CHAPTER 2 A Group Meeting

The following tale of a savings group meeting is a sketch drawn from many sources. The village Kouloukoura and its economy, environment, and social structures were crafted from a composite of villages in its region that have been closely studied by Oxfam America, Freedom from Hunger, Innovations for Poverty Action, and the University of Arizona’s Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology. The characters featured here are themselves composite sketches, drawn from case studies of and interviews with savings group members and data that indicates what a typical group in this area may look like, including its members’ livelihoods, family structures, and finances.