50 Weeks of Opportunity
Each week for the next 50 weeks, we will share a piece of Opportunity’s history—major or minor, sobering or inspiring, we have gotten where we are today by facing some of the world’s greatest challenges, with you by our side. Please join us in celebrating the many impactful moments that have built the foundation on which we will embark on our most audacious vision yet: ending extreme poverty.
Top 5 Posts About Tanzania
Journey to Tanzania by revisiting some of Opportunity‘s best blog posts from this spring… 1. Arusha Bank Branch Opening in Tanzania, by YAO multimedia reporter AJ Renold (5/19/10) 2. Happy Father’s Day from Opportunity (6/20/10) 3. The Important Role of Women in Tanzania, on International Women’s Day (3/8/10) 4. Why We’re Excited About the Tanzania Launch on OptINnow (5/18/10) 5. Meeting My First Opportunity Tanzania Microfinance Clients, by AJ Renold (5/17/10) Not content to just read…
Read MoreWalking with the Entrepreneurs in Jinja Market
Guest blogger and Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) member Julie Hindmarsh sends us this report from WON’s “Mothers, Daughters and Sisters” Insight Trip to Uganda. This post details the travelers’ visit to a Trust Group in Jinja on Thursday. As the first visitors to the Tusakimn (Unity) Trust Group in Jinja, Uganda, the Opportunity loan recipients were eager to meet us. They crowded under the tarp shielding us from the midday tropical sun in order to speak with the bazungu (white people). May,…
Read MoreA sincere thank you to the WON travelers and to the women of Uganda…
Thank you to the mothers, daughters and sisters of the Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) Insight Trip to Uganda. Your enthusiasm, energy and commitment was inspiring and made the trip a significant event full of education and enrichment to all involved. What a blessing to be able to meet the wonderful women of Uganda and to see how they live and with what spirit and energy they are working to improve their lives. Meredith Hefner (the 24-year-old daughter of fellow traveler Linda Hefner) articulated…
Read MoreThe World Food Prize Honors Grassroots Efforts in Hunger and Poverty Alleviation
Congratulations to the 2010 World Food Prize Laureates for their outstanding contribution to the elimination of world hunger. The World Food Prize honored David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, and Jo Luck, CEO of Heifer International, for their critical efforts in mobilizing and empowering everyday citizens to end hunger in communities around the world. Beckmann is recognized for his significant impact in shaping international development programs to reflect the needs of people living…
Read MoreThe Impact of Education: Visiting Uganda’s Kazo Summit School
Guest blogger and Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) member Julie Hindmarsh sends us this report while on WON’s “Mothers, Daughters and Sisters” Insight Trip to Uganda. On Tuesday, we devoted additional time to seeing Ugandan private schools funded by loans from Opportunity‘s Banking on Education initiative. We wanted not only to observe but also to participate. The welcome we received at Kazo Summit School exceeded our expectations… It sounded like a gigantic swarm of bees coming closer…
Read MoreHow Education Helps Break the Cycle of Poverty For Good
Guest blogger and Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) member Julie Hindmarsh sends us this report while on WON’s “Mothers, Daughters and Sisters” Insight Trip to Uganda. School proprietor Maria Nassaka is pictured here with Opportunity’s VP of Women’s Philanthropy and WON Insight Trip traveler Ruth-Anne Renaud. Says Ruth-Anne: “I met Maria in January 2009 on my first trip to Uganda. It was so heartening to see her again and to learn that her school is doing well.” What a thrill…
Read MoreDreams for the Future: The Women of Uganda’s Peace Trust Group
Guest blogger and Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) member Julie Hindmarsh sends us this report from WON’s “Mothers, Daughters and Sisters” Insight Trip to Uganda. Opening a conversation in Uganda is easy when you ask the question: “What are the challenges you experience in your life?” The women of Opportunity Uganda’s Peace Trust Group talked over each other in their eagerness to share their responses. One woman said, “I need to rise at 4 a.m. to go to the market to get supplies…
Read More“Mothers, Daughters, Sisters” Insight Trip To Uganda: A first glimpse of this country and already a sense of family
Guest blogger and Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) member Julie Hindmarsh sends us this report while on WON’s “Mothers, Daughters and Sisters” Insight Trip to Uganda. The headline in Saturday’s Daily Monitor newspaper in Uganda seems custom-made for the Women’s Opportunity Network (WON): “My daughters will share my wealth, says President.” Uganda‘s President Museveni has announced that, contrary to African customs, he will leave a portion of his inheritance to his daughters in…
Read MoreHappy Father’s Day from Opportunity
Today we honor the love, support and strength of fathers everywhere… Fathers like Donasian Mbiry. Opportunity client Donasian owns a small shop in the Ilala Bugoni neighborhood of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He built his store himself with a wood frame and corrugated steel roof, selling household goods like rice, flour and cooking oil. He is using his loan as working capital to build the selection of products he sells and position himself to better compete with other stores in the neighborhood. With…
Read MoreOak Park and River Forest Supporters Gather to Celebrate a Rich Giving History
Last week, a group of Opportunity supporters met together in Maryellen and Jim Betke’s home in Oak Park, Ill. Their common denominator? They are all champions of Opportunity’s microfinance work who live in Oak Park and River Forest, Ill. Over the past 12 months, 80 Opportunity supporters in the Oak Park-River Forest area have raised almost $200,000 together. Motivated by their compassion for those living in poverty, the same group has raised a total of a half million dollars in the past four…
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