Melbourne Herald Sun, 31st December, 2009
The lake in the mouth of the volcano Gunung Batur in the Balinese highlands is one of the most beautiful places on earth. At the hot spring that feeds the the waters from the active lava far below, I met an attractive Balinese girl who spoke a little English and became my tour guide for an hour or two.
I learned she was in her mid-twenties with four children. Her husband painted traditional pictures that she tried to sell me but I wasn’t in the market - the quality was not very good anyway.
She proudly told me two of the children were at school already and doing well. Perhaps they could escape the wheel of poverty that trapped her.
“I no read or write so I cannot get job in hotel, even in shop,” she explained, so they lived a hand to mouth struggle, in Paradise.
Her great ambition was if she and her husband found work, maybe between them they could earn a million rupiah a month. Then their troubles would be over.
I did a mental calculation. $25 a week. The difference between poverty and happiness for a family of six.
The few dollars’ tip I paid her would feed them for a few days but it was not the answer to third world poverty. But without the 300,000 Australian tourists a year the islanders would be in far worse shape - as revealed when the Bali bombings devastated the industry in 2002.
At this time of year, when we open our minds to peace on earth and the welfare of mankind, let’s think about what we, the cushioned, turkey-fed rich folk, can do for the developing world. And the most effective answer is business.
Tourism has become the major earner for the pretty places on earth - it’s a kind of beauty contest isn’t it? But even more important would be the opportunity for them to trade fairly with the wealthy world.
One organisation that has emerged is Fairtrade. It promotes the importation of produce like
coffee, cocoa, tea, cotton and handicrafts from poor countries like Angola, Nicaragua, East Timor and Thailand. It ensures that the producers get a fair price for the produce and helps them towards stability and self-sufficiency.
The movement is starting to develop traction. This year both BP and McDonalds have been promoting their “green” coffee. Last year Fairtrade claimed worldwide sales of $4.5 billion, and say they are benefitting 7.5 million producers and their families. Of course on a planet of six billion people that’s barely scratching the surface.
Wherever you travel in the developing world you will see the small businesses run by women. Mothers, grandmothers, girls, squatting behind a pile of vegetables or a stack of baskets or at a stand serving curry and rice off banana leaves.
Women like these make up the more than eight million borrowers of the Grameen Bank throughout Asia, Africa and South America. Professor Muhammad Yunus discovered, over 30 years ago, that poor people have enterprise, skills and intelligence - what they don’t have is the tiny amount of capital that allows them to establish a business without falling into grinding debt.
So he established what became the Grameen Bank to lend the small money and teach some basic rules of business and money management. Today the bank operates in 43 countries and has over eight billion dollars out on loan. Their repayment rate is over 98 per cent.
There are answers to world poverty and they start with us, the fortunate ones, helping them to help themselves. It needn’t take much, just examining the labels on produce before we buy. But if I were you I’d tack that on my list of new year’s resolutions.
Ray@ebeatty.com
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