and how much that determines who we become” (23).
  • “In this case, well-intentioned people gave poor women something ‘nice’ to do, such as making cookies or crafts, and subsidized the project until there was no more money left, then moved on to a new idea. This is a no-fail way to keep already poor people mired in poverty” (76).
  • “Meanwhile, I found myself frustrated once again by development ‘experts’ who looked in from the outside and suggested clever solutions that created a lot of noise, distorted markets, resulted in systemic corruption, and accomplished little” (94).
  • Somethings to check out: Next Generation Leadership, Three Guineas Fund
  • “Patient capital is money invested over a longer period of time with the acknowledgment that returns might be below market, but with a wide range of management support services to nurture the company to liftoff and beyond” (229).
  • “That same resilience, however, can manifest itself in passivity, fatalism, and a resignation to the difficulties of life that allows injustice and inequity to strengthen, grow, and solidify into a system where people forget to question until an event or series of events awakens the next generation” (275).
  • “They balance their passion for change with an ability to get things done. Mostly, they believe fundamentally in the inherent capacity of every human being to contribute” (277).
  • “…scientists are finding, not surprisingly, that the one factor that does bring greater happiness is serving others..” (279).
All in all, I’m quite enjoying my current series. Feel free to send me any recommendations you think might fit in :)
*PS: this is my 200th blog entry. Can’t believe I’ve been boring you guys with my thoughts 200 times already.

Haiti Stories: Presented at the Fowler Museum, UCLA

30 Sunday Jan 2011

Posted by in books, Haiti, movies, thoughts

≈ 1 Comment

“Did you dress up for Paul Farmer?” “Yeah, is that creepy?”

So began Abby and my trip to the UCLA Fowler Museum for their conference: Haiti Stories/Istwa Ayiti. And it only got better. The speakers included some of the most fascinating and inspiring people from all walks of life: poets, writers, journalists, photographers, academics, doctors, human rights activists, anthropologists, film makers, and the list goes on. I was honestly star struck.
Damon Winters, a photojournalist with the New York Times, opened with some amazing pictures from Haiti that brought people to tears. I was truly sad when he ran out of time, since it seemed he had a lot more pictures to share.
Right after Damon, Don Cosentino gave an interesting presentation on Haitian vodoo. He shared some great pictures and stories, but most impressive was something that Abby pointed out as he was getting on stage: his cane was black, with red flames coming up from the bottom. Now here is a man I want to buy a drink for, and just hear story after story…
Next up was anthropologist Catherine Maternowska, co-founder of Lambi Fund of Haiti. Her story brought me to tears. She spoke of a baby who had oral and anal gonorrhea after a man cut through her tent, tied up her pregnant mother, and orally and anally raped her. But she also spoke of the compassionate US military personnel who helped her obtain much needed supplies to provide care for these victimes by reporting the materials “lost in transit, unaccounted for.” It’s insane that she had to rely on conspiring humanists to provide basic materials, since the release of aid materials was/is surrounded by red tape and basically bullshit. But at least she found someone who was willing to look the other way.
Then there was the LA Times writer, Joe Mozingo, who spoke of the increasing responsibility of the media to portray Haiti in its entirety, not only the ghastly stories that create headlines because they’re horrific and shocking to us. He called for a focus on the bigger picture, not just the horror of Haiti. I loved his honesty and clarity.
Here’s a cool piece another presenter, Maggie Steber, worked on, which are photographs of a whole boulevard in Haiti, kinda cool.
David Belle gave a presentation about the only film school in Haiti, located in Jacmel, which allows Haitian students to learn how to make films and commercials. They just received a contract worth millions of dollars to make commercials for an energy drink in Haiti! He showed several clips of the work Haitian students have done, most impressively a documentary that was presented at the Amsterdam Film Festival. You can check out the trailer here. Please check it out. I’m going to do some research to find out where the whole movie is available…
Claudine Michel is a professor of black studies at UCSB, and she used an interesting phrase in her presentation: “how many cups of revolution…” She used this phrase repeatedly, as in: how many cups of revolution until the little girl in the camps doesn’t have to wear a whistle to prevent her from being raped when she goes to the restroom at night? How many cups of revolution until….etc. I might have heard wrong, because I don’t know exactly what “cups of revolution” means, maybe someone can enlighten me, but I liked it nonetheless.
I wish Paul Farmer had talked more, but he did have some good thoughts about foreign assistance; basically: good intentions go astray. He mentioned how much rhetoric has been centered around building Haiti “better,” and he said we need to build back foreign assistance better also, because there are so many flaws in how it’s done. “Good intentions are not enough, actions are what matter.” Personal hero.
Bob Maguire, a professor of international affairs and director of the Trinity Haiti program, also had a good quote: “development is not a matter of changing things, but changing people.” I think I could write my thoughts about that for a while, but I’m growing sleepy and I’m sure readers are growing weary…
Amy Wilentz, the moderator for the event and author of The Rainy Season, mentioned she was reading a book by Erica James. I believe I have found it on Amazon, and it will probably be my next read once I finish The White Man’s Burden, which is proving to be a slow read for me.
This is basically a regurgitation of my notes from the event of stuff I wanted to check out or follow up on; hopefully they’re helpful to someone other than just myself.
On a semi-sidenote: when people are given the privilege to address amazing individuals at a conference during the q&a session, they need to save everyone’s time and just ask the question so the panel will have the time to fully discuss and answer it, rather than spend five minutes trying to impress the panel with what they’ve done with their lives and who they are. I’m sorry, but it’s true :)

