Embarking on Our Journey to Africa

For one week, an UnDirty Dozen (a.k.a. a group of eleven) will visit Opportunity International’s work in Africa. You’re invited to come along on this adventure. Our motley crew will rendezvous in Rwanda on Saturday, August 6, and for the next seven days we’ll keep you posted on what we’re doing and feeling. We’re going on this journey, traveling through Rwanda and Uganda, to see the impact of Opportunity’s Banking on Africa initiative, a campaign to bring life-changing financial services to millions of people in rural and remote areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Originating near San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and Raleigh, our travelers certainly don’t share common back yards. What’s in common is our desire to meet some of the neighbors in our global village; those who not only survive but thrive on a few dollars a day. How do they do it, and what can we learn about life from them?

My book UnPoverty: Rich Lessons from the Working Poor is a smorgasbord of stories about amazing people I’ve met on previous trips like this, and what they teach me. Now on this voyage our entire group will journal our thoughts and present them here for everyone to read. We’ll share blog posts, videos, a lot of candid shots, and most of all our immediate and honest impressions.

We encourage you to pack your virtual bag and join us for seven days. Through email, Facebook or Twitter, invite your friends to come along too by sharing the URL above: bankingonafrica.tumblr.com. And many of these posts will also appear on the Opportunity Blog at opportunity.org/blog. Let us know what you like or challenge our reactions in the comment field below. We’ll have plenty of time bouncing around in the back of a bus to discuss your response and filter that back to you and other followers. Or let us know in advance what would be most nutritious for you. We’re all going with slightly different agendas, but with a common goal to be inspired by and learn from those we visit. Who really is ‘poor’ and why? And how can we live in community with them? Thanks for joining us.

Bon voyage.

By Mark Lutz, Banking on Africa traveler & Senior VP of Global Philanthropy at Opportunity International