On The Ground - Hope: Putting A Face With The Name

On the Ground - Hope: Putting a Face with the Name

It’s not who we are that holds us back, it’s who we think we are not. —Michael Nolan

BEFORE MY ADVENTURE to India, hope seemed a pretty generic, overused word. I hoped to land a new client. I hoped the kids would enjoy their vacation. I hoped Steve would rub my feet (yes, hope springs eternal).

But on the ground in India, hope took on an altogether new meaning for me.

After meeting with thirty-six women who, because of microloans, had been able to build home businesses, hope was no longer a vague noun or an overused verb; it became a face. Each of these women was in her fourth level of lending, meaning that she had been loaned—and paid back in full—three other advances. Having borrowed amounts from approximately $100 in cycle one to over $2,000 in cycle four, these women, once starving, now provided for their families and community.

With the confidence of a Fortune 500 president, each woman stood, one by one, and shared with us how they had started their businesses and their plans for expansion. Just a few years earlier, these Dalit women (once called the untouchables, the lowest level in India’s caste system) would not even make eye contact with other humans because they believed themselves unworthy. But on this day they exuded both confidence and determination as they presented their accomplishments with their new American girlfriends. One had opened a fruit stand; another, a flower shop. One woman who had learned to sew had a thriving business as a seamstress. Another gal opened a fish hatchery; another was a basket weaver. And one was a merchant with a newly expanded assortment for her retail enterprise. These women, representing hundreds more just like them, were inventive, impressive, and inspiring.

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1)

The small audience of American women sat in total silence during the presentations. After each one, we cheered with enthusiastic pride for what these women, of all ages, had accomplished. And no doubt, more than a few of us wept inwardly for our own personal reunion with hope.