World Class Update: Skidmore College Reunion 2011
It’s a pleasure to see all of you on this occasion which marks the 5th anniversary of World Class, an idea born at our last reunion which has become an organization whose mission of providing access to credit,clean water, and sanitation has benefitted so many poor women and children in greater Amasaman, Ghana. Although many people, who have no connection to our class or to Skidmore, support WorldClass, it is the ’71 contingent which is at our core. Barbara and I are grateful to you, our founding members.
In 2006, Skidmore ’71 celebrated its 35th reunion. The plans for reunion were good, but conventional. It struck me that we, whose college experience coincided with the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights struggle, and the Women’s Liberation movement,might do something more. My good friend, Barbara Tsairis and I discussed the idea and thought it might be possible to create a part of the program which would reengage us with our youthful idealism and activism and even serve as a catalyst for taking action to make a difference. Inspired by the work of New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, we created a special program devoted to the plight of poor women and children in sub-Saharan Africa. Our guest speaker was Susan Kraeger, then executive director of a small microlending organization, WomensTrust, working in Pokuase, Ghana.
In our remarks on that rainy Saturday in 2006 Barbara and I made reference to our college experience as being as much influenced by world events as classroom learning. We talked about a class that was much larger than those who paid tuition. We spoke about our other classmates: those tragically killed at Kent State and Jackson State and the 58,000 soldiers who died in Vietnam. This touched a responsive chord. The idea that we could build something positive on the shoulders of these fallen classmates whose promise was lost too soon, for the benefit of women and children whose own promise was imperiled by the circumstance of extreme poverty, found resonance. Challenged by Susan Kraeger to begin our own effort to assist poor women in Ghana and impelled by the enthusiasm and support of our classmates, we went on to found World Class, which takes its inspiration from our fallen classmates and the struggle of very poor women. World Class is dedicated to “redeeming their promise,” the motto of the organization.
We chose to operate in Ghana for a few good reasons: WomensTrust with whom we initially affiliated operates there, English is the official language, and Ghana is reasonably stable and peaceful. We chose to devote our efforts to sub-Saharan Africa because it is not only the poorest area of the world, but also because the composition of the world’s poor is forecast to be increasingly African. Since 1981, there has been a decrease in extreme poverty in East and South Asia, but an increase in sub-Saharan Africa. While there are still many desperately poor people in Asia, the countries they live in have experienced significant economic progress such as to reduce their proportion of the population of the world’s very poor. These societies are in a position to use the wealth they are generating to assist the poor, if they so choose. The trend line in Asia is such that the world’s poorest people are increasingly less likely to be Asian. This is not the case in sub-Saharan Africa. Most countries there have not seen significant economic progress and many have actually seen regression. Thus the United Nations forecasts that the proportion of the world’s very poor people will be increasingly African. World Class is confronting poverty where it is most dire, sub-Saharan Africa.
What we do:
Microfinance provides very small non-collateralized loans to extremely poor people, mainly women, engaged in microenterprises. World Class provides non-collateralized loans ranging from $55 to $200 dollars to the active poor women of greater Amasaman, most of whom earn less than $2 a day. Loans are given for periods of 4 months and interest is charged. World Class relies on a group model and social pressure for repayment. Most of the women we have assisted are “hawkers, ”vendors of a single commodity, usually a foodstuff. They sell yams or corn or pineapples or bread from baskets on their heads or off the ground or from a table along the roadside. Some sell prepared foods. Others offer services such as dressmaking or hairdressing. A few have what we might recognize as small businesses selling beverages or staples or hardware in a small kiosk or shed. They use their loans to buy in quantity at lower prices,to diversify their offerings, or simply to improve cash flow which may enable them to pay school fees for their children. The vast majority of our clients sign with a thumbprint. They are not literate or numerate. Their understanding of concepts such as interest is very poor. They recognize their limitations and fear being cheated. World Class attempts to address these concerns by offering business education seminars on topics such as “Understanding Loans” and “Business Planning.”
On our first visit to Amasaman, we asked about other needs of the community. The first need expressed was access to clean water. Subsequent visits to other villages in “greater Amasaman” found the same need. In fact, access to clean water and the related need of access to sanitation are enormous in Ghana as in most of the developing world. Although the need for other things in greater Amasaman is also enormous (education, healthcare), World Class feels that the need for clean water and sanitation is absolutely the most compelling need. It benefits everyone in the community in terms of saved labor, improved health, and greater dignity. Water (and adequate sanitation which assures that the water is clean) is life.
