During the holiday season were you searching for a small holiday gift at a reasonable price? For most the answer to this question would be a definite yes. One Westborough High School Club was looking to meet your need by selling gift items, while in the process helping individuals all across Central America.

The Youth Micro Credit International, or YMCI for short, is one of the newest clubs at Westborough High School. Our high school and other high schools around the country created YMCI clubs after 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammad Yunus started the idea by giving small loans of twenty seven dollars to poor individuals running businesses in his home country of Bangladesh. The individuals to whom he loaned money did not have any financial resources and this prevented banks and other financial institutions from loaning to them. Shortly thereafter, the economist started a bank which loaned to the small business owners, and over the course of thirty years his bank has loaned a total of five billion dollars. Different groups across the world have carried the idea and started outlets allowing individuals and groups to loan microcredits; the lending of small amounts of money at low interest to entrepreneurs who are poor.

Approximately twice a month on Tuesday’s the YMCI meets here at WHS. The twenty members of the club gather around the computer in Ms. Piscia’s classroom and discuss how much money they can loan and to whom. The club uses Kiva.org, one of the nonprofit microcredit organizations which partners with many of the high school microcredit clubs around the country.

Kiva acts as the facilitator between organizations lending the money and the small entrepreneurs in countries throughout the world. All transactions take place via the Internet. The WHS YMCI has their own account on Kiva and once they decide to loan to a particular entrepreneur Kiva will forward the twenty five dollar loan to the entrepreneur. Kiva keeps track for the club how much of the loan has been paid back over time, and all of the money paid back is returned by Kiva to the club’s account. If the entrepreneurs pay back their loans on time they will be eligible to receive another loan from YMCI. Kiva only allows up to twenty five dollar loans to an entrepreneur at one time. This is to prevent one individual or a group from gaining power by being the primary source for loans.

Westborough High School’s version of this club was started when a parent of a student approached Ms. Piscia, a WHS Spanish teacher, and asked if she would oversee the start up of a YMCI club at WHS. Both Ms. Piscia and the parent believed it was and remains important that the students at Westborough High School understand the importance of being involved in activities where they give their time and don’t receive materialistic items in return.

Ms. Piscia emphasized, “There is absolutely nothing in it for the members except the good feeling of doing it for less fortunate people.” This aspect of giving is entrenched in everything YMCI does. Students pay twenty dollars to join YMCI. This is to make sure the club always has a surplus of money to loan and to buy the products they sell.

Currently, the Westborough High School YMCI has focused on loaning to entrepreneurs in Central America. The club has loaned to almost twenty entrepreneurs in over one year of existence. Loans have been made ranging from a gentleman running a taxi service in El Salvador to a woman running her own restaurant in Guatemala.

What YMCI promotes is the idea that the money is continually reused and never used by the group other than to make loans to entrepreneurs. This entire program is important because it allows the poor to support themselves and be productive members of society rather than turn towards illegal means in order to survive.

Lindsey Ward, a member of the club, says the best part of being involved in YMCI is that this club, “helps them [the entrepreneurs] be their own person.”

The YMCI wants to make more loans, and in order to do this they need to raise money. They primarily accomplish this by selling the items made by the entrepreneurs they have loaned to. It is a way to keep the cycle flowing because as a result of their products being sold in the United States the entrepreneurs gain new markets, and the money made from the sale of these items goes to new loans for the entrepreneurs, and these loans allows them to produce new goods. Items sold at the holiday sale and at homecoming ranged from bracelets, belts, and wallets to yarmulkes; a Jewish prayer hat. Overall the club made four hundred dollars on the holiday sale and during the year 2009 made $1200.

In the future the club hopes in a year or two they may be able to take a trip to Guatemala and meet the entrepreneurs to whom they have loaned money.

To find out more information about this unique club, take a trip down to Ms. Piscia’s room, B234, as new members are always welcomed.

CBC News was used as a source in this article.

www.cbc.ca/news/background/nobel/yunus-microcreditbank.html.