Three girls, one shirt, one pair of shoes, 100 days, 2,500 dollars, 17 women, 85 lives. What does this mean? Nothing to most of us, but when those three girls are Abby, Bethany, and Chrissy it means a lot more. These three junior high girls decided to wear one shirt and one pair of shoes for 100 days to raise over $2,500! And for what? To do something that could help 17 women and their families in the developing world improve their lives.

Three junior high Opportunity supporters go "Plaid for People" and tell their story on Opportunity Canada's blog. (From left: Bethany, Chrissy and Abby)

“After reading ‘Do Hard Things‘ by Alex and Brett Harris we were inspired to make a difference. We really wanted to do something, anything really,” Bethany said, “so after some research we decided to raise money for Opportunity International. We wanted to do something useful with our teen years. We wanted to change lives.” And so they did by starting the “Plaid For People” campaign.

The project started on November 1, 2011 and will come to an end on February 8, 2012. On their story page on OpportunityCan–Opportunity Canada’s online platform where people can share their story, raise funds and invite others to end poverty and transform lives–the girls said:

We are wearing one shirt and one pair of shoes for 100 days. The shirt represent the very small amount of clothing that people in poverty have compared to us, and the shoes represent that 50% of the world (300 million of them being children) do not have shoes, and even if they do, they only have one pair.

By doing this we’re trying to place ourselves in their shoes, literally. We will be going around door-to-door in our neighborhoods raising money, holding events at our church and anything else that we can to meet our goal.

And they did. They fundraised at their church, craft fairs, Ten Thousand Villages, and a little bit in their neighborhoods. Arlene, Abby’s mom, said, “The three girls have astonished us with their dream to change world poverty through sacrifice and wearing one shirt and one pair of shoes for one hundred days to both experience simplicity and to raise awareness for Opportunity International.” She went on to say, “As a parent of one of the girls, I was skeptical. So I chose to sit back and ‘just see’ if they could actually raise money this way. But all their hard work, determination, and commitment to excellence has inspired many in our community! I’ve had to, fortunately, rearrange my thinking about teenagers and not put a lid on their dreams and abilities.”

So why on earth would three junior high girls want to do something like this? When we asked why they responded with, “For the glory of God.”

To learn more about the Plaid for People project, leave comments or make a donation, visit plaidforpeople.opportunitycan.ca.

NOTE (Opportunity Canada): The 17 women helped was calculated by taking the $2,500 raised and dividing it by the average loan size to first time clients of $142. For every one loan, it is our estimate that 4-6 others (children, relatives, employees, etc.) are impacted. Therefore the 85 lives impacted was calculated by taking the number of potential loans, 17, multiplied by 5, average number of others impacted. Funds that are generously raised and donated to Opportunity International are used to provide financial services, including loans, savings, insurance and training, to people trapped in poverty who can benefit from them.

It was at this lunch that I first learned of Opportunity International from a group of women connected to the organization that were seated next to me. As I listened to Ambassador Verveer’s words and spoke with Opportunity International supporters and staff, I saw a direct parallel between Verveer’s message, Opportunity’s story, and my own philanthropic and professional interests. This was the moment when Opportunity’s mission and work left a lasting impression on me. We know that women represent 70% of the population living below two dollars a day, and they make up 84% of Opportunity’s client base. As was echoed in Ambassador’s Verveer’s remarks, investments in women directly impact the lives of their children and are leveraged to influence the well-being of their entire communities.

Fast-forward nearly two years and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining Opportunity International’s team as a campaign strategist. In this position, I’ll deliver engaging outreach campaigns that offer new ways for you to get involved and partner with us to provide innovative financial services to people throughout the developing world. Through these campaigns and initiatives, we’ll enable our clients to transform their lives, their families and communities. Every day at Opportunity, we provide them with microfinance tools, training and support, and every day I’m sustained by seeing our courageous clients work their way out of poverty and into lives of hope and stability. I’m so excited to be here and I can’t wait to keep you all updated about Opportunity’s outreach campaigns and their impact!

Ally Lynch joined Opportunity-US in early January as our new Outreach Campaign Specialist. Stay tuned to the Opportunity Blog for future posts and updates from Ally.

1. Day 1 in Colombia – a photo blog of clients and staff… Click here to read the post.
2. My economic and emotional take on Colombia, day 2… Click here.
3. Agricultural finance, a yucca plant, and hibiscus growers in Nicaragua… Click here.
4. Meeting the artisans of Nicaragua’s Ojalá. Why YOU should take an Insight Trip…  Click here.

Read the travelers’ reflections at adventuringincolombianicaragua.tumblr.com, and if you’d like to travel on an Insight Trip to meet our clients and local staff, and see microfinance at work firsthand in Latin America and all over the world, check out the Insight Trip calendar at opportunity.org/insight. Buen viaje!

