This summer I’m working for Grameen America, a non-profit microfinance institution based in the United States. Grameen America provides small loans to low-income entrepreneurs (mostly women) to operate small businesses with the goal of helping them lift themselves out of poverty. Grameen provides loans to the people banks won’t lend to, either because they don’t have collateral or because they are “uncreditworthy” from the bank’s perspective. Yet, our 3,500 borrowers have proven their creditworthiness, with an average repayment rate of over 97% since our founding (significantly higher than traditional bank repayment rates).
Our model is based on that of our sister organization, the Grameen Bank. The Grameen Bank was started in the 1970s by Professor Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh. After seeing villagers perpetually indebted to local moneylenders, Yunus lent them $27 from his own pocket. Thirty years later, with an astonishing repayment rate of 97%, Yunus has demonstrated that the poor, when given the opportunity, do pay back. For his efforts to combat global poverty, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
While New York City is not Bangladesh, it is still ripe for microfinance. As in Bangladesh, there are poor people with no job opportunities and no access to credit, especially given the economic climate. The local moneylenders of Bangladesh have been replaced by check cashers, payday lenders, and pawn shops. So far, with 3,500 borrowers and ever-increasing demand, we’re just getting started.
In my capacity, I am helping Grameen America in its statewide expansion. While many developing countries implementing microfinance programs have very vague or informal banking regulations, each state/territory has its own idiosyncratic regulations to comply with. So, how we can start lending in D.C., for example, if D.C. requires special lending licenses and surety bonds? Or, how do we deal with usury laws? Each state has usury laws designed to prevent lenders from charging excessive interest rates and preying on borrowers. However, our organization needs to charge 15% to achieve sustainability and cover its costs. This is because it’s a lot more expensive to administer one-hundred $1,500 loans than a single $150,000 loan, which is generally why banks don’t provide these kinds of loans. So, I have to address these issues, looking at the nuances of state banking law.
Not entirely legally-related, I found that my video-editing skills from my past life have served me well. If you’re interested in learning more about our borrowers, see our YouTube page (http://bit.ly/9TwIFA) where I’ve posted some borrower interviews. My favorite project thus far has been creating a video birthday card for Professor Yunus, who recently turned 70.
Last week, Grameen America held a borrowers market in TriBeCa where dozens of our borrowers showed up to sell their wares to the community. Borrowers sold everything from empanadas to jewelry. It’s really impressive what some of these borrowers have done with $1,500 loans. One borrower, Nicole Gates, started Soul Sister Quisine, a catering business specializing in soul food and really tasty red velvet cupcakes. She used her $1,500 Grameen loan to purchase equipment for a cart so she could sell her food at street fairs. Currently, she’s doing extremely well, having fully repaid her last loan, and is now using a second loan to expand her business.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Kia Ora, Week 5: Multilingual Connections
(Split Apple Rock, Abel Tasman Nat'l Park)
I've been thinking a lot about languages lately. When I was first deciding where I wanted to apply to work this summer, one of my main considerations was that I be in an English-speaking country because I did not want not knowing the local language to limit my ability to assist in legal work. As it turns out, though English is the most widely spoken language here, I have had a most direct exposure to the widest array of languages. It's not just that I pass people on the street speaking something I don't understand as I walk by. I deal with clients, face-to-face every day who do not speak English at all, let alone conversationally.
Most of my work is with refugee clients. They have been fleeing violence, risking their lives to get to refugee camps across borders, starving, homeless and abused. Still, some have managed to learn English through it all. Most of the time though, even if the client can speak rough English, having an interpreter is better because they can be clearer to give full effect to how they are feeling and what the details of their legal issues are in their own language. The beauty of it all is that at the Centre where I work, we have the luxury of calling an interpreting line. We dial the number, request the language our client speaks fluently, set a conference phone on the center of the table, and have any language we want translated on the spot during our interviews.
Even when the client speaks in her own language of which I cannot understand a word, I am sitting there with her and can see by her facial expressions and voice inflection and tears what she is feeling even before the interpreter translates. The languages are beautiful to listen to almost like a song. It's not an awkward, rigid conversation just because there is a phone to relate what is actually happening in the conversation. Instead, we maintain direct eye contact with each other, gesture and explain as if we are understanding the words coming out of each other's mouths. The experience is beautiful.
All of this exposure to foreign language has made me realize just how important it is that I keep improving my own language skills in Spanish. In the States and especially in New York, so many people speak Spanish as their native tongue which means that so many clients will be most comfortable speaking Spanish rather than English, or will not be able to fully express the extent of their issue and feelings about it without being able to communicate in Spanish. It is so important to me that I am able to connect with clients in the most direct, open way possible. I can already tell when I work with some of our Colombian clients how they connect with me in a special way because I can speak Spanish with them and understand their words describing what they have been through and how they want us to help.
