The Next Wall to Fall ... The wall of poverty ...
Nov 7th & 8th is the 2009 ‘Vision Summit’ held in Berlin Germany.
www.visionsummit.org
The key note speaker is Muhammad Yunus, the founder of microcredit and recipient of 2006 Nobel Peace Prize – in my opinion one of the world’s leading visionaries who truly comes from his heart and ‘another level’ of consciousness. This is the be held on the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall Falling.
Two reason I am writing here about this:
- I would love as many people as possible to hear new practical and action ideas on how we can truly work together – so if you have the time come and join us in Berlin! If you don’t have time, then perhaps at least read the latest book from Muhammad Yunus - ‘A World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism'.
- I have invited 3 Nepali friends (Dipendra, Arjun & Achyut) who have been working very hard as volunteers in our microcredit program in Nepal. I need help to pay for their airfares and train tickets, approximately €5000 in total. Below I have put the details how you can send funds. If we happen to raise more than their fares then I will use this money for additional training for our microcredit recipients.
read more on this.
Microcredit Flyer for download
Presentation of the MICRO CREDIT BUSINESS MODEL- By Kira Kay, September 2009
In addition to the conference, with the help of friends (Nina Cejnar & Coen Völker), we have arranged some additional meetings and training opportunities for our Nepali friends. We hope that this will give themgreater knowledge and understanding to facilitate the growth of the microcredit program in Nepal.
What is Microcredit?
The provision of small loans (generally around 100-150 Euro) to people in poverty, along with basic business education, to support the creation of self-employment and income-producing activities to lift families and communities out of poverty. The basic model of this form of sustainable support was developed by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh some 30 years ago and it has now spread to many parts of the world (both undeveloped and developed countries) as a practical tool to help alleviate basic poverty.
If you would like more information about the conference, the visit of our Nepali friends, or about microcredit in general then please be in contact
with me directly:
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And feel free to pass this message onwards!
Thank you for your support and involvement, with love, kira
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1) transfer of funds to our HandswithHands account
Account name: HANDS WITH HANDS
Account number NUM: 288-303-286-00
BLZ: 20111
IBAN: AT822011128830328600
BIC (SWIFT): GIBAATWW
2) make a PayPal deposit which is linked with the above.
The first step is to log onto the PayPal website - www.paypal.com
The email that you will need to insert to *send* the funds is -
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU MAKE IT A GIFT, NOT A PAYMENT, WE ARE REGISTERED WITH
PAYPAL AS A CHARITY SO WE CAN ACCEPT GIFTS, IF YOU SEND AS A PAYMENT WE ARE
CHARGED A COMMISSION TO PAYPAL
___________________________________________________
Some background information - an email from Kira in Nepal
I have been involved first hand with dramatic life changing experiences of people who have received microcredit. With my Nepali friend Dipendra we started a pilot program in 2005. I did not know if it would really work, I was sceptical. Seeing first hand the lives changed, the confidence and the empowerment for the women and men who have contributed to their own life changes has deeply inspired me. It has shown me what a small amount of help can translate into. Profoundly. It has been a major life change for me.
I now spend at least 50-60% of my time volunteering my time in working in this. I find it 'real' and deeply intimate. It has given me a quiet knowing that we can live, work and explore other ways of operating practically with one another.
It has also given me a perspective outside of the 'spiritual' environment that for me is deeply spiritual. In the sense of what is means to care, to receive to give - to feel fulfilled and frequent tears as I feel so happy and touched.
I shared the invite to the Vision Summit as I think Muhammad Yunus's message about 'practical living' deeply resonate with how I view the possibilities in our material world - and I may be idealistic, yet I think you should at very least read his books!!!
I REALLY do need some help getting money for the airfares for my Nepali friends to come on this trip. Not only is it helping three men, but it translates into helping the 560 women and men we are providing microcredit for. So yes - please - be in touch with me directly!
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A second mail
Hi again,
I have just come back inside after the last few hours with Nepali friends celebrating ‘DIPAWLI’ which is a Nepalese festival to celebrate abundance and life – and yes the festivities are very alive! Firecrackers in the background, in nearly every street beautiful sand mandalas created and candles/butter lamps lit in the thousands – beautiful!
And what I reflected upon was something I wrote earlier today – and I attempt here to touch another level of communicating of the depth that my life has changed since my involvement here in Nepal.
When I first came here to Nepal in 1994 I came with an agenda, not that I was fully aware of it until I literally was up on top of a mountain and having a very raw recognition of my spiritual ego and the reality that I did not really know who I was. Thankfully I realised my next step was to ‘find ‘me’ .... In amongst my bruised emotions was an awareness that the people here, although poor in material wealth had something – many I met seemed simply happy. That memory stayed with me.
Several years later I returned. This time with a desire to learn about giving and receiving. I was following my heart and intuition that led me to book my ticket and explore this subject. One of the best decisions I have made in my life. Even tho I had participated in many groups with Paul & others, been in umpteen sharing groups and was giving sessions myself - I knew inside I was a bit empty. I cant really say that it has been anything or event in particular, or any person in particular – yet something in my way of relating to myself and the world around me started to shift.
One memory is a young boy holding my hand, and saying very directly ‘don’t forget me’. It went straight into my heart. Another memory is of another young boy who I had helped fund his heart surgery and he nearly died, the agonising over whether I and my ‘help’ was the ‘cause’, (he is very alive and healthy now) another memory is one of the women from our microcredit program, coming up with tears in her eyes to say thankyou, because now she could take care of herself and her children, showing me in her newly learned writing her 'profit' - ultimately I came to an awareness that we are all one, we are all in this together and most important for me was to feel alive and ‘here’ with what is unfolding.
It is not that I am 'doing' anything, my 'giving' is being true to myself about what feels right - what I call 'right action' - for me. And I feel so blessed. Not a word I use lightly. Yet it so seems to fit. I feel so taken care of in many ways, life somehow feels so much easier, natural, ordinary. So even tho I am giving much of my time, money and passion 'to others', I feel that I have gained so so so much.
Paul has often talked and communicated in his emails about 'giving back' and what I would like to add to that is that my own experience is that the more I give the more I have gained. The giving back, although it looks like I am giving to others I get back tenfold ... Sometimes when I haven’t had a shower for a week and feel physically a bit fragile I wonder what it is that I am doing here – then something happens, like tonight.
I see the yes, I connect with the smile, my heart feels so wide open and such a feeling of family, togetherness, alive, here. I feel vibrating alive and full. Life is perfect. In the practice of giving I have found more of 'me' - and feel more fulfilled than I have ever felt in my life. And the great thing is that in the last few years it just gets better. I didn't think it was possible yet I keep feeling more fulfilled.
With much love,
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