Heartening news this morning: The Nobel Peace Prize has gone to Muhammed Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.
You read about this remarkable bank in economist Carol Stone's Ways of the World, ("The Price of Dream," posted June 27th) and about our own Episcopal Relief and Development's use of microcredit to help local economies raise themselves from poverty. The definitive and very readable -- for those of us who aren't economists-- book about this, David Boorstein's The Price of a Dream, is available in the bookstore at http://www.geraniumfarm.org/.
Carol wrote as soon as she heard, excited as all getout. She's at work right now, but will post on this encouraging news tonight on WOW. Read it in the wee hours -- or maybe tomorrow morning!
On the Geranium Farm, we care about the spirit. Everyone's spirit. We even care about the spirits of plants -- and certainly about the spirits of animals! What is so fine about Grameen is that it honors the spirits of those who participate in it: poor women who know they can sell what they make if they have the materials, farmers who know they can grow things if they can get the seeds, families who know that one pregnant pig will get them thirty pigs very soon. If they can just get that first pig.
Congratulations to Bangladesh's Dr. Muhammed Yunus, our newest Noble laureate, and a most worthy one. Drop in on Ways of the World tomorrow to learn more about why he is so important to all of us who pray for peace and a better world.
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