I Don’t Know What To Do

| March 27, 2011

If you’re at all like me, you might be feeling a little glassy-eyed after all the dramatic news events which have unfolded over the past month or so.  Night after night, the news coverage barrages us with images that are sometimes raw, often unexpected and occasionally inspirational.  Going all the way back to last year’s earthquake in Haiti and the gulf oil spill off the shores of Louisiana, we have recently witnessed fights for recovery, freedom, ecological survival, and against disasters both natural and manmade.  Most of the events have been gut-wrenching to watch.  And despite the impact of what I am seeing, or perhaps because of it, I don’t know what to do.

I’m not talking about knowing where to send money.  That is always made clear and right away.   But somehow, the sending of a check or a credit card number seems very arm’s-length and uninvolved when the motivation is intense. And so, event by event, I have felt the increasing restlessness well up within me, a disquiet about somehow not doing my part, not being there to  help make a difference.  Believing that we each have the calling to be a significant difference in the lives of others, I am nagged by the realities of living in Iowa, of working a full-time job, of my own cowardice and a dozen more excuses for not being there. If ever there was a time to “lend a hand,” it would seem to be now.  And yet I don’t know what to do.

The people of Japan would appear to be especially needful right now.  They are faced with shortages of food, water, medical supplies, shelter and just about anything else considered necessary for basic life essentials.  Even those who were not directly shaken by the earthquake or deluged by the tsunami or under the cloud of radiation, are nonetheless feeling the strain of devastation to their country.  But I’ve sent money.  And I am not a doctor, a firefighter, a nuclear expert or even a first responder.  Travel to Japan is almost impossible.  Each night I see the despair, the needs, and I don’t know what to do.

It’s a familiar feeling, in a way.  I have felt the same emotions from time to time in the midst of the Foundation’s work in Nicaragua, where the scope of poverty and need is immense.  At times I am overwhelmed by the opportunities to assist and the limitations of our abilities to respond.  But in Nicaragua, at least we are present, we are taking action as best we know how, and our accompaniment feels as though it makes some kind of difference in some people’s lives.  It’s when I consider the organizations to whom we cannot respond, and think about their futures, that I confess to feeling that I don’t know what to do.

We live in a world that is both growing and shrinking: growing in its needs and shrinking in the spaces between all of us.  The populations of people who do not have enough of basic life needs is becoming larger.  Yet around the globe, the proximity of all of us to each other is becoming closer, especially in light of technology which keeps us visible and accessible to one another.   The outcome of this is a global panorama that is beautiful in its diversity and frightening in its demands.  The questions of what can be done are met with my fears that I don’t know what to do.

Then, about the time that my frustration is about to merge with panic, I recall “a lesson from the south,” learned in 1990 after my very first visit to Central America.  Preparing to return home after visits to war-torn El Salvador and Nicaragua, I expressed my feeling out loud that perhaps I should change my life, sell off everything that I owned, and move my family to Nicaragua to help those in need, that this was the way in which I could make a difference.  But my ruminations were overheard by a Nicaraguan woman, who both understood my feelings as well as my limitations.

Do not do this, she commented with a shake of her head.  You cannot solve our problems.  We must be the ones to recognize our troubles and find our solutions.  If you want to make a difference in our lives, do not come here to live but understand who we are, what we face.  Know that we are here, and like you, seek the best for our children and ourselves.  Pray for us. But know that where you are is important, as well.  Learn to be an influence in your own niches of life on our behalf.  Tell our stories.  Share what you know of our lives.  This is a way for you to be with us.

I vividly recall that the advice soothed my seething emotions at the time and allowed me to return to my life in the U.S. without overwhelming shame or guilt.  It’s been a lesson I have recalled time and time again as I have bounced between two cultures so dramatically different in resources and focus.  And finally, late last week, it emerged once again as an answer in the face of such overwhelming despair over not knowing what to do.

The world and its condition is not my “fault.”  I live on a planet and in a time of both great need and unprecedented opportunity.  I am neither to blame or to be thanked for these realities and only I can assess whether I have been more inclined to the one reality as opposed to the other.  It’s a matter for my conscience and whatever universal judgment I face at the end of my life.  But there is a role for me to play, a place for me to make a difference, and it’s right before me.  In the impacts I make daily upon everyone around me, positive or negative, intended or not,  I change the world even if in small ways.  My interactions are not preordained or fated.  They are by choice.

I’ve heard all of that many times before, so often that it has become a cliched response and even a comfortable way to avoid a feeling of helplessness.  But what feels like the least I can do may, in fact, be the best I can do.  So I feel it.  Say it.  Write it.  Advocate it.  It’s not the same as digging through the wreckage of destroyed lives, but at least I know what I can do….

