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.
One-Year Anniversary of Grand Opening of Opportunity DRC
One year ago, Opportunity International celebrated the grand opening of its operations in the DR Congo with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the heart of Kinshasa’s Masina market. Three weeks ago, on Tuesday, May 22, 42 local and international staff, dignitaries and supporters gathered to celebrate the one-year anniversary of this milestone at a special luncheon in Kinshasa that received national television coverage. Among the attendees were the Governor of the DRC’s Central Bank; the U.S. Ambassador…
Read MoreA Story of Service: A Trust Group Helps Keep their Community Clean
Seventeen women make up Opportunity India’s Trust Group called Samudram. These women have received loans and training to grow their businesses and increase their income, bringing hope to their families for a brighter future. They celebrated their success by “paying it forward”–making a difference in their communities. Trash pickup is not a high priority in the slum area of Chennai, where they live and work, so garbage piles up and overflows from the municipal cans. The team of entrepreneurs…
Read MoreFathering Opportunity: Meeting Congolese Client and Father Figure Papa Roger
The following post is by Harry Turner, CEO of Opportunity’s Global Microfinance Operations, recounting his recent trip to DR Congo where he met Papa Roger, an extraordinary father and a father figure to a group of 17 orphaned young men. On our trip we visited client Papa Roger. There couldn’t be a more holistic view of a person committed to transformation than Papa Roger. Papa Roger’s business is to cook sweet potato chips (you can see the bags of them in the photo at left). He wakes at four…
Read MorePhoto of the Day: One Laptop, One Big Challenge for Technology Education in Africa
In the photo at right, a junior high level 2 instructor at Ahobrese Academy in Dansoman, Ghana, teaches a technology course with the one laptop in the entire school. They have the passion, drive, knowledge, commitment and the classroom. Now they just need the computers. This is my challenge: I’m looking for the best way to get computers into the hands of kids like these in a sustainable, scalable way across sub-Saharan Africa, so that they can receive marketable skills training and accelerate their…
Read MoreHave You Gotten Our Note? Volunteer Thank-You Day in the Office
Two weeks ago, two groups of Opportunity volunteers came by our office in Oak Brook–an afternoon and an evening shift–to help staff write thank-you notes to you. If you made a tribute patch this Mother’s Day on our Global Opportunity Quilt, you’ve probably already gotten a hand-written note from one of our wonderful volunteers. We’re all so grateful to you for supporting our work and helping to empower mothers all over the world! Check out a few of the photo highlights from our thank-you…
Read MoreUp Close and Personal: A Firsthand Look at an Insight Trip to Colombia
In late April, Dan Bodwell, Opportunity’s regional director in Los Angeles, took his first Opportunity International Insight Trip, traveling to Colombia with Opportunity Canada staff and supporters. He sent back glowing and detailed reports from his trip. Below, travel along with him with these glimpses into his week. Day 1 I’ve arrived safely in Cartagena. We have a full itinerary for the next four days. We’ll meet directly with at least six individual clients, three Trust Groups, and two…
Read MoreWhat We’re Reading: The Launch of Roger Thurow’s New Book The Last Hunger Season
If you’re looking for a summer read that inspires, Roger Thurow just released his new book, The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change. The Last Hunger Season gives you a look into the lives of four smallholder farming families in western Kenya as they work to move from subsistence farming to sustainable farming, from farming-to-live to farming to make a living, all through agricultural development on one acre of land each. It also tells the story of strong,…
Read MoreRemembering All Heroes Who Fight for a Cause Greater Than Themselves
Memorial Day, although a domestic U.S. holiday, calls to my mind a universal theme: the honor and reverence due to the men and women who have fought and died for a cause bigger than themselves. Though our focus at Opportunity International is most often on international issues such as chronic poverty; empowerment of women and the disenfranchised; and a sustainable solution to economic instability; this holiday, in honoring the lives of fallen Americans, cuts to the heart of something we should never…
Read MoreObama Announces Food Security Partnership at Chicago Council on Global Affairs Symposium Before the G8
Last Friday, agricultural finance took center stage at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs symposium, “Advancing Food and Nutrition Security,” in Washington, D.C. on the eve of the G8 Summit. President Obama announced a partnership among the G8 member nations, African countries and the private sector called the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which has a goal of lifting 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years. More than 45 private companies – including Monsanto,…
Read MoreTheologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Freedom for One Another
In my work as a writer for Opportunity International, I think a lot about what inspires people, and I spend at least an equal amount of time considering what inspires me. To be truthful, when I look at the world around me, I often feel as though we (as a collective) have no heroes. Or, rather, perhaps we recognize no heroes. We have information about heroes, and we watch movies about heroes, but this doesn’t often seem like it matters. What does it matter if we know about something wonderful, but…
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