Opportunity Clients “Living Green”

One thing that I love about Opportunity International is that we listen to our clients. And when it comes to living sustainably, it’s a good thing we are because there is a lot to learn! In honor of Blog Action Day, I’d like to share what we are learning.

As Opportunity expands its services into new communities around the developing world, we often find that we are just catching up to our clients who, for generations, have been minimizing their carbon footprint by living as good stewards of their environment.

Take our operations in Malawi for example.

With the branch expansion of Opportunity Bank in Malawi (OIBM) in Zomba, we are providing financial resources to sustainable fish farmers so that they can grow and expand their operations.

There are about 700 fish farmers in the bush land settlements to the west of Zomba. Farmers dig small, rain-fed ponds of about 10×15 meters where the soil is suitable for retaining water. The farmers use the ponds to raise common fish species – which in Malawi means chambo (a species of tilapia) and mlamba (catfish).

The farmers harvest the fish as a staple for their family’s diet, which usually lacks meat, and sell or trade the remainder for maize, fertilizer and income. Farmers enrich the ponds with manure from their goats and chickens. When they empty the pond, a rich layer of silt can be dug from the base. The silt is used as fertilizer to grow maize, which in turn ensures that the goats and chickens produce manure for the pond.

This is simple and it is sustainable.

Thousands of miles away, our location in the Philippines, TSKI, has a Community Based Entrepreneurship Development Program that engages whole communities in making products from locally-based materials (examples include harvesting seaweed for pharmaceutical and beauty products; weaving from local fibers; etc).

By using locally-based materials to create such a wide variety of products, these communities decrease the need to import the same products over long, fuel-burning distances. Simultaneously, they are creating wealth that stays in the community and helps end the cycle of poverty.

Thank you Opportunity clients, for living in a way that respects our world, and teaching us to do the same!