Some people look upon Dr Yunus as the King of Micro finance .It was great to see him in Glasgow and giving a lecture .It was even more encouraging to see him get some national TV coverage.As some of you may remember I have been trying to do my course on micro-finance through the http://www.chalmers.org/.So all of this stuff is fresh in my head.

Read the story here

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/features/display.var.2472452.0.Has_this_man_got_the_solution_to_the_worlds_financial_woes.php

It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that under all the study and reading a theme is coming out of this course.That theme is that whatever is done it must be with the ultimate aim of empowering people to make more choices.Emporing them to take more control over what goes on in there own lives and in the life of there community.

Giving people the power to think about what they want to achieve and not what can be done for them.Enabling people to have the capacity to make choices .Choices that can change there lives for ever.These choices are not about money alone but they are about how we relate to money .The ability to be part of what is going on instead of a spectator.
Recently a friend of mine went to Nepal where she lived in a community where there was a building programme going on.The community was to get a new community centre.All the materials were delivered and had to be carried by hand to where the building was to take place.The people of the community helped with this every day as well as doing there own jobs.

When the community centre in my community was being built if this was the plan nothing would have been built.The people Helped to drive the project forward and secure funding but there was still an expectation of everything being done for them.I think this is what must change.

So I started to work on my course this week I felt a bit nervous about trying to study again and was worried that the course may be to academic for me.But the first week has gone well and I found the course challenging and encouraging there some good papers about real examples of MF working in communities.

My biggest challenge was about the assumptions I have made about how the poor handle there money .And this week the challenge was to see that the poor can and do save.Something I would never have believed.

The structure of the course on message boards should lead to some good interaction with the other folk doing the work and seems like a good way of learning . I will get some feedback from the lectures on Monday so I will let you nkow how it goes .

PS hope you like my photo snapped on my phone while out walking with Gazza

Ok here we go.Its study time and I feel the fear and excitment all at once.For while now I have thought about how to encourage to think about running there own small buisness.Along with a few friends we came up with the idea of having some buisness mentors and some finance that would enable people to have go.

Along with Neil Young and Paul Ede I have got some people and some money(small amounts) to try and start a local project.While doing this I got the opportunity to do a distance course on Microfinance and Microenterprise Development .This course is running by the Chalmers institute.It will take me 6 months at 8 hours a week.Its over 20 years since ive had to study like that .I hope that my study will better place me tomake a vision a reality

I have some vision and heart to see it happen so Im hoping that will carry me through.I do believe it would be a great blessing to the inner city area I work in if they had more examples from among there peers of people who have took the risk and went out on there own.I believe God wants us to have the confidence to achieve everything we can in life,I also believe this is a real missing to the inner cities where people struggle to look beyond the life there parents or grandparents had.

My own father has been and continue to be my inspiration .He took the risk 25 years ago and is now handing all his hard work over to me and my son.

http://www.chalmers.org/site/cedi/tre2_new.php