Muhammad Yunus

Usually, when we think of heroes who fight for peace, we have in mind brave soldiers who stand up against aggressors, or presidents who sign peace agreements with their neighbours, or preachers who persuade their people to give up violence.

We don’t usually think of bankers or economists.

So, most people did not expect the 2006 Nobel Prize for Peace to be awarded to Mr. Muhammad Yunus.

However, people who know about his work say that he truly deserves this award.

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. Mr. Yunus realized that one way to help people was to lend them money so that they could start small businesses. He had great faith in the people. He believed that if you gave them the chance, most of them would succeed. They would earn enough money to improve their lives – and pay back the money they had borrowed.

Yunus in rural Bangladesh

Others use it to buy a cow so that they can make money from its milk.
One group of women bought mobile phones with the money they borrowed. Nobody else in their villages had telephones. So, the “telephone ladies” provided a public telephone service for money.

No wonder Bangladeshis treat Mr. Yunus like a hero and are not surprised that he’s getting the Nobel Peace Prize.

However, he says that it’s the ordinary people who have made Grameen Bank a success. “You look at the tiniest village, and the tiniest person in that village: a very capable person, a very intelligent person,” he says. “You have only to create the proper environment to support these people so that they can change their own lives.”