¿Utopía?

Imagínense un banco que busque conceder préstamos a aquellos que no tengan ni medio metro cuadrado de cochino terruño en el que caerse muertos.
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Imagínense que para hacer entrega del dinero, ese banco no exija ni pólizas de seguro, ni prendas, ni avales, ni garantes, ni siquiera un documento escrito, firmado y extendido por triplicado. Imagínense que a ese banco le baste con el compromiso personal y la palabra dada, un pacto basado exclusivamente en la confianza.
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Imagínense que el prestatario se vuelva moroso y que el banco no le reclame, ni acuse, ni demande. Que de la falta de pago no se infiera la mala fe del moroso, sino simple y llanamente que todavía no puede devolver el dinero prestado.
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Imagínense que ese mismo prestatario venga a caer en desgracia y morirse. Imagínense que el banco decida entonces condonar su deuda, para que sus descendientes no se vean doblemente agraviados por su pérdida.
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Imagínense que lo único que este banco pida a sus clientes es beber agua de pozos sanos o hervirla antes de tomarla, cultivar vegetales todo el año, votar en las elecciones y enviar a sus hijos a la escuela. Imagínense que el banco insista en pagarles estudios universitarios, sin pedirles que devuelvan un solo centavo hasta empezar a trabajar.
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Imagínense que a un profesor de economía se le haya ocurrido crear un banco semejante. Probablemente, pensarán que es un chiflado, un soñador, un idealista utópico.
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Sin embargo, este banco existe. Es el “Grameen Bank”, también conocido como el “Banco del Pueblo" o "Banco de los Pobres”. Creado en 1983, su sostenibilidad ha quedado ampliamente demostrada por sus transparentes informes anuales. Su más reciente estado de cuentas nos muestra que el año 2006 se cerró con un beneficio neto de 1.398.155.030 rupias (22.432.376,81 euros).
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El banco nació en Bangladesh, gracias a la creatividad, conocimiento y sensibilidad social de un economista visionario, Muhammad Yunus.
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Su misión es la erradicación definitiva de la pobreza en el mundo y, por este noble empeño, fue galardonado con el Premio Nobel de la Paz en el 2006.
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Todo empezó en 1974, cuando una hambruna asoló Bangladesh. Por aquel entonces, Yunus desempeñaba una cátedra en el Departamento de Economía de la Universidad de Chittagong y convivía con los habitantes de Jobra, una aldea cercana a la universidad. Allí observó como unos pocos prestamistas hacían negocio con intereses de usura, obligando a la población a vivir en un estado de semi-esclavitud.
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Mandó realizar un estudio sobre esta situación. Uno de sus estudiantes le entregó un informe con un resultado impactante: 42 personas vivían bajo el yugo de estos usureros, por una deuda total de… ¡27 dólares!
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Era una realidad tan aberrante que Yunus decidió poner ese dinero de su propio bolsillo. Los beneficiarios de este pequeño gesto manifestaron tal emoción y gratitud que sirvieron de inspiración para dar el siguiente paso: tratar de convencer al director del banco del campus universitario para conceder crédito a los más pobres.
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Ése fue el comienzo de una larga cadena de conversaciones, en las que invariablemente Yunus no era tomado en serio. Para convencer a los directivos banqueros de que los pobres cumplirían con sus deudas, se ofreció como aval. Seis meses más tarde, el bancó aceptó su propuesta con un límite de 300 dólares.
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Para sorpresa de todos, salvo Yunus, éste logró recuperar hasta el último céntimo. Se amplió el préstamo a otra aldea más, luego a otra, y a otra, y a otra… y el dinero volvía siempre.
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Por fin, Yunus decidió montar su propio banco. El Estado puso el grito en el cielo, pero Yunus se mostró inflexible: así nació el Grameen Bank en 1983.
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El funcionamiento de este banco es totalmente atípico. La única condición para pedir un crédito es ser pobre. Otra de sus particularidades es que se presta preferentemente a mujeres, una tendencia que viene siendo norma para la gestión de recursos aportados por las mayores ONG.
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Hoy en día, el 96% de los créditos del Grameen Bank son concedidos a mujeres. El propio Yunus explica las razones de esta “discriminación al revés”:
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“Cuando una mujer toma el primer préstamo suele ser una cantidad pequeña, porque tiene mucho miedo. Antes de aceptar el dinero pasa muchas noches sin dormir. Cuando se le da el dinero está temblando, no puede creer que nadie confíe tanto en ella. Muchas veces las lágrimas resbalan por sus mejillas. La mujer se promete que hará lo que sea para garantizar esa confianza y trabaja duramente para pagar el préstamo. Así que cuando un año después lo devuelve todo, la mujer mira al mundo y ve que puede conquistarlo, que ha conseguido lo que le dijeron que jamás podría hacer. Así que el Grameen Bank no es sólo dinero, sino que el dinero es un instrumento para una relación de confianza. Porque el Grameen Bank tiene que ver con una transformación y con descubrir lo que uno es. Si esto se multiplica por 2,4 millones de familias, tendremos una idea de lo que es el Grameen Bank”.
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La fórmula de este banco ha sido exportada a más de sesenta países de Asia, África, Europa y América. Dentro de este último continente, el Banco de los Pobres está también presente en Colombia, donde trabaja con la fundación Arcángeles mediante la concesión de microcréditos para la generación de autoempleo.
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Pero de esto, mejor os cuento otro día :o)

