A PROPOSAL

A year ago today I received a marriage proposal.

I was in Ghana to see Mission Resource’s work firsthand and to see if small loans really can make profound impacts.

Koko, I would learn, was a widow whose husband's death left her a single mother of 7 daughters and 1 son. Still, she radiated joy and good humor.

Minutes after our introduction, Koko - with a wide smile and mischievous eyes - asked if I would marry her.

When I replied I was already happily married, she said she was OK with that if my “first wife” was!

She was making light of a common mindset in the developing world: "If only I could find someone to take me away from all my hardship." I knew young ladies who went home after a week in Haiti with 3 or 4 proposals - every one of them much more serious than Koko's toward me. 

In reality, Koko knows the survival of her family can’t depend on wishful thinking.

Each morning she is up by 6:30 getting her kids off to school and preparing to spend her day either smoking fish or selling them in the marketplace.

The challenge for women like Koko is NOT the willingness to work hard, it’s finding the cash it takes to construct a smoking pit and buy that first boatload of fish!

And that's why I returned from Ghana more enthusiastic than ever about the vital work Mission Resource is doing through microfinance. Our loans become a literal godsend to so many people like Koko!

I love my work.