(Te Waikoropupu Springs, Takaka, NZ)
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Prison visits and court hearings
It's been one month now since I started volunteering with the Hotline for Migrant Workers (hotline.org.il) and Monday I visited the detention center for migrant workers and refugees for the third time. So far, I've spoken to African refugees from Sudan, Eritrea, Chad, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Nigeria and more. After all those years of convincing myself that Spanish was the most practical language to study in school, I'm seriously regretting not having taken some French. But with some cobbled-together version of simplified English and French, I've been conducting interviews about the circumstances of their arrests and the conditions in the prison. Monday, I actually did three interviews in Hebrew which (in my opinion) was super impressive considering that there's no way I could have done that a month ago. We're hoping to get some people out on technicalities (such as being held for more than 3 days before seeing a judge) and to gather information on the arrest and prison conditions in general in order to petition for their improvement.
There have been heartbreaking stories, like 21-year-old boy from Guinea-Bissau who has been in jail since before his 18th birthday and just wants to go back to his mother's family and finish high school, and uncomfortable moments, like, what do you say to an African refugee who tells you that you've touched his feelings and can he just get your phone number to stay in touch? (The male volunteers who come with us never have problems like this!) The worst feeling for me is when the only reason that someone is still in prison is because of bureaucratic red tape – they want to go back home and the Israeli government wants them to as well – but they haven't been released yet and no one at the Hotline or at the prison can explain why.
The other volunteers and I are currently trying to find a way to bring French language books to the prison, which is one of the most commonly requested items. Apparently there is a library somewhere, and once a week a guard is supposed to bring a cart full of books that the prisoners can borrow from, but it has only happened once in anyone's memory. This is especially frustrating considering that volunteers from the Hotline in the past have brought books only to be stashed away in a library that no one has access to.
Leaving the prison each day that I go (and now we are going 2-3 times a week) leaves me feeling drained but still ready to go back again. Yesterday, for a total change of pace, I went to another court hearing, this time, at the District Court in Jerusalem. I always find it kind of hilarious when security guards say, “Neshek???” asking if I'm carrying a weapon. Me?? But once we were in it was very interesting. The case was about whether the Ministry of the Interior would release the protocols for deciding whether a refugee gets asylum. Thus far, they've only approved or denied the case and we were hoping that they would tell us why and what factors they weigh. Unfortunately we only partially won, but the lawyer from the Hotline is going to try again on a slightly different issue now that we have more information.
This week an article came out in the NY Times about Israel and migrant labor that is EXACTLY what the Hotline deals with. In fact, the organization quoted, Kav LaOved, shares a building with us and collaborates with us on many of our campaigns. At least five people sent it to me asking if I'd seen it - but if you haven't read it yet, check it out here.
There have been heartbreaking stories, like 21-year-old boy from Guinea-Bissau who has been in jail since before his 18th birthday and just wants to go back to his mother's family and finish high school, and uncomfortable moments, like, what do you say to an African refugee who tells you that you've touched his feelings and can he just get your phone number to stay in touch? (The male volunteers who come with us never have problems like this!) The worst feeling for me is when the only reason that someone is still in prison is because of bureaucratic red tape – they want to go back home and the Israeli government wants them to as well – but they haven't been released yet and no one at the Hotline or at the prison can explain why.
The other volunteers and I are currently trying to find a way to bring French language books to the prison, which is one of the most commonly requested items. Apparently there is a library somewhere, and once a week a guard is supposed to bring a cart full of books that the prisoners can borrow from, but it has only happened once in anyone's memory. This is especially frustrating considering that volunteers from the Hotline in the past have brought books only to be stashed away in a library that no one has access to.
Leaving the prison each day that I go (and now we are going 2-3 times a week) leaves me feeling drained but still ready to go back again. Yesterday, for a total change of pace, I went to another court hearing, this time, at the District Court in Jerusalem. I always find it kind of hilarious when security guards say, “Neshek???” asking if I'm carrying a weapon. Me?? But once we were in it was very interesting. The case was about whether the Ministry of the Interior would release the protocols for deciding whether a refugee gets asylum. Thus far, they've only approved or denied the case and we were hoping that they would tell us why and what factors they weigh. Unfortunately we only partially won, but the lawyer from the Hotline is going to try again on a slightly different issue now that we have more information.