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(Escrito en Bogotá, Colombia, el 27/04/2008)

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Llamamiento Solidario

Hace tres años conocí a Nilton, un peruano valiente, que me llamó la atención por su simpatía y su carácter servicial. Hace cosa de un año, Pisco, la ciudad de Nilton, quedó totalmente destrozada por una serie de terremotos. La casa de mi amigo, al igual que sus proyectos y sueños más cercanos, también fueron arrasados por la catástrofe. Desde entonces, Nilton está tratando de reconstruir su hogar. Para ello, necesita nuestro apoyo. Él me ha pedido que le ayude difundiendo el siguiente informe, que él mismo ha escrito y en el que narra en primera persona su vivencia del terremoto y del subsiguiente caos que aún perdura en su vida.

Al informe acompaña una petición de solidaridad. Podéis ayudar a Nilton pasando este mensaje a vuestro círculo de amigos y familiares, y/o contribuyendo directamente a financiar la reconstrucción de su hogar (las donaciones deben hacerse al número de cuenta especificado a pie de página). En nombre de Nilton, muchas gracias por adelantado.

AN EARTHQUAKE OF 7.9 HIT THE CITY OF PISCO PERU ON AUGUST 15, 2007 AT 6:41PM. 680 PEOPLE DIED THAT NIGHT, OVER WERE 1,550 INJURED, AND 70% OF THE CITY WAS DESTROYED.

Hello, my name is Nilton Orlando La Rosa Ramos. I’m from Pisco-Peru, I’m 20 years old and this is my story.

BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKE

First, I want to wish to everyone who reads this story the best life, a life in peace and full of happiness. I also want to tell you that you should appreciate every little thing in this life, because your life can change in just few seconds.

In December 2006 I finished high school. After high school I went on a trip to Bolivia, Argentina and Chile from January 1st to March 30. That was the longest trip I have ever been on in my life. It was so good and I learned so much. After finishing my trip, I decided I wanted to study, and in June I started classes in Cesar Vallejos College in Pisco. This college wasn’t cheap. I had to pay 350 soles ($117) each month, but I was very happy because my job as a tour guide was giving me enough money to support everything. Well, my studies weren’t all, because my younger brother and I were also supporting my 3 little brothers and my mom. Don’t ask about my father, I prefer to not talk about him. Of course it wasn’t easy for me to support all this, but I had dreams and I wanted to see my little brother happy, healthy and with a good education. In that time the tourism was very good and the company I was working for was successful. I was also very happy because I liked what I was studying (Microcomputer Operation). It was fun and my grades were the best in the class.

