ingrid munro

This has been the most inspiring week of my life. There are so many aspects of this week which contribute to that inspiration but I must say the most inspiring could very well be the amazingly talented delegation of students brought together by MFI Connect. As a student in the US, I can personally say that many times it is easy to become discouraged or isolated as a student of microfinance. This week we have all found it liberating to be surrounded by other students who share the same interests.
I must admit I am writing these entries on day three because days one and two were unbelievably packed. By the time we all ventured back to the Wildebeest after the all day sessions we could barely keep our eyes open. The first day was one of the most surreal experiences ever. The opening ceremony of the conference had an incredible panel including Yunus, Queen Sofia of Spain, Princess Maxima of Netherlands, Sam Daley-Harris, the director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, King Kibaki, the president of Kenya, and the list goes on! Sitting in the large conference hall, you could literally feel the energy and passion of the over 1,200 attendees of the conference.

I ran into many Grameen Foundation staff members throughout the day. It was surreal running into the familiar faces that I saw everyday last summer, all the way across the world in Kenya. The last three days we have literally been rushing around from session to session, drinking excessive amounts of coffee, while meeting brilliant leaders in the field, having multiple conversations with Muhammad Yunus. A whirlwind to the say the least.

I delivered the letter from President Hatch to Muhammad Yunus which invited him to speak on the Wake Forest campus. So, fingers crossed for spring 2011.

We all heard about the amazing work that the Kenyan MFI Jamii Bora does throughout the conference. During the opening ceremony Ingrid Munro gave an amazing presentation explaining the creation of an MFI which has affected the lives of 1.5 million Kenyans so far. Ingrid told her story by having many of the borrowers come up and tell their story. One of the men who came up was formerly one of Kenya's most wanted criminals during the post election violence and Jamii Bora transformed him into a good, hardworking man.

We're sitting around the table at Wildebeest right now... a million thoughts are flying around- we've all come out of this incredible week full of ideas, and extremely hopeful.

We've all been fortunate enough to spend a large majority of this week with Charles (Charlo or Charlie) Kigotho- he is the grandchild of Beatrice Ngendo, one of the original 50 borrowers of Jamii Bora. Beatrice and the other 49 beggars formed a relationship with Ingrid Munro and when she decided to provide tiny loans for that group, Jamii Bora began. We have all made great friendships with Charles and we've been fortunate enough to see Nairobi through his eyes.Charles he has exposed us to Nairobi through his stories, friendships, local foods, some of the slums, and of course, the Nairobi nightlife- Pictures to come.  We have all been extremely touched by Charles's amazing hospitality and constant kindness.

Through the three days of the conference, thanks to the MFI Connect team, we had three private sessions with the "faces of the summit" Muhammad Yunus, the father of microcredit, Ingrid Munro, founder and director of Jamii Bora, and Dr. Fazel Abed, founder and chairman of BRAC, a microfinance institution reaching over 110 million people in Asia and Africa.

Today we met with Ingrid Munro- in my opinion she's one of the most inspirational people of this generation. One of the audience members asked her "How do you make the Kaputei housing costs low enough to meet the mission of the village?" She responded, "Well who said housing had to be expensive? You must think and think and think until you come up with a better system." Identify a problem and out a solution until you've accomplished your mission, "if I can do it, you can do it." She made it very clear that she has a huge belief in the potential of our generation to enact serious change.

Through Charles and other borrowers we've learned a lot about Jamii Bora's innovative new housing project, Kaputei, a village which will provide a sustainable solution to the housing crisis that millions face in the Nairobi slums with a capacity of 2000 houses. Currently the pioneering new eco-town is expected to house some 10,000 people in the future. I decided today that I am going come back this summer, earlier than expected, and live in the Kaputei town with my new friends in June.... tomorrow we will go and see the Kaputei village and spend time with all the borrowers. I feel so fortunate to be able to come back in such short time to this amazing place.