Payoff

Today we went to a colony called Barathapuram. It is a fairly large colony, with an old folks home, preschool, art school, and many other small businesses. All these things exist because of the social welfare sector of Rising Star Outreach. They have been working a lot with Barathapuram doing micro grant loans. I am familiar with the micro grant loan principle and have heard many stories of it’s success—but I have never witnessed it’s full success as I did today. A microloan is a small monetary amount given to selected individuals. They are to use that money for starting a trade or learning a skill that will enable them to provide for themselves, their family and their community. The loan must be repaid within a certain amount of time, but the skills and accomplishments gained from that loan are the persons to keep and use as they see fit. So basically it is like a regular loan but it is with such small amounts of money that the only way a person can really benefit from this program is if they continue to barrow, build and repay their loans. This idea is used in developing nations around the world to help lift people out of poverty. In Barathapuram, they have a barber, a computer center, jewelry business (Pearls With Purpose), textiles, produce, cows, etc. all because of microloans. Compared to the other colonies I have seen this one is definitely the nicest of them all-and it is because of the hard work and opportunities that micro loans have created coupled with the hard work of the microloan recipients. It was all really inspiring to see.

Watching the ladies do jewelry was kind of hard for me. I LOVE this project, but that is the problem-I love it and I miss being able to make jewelry. I miss my little work corner in the basement, I miss the creativity and personal outlet it is, I miss it all. I am in need of a jewelry making fix. Like bad.

One of my favorite projects in this colony is the art store. Some of the leprosy patients have tapped into their inner Van Gough and paint these incredible works of art. They are cool even before you realize that many of the artists are painting without fully functioning hands and fingers. They are so proud of their work (rightfully so) and whenever you buy a piece of art you get to meet the artist. You also are not allowed to take pictures in the art school unless you buy something—but lucky for you I bought something today.

My purchase today:

Unfortunately my artist was in the hospital (from what I understood anyways) but hopefully I get to catch him in the future.

Along these same lines, I also got a small painting a few weeks ago from an artist who is from a different colony. I didn’t get to meet him either but one of the Rising Star staff members told me that this artist can only use his left hand and right foot to paint—and that he actually uses his foot more then you would think.  How incredible is that!

On our way home we stopped for parotha, which is a mix between naan bread and chapatti. It was so yummy, and they fed us on banana leaves and everything. I sure do love me some carbs----especially when I spend most the week eating fruits and vegetables.