In the light of the recent piece on 60 Minutes relating to the work of Greg Mortensen and his book Three Cups of Tea, I’d like to make a few comments. I don’t claim to know the truth about Mortensen, but what I have read-“3 Cups of Deceit” by Jonathan Krakauer seems to show a good impulse run completely amuck. His detractors may be exaggerating, but the evidence they present is quite damning. It is my experience that this type of work is subject to misrepresentation and hyperbole. It also seems to attract its share of megalomaniacs and self-promoters. World Class is, as it should be, about the work, not the people doing the work, first and foremost. There is no need to invent episodes of derring-do. Our work in Ghana is not dangerous. We have never had a serious misadventure. We have not been held prisoner by the Taliban. The most dangerous thing we do is cross the highway or ride in cars. We stay in a small hotel which is not wonderful, but it is adequate and a higher standard by far from the homes of our clients. The fare is repetitive, but we eat well enough. Apart from the heat, we are reasonably comfortable. That said, this is not easy work. There is no “how to” manual. Ghana as a place and culture is complex,frustrating, and sometimes infuriating. Educational and skill levels are not high. People in Ghana, like people here, have their share of flaws. Not everyone is cooperative, reasonable, or pleasant. Human nature is neither worse nor much improved by poverty. It’s just human nature. As an organization we have made mistakes, trusted some individuals who did not merit it, made assumptions which did not prove to be valid. Delinquency on loan repayment is a persistent problem. Communities which make promises to maintain facilities built for them, need to be prodded to do so. Any organization involved in this kind of work which claims perfection is not telling the truth. Anyone claiming to have a quick fix or formula is delusional. World Class can proudly but modestly state that it has made some progress; we have not, however, prevented terrorism or found a panacea for economic development. What we have done is provided over 650 loans to over 350 women. We have drilled 3 wells in two communities and also constructed a composting latrine facility for one of them whose residents previously had recourse only to the bush. World Class makes no claims beyond these which have improved the lives of several hundred people.
One of the comments I hear when showing photos of our clients, is that the people in the photos don’t look poor enough! I’d like to take a moment to address this observation. The average person in the affluent world has a somewhat skewed picture of global poverty. We often equate it with abjectness,helplessness, fear and violence. This is because what we see of it comes from news media which present it most often in a dramatic context. Rarely do they show global poverty as the prosaic,day-in and day-out phenomenon that it is. Poor people do look abject after an earthquake, tsunami, flood, or drought. They are fearful and helpless when confronted by the violence of war,civil unrest, and terrorism. In the same circumstances, affluent people might well look the same. But absent these circumstances, as in greater Amasaman today, very poor people live in a social context. They work, go to school, church or themosque, tell jokes and play, argue about politics, have a passion for soccer,enjoy music, celebrate holidays and occasions, and take special pride in their appearance. This is a society where the norm is great poverty, but it is a society. Poverty is deceptive. We need to remember that extreme poverty is no less real for failing to meet our preconceptions of it. The analogy I think of is the reaction we have when learning of someone’s sudden death from a heart attack. We often say in disbelief, “I just saw him yesterday and he looked fine.” He may have, but he was obviously not healthy. For that matter, I have never been anywhere where funerals were so frequent and occupied so central a part in daily life as in Ghana. That is not merely a cultural phenomenon, but reflects the much higher death rate.
Poor people like those in greater Amasaman confront a kind of slow- moving tide as devastating and lethal as any tsunami. Their existenceis precarious and very difficult. What is truly remarkable, however, is that even among very poor people, there is so much generosity. When people in Ghana’s far north suffered from devastating floods a couple years ago, the poor community of Amasaman managed to fill a pick-up truck with usable clothing andother necessities for their afflicted countrymen. When someone complained to me of the need for a well in their community and I replied that we had a commitment to complete a latrine project for Doblo Gonno first, she withdrew her complaint, acknowledging that Doblo Gonno had the greater need. When Barbara and I first visited Doblo Gonno to discuss its water needs, she offered a bottle of water to one very small boy. He took a sip and then passed it carefully to his friends. Only four years-old, he was a rich man that day because he had something to share.
Affecting as it does 40% of the world’s population, global poverty is an enormous problem which requires engagement on many levels. The most promising solutions are evolving and dynamic rather than definitive and static. In confronting global poverty at whatever level, we should not confuse the problem with the people who endure it. The poor are not problems, but people. Poor people like the small boy in Doblo Gonno, are full of promise. World Class is dedicated to helping them redeem it. World Class is one tiny effort toward a solution. I hope hearing about it will encourage you to think seriously about global poverty and to become engaged. As the aging boomers of the Class of ’71 and their many friends outside the class have proved, it is never too late to act on the basis of long-held ideals; less important than expertise is passion and commitment. As Wangari Maathai, winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace from Kenya says in her memoirs, “Persistence is the essence of courage.” As an equally wise woman once said “To accomplish anything, you need to start.” Barbara and I are proud to stand here today with our founding members from '71 to say that we are, on this 5th anniversary, persisting and off to a good start.