 

 

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No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

| March 14, 2011

So now we hear of the attack on no less than Muhammad Yunus, creator of the microlending concept, founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.    Grameen is one of the most visible, successful and transformational microlending organizations in the world, and like most successful enterprises, its success has attracted the unwanted attentions of those who would have it for themselves.  In this case, Grameen has become the takeover target of the Bangladeshi government.  The current events have caused overwhelming public outrage in Bangladesh over the last week, as a Government takeover of the Bank would effectively result in the millions of borrower owners (and their families) of the Grameen Bank -who own 97% of the shares of the Bank- being disenfranchised.

If the Grameen bank were to lose its independence, then this unique model of microcredit would totally perish; indeed, the model is not only selfless (Grameen Bank is a nonprofit making organization), but it is also responsible (in the sense that all borrowers also place their savings in the bank), and of course democratic (as it is the borrowers who democratically elect 9 of the 12 members of the Board).

The main reason for the current attacks appears to be a blatant attempt to take control over a highly successful bank where the Government’s equity has dwindled to barely 3% (despite this, it still prevails on the Board because of the governance structure of the institution). This campaign could be also viewed as a deep rooted animosity. Speculations range from petty jealousy over Yunus’ Nobel Prize and his international fame to grievances against Yunus for his brief foray in Bangladeshi politics.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister, speaking in the Parliament, has famously accused the Nobel Peace Prize-winner of “bloodsucking the poor”. The trigger for the Prime Minister’s outburst was an unfounded report in a Norwegian TV channel broadcast on 30th November 2010 claiming that a misallocation of a Norwegian Government grant dating back to 1996.

This report was quickly refuted by the Government of Norway which declared on the official website of its Ministry of Foreign affairs “… there is no indication that Norwegian funds have been used for unintended purposes, or that Grameen Bank has engaged in corrupt practices or embezzled funds.”

One would have thought that the Norwegian declaration of a clean bill for Grameen Bank would have been the logical conclusion of a matter raised and addressed. The allegations appear even more surprising as Grameen Bank is audited annually by Bangladesh’s Central Bank as well as one of the “Big Four” accounting firms as the outside auditor.

And so the accusations flow.  There are other allegations against Dr. Yunus, all of which seem equally bogus upon review.  The reality is that Grameen Bank stands as a valuable asset and an icon of Bangladeshi success, both of which are highly needed by the Bangladeshi government these days.  If the work and reputation of Dr. Yunus is the price to be paid for an easy acquisition of money and status, then the government is unfortunately willing to pay it.

There have been few individuals who have left such a positive and imaginative legacy on the world as Dr. Muhammad Yunus.  It is both ironic and unjust that  one who has struggled so effectively to give opportunity and dignity to the impoverished of the world now stands on the threshold of betrayal, at the hands of those who can only understand the value of power and wealth for themselves.

There is a great deal more detailed information available at the Friends of Grameen website.    Visit there to learn about the fraud being perpetrated against some of the poorest and yet most successful people in the world.  Ultimately it is not Dr. Yunus who pays the price for this coup, but the borrowers and supporters of Grameen Bank….

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Myself At A Time

| March 7, 2011

The 23rd annual Peace Prize Forum was held at Luther College over the past weekend.  It was the final occasion for this event to be held on a rotating basis at each of the five sponsoring colleges (Augsburg, Augustana, Concordia, Luther and St. Olaf).  Starting next year, the tradition will continue to involve all five of the schools, but actual programming will be held every year in Minneapolis, in hopes of assuring greater exposure to this important conference. Winds of Peace has co-sponsored a number of the Forums, presented at several and attended many over the years.

The theme of this year’s Forum was “Striving for Peace-The Courage to Act.”  The theme was inspired by Nobel Laureate Barack Obama—whose work inspired the 2011 Forum—when he stated that to truly honor ideals like peace, justice, and human rights, we must uphold these ideals “not when it is easy, but when it is hard.” In this spirit, the forum highlighted the work of those who have acted with courage in the name of peace.

The notion of a world at peace is, frankly, more than I can absorb; there’s simply too much history and hatred to allow me even a fleeting glance at it.  But the Forum provided a number of occasions wherein the vision emerged, if only for a brief moment.  Whether at the plenary session with 2003 Peace Prize recipient Sharin Ebadi or in any of the smaller breakout sessions offered, this gathering has the capacity to wrench participants from the constraints of apathetic comfort and to challenge every man and woman to be part of the movement toward peace, thus making it seem real, achievable.  I know that always sounds grandiose and idealistic, but the Forum has a way of making it all so very digestible, doable, even personal.