This week an article came out in the NY Times about Israel and migrant labor that is EXACTLY what the Hotline deals with. In fact, the organization quoted, Kav LaOved, shares a building with us and collaborates with us on many of our campaigns. At least five people sent it to me asking if I'd seen it - but if you haven't read it yet, check it out here.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Matiguas, Nitlapan, and El Fundo Desarrollo de Legales (FDL)
(Disclaimer: This was written a little over a week ago but do to spotty internet service I am only finally posting it now)
“For where everyone tries to get clear title to whatever he can scrape together, then however abundant things are, a few men divide up everything among themselves, leaving everyone else in poverty. And it usually happens that each sort deserves the lot of the other, since the one is rapacious, wicked, and worthless, and the other is made up of simple, modest men who by their daily labor contribute more to the common good than to themselves.”
- Thomas Moore, Utopia
1516
Nestled in the northern region of Nicaragua’s lush landscape, resting amongst the mountains and clouds where lightning strikes ever so often, the quiet town of Matiguas seems to exists in a time of its own, unperturbed by outside influence and inhabited by a people of tranquility and satisfaction. Its roads, hand laid cobblestone-like bricks, give this town age and yet engender an air of labor.
We arrived in Matiguas at its single bus station, which is a part of the central market. In the center of town are both the offices for Nitlapan, the firm for which we are working this summer, and a partner organization, FDL (The Legal Development Fund). During our first few days we learned of the initiatives that Nitlapan is beginning, namely a new mediation program aimed at using conflict resolution for land and property issues that local farmers and villagers encounter. Nitlapan works with several areas of the law regarding rural legal development and John, Stephanie and I are to aid in the start up of this mediation program. The organization maintains three main objectives: (1) to help small business, (2) loaning land for three year periods (which upon the end of the allotted time, the loaned-to party may either buy it from Nitlapan or simply return it, however, the hope is that over the three year period that loaned-to party will accumulate enough wealth to be able to retain the property), and (3) the legalizing of land titling. Nitlapan’s main objective is to finance and help local famers develop their land so that sooner or later, sustainability can be attained.
Across the street from Nitlapan lies The Legal Development Fund. FDL is much like a bank, as it finances and loans money to farmers in need, however, it provides a much easier process with lower interests rates and simpler procedures. It’s a small office that at one time used to be booming with business, however, we are told that since the downturn in local economies the office serves between 1 and 2 clients a day, whereas before they had as many as 10 individuals seeking financial support per day. It is rather interesting to see the similarities between the loan process in Nicaragua and the United States. With FDL, potential loan-to-parties are required to have a co-signer or guarantor and often times must provide collateral (in the case that they are delinquent on payments or unable to repay their loan on the agreed to time). As well, there are familiar procedures that FDL uses such as fixing interest rates and utilizing an adverse possession like law, which I am still learning about. However, even with the help that both Nitlapan and FDL accomplish, there still remain many issues regarding land titling and the loan process.
On our first day of work, both Stephanie and I assisted one attorney on her rounds to collect debts from individuals whom FDL had loaned money to but had yet to pay on time. Quite interestingly, some of the people met our requests with severe hostility while others made excuses or claims that the person in charge was not home, everything one would expect to encounter in the States. I guess more and more I’m discovering the similarities that Nicaragua shares with the States, while also the differences. Furthermore, one of the largest issues I have encountered is that while some farmers may have title to their land, there was a period between transitioning governments wherein officials gave multiple titles to a single piece of land to multiple individuals. John, Stephanie and I spoke with one local “gringo,” as the townspeople call him, and he informed us that a few years ago he loaned money to a individual and took possession of the man’s farm title (deed) as collateral. However, when the man never repaid him, he went to have the property transferred into his name and discovered that he was now one of many that had similar titles to the same land tract. The gringo did not pursue this matter further.
While I am still understanding the procedures and protocol of acquiring land titles, and that of also making sure one’s title is legally sound, I am a reminded of a quote from Thomas Moore and his “Utopia,” where he addresses a fundamental problem with personal property; I can only hope that there lies more hope than his writings contend.
“But as long as everyone has his own property, there is no hope whatever of curing them and putting society back in good condition. In fact, while you are trying to cure one part you aggravate the malady in the other parts; curing one disease causes another to break out in its place, since you cannot give something to one person without taking it away from someone else.”
-Thomas Moore, Utopia
“For where everyone tries to get clear title to whatever he can scrape together, then however abundant things are, a few men divide up everything among themselves, leaving everyone else in poverty. And it usually happens that each sort deserves the lot of the other, since the one is rapacious, wicked, and worthless, and the other is made up of simple, modest men who by their daily labor contribute more to the common good than to themselves.”
