The following blog post is written by Ben Mathan, an NYU Microfinance brigader who participated in a week-long brigade to Honduras in August, 2010. Ben, and his fellow NYU brigaders, helped to invest over $1000 in the economic growth of the community of El Junco. Here is Ben’s story…
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Life changing.
As an Economics major studying in the finance capital of the world, a career in Investment Banking has been the ultimate goal for me throughout college, the definition of success that I have driven myself to reach for 3 years. Admittedly, joining Global Microfinance Brigades was another way for me to pad my resume and make myself a more well rounded candidate when I pursued internships and full time jobs.
After completing an 8 week investment banking internship and receiving a full time job offer for after college, I was convinced that I had figured out my future and had reached the goal that I have been striving to reach for some time. However a few of my friends convinced me to still go to Honduras and gain that experience as well so I decided to go despite my desire to just stay home and relax for the last two weeks of the summer. Looking back I can honestly say that my experience with Global Brigades in Honduras was one of the most impactful and perspective changing experiences of my life.
I’ve always been interested in finance but seeing the power that finance could have in third world communities truly made me rethink my career path as well as my priorities. Global Microfinance Brigades allowed me to witness the power of Microfinance, to see common villagers whose lives had been changed by Brigade-Organized banks which believed in them enough to supply loans towards their business ideas. Global Brigades allowed me to witness peoples lives transformed by simple items that I’ve always taken for granted such as a working stove or running water. Our village allowed me to meet amazing, intelligent, caring people who were only limited by their resources and their circumstances but never limited by their vision and passion. And at the end of my trip which I had gone on believing that I would be making an impact, I couldn’t help but realize that nothing I had contributed to that community would ever be a fair exchange for all it had given me. No loan I provided could ever compare to the compassion and love that the people of El Junco had shown me. No course on “How to make a business plan” that I taught could ever educate the people of that land as much as they educated me about finding true happiness regardless of material wealth. I left Honduras with my only regret being that I could not stay and do more.
Microfinance is not about quick solutions to temporary problems. Microfinance is the belief that people, if given the tools, can build their own sustainable and successful communities. Microfinance is the understanding that temporary solutions are only postponed problems and that to truly help a region, one needs to be willing to take the time to fix issues from the root up and then wait for the outcomes to bear fruit. And while my time in Honduras was short, I now believe in the power of long term sustainability in regards to helping the people of that region as well as in changing my perspective – not temporarily, but forever.
Written by:
Ben Mathan
Ben Mathan at the Nuevo Paraiso orphanage in Honduras.
