One and a half billion people across the world live in poverty, barely living on the equivalent of an American dollar a day. Professor Warner Woodworth, organizational leadership and strategy, said he calls these people the “hyper-poor.”

That group will be the focus of a PBS documentary, Small Fortunes: Microcredit and the Future of Poverty, premiering Thursday. The Economic Self-Reliance Student Association and the Center for Economic Self- Reliance will sponsor the documentary, which will highlight several individuals worldwide whose lives have changed because of a small loan from Microcredit.

Woodworth, who is also featured in the film, said he hopes students will realize they can make a difference in the world after seeing the documentary. He said he wants students to go home at Christmas, tell their parents Santa doesn’t need to bring more toys, and instead say, “Let’s adopt a village.”

“I want them to have a vision of how they can help build it [Microcredit] into a global movement,” Woodworth said.

Woodworth has dedicated himself to this idea of a global movement. He said once a billion of the “hyper-poor” are reached, then he’ll retire.

Before the filming officially began in 2003, a friend introduced director Matthew Whitaker to Muhammad Yunus in April 2003. Whitaker said he was “taken by his message of hope.” While meeting and filming Yunus, Whitaker said Yunus taught him being a human and living in poverty is a contradiction, and as soon as everyone gets on the same page, poverty can be eliminated.

Whitaker said this is one of the most important documentaries he has ever directed and hopes it will make a difference.

The loans given to the poor are not free gifts, Whitaker said. It’s not giving them a fish or even teaching them to fish.

“It’s helping them with a loan, so they can buy the fishing pole,” Whitaker said.

Senior John Mangum from Columbus, Ohio, worked with a Microcredit organization, Finka International, the summer of 2003 in Peru, Ecuador and Uganda, conducting poverty assessment surveys to see if the right people are helped. He said the experience changed his perspective of what he could do to help the poor worldwide.

“I really felt like I was learning something so valuable to me,” Mangum said. “It was just a real eye-opener to see what I wanted to do with my education and life.”

The main goal of the event is for students to meet and interact with practitioners, said Todd Manwaring, managing director of the Center for Economic Self-Reliance.

The premiere will be broadcast 7 p.m. in Room 251 of the TNRB. The DVD will be available for purchase at the event.

Following the premiere, a question and answer session will follow with Whitaker, Woodworth and representatives from Visayas Enterprise Foundation/EMI and Yehu Bank. A reception and booths with Engage Now and HELP International representatives will be available for students to find out about internships.



Copyright Brigham Young University 27 Oct 2005