Belize Blog 2

Blog Entry 2: What is your reaction to Yunus’ ideas? How do you connect or differentiate this ideology with a) philanthropy and b) service?

Ok so 20 days until we leave for Belize, and I cannot wait! What better of a model for our organization than Muhammad Yunus? He is such a caring and interesting man that it is difficult to think of where to start dissecting his brilliant ideas. This is a guy who recognized a serious problem within his homeland and decided to singlehandedly put an end to poverty, even if bankers told him it would never work. To me, that is true courage and dedication to go against the norms and work so hard for something you believe in.

What amazes me most about Yunus himself is that he was not afraid to share his ideas with people even if they thought he was crazy. When he learned that 22 cents was a difference in someone’s life, he could not believe it. I feel like I can relate to Yunus because he talks about the millions of dollars that people are trained to learn about when they are in a college setting. In my business classes at Bellarmine, teachers are constantly talking about how much money certain companies and employees can make over a short period of time. I almost have to deactivate my finance brain at times, and stop and think about how lucky I am to even have food and water.

I love the service aspect of Yunus’ ideals because it encourages community fellowship. When the first recipient received a 25 dollar loan, she did not think she was going to be able to make ends meet. Her fellow community members told her, “Look we all have to go through it, we will support you. We are here for just that. Don’t be scared. We will all be with you.” I love this line in the book because it is a great example of how society should function. We can all learn a lesson from the women borrowers of Bangladesh because they are being courageous by breaking down the standard pattern of behavior and empowering themselves. Yunus is not only a role model to people of service, but also a model to psychologist, philosophers, sociologist, economist, business people, women, you name it…

With that being said, I know Team Belize will follow in his footsteps and keep Yunus’ ideas alive. Go team!