Reflections

12 Wednesday Jan 2011

Posted by in book review, books, Haiti, life, thoughts

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I wasn’t planning on writing anything on my blog about the one year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake–I figure today is the one day when everyone else will be talking about it, and I don’t think there’s much I can add that I haven’t already shared with readers prior to today, and what every news broadcast is already doing. But I came across a blog entry of a good friend, so I wanted to share some of that with you guys. I’m only sharing a part here, but I recommend reading the whole thing. Here’s the excerpt that got me:

“First, I ask you to take a moment of silence with the rest of the world at 4:53 eastern (2153 GMT) to remember the approximate quarter of million people who died in the disaster. But please go further than that. One moment of silent prayer or reflection is not enough for a disaster this large. It demands several moments.

So please also take a moment when you walk into your house. Remember those Haitians (about 1 million) still without a house.
Take a moment when you turn on your tap and water instantly appears. Remember those Haitians who must carry their water miles to and from clean water sources.
When you flush your toilet, remember those who are still using pit toilets, or having to flush only once a day to conserve water.
As you prepare to come back to school, or go to work, imagine your life totally upended. Family members no longer here, plans scrapped. That is reality for millions of Haitians.”


This is something that was really difficult to deal with when I first returned from my trip, and something I know is constantly on mine and Abby’s mind. How can we not feel guilty about everything we have, when people around the world have so little? How is this fair?
I’m not five years old anymore, so I don’t need my mom to tell me that life isn’t fair…I know it isn’t…but I don’t know why is has to be SO unfair (ok, maybe I’m still five). I think about how much water we use just to shower or wash our hands…and people in Africa don’t even have enough water to drink. It’s crazy, right? (or is it just me…?)
I came across an interesting passage in a book I just finished, called The Blue Sweater, by Jacqueline Novogratz. Novogratz is talking about celebrating the wrap up of a big project in Rwanda, and standing in line at a local store with two bottles of champagne. While in line it hit her that these two bottles cost more than most Rwandans made in a whole year–she was embarrassed when it came time for the Rwandan store clerk to ring her up. In the end, her companion convinced her to buy them: ” ‘I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense on one level. We’re working with the really poor, and you and I couldn’t be more privileged in relative terms. But don’t pretend to be someone you aren’t. If you were at home, you’d celebrate with champagne. If you want to remain happy and alive in this work, you need to reconcile this part of who you are and understand the inconsistencies with the work you do and how it all fits into your whole way of being.’ ” (page 115).
The whole “don’t pretend to be someone you’re not” is pretty intense, and true. We have been born into privilege, maybe not rich-trust-fund kind of privilege, but we have abundant resources nonetheless. We can’t deny that, and we shouldn’t. As Novogratz puts it: “The challenge wasn’t whether to buy a couple of bottles of champagne; it was instead not to take our privilege for granted and to use it in a way that served the world and our highest purpose” (116, emphasis added).
So today, take a minute to reflect. How can you use your privileges to serve the highest purpose?

Book Review: A Long Way Gone

13 Sunday Jun 2010

Posted by in book review, books, opinion, thoughts

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Abby and I were wandering the halls of the Miami international airport, our last stop before boarding a plane to Haiti. We had a bit of a layover, and I really wanted to find something worth reading. I perused the bookstore for quite a bit of time, hoping to find something cheery and uplifting. I knew I was headed to a county that had been devastated by January’s earthquake, so I didn’t want something that was super serious or a “downer” by any means.


With those search criteria in mind, I came across “A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier,” by Ishmael Beah. How’s THAT for a light read? I held on to that book for a while as I tried to find something “lighter,” but nothing else really caught my attention, and I really had been wanting to read this book for a while. So the memoirs of a boy soldier it would be.

I’m a little torn on my review of this book. I think it gives a good account of what children soldiers have to go through, how they get where they are, and how they’re able to carry out the orders they’re given (which I know I didn’t really understand before reading this book). The book gives a good first account of someone who has had to live through horrific and terrifying scenes, scenes which most of us can never even imagine.

I think my only criticism is that the author is simply telling his story, and I was wanting to read something “more.” The author’s purpose is to tell his story, not necessarily to win a Nobel Prize in Literature. He’s not concerned with the flow of the book, or embellishments, or making sure things sound good, he is concerned with letting the world know what he had to live through. I think the book is exactly what you expect, and not much more. Like I mentioned before, it wasn’t quite the book I was in the mood for, but I’m still glad I read it. It’s a good read, especially if you’ve never read or heard about children soldiers, but in the words of a good friend, it’s “not overly insightful or surprising.” I would still give this book a read if you’re in the right mood for it.
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