Hey everyone!

I've really been appreciating the comments on my blog. It was my hope that this site would generate discussion and allow people to voice their opinions freely. It's also nice to hear from all of you back home and around the world. So please keep it up!!! The only thing I ask is that people keep their comments respectful and sign their name to them. Other than that, please say what's on your mind and in your heart.

As to the question of my potential impact here in Mozambique, I am under no assuption that I will see monumental changes within the microfinance industry during my short six month term in the country. I am also certainly not coming to this country with the assumption that I have all of the answers for these microfinance institutions (MFIs) working with this difficult issue of HIV/AIDS. My job, however, is to continue to pressure these MFIs to take this issue seriously in their operations and begin to implement programs and policies that are feasible and appropriate within the current working environment. I am also taking a realistic approach to my work here, realising that it takes time to build the momentum required for change as well as the work of many, many hands.

It is encouraging to see the many hands here in Mozambique that are working in the areas of HIV/AIDS and microfinance and it is a blessing and an honour for me to be a part of this worthwhile cause. I am here to learn as much as I am to work, as well as listen as much as I am to share. It is my hope that the products of my research can eventually lend themselves to a greater body of work being done on HIV/AIDS and microfinance in Mozambique as well as in other severly affected countries in the world. I feel a calling to this type of work right now and a responsibility to utilize my talents in this area. I work with humility, knowing that the road here is still long and difficult and that my time here in Mozambique will be over before many of these changes will be visible.