June 9th, 2009 | by Chris Hufstader
Leaders of a Saving for Change group in Zantiebougou-Fala, Mali, keep track of deposits at a group meeting. Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/Oxfam America
Interesting news: we just heard that our Saving for Change program has broken the 250,000 participant barrier. According to the message we just got from our VP John Ambler, Saving for Change now has “more than 250,000 members, and operates in more than 6,000 villages on three continents.” This makes Saving for Change one of Oxfam America’s largest non-humanitarian programs.
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May 14th, 2009 | by Chris Hufstader
We’ve been looking at the photos we got from Senegal-based photographer Rebecca Blackwell from a trip in March in Mali to visit several Saving for Change groups in the southern part of the country near Bougouni. I want to share a few of Rebecca’s portraits and some quotes from the women we met, just because I have been thinking about them lately. I detected a common theme in each village and group: dignity. The women described how saving and borrowing money from their group helped them manage their affairs independently. You can see pride in their faces, and hear it in their words.
Soumba Doumbia. Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/Oxfam America
Soumba Doumbia, mid 30s, three children, sells cloth and clothing to earn extra money.
“Before we established our group, we had no hope. If we had problems and needed money, we had to go to a nearby town and borrow it. We would ask people here for help, but they did not always say yes. Now we can find money for our problems from the group.”
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March 25th, 2009 | by Chris Hufstader
Madame Sidibe Traore. Photo by Chris Hufstader/Oxfam America
The best part of visiting small villages in Mali is both the coming and the going.
On arrival, you have to first visit the chief, who usually delivers a formal series of welcoming comments in Bambara, punctuated by the visitors responding at the end of each statement. Someone then usually explains why you are there, and the chief gives you permission to work in the village. Read the rest of this entry »
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