THE EARTHQUAKE: AUGUST 15, 2007

On the 15th of August at 7:30am, I had to guide a tour group to the Ballestas Islands and Paracas National Reserve. After the tour, I met with some other tourists who were asking me about a good place to surf. I love surfing, and took them to a beach called Cerro Azul, about 1 hour 30 minues north of my home town, Pisco. We arrived at the beach around 3:00pm, did some surfing, had a good time, and around 5:30pm we went back to the hostel. One of the girls needed to catch a night bus to Lima because she had a flight leaving Lima early the next morning. I took the three girls out to the highway to help them catch a bus.

It was getting dark already. All the buses were full and we waited on the highway for 30 minutes. A big truck drove by and the earth started trembling. In the first moment I didn’t notice it. One of the girls told me that the earth was trembling, but I just thought that it was because of the passing truck. Then the earth started trembling more and even stronger and then I knew that it was an earthquake. In total there were three consecutive earthquakes, each one lasting about 35-40 seconds. During the first one I was just calming the girls down, because they were so scared and nervous. The first quake stopped for about 4 seconds, and then the second one started. This one really scared me too, because it was very strong. It was so strong that I started thinking about my mother, my little brothers, and my home. I remember that one of the girls I was with tried to run away. I still don’t know where she wanted to go, but we didn’t let her and we hugged her stronger.

The light of the city was cut, and this made everything even more terrifying, because we couldn’t see anything. All I could do was hear; people from the city screaming, houses falling down, dogs barking, it sounded like Hell. All I could do in this moment was to try to make the girls calm down, but they never stopped screaming. The earthquake stopped for 3 seconds, and then the third one started and was even stronger. That was when I lost control, I was screaming, asking to God to stop all this fury of nature, and to take care of my family. My body just didn’t stop shaking, I was crying so much, screaming, stop!!! please stop!!! , my family!!! O God no, my family!!! the girls were hugging me because I was so scared.

All I could think about was my family. I just couldn’t have peace, I couldn’t calm my self down. I knew that my house structure wasn’t good. It was an old structure, and I knew that it wouldn’t stand through the earthquake and would fall on anybody who was inside. I tried to reach my mother on the phone, but there was no signal. Nobody could communicate with anyone. I had to leave the girls to go look for my family. They asked me what should they do, and I told them to wait until the morning and take the first bus to Lima. I started walking back to the highway. I was scared, and all I wanted was to find my family.

I caught a bus to Pisco, but after 45 minutes my bus stopped in a town 35 km away from Pisco and wouldn’t go on. The problem was that no one could keep going because a bridge near Pisco had collapsed. They also said that it was very dangerous because 178 dangerous prisoners has escaped from the jail between Pisco and Chincha, so the people were scared even to walk. I didn’t want to wait until the next day because I really needed to see my family, to be there to help them and take care of them. Luckily I found a taxi taking people to the bridge. The bridge looked very bad, but we were able to walk across. I walked with a group of people for about 2 hours, and I finally arrived in Pisco. I couldn’t see much, because everything was dark and there was almost nobody in the city.

As I approached my house, I was getting very nervous and sad. All of the houses of my neighbors were destroyed. When I finally arrived at my house, it was hard to recognize. I couldn’t stop crying. I was looking for my family in the rubble when a man came up to me and told me to calm down, and that my family was fine, they just ran up to the high land because they were scared of a tsunami. I thanked him for the information but I wondered why he didn’t run up to the high land also. He said, Are you crazy? Do you think that I would go and leave the little that I have left? Later I went to look for my father who lived a few blocks away. He and his girlfriend were there, and my grandparents also. I asked him if he knew where my mom, Mirtha and my brothers Abran, Yomira, Jefferson, Ademir, Gino, Carlos and Laura were. He didn’t know exactly where they were, but he knew that they were fine. I went back to my house with the intention of taking care of the things that were left. I remember that night I slept on the street with some other people who were doing the same thing.

SURVIVING AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE

The next day I woke at 5:00am, and walked to see the destruction throughout the city. I finally found my younger brother and was so happy to see him that I started crying and so did he. I hugged him so much. We went together to the place where my mom and the rest of my brothers were and we brought them back to the city. My mom couldn’t believe that everything was destroyed, so she was walking and crying at the same time. Well, she wasn’t the only one, because almost everybody was crying. We arrived to our destroyed house and started looking for the things that were still good but we didn’t find much. All the expensive things, like the TV, computer, and beds were destroyed.

