The Hospital--January 23, 2016

I forgot to mention this earlier! The day of the terrible jeepney ride we spent only about 15 minutes visiting a client whose daughter was in a hospital with pneumonia. We got there and I quickly learned she also has cerebral palsy or something like that. It was heart breaking. I didn't take any pictures because I did not want to be rude but I was in shock. The children room kind of looked like a scary orphanage you see in the movies. There were two kids in some beds and everything was very faded and rusted. It broke my heart and I got a little choked up. The world is so much bigger than we think and people have it so much worse off than we do. Everyone stared at us while we were in there. The Nanay really liked me and I held her hand for awhile. I didn't ask much about her business or what she used her loan for. The more and more I visit these women I am learning a lot. Some of these micro-finance groups (including Mentors at times) are hurting women more than they are helping. I just don't think they really understand the concept of interest. Today (Monday) I learned that the APR at Mentors is 50%. My jaw dropped. These women are just getting further into debt and further away from self-reliance. I think those in poverty, especially in the Filipino culture, just are content with the way things are and they have a hard time seeing a vision or thinking they have the ability to create anything great. That breaks my heart a lot too. Every person deserves to think they can do incredible things.