It’s a pleasure to see all of you on this occasion which marks the 5th anniversary of World Class, an idea born at our last reunion which has become an organization whose mission of providing access to credit,clean water, and sanitation has benefitted so many poor women and children in greater Amasaman, Ghana. Although many people, who have no connection to our class or to Skidmore, support WorldClass, it is the ’71 contingent which is at our core. Barbara and I are grateful to you, our founding members.
In 2006, Skidmore ’71 celebrated its 35th reunion. The plans for reunion were good, but conventional. It struck me that we, whose college experience coincided with the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights struggle, and the Women’s Liberation movement,might do something more. My good friend, Barbara Tsairis and I discussed the idea and thought it might be possible to create a part of the program which would reengage us with our youthful idealism and activism and even serve as a catalyst for taking action to make a difference. Inspired by the work of New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, we created a special program devoted to the plight of poor women and children in sub-Saharan Africa. Our guest speaker was Susan Kraeger, then executive director of a small microlending organization, WomensTrust, working in Pokuase, Ghana.
In our remarks on that rainy Saturday in 2006 Barbara and I made reference to our college experience as being as much influenced by world events as classroom learning. We talked about a class that was much larger than those who paid tuition. We spoke about our other classmates: those tragically killed at Kent State and Jackson State and the 58,000 soldiers who died in Vietnam. This touched a responsive chord. The idea that we could build something positive on the shoulders of these fallen classmates whose promise was lost too soon, for the benefit of women and children whose own promise was imperiled by the circumstance of extreme poverty, found resonance. Challenged by Susan Kraeger to begin our own effort to assist poor women in Ghana and impelled by the enthusiasm and support of our classmates, we went on to found World Class, which takes its inspiration from our fallen classmates and the struggle of very poor women. World Class is dedicated to “redeeming their promise,” the motto of the organization.
We chose to operate in Ghana for a few good reasons: WomensTrust with whom we initially affiliated operates there, English is the official language, and Ghana is reasonably stable and peaceful. We chose to devote our efforts to sub-Saharan Africa because it is not only the poorest area of the world, but also because the composition of the world’s poor is forecast to be increasingly African. Since 1981, there has been a decrease in extreme poverty in East and South Asia, but an increase in sub-Saharan Africa. While there are still many desperately poor people in Asia, the countries they live in have experienced significant economic progress such as to reduce their proportion of the population of the world’s very poor. These societies are in a position to use the wealth they are generating to assist the poor, if they so choose. The trend line in Asia is such that the world’s poorest people are increasingly less likely to be Asian. This is not the case in sub-Saharan Africa. Most countries there have not seen significant economic progress and many have actually seen regression. Thus the United Nations forecasts that the proportion of the world’s very poor people will be increasingly African. World Class is confronting poverty where it is most dire, sub-Saharan Africa.
What we do:
Microfinance provides very small non-collateralized loans to extremely poor people, mainly women, engaged in microenterprises. World Class provides non-collateralized loans ranging from $55 to $200 dollars to the active poor women of greater Amasaman, most of whom earn less than $2 a day. Loans are given for periods of 4 months and interest is charged. World Class relies on a group model and social pressure for repayment. Most of the women we have assisted are “hawkers, ”vendors of a single commodity, usually a foodstuff. They sell yams or corn or pineapples or bread from baskets on their heads or off the ground or from a table along the roadside. Some sell prepared foods. Others offer services such as dressmaking or hairdressing. A few have what we might recognize as small businesses selling beverages or staples or hardware in a small kiosk or shed. They use their loans to buy in quantity at lower prices,to diversify their offerings, or simply to improve cash flow which may enable them to pay school fees for their children. The vast majority of our clients sign with a thumbprint. They are not literate or numerate. Their understanding of concepts such as interest is very poor. They recognize their limitations and fear being cheated. World Class attempts to address these concerns by offering business education seminars on topics such as “Understanding Loans” and “Business Planning.”
On our first visit to Amasaman, we asked about other needs of the community. The first need expressed was access to clean water. Subsequent visits to other villages in “greater Amasaman” found the same need. In fact, access to clean water and the related need of access to sanitation are enormous in Ghana as in most of the developing world. Although the need for other things in greater Amasaman is also enormous (education, healthcare), World Class feels that the need for clean water and sanitation is absolutely the most compelling need. It benefits everyone in the community in terms of saved labor, improved health, and greater dignity. Water (and adequate sanitation which assures that the water is clean) is life.
