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A bank

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
tumblr_oz822wJ1vG1wgz7vxo1_1280.jpg
 

James Lemon

Well-known member
Show me the money! I see a metal box with some locks on it. Without seeing the contents its just another box.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief


My middle son, now a succesful attorney, used to run "raves" during college to protect the right of kids to dance all night if they wished with no drugs or interference by adults. He made a tidy bit of money on the entrance fees. To safeguard his earnings, he would would carry exactle a box like that with a tiny lock with a combination to remember! However, these were college kids and everyone knew one another. Just that little lock was sufficient.

So this seems real to me. I thought, how safe is that safe? Anyone could just snatch it and run off!

In the neighborhood of a Nigerian community, which this could very well be, you wouldnt get very far, as everyone knows everyone else. It could be that this is pay day and the employer is about to distribute wages!

I love this picture as it really says something unique about this community.

Asher
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
This is actually a micro-finance project. The women you see at the back put some money in the box every second week or so and, from that money, local project are financed. Projects may be buying some equipment for making soy milk cheese, buying new seeds, etc... There is also a solidarity account where people can get some money if a child is sick, etc... Everything is handled out orally as not all people can read.
The safebox is normally not left in the open. There are 3 locks so that 3 people are needed to get at the money.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
This is actually a micro-finance project. The women you see at the back put some money in the box every second week or so and, from that money, local project are financed. Projects may be buying some equipment for making soy milk cheese, buying new seeds, etc... There is also a solidarity account where people can get some money if a child is sick, etc... Everything is handled out orally as not all people can read.
The safebox is normally not left in the open. There are 3 locks so that 3 people are needed to get at the money.

Yes, Jerome, it all makes perfect sense and it's a most wonderful addition to many countries works wide where 25% of the population and 75-85% of the poor have zero access to banking systems.

These micro banks and then cell phones empower communities, but especially women to take charge of their own lives. I had never seen these 3 lock boxes, so your pictures are even more wonderful now you add the extra information.

With this extra information I think of East and West Africa as well as South African.

Likely to be in ex-British colonial territories.

Asher
 

James Lemon

Well-known member
This is actually a micro-finance project. The women you see at the back put some money in the box every second week or so and, from that money, local project are financed. Projects may be buying some equipment for making soy milk cheese, buying new seeds, etc... There is also a solidarity account where people can get some money if a child is sick, etc... Everything is handled out orally as not all people can read.
The safebox is normally not left in the open. There are 3 locks so that 3 people are needed to get at the money.

Leverage is a powerful tool. Hopefully these women all realize that the real money is in the equipment, milk, cheese, and seeds. But women are generally smarter than most men so they probably have that figured out.
 
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