The reality of global peace does not stem from a single, courageous initiative which suddenly quells all of the hurts and injustices of mankind.  Rather, it begins from a single, courageous initiative taken by each one of us, to create peace in our own lives first, and trusting that this is the most and the best that we can do, that the act can radiate beyond us and to the lives of others.  I may not be capable of ending the wars that rage elsewhere in the world, but I do have the  capacities to end the personal conflicts that rage within me, reconciling relationships that have bred contempt,  forgetting insults that have engendered mistrust, and forgiving acts of personal injustice done to or by me, intended or not.  This is where courage is found and healing begins, when I am willing to confront myself.  It is incredibly difficult, scary work.  It is peacemaking one person at a time, myself at a time, and acknowledging my own responsibility.

The Peace Prize Forum is a unique opportunity to take personal stock of what each of us can bring to creation of peace. For a moment, the topic becomes our own, with all of its promise and its frustrations, its despair and its soaring hopes. This is at least one reason for Winds of Peace sponsorship of the affair.

Do I dream of peace?  Shall I shake my fist at governments’ inabilities to craft solutions?  Then I first must consider making true peace in my own life ….

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Climbing Momotombito

| March 3, 2011

We might be excited reaching the top of the volcano Momotombito.  We might raise our hands in the air and dance at the accomplishment, thinking that we have achieved the highest summit.  But then, when we dance in jubilation, we see that an even bigger volcano, Momotombo, looms above us.  There is a higher mountain for us to climb, where the view is even more spectacular.  But in order to climb up Momotombo, we must first climb down Momotombito.   (From the  January 2011 Cooperativism Workshop, San Juan del Rio Coco.)

Thus began Rene Mendoza in talking to the audience about the coming “golden decade” for coffee producers, a time when the already-high demand for the coffee harvests will become  even greater and potentially more profitable.

I mentioned here last November that Winds of Peace had undertaken a study on rural cooperatives in Nicaragua, in an effort to better understand the opportunities that exist for these organizations, as well as the obstacles which can impede their success.  Researchers Rene Mendoza and Edgar Fernandez completed a very telling study on the practices and results of rural coffee cooperatives, which we will post on this website shortly; be watching for it.

One of the actions prompted by the study has been the development of an important workshop involving producers, supporters, second-tier organizations, buyers and lenders.  In a unique assembly for three days, these participants met in San Juan del Rio Coco to share their stories, explore their issues and begin the process of strategizing their collective futures.  Facilitated by Rene Mendoza, the exchange offered a rare opportunity for the various actors in the growing-marketing-selling cycle to be together for the purpose of discovering their mutual self-interests and how they might maximize success for each other in a period when the demand for coffees of all types is on the rise, a “golden decade of coffee.”

Three days is a long time for any people to absent themselves from their livelihoods, but perhaps especially so for the rural poor who have so little margin for error and daily face falling behind.  But this group demonstrated not only a willingness to attend, but an appetite for the learning, even to the point where several participants lobbied for a fourth day of discussion!  Such is the level of interest and intensity they have displayed toward this chance to learn, understand and strategize.  It’s a powerful process to observe and it generates energy for everyone who is part of it, including those of us from WPF.

Part of the uniqueness of this workshop is that is has brought together small, rural players from disparate parts of this economic process, encouraging a collaboration among participants who are frequently marginalized from the core activities and benefits.  They seemed to relish the chance to speak together, to be together.  Their participation served as a recognition of sorts, an acknowledgement of their importance to the process under scrutiny, the value of their independent voices.  They were even hungry for more details about the genesis of Winds of Peace Foundation, its roots within Foldcraft Co. and what employee ownership of that firm was like.  Throughout the workshop, the themes of holism, participation and ownership-  those universal needs of working people everywhere- were once again at the center of attention.  There is both a hunger and a growing awareness developing in the minds and hearts of these entrepreneurs who seek greater control of their futures.

This process is unusual enough and perhaps will be successful enough to warrant replication in other parts of the country; we’ll be monitoring the outcomes closely.  Other groups have inquired about being able to participate.  And currently there is a second part to the workshop scheduled for the first week in April.  All the same participants have been invited back and, once again, WPF will be present to observe, listen, understand and even offer some insights when invited to do so.  It’s a rare opportunity to be privy to the conversations and rather personal testimonies offered by many of the attendees about a critical and complex part of their lives.  I hope we might play some small part in creating the kind of epiphany that they so desperately need….

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