Microfinance has increasingly been in the news since this past fall, when Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

My friend Avi has been working on this for almost a year, and the first big event is coming up on Thursday March 29th at 6:00 pm in Manhattan. Here’s his description of the goal for this event:

I am sure that you are going to be inspired by this story, so read on. The women in a community of 7 Maasai villages in Kenya have decided to start a small business: water purification and bottling. A few committed friends and I, with the help of the non-profit Maywood Rotary, have decided to put together a micro-loan program to get the project going. The much-needed purified water will be consumed locally by the villagers, a formidable and simple way to save lives; bottled water will be sold to tourists, hotels, and local shops. This micro business will empower the villagers to become self sufficient and enable them to fully manage the day to day operation of their children’s school.

Please join us on the 29th - it’s going to be a fun evening, but it’s also a way to ensure that people with limited resources are getting the means to accomplish their goals and become self-sufficient.

If you cannot attend the event, you are welcome to make a fully tax-deductible donation. Please make your check out to Maywood Rotary (write “Water Project” in the memo line) and mail to:
Maywood Rotary Kenya Project, 453 Golf Ave., Maywood, NJ 07607

One hundred percent of the funds raised will go toward the sponsored project. When the loan is repaid, that money will be channeled directly into new projects, thus ensuring that other communities continue to benefit from this initial investment.