A Message from Dee:

Have you encountered poverty face to face before? Maybe you have personally seen it or even experienced it. Many in the USA have not. Ive prepared this presentation as a point of connection between you on behalf of millions of women and children in developing countries. I am privileged to know a number of them. Most do not see themselves as victims and do not want charity; they simply want a chance to help their families. This should make you uncomfortable, but dont let it intimidate you. This is the greatest time in history to be alive and act and live well! These women continually humble me, challenge me and motivate me to action. Hopefully this will enlighten your thoughts as well. Blessings,

Beautiful International Womens Ministry

How Poverty Affects a Family:

Dee

Dee A. Cook, Director Beautiful International 15475

Gleneagle Drive Colorado Springs, CO 80921

Beautiful International Womens Ministry

Families exist in every country and culture around the world. Generally, women carry the heaviest load of daily responsibilities for the family. With poverty, life is nightmarish and daily existence difficult. Add children, and even with love and good intentions, and it becomes overwhelming. Above are responsibilities and normal activities of a typical family. How many of them do you identify with in your own family? Lets look at the 15 responsibilities in the illustration above seen through poverty: 1. Food buying, cleaning, storing and cooking daily meals is a daily hardship. 2. Clothing - usually catch as catch can in monsoonal weather or cold weather, lack of proper clothing leads to
illness or, even, death

3. Education may be available (education is not free in many countries) for the children but books and mandatory
tutoring to keep up with the schooling are not free, not to mention uniforms

4. Financial The primary bread-winner is generally the husband; income is often tied to an agrarian seasonal
cycle typically 3-6 months a year between harvests there is no income

5. Health There are many in this category; here are just a few: o
Availability: Medical care indeed may be available in a larger village or city, requiring a bus ride for sometimes a day or more the cost of a bus ticket, doctor visit and needed medicine stops most from getting needed help. Safety often women or children fall prey to crimes of rape, theft, abduction or murder on the way to help. Preventable diseases: These families are easy prey to tuberculosis, hepatitis, worms, deaths of infants and smaller, weaker children, pneumonia, malnourishment, malaria, meningitis, parasites, diabetes, early stroke and heart attack, and AIDS/HIV infections. Many of these issues and a myriad of others are preventable or at least treatable, but many of these conditions take lives prematurely of the younger impoverished. AIDS/HIV infection growth rates are skyrocketing!
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Hygiene: Poverty can rob a family of health due to the lack of knowledge of simple daily hygiene. Proper washing of hands and use of pit toilets, for example, can greatly affect a familys health for the good. Teaching no spitting can lower cases of tuberculosis. Simple mosquito netting over beds saves lives, and a basic water filter saves lives. Pre-natal care may be available, but, again, located in a distant village or city which is a bus ride or taxi ride away

6. Transportation for daily life of a family (including getting to and from work and school) is generally walking or
riding government provided bus system or train (requiring tickets). Some have bicycles and the fortunate have access to scooters.

7. Housing: Keeping a stable roof over the familys head for the very poor often means squatting on others land
eviction can come at any time, or worse, theft or violence against the family as rent. Without some sort of ownership on land, a family has little rights or stability. If living in a poorly built hut, bad weather literally takes the roof from over their heads every year.

8. Weddings and dowries: In India, the practice of child weddings, as well as the demands for the dowry (money)
with the female for marriage is a curse. It leads to greed, abuse and even murder.

9. Birth control, in most developing countries, may not be available and in Muslim countries is frowned on.
Female genital mutilation is practiced as means to control the women.

10. Alcoholism is a significant problem in many villages in developing countries tied mostly to men. Not only
does it deplete desperately needed finances, but leads to abuse, medical conditions and the possible loss of a job the only means of supporting the family unit

11. Aging parents of either husband or wife are often left with no other place to live but with younger members of
the clan leading to more mouths to feed and declining health issues

12. Community: With resources scarce, the kinder, gentler scene of neighbors helping neighbors in poverty areas
can be difficult to find. Poverty separates.

13. Childrens safety: Children are often are hired out at very young ages or, worse, sold into slavery. Children
who cannot attend school often become busy with lives of mischief or even prostitution and crime at a young age, bringing to circle povertys grasp on the next generation. Abuse and neglect accompany poverty. Women and children are easy targets of rape, theft or murder.

14. Multi-generational family units: In most countries, families live together as a clan and help each other with
daily life. With poverty, and resources stretched thin, the rules tend to change moving the weaker out. Typically, the favorite son, or, firstborn, has rights to land or resources, leaving the others, especially daughters, without an inheritance, gold or resources.

15. Widows: When the husband dies, a widow is often left helpless, and she may be exposed to much harsher
conditions than his death, for, without her husband, she is seen as a liability, not an asset to his family. She and her brood are simply more mouths to feed with no way for her to contribute with money if she has no income. Unless she owns land or gold, her family is left to the whims of the dead husbands family.

Beautiful International is empowering women in order to stop povertys cycle in

* India * Egypt *
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How? With Microbusiness, Microfinance (Loans) & Training

Micro Finance Loans A solution that makes a sustainable difference!

