MicroLoan Foundation Australia celebrates first birthday of Malawi office and 2500th loan with a concert in Sydney featuring our patron Simon Tedeschi
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 | Uncategorized
At 7pm on Thursday 22nd July at the beautiful Francis Greenway designed St James Church in the Sydney CBD, world renowned classical pianist, Simon Tedeschi will be joined on stage by his friends Kevin Hunt and Mariia Gorkun, to perform a concert in aid of the MicroLoan Foundation.
Simon is one of Australia’s most gifted pianist who is now based in Boston. He has performed all over the world with many great orchestras and performers.
He will be joined on stage by Kevin Hunt, the well-known Sydney jazz and classical pianist, and Mariia Gorkun, an amazing violinist from the Ukraine and a Masters of Music candidate at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA.
The concert will help raise funds for, as well as awareness of, the work that the MicroLoan Foundation Australia does in Malawi to help some of the world’s poorest women start and run small businesses and support themselves.
Tickets are a mere $35 and are currently available online at Moshtix – book via this link:
http://www.moshtix.com.au/event.aspx?id=37749&ref=moshtix
MicroLoan Foundation Australia CEO, Clive Hughes thanked Simon for his generous gift of his time, as well as his ongoing involvement with the organisation,
“We are absolutely delighted that Simon and his friends have made time in their busy schedules to put this concert on for us. Simon has been enthusiastic supporter of MicroLoan ever since he agreed to become our Patron more than a year ago.
I think a lot of people have become very cynical about the ‘aid’ that the West gives to many countries in need. Many feel that much of the money is either wasted or subject to corruption.
Simon and I both recognize the great thing about MicroLoan is that every dollar raised in Australia ends up being lent directly to poor women in Malawi so they can set up their own little businesses, to generate extra income to help them lift themselves out of poverty. The model we use must be working, as more than 99% of all the money we lend is paid back and re-lent to other self motivated women.
MicroLoan is unapologetic that it only helps those that wish to help themselves.
And, if the poor could eradicate poverty for themselves, then we wouldn’t need to provide so much international aid, and our children might even benefit from the new demand created from these developing countries, in the same way we are currently enjoying a resources boom caused by China increasing demand to reduce poverty in its own country.
Having seen Simon and Kevin perform before I cannot wait to see them on stage in the wonderful acoustics of St James Church.”
MicroLoan Foundation Australia Chairman and Founder, Brian Keen goes on to say,
“We are very proud that our first office opened in Mulanje in Malawi in May last year and is now fully operational, with two lending officers at any one time servicing over 500 individual loans to women living in the rural areas of the 10th poorest country of the world.
In fact in our first 12 months we have now made over 2,500 loans! These women look after more than 10,000 dependents including 2,500 orphans.
They have set up a myriad little businesses from baking, to brewing, to chicken sales, to knitting, to selling potatoes, to making fritters to even running a hair salon.”
The average loan at the Mulanje office is just $80, but the average savings for each client is now up to $15.
Profits made are used by the women to support their families, be it to put more food on the table, send their kids to school, improve their basic medical care, or just stop the leaks in their mud huts when the rainy season starts.
I encourage everyone to make it on 22nd July as it will be a wonderful evening – Simon, Kevin and Mariia will make a fantastic combination.”
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July 1, 2010