A six-year-old HIV carrier, has been living alone since his parents died of AIDS. The boy, known as Ah Long, does his own washing, cooking, studying and raises chickens. He lives in his parents’ house at the foothill village of Malu Mountain in Liuzhou in Guangxi Province, China. Ah Long has an 84-year-old grandmother, who visits him quite frequently and cooks for him despite not living with him. A local primary school was forced to turn down his application under pressure from parents of other children.
Due to his complicated family background, the Welfare Department has declined to take care of the boy. He receives 70 yuan of subsistence allowance per month from the local civil bureau. (more details)
OH: “Isn’t Bjork, like, invincible?” “Yeah, I heard she drinks swan’s blood.”
On Microfinance
India Microcredit Sector Faces Collapse From Defaults – http://nyti.ms/9FT7cj Ruh Roh. Very sad, but also: now what? I have been getting all hyped up about a future where microcredit is the bedrock of financial access to the extreme poor. As I’ve learned more and more about the global financial system, I have increasingly lost faith in the ability of the big economy and big bank system in leading to fight inequality. Joseph Stiglitz + Muhammad Yunus felt like a good place to start for a successful economic development worldview. Admittedly, I didn’t think too deeply beyond that. I guess this article suggests that the most important piece to keep in place, from an institutional perspective, is the tension between “maximizing interest rates” and “maximizing repayment rates”. I wonder what sorts of inputs lenders use when creating those algorithms, and how that varies by demographic and region. I would love to see some data there, if anyone’s got it. But I imagine the intangibles, or the “soft” side, like what impact a default or non-repayment has from a cultural perspective plays a huge part in the effectiveness in communities where it is a source of pride to be given a small loan or small savings account. Anyway, sobering article.
best ever. ever ever ever.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. -EMH
fresh-ness.
“Sometimes, when we’re lying together, I look at her and I feel dizzy with the realization that here is another distinct person from me, who has memories, origins, thoughts, feelings that are different from my own. That tension between familiarity and mystery meshes something strong between us. Even if one builds a life together based on trust, attentiveness and mutual support, I think that it’s important that a partner continues to surprise.”
—Barack Obama
Hate him or love him, the man is a modern day philosopher par excellence. And he loves his wife.
RT @WorldBank: China, Brazil, & Kenya’s ‘triple win’ investments: climate resilient, low carbon-emitting agricultural sector: http://cot …
I enthusiastically cosign every one of these.
Musings 