Stories
Death of Malawi’s President and Swearing in of Former VP Joyce Banda, Malawi’s First Female President
Last week, on Thursday, April 5, Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika died of cardiac arrest, and his vice president, Joyce Banda, was sworn in on Saturday as the new president of Malawi. President Mutharika’s funeral will take place on April 23, and the country is observing a 10-day period of mourning for the departed leader. Upon her inauguration, Banda became Malawi’s first female head of state and Africa’s second female head of state after Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.…
Read MoreMy Lunch with Ghanaian Staff Member Vida
Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to have lunch with Vida Marfo of Opportunity International. She is the Regional Head of Small/Medium Enterprise (SME) and a Manager for Property Folios at Opportunity Ghana. Vida was kind enough to do an interview with me so I could share what I learned from her with all of you! Elizabeth Knox: Tell me about a loan client who has shown great growth.Vida Marfo: We had one client named Mary Addo. Her husband passed away and her brother-in-law told her she could…
Read MoreFinding Renewal Through Faith and Opportunity this Easter
Blessings to you and your family from the entire Opportunity International family. This Easter, as we commemorate Jesus’s crucifixion and celebrate His resurrection, I’m reminded that resurrection need not only mean the miracle that occurred 2,000 years ago, but that renewal can take place in a number of ways in our own lives. Nothing that I encounter as a marketing writer at Opportunity exemplifies this more than the extraordinary hope, courage and the power for change exhibited by our clients.…
Read MoreAt Lent, How Do You Recharge to Find Purpose?
As we near the end of winter and enter spring, many of us celebrate Lent, the six weeks leading up to Easter. It’s a time of quiet and peace, as winter leaves a stillness in the air, as if the earth itself is holding its breath waiting in anticipation for new life in the Easter and spring season. Lent is also a time of solemn self-reflection—a time taken by many to evaluate their own spiritual walk. Most of the time, we associate Lent primarily with making small sacrifices–giving up our favorite…
Read MoreHunger is Not a Game
My 14-year-old daughter Hannah was upset at me for failing to read the book before seeing the movie. At 12:01 a.m. on Friday, I was one of the thousands of people who turned out to view The Hunger Games on its opening night. Hannah had been encouraging me to read the book for several months because she knew its themes would appeal to me. She has read the trilogy three times already. To be honest, I was worried about the idea of teenagers being encouraged to brutally kill each other for sport. Despite…
Read More“The Hype is Long Over” – Microfinance CEOs Respond to Washington Post Article, “Microfinance Doesn’t End poverty, Despite All the Hype”
The following post was published today on the Center for Financial Inclusion’s blog. The Microfinance CEO Working Group consists of the CEOs of leading microfinance organizations ACCION, FINCA International, Freedom from Hunger, Grameen Foundation USA, Opportunity International, Pro Mujer, VisionFund International, and Women’s World Banking. In the post below, the CEOs respond to the recent Washington Post article by David Roodman. This may surprise you. As the CEOs of eight global microfinance…
Read MoreMeet Our Staff: A Closing Interview with AJ Renold as He Prepares to Leave Tanzania
AJ Renold, mountain trekker, pizza maker, kite surfer, manager of business development and donor relations for Opportunity International Tanzania, hails from Chicago, Ill. He joined Opportunity-US as an intern in their suburban Oak Brook headquarters in 2009. That summer, he helped plan and traveled on the first-ever Young Ambassadors Insight Trip to Tanzania. AJ quickly decided he had to find a way to work for Opportunity in Tanzania, even if a position for him did not exist… yet. I met AJ in…
Read MoreA Photo Tour of Colombia & Nicaragua Insight Trip
In January we had the chance to visit Colombia and Nicaragua on one of our first Insight Trips of 2012. We could write pages and pages about the trip and all that happened, but sometimes, pictures just say things better than words. So here are a few pictures from the trip! We have more trips coming up this year. Check out our Insight Trips page (opportunity.org/insight) for more information.
Read MorePartnering with Nicaraguan Yucca Farmers to Increase Their Profits
A pungent, unfamiliar, almost rancid but still sweet, scent hit my nostrils: freshly ground yucca meets a growling grinder. Five men man the contraption: one filling the large funnel, one jamming a large stick into the funnel to feed the yucca chunks into the grinder, one scooping the pulp out of the bottom, one shoveling the pulp into a sack, and one, well, doing a great job holding the sack. I’ve eaten yucca fries and mashed yucca, but this is not a culinary operation. Stuffed-full sacks of…
Read MoreWhat We’re Reading: Top 10 Posts on International Women’s Day
As we close out the week, I’m reflecting on some of the articles published in honor of yesterday’s International Women’s Day. Here are just a few of the provocative, interesting, inspiring and even maddening(!) ones I encourage you to read or re-read, in no particular order… 1. “What if Mark Zuckerberg Were Born a Girl in Rwanda?” Huff Post‘s Global Motherhood series – In light of IWD celebrations this week on social media–especially on Facebook–Kate Roberts of Population Services…
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