Embarking on My Journey to Rwanda & Uganda
For one week, our group of eleven will visit Opportunity International’s work in Africa. I invite you to come along on this adventure. Our motley crew rendezvoused in Rwanda on Saturday, August 6, and for the next week we’ll keep you posted on what we’re doing and feeling. We’re going on this journey, traveling through Rwanda and Uganda, to see the impact of Opportunity’s Banking on Africa initiative, a campaign to bring life-changing financial services to millions of people in rural and remote areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Originating near San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and Raleigh, our travelers certainly don’t share common back yards. What’s in common is our desire to meet some of the neighbors in our global village; those who not only survive economically but thrive spiritually on a few dollars a day. How do they do it, and what can we learn about life from them?
My book UnPoverty: Rich Lessons from the Working Poor is a smorgasbord of stories about amazing people I’ve met on previous trips like this, and what they teach me. Now on this voyage our group will journal our thoughts and present them here for everyone to read. We plan to share blog posts, videos, candid shots, and most of all our immediate and honest impressions.
We encourage you to pack your virtual bag and join us for the week. We’ll be sharing many of our posts right here, on the Opportunity Blog. Let us know what you like or challenge our reactions in the comment field below. We’ll have plenty of time bouncing around in the back of a bus to discuss your response and possibly even respond back to you. We’re all going with slightly different agendas, but with a common goal to be inspired by and learn from those we visit. Who really is “poor” and why? And how can we live in community with them? Thank you for joining us.
Bon voyage.
This post was written by Mark Lutz, Banking on Africa Insight Trip traveler & senior vice-president of Global Philanthropy at Opportunity International.