Last week, we finished our travels in Southeast Asia, working with program leaders there and visiting entrepreneurs in the low-lying Delta region.
As we approached the homes of the savings/loan group members, we started to see small homes, like the one pictured here, hovering on stilts above dark waters that looked a bit threatening. I found myself wondering if there was disease or snakes or other things I didn’t want to know about in the waters. And I assumed that the people lived near the water because of a lack of space on dry land.
Then we met with the members of the savings/loan groups and saw how excited they were to show us their businesses. We saw how they used the nearby waters as a source of life to help their businesses thrive: fish ponds; duck farms; papaya farms and more.
I keep learning from our partners that I need to trust and remember that we are each given the talents we need to thrive and to do good work.
-Dale Stanton-Hoyle
Executive Director