Click here to watch new video on credit-suisse.com featuring Opportunity's technological innovations in Malawi, and the impact they have on the lives and businesses of rural clients like Ellen Patrick (pictured).

In addition, Credit Suisse has just completed a new video, “Banking on Wheels in Malawi,” about their visit to Opportunity Malawi’s microfinance operations. It features two very compelling client stories, interviews with Alefa Mtungia (south regional manager) and Antoni Musonzo (a loan officer from Blantyre), and highlights our mobile banking strategy, including cell phones, ATMs, biometric fingerprint technology, and more. It also emphasizes the importance of financial literacy, especially regarding savings. Finally, you can also find Opportunity featured on Credit Suisse’s Corporate Responsibility homepage.

We’re grateful for institutional strategic partners like Credit Suisse and for contributors like you who make it possible to bring life-changing opportunity to people living in extreme poverty around the world.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (Photo courtesy of nobelprize.org)

This problem of spiritual and moral ‘lag,’ which constitutes modern man’s chief dilemma, expresses itself in three larger problems which grow out of man’s ethical infantilism. Each of these problems, while appearing to be separate and isolated, is inextricably bound to the other. I refer to racial injustice, poverty, and war.

Dr. King outlined the need to find a solution to all three of these great human problems, and when he addressed the issue of poverty, he outlined the need for aid not only for international but for domestic poverty.

So it is obvious that if man is to redeem his spiritual and moral ‘lag,’ he must go all out to bridge the social and economic gulf between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ of the world. Poverty is one of the most urgent items on the agenda of modern life. There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.

You may read the lecture transcript at nobelprize.org or listen to an excerpt by clicking here.

Today, nearly 50 years later, the issues that Dr. King implored his audience to address are still urgent societal problems that need solutions. So today, in honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday, how will you answer his call? Will you address this BIG need for an end to injustice, violence and poverty? How and where will you embody God’s agape love — an unlimited loving kindness, charity, towards all people — which King described as “the love of God operating in the human heart?” At Opportunity International, we strive to embody this agape love in our work, bringing financial solutions to families, enabling them to work themselves out of poverty, to give their children a better future, and offering them the tools to live with dignity and find a voice–a “somebodiness,” as King termed it–in their community.

Let today, Martin Luther King Day, be the catalyst that prompts you to get involved with life-changing work that addresses economic and social injustice. Consider contributing to Opportunity’s fundraising efforts at opportunity.org/give or visit opportunity.org/be-tinvolved to take action. We hope that Dr. King’s legacy will inspire you today and all days.

Opportunity client Joyce Williamson sells produce in a market in Mwanga, Tanzania.

Entrepreneurs like produce seller Joyce Williamson (pictured) are using loans to improve their businesses and generate more income for their families.

More about Joyce

Joyce is the chairperson of the Upendo Mwanga Trust Group in Mwanga, and a mother of four who goes to two markets in nearby Moshi twice a week to purchase her produce stock and sell it locally. She knew that to meet her family’s needs she would need to expand, but without access to capital she found it impossible. Now, through a small loan, she’s been able to increase her inventory, making larger purchases at lower costs, increasing her profit margin. In the future she hopes to expand her business further by investing in a new structure and she says for the first time ever she’s confident that she can send all four of her children to school.

This year, Opportunity Malawi’s transformation officer helped Opportunity Tanzania conduct a survey of clients in its Arusha and Moshi branches to determine the needs of those we seek to serve.

What did we learn? Among the many important findings we learned that Opportunity Tanzania’s clients are among those who live below the poverty line, and are not always able to afford enough food for the family…

• 47% have 3 meals per day
• 32% have 2 meals per day
• 21% have 1 meal per day

The good news? Marginalized Tanzanian families state that Opportunity is making a difference for them. Since they started accessing microfinance loans through Opportunity Tanzania…

• 80% feel their lives have improved greatly
• 7% feel their lives have improved moderately
• 13% feel they are still struggling

Opportunity Tanzania  is committed to meeting its goals of expanding outreach to the most impoverished families in the country. It’s possible through the partnership of Opportunity International contributors like you.

This past year marked Opportunity’s 40th anniversary of bringing life-changing financial solutions to the world’s most impoverished people. As we start the new year, we’re looking forward to working side by side with you for another 40 years. Because we know that a little opportunity changes everything. Thank you for partnering with us to change the world.

There are still a few hours left to make a tax-deductible contribution, and a big impact on the lives of our clients, in 2011. To create change in our clients’ lives, visit opportunity.org/give »

Watch a special thank you video commemorating our 40th anniversary:

Insurance client James Abuh-Prah in Accra, Ghana.