A woman wants an opportunity to get out of poverty. Extricating herself and her family out of povertys grasp will make all the difference. To the impoverished, eternal spiritual issues and personal development simply pale in comparison to a hungry belly. In fact, the message of Gods love for these precious women is in a real sense experienced as they are able to care for their children. Beautiful International Womens Ministry has been working since 2006 to fund projects in India, Indonesia and Egypt. Most of the poor are already gifted from God with ideas to make money to take care of their family. Not all microbusiness ideas are workable ones, and we work on simple written plans with them. Their creativity, eagerness, courage and willingness to work in their own communities to make this happen is inspiring. We see the local community and church as the long-term social and economic structure, not the West. Here are guidelines for micro finance (funding the small businesses women start) we work with: 1. Micro finance is not charity (see #19) it is a hand up not a hand out. 2. With regards to micro finance, Beautiful Internationals mission is to help poor families help themselves
overcome poverty.

3. Beautiful Internationals loans are targeted to the poor, particularly poor women.
4. Generally, these loans are categorized as

a. $25 - $100 First time loans cannot be in b & c categories

b. c. $100 - $300 Available for those who have taken and repaid at least 2 lower amount loans $300 to $1000 Generally reserved for a small business startups. Higher loan amounts are available only with 5 successful loans repaid previously.

5. The loans are not based on any collateral or legally enforceable contracts. It is based on trust, not on legal
procedures and system.

6. The micro finance loan is offered for creating self-employment for income-generating activities and housing for
the poor, as opposed to consumption.

7. The loan is a challenge to the conventional banking which generally rejects the poor by classifying them to be
"not creditworthy.

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8. In order to obtain loans a borrower must join a group of borrowers a group of five is ideal. This group is in
place to promote discussion of ideas, encouragement and accountability for re-payment of loans on the level of peer to peer which no outsider can enter into with the same effectiveness. Each loan idea must be approved by the group of five and also reviewed by the counselor working with the group.

9. Loans can be received in a continuous sequence. A new loan becomes available to a borrower if her previous
loan is repaid. 10. All loans are to be paid back in installments (weekly, or bi-weekly). 11. The loan comes with both obligatory and voluntary savings programs for the borrowers.

12. Generally these loans are given with an interest rate which is close to the market rate prevailing in the
commercial banking sector. In fixing the interest rate, market interest rate is taken as the reference rate, rather than the moneylenders' rate (which is much, much higher).

13. Beautiful International believes in social capital. It is promoted through formation of groups, developing
leadership quality through annual election of group leaders. To develop a social agenda owned by the borrowers, with a purpose to build a higher standard of living, we encourage a process of intensive discussion among the borrowers, and encourage them to take these decisions seriously and implement them. 14. As we can, we will provide encouragement and training to small business owners.

15. Beautiful International sees education for children and women as critical to change. 16. In order to bring additional human capital we see efforts to bring technology, like mobile phones, solar power,
and promote mechanical power to replace manual power as important.

17. We see that micro finance as this: the poor have ideas and skills which are not being effectively directed for
their own benefit. 18. It is definitely not the lack of skills which make poor people poor. Beautiful International believes that the poverty is not created by the poor; it is created by the institutions and policies which surround them.

19. We do not see charity as the answer to poverty rather; it only helps poverty to continue. Charity creates
dependency and takes away the individual's initiative to break through the wall of poverty. Unleashing of energy and creativity in each person is the answer to poverty.

The solution is a simple concept, yet takes many hands to bring it to fruition By the way,

How do we identify if a family is out of poverty?

1. Housing: The family lives in a house with a tin or tile roof, and each member of the family is able to sleep on
bed instead of on the floor.

2. Water: Family members drink pure water from bore-wells, boiled water or water purified by using alum,
arsenic-free, purifying tablets or pitcher filters.

3. Education: All children in the family over six years of age are all going to school or finished primary school. 4. Loans: The minimum weekly loan installment of the borrower is being paid. 5
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5. Hygiene: The family uses a sanitary latrine. 6. Clothing: The family members have adequate clothing for everyday use, warm clothing for winter, such as
shawls, sweaters, blankets, and mosquito-nets to protect themselves from mosquitoes (contributing to better health).

7. Income: The family has sources of additional income, such as vegetable garden, fruit-bearing trees, so that
they are able to fall back on these sources of income when they need additional money.

8. Savings: The borrower maintains a balance in her savings accounts equal to three months of living. 9. Food: The family experiences no difficulty in having three square meals a day throughout the year, i. e. no
member of the family goes hungry any time of the year.

10. Health: If any member of the family becomes ill, the family can afford to take all necessary steps to seek
adequate healthcare.
**We are grateful to the Grameen Bank, for a number of the principles mentioned above.**

Beautiful International empowers women by giving them a Hand UP, not out. Charity destroys dignity, creates dependency, stifles creativity and cripples future prosperity. Beautiful International also builds up women and families with: International conferences to bring women seminars on personal and spiritual development, growth and maturity

Join us and help women and their families!

1. We need partners like you to help us help women overseas 2. Donate money you work hard for your money; make it work to help others! 3. Donate your skills and time to train in simple business concepts 4. Have your business become a partner with Beautiful International 5. Help us tell others just like you. Invite Dee Cook to present Beautiful Internationals Micro Finance Initiative to your business partners, church group, neighborhood community group or service club Anybody!

For more information, contact Beautiful International at 719-302-3028, or Visit our website, www.BeautifulInternational.org, or Email Dee Cook at Dee@BeautifulInternationl.org

All rights reserved 2012, Beautiful International. Permission is required for use or publishing.

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Beautiful International is part of Indigenous Ministries International, a 501(c)(3), all giving is tax deductible

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