- Thomas Moore, Utopia
1516
Nestled in the northern region of Nicaragua’s lush landscape, resting amongst the mountains and clouds where lightning strikes ever so often, the quiet town of Matiguas seems to exists in a time of its own, unperturbed by outside influence and inhabited by a people of tranquility and satisfaction. Its roads, hand laid cobblestone-like bricks, give this town age and yet engender an air of labor.
We arrived in Matiguas at its single bus station, which is a part of the central market. In the center of town are both the offices for Nitlapan, the firm for which we are working this summer, and a partner organization, FDL (The Legal Development Fund). During our first few days we learned of the initiatives that Nitlapan is beginning, namely a new mediation program aimed at using conflict resolution for land and property issues that local farmers and villagers encounter. Nitlapan works with several areas of the law regarding rural legal development and John, Stephanie and I are to aid in the start up of this mediation program. The organization maintains three main objectives: (1) to help small business, (2) loaning land for three year periods (which upon the end of the allotted time, the loaned-to party may either buy it from Nitlapan or simply return it, however, the hope is that over the three year period that loaned-to party will accumulate enough wealth to be able to retain the property), and (3) the legalizing of land titling. Nitlapan’s main objective is to finance and help local famers develop their land so that sooner or later, sustainability can be attained.
Across the street from Nitlapan lies The Legal Development Fund. FDL is much like a bank, as it finances and loans money to farmers in need, however, it provides a much easier process with lower interests rates and simpler procedures. It’s a small office that at one time used to be booming with business, however, we are told that since the downturn in local economies the office serves between 1 and 2 clients a day, whereas before they had as many as 10 individuals seeking financial support per day. It is rather interesting to see the similarities between the loan process in Nicaragua and the United States. With FDL, potential loan-to-parties are required to have a co-signer or guarantor and often times must provide collateral (in the case that they are delinquent on payments or unable to repay their loan on the agreed to time). As well, there are familiar procedures that FDL uses such as fixing interest rates and utilizing an adverse possession like law, which I am still learning about. However, even with the help that both Nitlapan and FDL accomplish, there still remain many issues regarding land titling and the loan process.
On our first day of work, both Stephanie and I assisted one attorney on her rounds to collect debts from individuals whom FDL had loaned money to but had yet to pay on time. Quite interestingly, some of the people met our requests with severe hostility while others made excuses or claims that the person in charge was not home, everything one would expect to encounter in the States. I guess more and more I’m discovering the similarities that Nicaragua shares with the States, while also the differences. Furthermore, one of the largest issues I have encountered is that while some farmers may have title to their land, there was a period between transitioning governments wherein officials gave multiple titles to a single piece of land to multiple individuals. John, Stephanie and I spoke with one local “gringo,” as the townspeople call him, and he informed us that a few years ago he loaned money to a individual and took possession of the man’s farm title (deed) as collateral. However, when the man never repaid him, he went to have the property transferred into his name and discovered that he was now one of many that had similar titles to the same land tract. The gringo did not pursue this matter further.
While I am still understanding the procedures and protocol of acquiring land titles, and that of also making sure one’s title is legally sound, I am a reminded of a quote from Thomas Moore and his “Utopia,” where he addresses a fundamental problem with personal property; I can only hope that there lies more hope than his writings contend.
“But as long as everyone has his own property, there is no hope whatever of curing them and putting society back in good condition. In fact, while you are trying to cure one part you aggravate the malady in the other parts; curing one disease causes another to break out in its place, since you cannot give something to one person without taking it away from someone else.”
-Thomas Moore, Utopia
Friday, July 2, 2010
Sex Trafficking and Early Marriage
Hello to everyone from…our very own New York City!
I started my internship at the international human rights organization, Equality Now, on June 1st and immediately saw how much this organization does, and how quickly! Equality Now focuses its work on international women’s issues like sex trafficking, FGM, early marriage, discriminatory laws, among so many other issues and topics that concern women around the world. For example, just on my second day of work, I traveled to Brooklyn to attend a press conference by the Brooklyn D.A. The Kings County District Attorney’s Office announced their new Sex Trafficking Unit that will work to combat the exploitation of victims in Brooklyn. A link to the District Attorney’s press release may be found at: http://www.brooklynda.org/press_releases/pr_jun_10.htm#01.