• During 2011, MicroEnsure grew ten-fold in Africa to cover more than one million people in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. Within two years, the company expects to serve more than five million people in Africa, the vast majority of whom have never had access to insurance.

• In the past year, MicroEnsure has nearly doubled the number of people it covers in Ghana by partnering with a telecommunications company Tigo, which uses the product to reward loyal customers with free insurance.

• In Tanzania and Kenya, MicroEnsure is testing health insurance for coffee-growing farmers in the Kilimanjaro area. It provides in-patient and out-patient care to farmers and their families by using local private health clinics.

Insurance helps clients like James (pictured), who successfully grew his electronics business only to lose everything to devastating floods, avoid sliding back into poverty when disaster strikes. James took out a loan from Opportunity Ghana that included life insurance for him and his family, disability insurance, and property insurance to cover his business against catastrophic loss. Within days of filing his claim, James received a payout for the value of his business so that he could clean up, re-stock and get back to supporting his family. MicroEnsure helps clients like James maintain the foothold out of poverty they have worked so hard to achieve.

For more news on MicroEnsure’s growth, visit microensure.com »

Opportunity Uganda clients like Betty Aute have access to electricity because of the new solar panel loan product.

In November, Opportunity Uganda launched a solar energy microfinance loan to provide power to families currently living with no or unreliable electricity.

Opportunity Uganda is now offering clients like Betty Aute (pictured right), a papyrus weaver and mother of two, a solar panel loan of about $300, which covers panels and installation and is repayable over two years, to bring light to their family homes. The implications are life-changing and endless–when it becomes dark at night, so many productive activities must come to an end. Children can’t do important activities like homework. For these families, evening turns into a discouraging time because there is so much yet to accomplish. The energy the panels have absorbed from the sun throughout the day can be used so that families working their way out of poverty can make the most of their day.

However, light coming into the villages is not only productive but it adds to the sense of hope and encouragement. This helps families in Uganda to feel whole and to have their needs met.

AZ Rhythm Connection performs (All photos: SJA Studios – Steven Aquilino)

Despite the unseasonably cold weather, the evening drew over 100 attendees from the local business and philanthropic communities. The evening opened with traditional African rhythm grooves with Baliphone, Djembe, Shakere and other traditional hand percussion provided by Frank Thompson and Keith Johnson of the AZ Rhythm Connection. Pastor Woody Garvin of Valley Presbyterian Church in nearby Paradise Valley, Ariz. offered a Thanksgiving devotional before dinner.

Pastor Woody Garvin

Special guests included Kadita “A.T.” Tshibaka, a member of Opportunity’s Board of Directors and a native of the DR Congo who has extensive experience in international finance. Another distinguished speaker at the event was David Simms, board chair of Opportunity International’s Global Microfinance Operations, an experienced financial professional and a White House Fellow.

Kadita "A.T." Tshibaka

During the event, Opportunity International recognized local philanthropists who have been key champions for Opportunity’s work in the developing world. As Jon Yasuda noted in his introduction, “The people you’re about to meet have distinguished themselves for their foundational support of Opportunity, the longevity of their involvement, and their tireless commitment to educate others about our work and bring in new Governors.” Honorees included Don Ebinger; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold; Terry and Anne Guerrant/The Guerrant Foundation; The John and Jacque Weberg Foundation; Eugene and Mary-Lynn Kaulius; and, Timothy and Rhonda Snider.

Kelly Flanagan (center) with Board of Governors members Diane Ruebling & Jeanne Lewis

During the evening’s festivities, Kelly Flanagan, a multimedia production artist and recent graduate of Arizona State University, debuted a short film from her travels to Tanzania last August with Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO) as the winner of Opportunity’s 2011 Tanzania Correspondent Contest (part of Opportunity’s spring 2011 Banking on Women campaign). She shared with the audience a bit about the clients and staff she met in Tanzania, encouraging the audience to experience their own cultural immersion on an Opportunity Insight Trip. Click here to watch Kelly’s film below entitled, “Working Women-My Journey to Tanzania with Opportunity International.”

David Simms (left) with attendee Marco Silver

David Simms closed the night calling on attendees to come alongside Opportunity to help us end poverty. “Our vision is a world in which all people have the opportunity to provide for their families and build a fulfilling life. Opportunity is uniquely equipped to realize that vision. We have solutions of scale, a global presence, the support of leading foundations and organizations, and the generous support of people like you. We have a sustainable model that multiplies all of our efforts.”

A sincere thank you to the evening’s sponsors: Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Harris Bank, Mekosh Financial, and the Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Development at Arizona State University.

All photos courtesy of SJA Studios – Steven Aquilino (www.arizonaweddingphotographer.biz)