It takes a village

Our trip to the villages was an experience that I'll never forget. The people there have very little, but they open their homes and are very hospitable. At the Center Meetings, which are held in buildings that are very hot, several of the women would fan us as they realized we were getting extremely hot. The Center Meetings bring together the women borrowers to make their installment payments on a weekly basis. We heard numerous storiess of how the loans helped them improve their lives. We talked with old borrowers, new borrowers, scholarship and high education loan recipients. All seemed to echo the same sentiment that Grameen Bank has helped them tremendously.
  Check out the article in Newsweek. The Poor Always Pay.

The lady next to me is named Joomla.She has been a mentor to new borrowers of Grameen Bank. You could tell by the way people acted that she was a very respected by the other villagers.