The creation of this new unit is a wonderful step towards combating sex trafficking here in New York City, and one of my projects for the summer is to create a preliminary curriculum for teaching the basics of sex trafficking to students in New York City secondary schools. The creation of such a curriculum depends not only on researching the basics of how to create a curriculum guide for schools, but also how it will fit into the structure of the general health education of students. Trafficking can be defined as the selling and buying of human beings for the purpose of labor and sexual servitude. According to the United Nations, an estimated 4 million people are trafficked every year, and the U.S. State Department cites an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 individuals trafficked into the United States from foreign countries. Sex trafficking is, therefore, a growing concern for the world, our nation, and such major cities like New York. This project is a wonderful first step to combating sex trafficking on the ground level, and it will educate young adults on warning signs of trafficked persons and what they can do as students and community members to also fight sex trafficking. The aim of the curriculum guide is to be about two to three hours in length that will be conducted over a week or two weeks time. It will be introductory and will describe the warning signs of trafficking, the laws both international and domestic, and will be accompanied by survivor testimony.
Another of my earlier projects was to compile a database of the legal age of marriage in countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) both contain provisions against early marriage and support marriage as the consensual agreement between two adults. Many countries, however, allow for child marriages. In addition, several countries also have a disparity in the legal age of marriage for men and women, allowing one age, almost always an older age, for men and a younger age for women. For example, with parental consent, the legal age of marriage is 12 years for women and 14 years for men in Colombia. By compiling the legal age of marriage in such countries, Equality Now may use these minimum ages as a resource, which may be used for one of their current actions or future action. Their current action against early marriage highlights several harmful instances of child marriages in Yemen. This action encourages Yemen to enact and enforce a minimum age of marriage as they highlight six instances of child marriages. For example, Equality Now cites the marriage between a 13 year old girl to a 70 year old man, as well as a successful suicide by a 12 year old after being forced into marriage by her father. Further information on this early marriage action in Yemen may be found at: http://www.equalitynow.org/english/actions/action_3402_en.html.
Finally, one of my current projects is researching reproductive rights in Mexico, as Equality Now is considering taking action against an instance of a rape of a child who was not properly informed, or given the option, of her legal right to an abortion as a survivor of rape. I look forward to posting more on this as my research continues! Happy 4th of July to everyone home and abroad!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Kia Ora, Week 4: Feeling like I really live here now
I've arrived at the point in my trip where I feel like I really live here now. I have routines: favourite cafes for lunches, set routes that I use for running, yoga classes weekday evenings, farmer's market on sundays, dinners with a friend wednesdays. It's a neat feeling, but it's definitely given me the travel bug to catch the ferry and head down to the South Island tomorrow morning.
With these routines in my own daily life also come routines at work. I'm getting to know familiar faces not only of the volunteer lawyers and law students that come into the Centre on a weekly basis but also clients with special needs and circumstances. It is interesting how certain clients are so proactive about their cases, and will come in and ask time and time again for updates on the status of their application while others are more passive and wait for us to contact them if there is something we need to move the application along. It is inspiring to see these people that really are so involved and care so intensely about their issue and the work that we are doing for them. It gives me an extra push to but just that much more effort into the work that I do.
What was not so routine was going to a hearing at the Disputes Tribunal. The Disputes Tribunal is a subdivision of the District Court (the lowest level of court) in NZ. The parties involved are not allowed to bring an attorney or somebody to represent them. It is about the two conflicting parties sitting across from each other at a table, with the "referee" sitting at the head of the table. The burden of proof is just as high as it would be in the District Court, but the rules of evidence are relaxed. Each party is allowed to bring one "support person" and may also call a witness. My client brought her father as her witness and I came along as her support person since I'm not a "lawyer" yet, only a law student I was allowed in. I know that my client really appreciated my presence as her support, even though in the hearing I would not be able to speak (the "support person" is legitimately only there as moral support and nothing more). The goal of the Disputes Tribunal is to facilitate an open discussion between the two parties to encourage a formal negotiation and agreement on their own accord under the supervision of the referee. If they do not reach an agreement, however, the referee will decide the outcome. This outcome whether reached by the parties themselves or the referee is enforceable by the District Court. It's really like a way to conserve judicial resources. If an issue can be resolved this way, why have it go to trial? What actually happened in our case was that it was adjourned because of a procedural technicality. It was really neat though that even though we did not have the actual hearing, I was there to ensure that things went smoothly for my client and spoke up for her when the other party was stepping on my client's rights. I also did end up being able to speak in informal negotiations that we had at the table by permission of the referee since the actual hearing would take place at a later date. Once we left the room, the opposing party approached me and worked out informal negotiations to reach a middle ground on the issue because he was fairly heated and furious. I was fortunately able to calm him and facilitate a conversation between him and one of our lawyers. I hope I'll still be around in Wellington by the time the hearing gets rescheduled so I can see this through with her.
The irony of it all was that I felt more like a lawyer than ever that day, but the reason I had been allowed to attend the Disputes Tribunal hearing was the fact that I was not a lawyer, but a law student. All in a day's work.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)