From the Palace to the People
Joy E. Stocke and Angie Brenner
"There's a spirited presence beyond charisma. An inner peace that emanates to others. That's the extraordinary part about Professor Muhammud Yunus. His message reaches out and lifts people up."
Barry Featherman, President and CEO of the Inter-American Economic Council
by Angie Brenner
We feel like royalty as we stand on the balcony of Quito's Presidential Palace and watch a crowd gather below in the Plaza Grande.
Nobel Prizewinner Muhammad Yunus, Ecuador's President, Rafael Correa; Vice President, Lenin Moreno; newly elected President of the Andean Parliament, Ivonne Baki, delegates and cabinet members crowd the balcony to watch a marching band parade through the square. The band stops and the crowd grows quiet. When the band begins the national anthem, "Salve mi patria, mil veces!" the dignitaries above and people below join voices, then cheer when the flag is raised above the palace.
We've just left a dedication ceremony in the palace's opulent salon where President Correa has presented Yunus with Ecuador's highest honor, the Ecuadorian Peace Prize. We ask ourselves, what does all this pomp have to do with micro-lending and helping the poorest of the poor?
The answer comes in the evening at the 10,000 capacity Ruminahui Colliseum where Yunus is about to speak. In Vice President Moreno's introduction, he speaks directly to Yunus's challenge to eradicate poverty worldwide. "We want security, basic services and, above all, happiness," says Moreno. "We have to find special leaders like Mahammud Yunus working on behalf of the poorest of the poor."
But when Baki steps forward, she takes the microphone from the podium, moves toward the crowd, and sets the tone for the evening. "Better not to have any barriers between people," she says.
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This is the second time we've heard Yunus speak and what impresses us is that he remains true to his fundamental goal of eradicating poverty worldwide.
"Looking back at what we did 31 years ago in Bangladesh, it looks like something unusual, something big," says Yunus. "We never felt this. We had no idea what it would lead to. I had no action plan."
He describes how he successfully created Grameen (Village) Bank, which currently has seven and a half million borrowers, 97% of whom are women, with an almost flawless return rate.
In 1972, after Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan, Economics Professor Yunus returned to from the U.S. to be a part of his country's future. "Soon our dreams turned into nightmares. A famine left hundreds of thousands of people destitute and suffering," he says. "I decided to forget about books and go into the village. "My university education never taught me what to do to help people. I found that if I could help by doing a little, that I felt good."
The turning point for Yunus came when he realized that it would only take $27 to help 42 poor people get out from under the hands of the local loan sharks.
"I was shocked," he says. "An economics professor talks in millions. All these people needed were a few pennies. I thought that if $27 can make so many people so happy, shouldn't I be doing more of it?"
by Joy E. Stocke
...to be continued