In the light of the recent piece on 60 Minutes relating to the work of Greg Mortensen and his book Three Cups of Tea, I’d like to make a few comments. I don’t claim to know the truth about Mortensen, but what I have read-“3 Cups of Deceit” by Jonathan Krakauer seems to show a good impulse run completely amuck. His detractors may be exaggerating, but the evidence they present is quite damning. It is my experience that this type of work is subject to misrepresentation and hyperbole. It also seems to attract its share of megalomaniacs and self-promoters. World Class is, as it should be, about the work, not the people doing the work, first and foremost. There is no need to invent episodes of derring-do. Our work in Ghana is not dangerous. We have never had a serious misadventure. We have not been held prisoner by the Taliban. The most dangerous thing we do is cross the highway or ride in cars. We stay in a small hotel which is not wonderful, but it is adequate and a higher standard by far from the homes of our clients. The fare is repetitive, but we eat well enough. Apart from the heat, we are reasonably comfortable. That said, this is not easy work. There is no “how to” manual. Ghana as a place and culture is complex,frustrating, and sometimes infuriating. Educational and skill levels are not high. People in Ghana, like people here, have their share of flaws. Not everyone is cooperative, reasonable, or pleasant. Human nature is neither worse nor much improved by poverty. It’s just human nature. As an organization we have made mistakes, trusted some individuals who did not merit it, made assumptions which did not prove to be valid. Delinquency on loan repayment is a persistent problem. Communities which make promises to maintain facilities built for them, need to be prodded to do so. Any organization involved in this kind of work which claims perfection is not telling the truth. Anyone claiming to have a quick fix or formula is delusional. World Class can proudly but modestly state that it has made some progress; we have not, however, prevented terrorism or found a panacea for economic development. What we have done is provided over 650 loans to over 350 women. We have drilled 3 wells in two communities and also constructed a composting latrine facility for one of them whose residents previously had recourse only to the bush. World Class makes no claims beyond these which have improved the lives of several hundred people.
One of the comments I hear when showing photos of our clients, is that the people in the photos don’t look poor enough! I’d like to take a moment to address this observation. The average person in the affluent world has a somewhat skewed picture of global poverty. We often equate it with abjectness,helplessness, fear and violence. This is because what we see of it comes from news media which present it most often in a dramatic context. Rarely do they show global poverty as the prosaic,day-in and day-out phenomenon that it is. Poor people do look abject after an earthquake, tsunami, flood, or drought. They are fearful and helpless when confronted by the violence of war,civil unrest, and terrorism. In the same circumstances, affluent people might well look the same. But absent these circumstances, as in greater Amasaman today, very poor people live in a social context. They work, go to school, church or themosque, tell jokes and play, argue about politics, have a passion for soccer,enjoy music, celebrate holidays and occasions, and take special pride in their appearance. This is a society where the norm is great poverty, but it is a society. Poverty is deceptive. We need to remember that extreme poverty is no less real for failing to meet our preconceptions of it. The analogy I think of is the reaction we have when learning of someone’s sudden death from a heart attack. We often say in disbelief, “I just saw him yesterday and he looked fine.” He may have, but he was obviously not healthy. For that matter, I have never been anywhere where funerals were so frequent and occupied so central a part in daily life as in Ghana. That is not merely a cultural phenomenon, but reflects the much higher death rate.
Poor people like those in greater Amasaman confront a kind of slow- moving tide as devastating and lethal as any tsunami. Their existenceis precarious and very difficult. What is truly remarkable, however, is that even among very poor people, there is so much generosity. When people in Ghana’s far north suffered from devastating floods a couple years ago, the poor community of Amasaman managed to fill a pick-up truck with usable clothing andother necessities for their afflicted countrymen. When someone complained to me of the need for a well in their community and I replied that we had a commitment to complete a latrine project for Doblo Gonno first, she withdrew her complaint, acknowledging that Doblo Gonno had the greater need. When Barbara and I first visited Doblo Gonno to discuss its water needs, she offered a bottle of water to one very small boy. He took a sip and then passed it carefully to his friends. Only four years-old, he was a rich man that day because he had something to share.
Affecting as it does 40% of the world’s population, global poverty is an enormous problem which requires engagement on many levels. The most promising solutions are evolving and dynamic rather than definitive and static. In confronting global poverty at whatever level, we should not confuse the problem with the people who endure it. The poor are not problems, but people. Poor people like the small boy in Doblo Gonno, are full of promise. World Class is dedicated to helping them redeem it. World Class is one tiny effort toward a solution. I hope hearing about it will encourage you to think seriously about global poverty and to become engaged. As the aging boomers of the Class of ’71 and their many friends outside the class have proved, it is never too late to act on the basis of long-held ideals; less important than expertise is passion and commitment. As Wangari Maathai, winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace from Kenya says in her memoirs, “Persistence is the essence of courage.” As an equally wise woman once said “To accomplish anything, you need to start.” Barbara and I are proud to stand here today with our founding members from '71 to say that we are, on this 5th anniversary, persisting and off to a good start.