That day we forgot about eating and everything; we were focused on finding a place to sleep, and looking for water and food for the days to come. Luckily help was arriving. I remember that the Red Cross was there bringing provisions, water, and medicine for the people. It was very hard for them to calm the people down and make order, everybody was crazy for water and food. That day they didn’t finish giving all the provisions, because it was just impossible to do it. Later a car from the government was driving around the city telling the people to go to refuge in the stadium of Pisco, because all the help would arrive there. I took my mom and brothers to the stadium, and an organization took our names and gave us water, some food, some tents and some clothes. In total there were 187 families in that stadium, each family consisting of 5 to 6 persons. The night arrived and everything was dark and silent. I was close to falling to sleep when another very strong earthquake of 5.4 hit Pisco. The people turned crazy again, everybody was crying and scared. Luckily, my little brothers always listen to me and believe all of what I say, so I was able to calm them down. That night 3 more earthquakes hit Pisco.

The next day we went to my house and we started cleaning up our land, taking the rubble out. We were one of the first to get our land clean. We continued sleeping at the stadium, and I remember that in some of the nights, some stupid people were coming very late screaming, the sea is coming!!! the sea is coming!!! The whole thing was a lie, a torment, and making the people go crazy. The police were stopping the scared people and informing them that these people were trying to scare them away just to have a chance to steal their belongings. The people were so scared of everything at this point, that they believed anything they heard. A week later the city was being cleaned up, a lot of trucks and tractors were picking up the rubble, demolishing buildings, and the dogs were still finding bodies in the rubble. The city was so dusty and my mom was scared of the outbreak of an epidemic so she decided to take all the kids to my aunt’s house in Lima. I stayed in Pisco because I wanted my mother’s house to be registered in the Reconstruction List. I lived with my uncle’s family in the stadium where we were supported by a help organization. In total there were 6 refugee centers in Pisco, all of them were full.

RECOVERING: REBUILDING A HOUSE AND REBUILDING LIVES

Three weeks later my mom and brothers returned to Pisco, the city was cleaner but the machines were still working day and night. We definitely couldn’t live in tents anymore, so we start building up our house from wood. We got the wood from an old wooden building at Pisco beach that was supposed to be demolished very soon, but we did it first and got all the wood for free. The Peruvian government gave us $2,000 dollars (U.S.) for the reconstruction of our house, but that was enough only for 2 rooms with no ceiling. That money wasn’t even enough to pay the person who was building the rooms, so we had to ask him to stop because we didn’t have anymore money to pay him. So now, 7 month later, we still live in this small wooden house.

Before the earthquake I was planning and dreaming to travel more, I wanted to have my own house and live by myself, to keep studying, but now everything is very difficult. I’m focused on rebuilding my house and taking care of my little brothers. Fortunately there are tourists arriving in Pisco again, so I have been able to go back to my job as a tour guide. My brother Ademir who is always helping me, is also working hard as a tour operator and together we are building the house, very slowly, but we are doing it. I know that it will take some time for my house and my life to be rebuilt. I know that this may not possible without extra help, but I have faith that if we all work very hard together, we will do it.

My mom and little brother were sleeping in tent that is behind us and I was in another tent behind this one. Right, Yomira La Rosa, middle, Nilton La Rosa and left side Abran La Rosa.

I beg God to not let this type of natural disaster hit other parts of the world. I also want ask to every single person to stop polluting the environment, because the earth is the home for all of us and the home for our future families.

Si deseáis ayudar a la familia de Nilton con vuestro bolsillo, podéis hacer una donación a la cuenta de su novia Steffi, en Alemania. Su correo electrónico es steffi.schoenherr@hotmail.com y estos son sus datos bancarios:

Name: Steffi Schoenherr
Accountnr: 5401855808 (for germans)
Number of Bank BLZ: 50010517
IBAN: DE64500105175401855808
BIC: INGDDEFF
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