Learning from the Poor: Muhammad Yunus
Currently, I am seeking work. This period of time between my life in the Congregation of Holy Cross and a new labor has also afforded the opportunity to read. I have long been interested in micro-lending and the work of Muhammad Yunus. I had time this week to read two of his books: Banker to the Poor (BTTP), written in 2003, and 2007's Creating a World Without Poverty (CWWP). Reading chronologically, I began with Banker to the Poor . Briefly, Muhammad Yunus, a Muslim from near Chittagong in what was then the British Raj, earned a Ph.D. at Vanderbuilt University, taught in the U.S. early in his career, and returned to teach at Chittagong University after Bangladesh achieved independence. He rose to be chair of the economics department. Amid an enormous famine in 1974, Yunus "kept trying to bring the academic world and the village together" (BTTP, 37). Eventually, he discover micro-lending as a means to improve the plight of actual poor people he met. Muhammad Yun...