University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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(left) N ulic F irtman pauMf for a picture wllh Mr rii VWUr. J [xiiihidl uicmr pn lr«!Mtr itui the tliretior t l lit ' Berltrlev Institute (il Intenialiorul Studies After PtiriinAi) gj%e i prewntjtiim aUtut tilUge lunLin (fir Ie(t».W ' elHT mtNlrr ted 4 liviu%Miin Itetueen hrr and tlte iudiencr .ilxtut the need lor voung prtipir to get wilvcd in supporting muTofinancing. ( bc1(n% ' )Thc Bechtcl Engineering Building ' s Sibley Auditorium it I ' ursiing it the leams on Oct. I for ictreu Natalie Poriman ' i lecture I ' n village banking. Since 2003, Portman hi% vrvrd j Ainhiwjdor ot Mo|H- kir the lion profit foundation tor International C ' ommu nit -AvMNUiice (FINCA). HINCA iis the pioneer of village banking, a rnii.T( rman ce methodology in which reopicnt ol microloan% loan% is small a» SSO - form village bink ' to support one ,irii.it . r ni.»n.»,i. ill tunds, and resolve loan delinquency problems. jcDO ' e Dorges )eauty and brains .ctress draws attention to benefits of village banking I by Coiflm Green t ' s not evcrvdav that an c cnt in Siblcv .Auditorium generates a line around campus. But on Monday, Oct. 1, .several hundred students branched .outward from the Bechtel Engineering Buiidin! ear actress Natalie Portman talk about the power licTolending to alleviate global poxertv. ' ortman, who has plaved leading roles in films I as The Star Wars Trilogy, Garden State, Closer (earning her a Golden Globe .Award), garnered p pulari( lor both her beautv and ns. Telling reporters she ' d rather be smart than I movie star, she completed her bachelor ' s in rhologv at Harxard while working on the Star •s nims. She has also been politically involved I animal rights, environmental lauses and mm rolinance. ' orlman, 26, has served as Ambas.sador of Hope the non profit Foundation for International nmunitx .Assistance (TINCA) .since graduating from Harvard in 2003. Often called the World Bank for the Poor, FINCA is the pioneer ofvillage banking, a microllnance methodology in which recipients of microloans • loans as small as S50 lorm village banks to support one another, manage all funds, and resolve loan delincjuencv problems. Portman talked about her first-hand experience seeing women empowered through microllnance. .MIcrofinancing is a compelling way for people, especially women in poverty, to move out of poxertv, she .said, adding that women compri.sc 70 percent of the world ' s poor. They can form a village bank, ensure each other ' s loans, have meetings and pav the loans back once they ' re able to. Portman also noted that women involved in microfinance sav they receive greater respect Irom their husbands and children. You just see a whole situation that is able to change because of the idea that the poor should haxe access to banks, Portman said. It ' s not rags to riches, but it certainly is improving. Steven Weber, political science professor and director of UC Berkeley ' s Institute of International Studies, moderated a discussion between Portman and students about the need for voung people to get inxolved in supporting impoxerished communities around the xvorld. I xxas reallv scared that there xxould be a Star Wars fan and no one would be interested in mv cause, she told the audience, xvho xvere invited to ask questions. I admire vou all (or your passion and interest. Although some students thought Portman ' s celebrity status had more to do xxith the exent ' s popularitx than interest in microfinance, there ' s no better xxav Ut inxest xour celebrity than for a good cause , said freshman .Angela .Miller. Indeed, Portman ' s presentation resonated w ith many audience members. Freshman Rachel Whxte said, The message xxas that voung people can make a change. 29 ' ' ICO ' oik

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Class in session: village banking 101 NN HO? chartered in 1984, the Foundation for Intt-r- natiunil Community Anisunrc (FINCA) » a U.S. non profit muTi riiuni ■ ifiM tulii ii i .Mil ) ihjt pnnidcj nnoncijl srr vices to the worM - .r.-%t families lo liK can create their o«ti joju. eim extra in. .1 impnne their lining tan lanls. WHAT? 1 .,.,„ ogj ' . Among U.S. biscd i M . vilUgr banking i ar iuhlv miiTofinancc mclhodol- ' igrncics aionc ihcrt nv M least 31 MFIs that Juw colli rritcd mcr 400 ilUgc banking programs in at least 90 ci WHEN, WHERE? including iu 450.000 ex clients who ha%c graduated (n m iTedil to their own working capi tal (Mvings). since 1984 FINC wrvin-s havi- ht-nefited mer 750,000 clients iUr .u U 20,000 illage banks in 24 coun- tries on four continents In I .uin AnuTna tiKTc arc RNCA programs in Maiti. Mexico. Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Peru. In Africa: Uganda, Malawi, Tan- zania, Zambia. South Africa, and the IVmocratic Republic of the Ojngo. In Eastern Europe: Samara andTomsk (l»i prrnincca of Russia). Armenia. .Azerbaijan. Georgia, and KoMno. In Central Asia: K)Tg vstan. Uzbekistan, Taiikl lan, and Afghanistan. Uebb-e Bo ' g«i HOW 7 A village bank is an informal self-help support group of 20- 0 memlK rs, predominantly female heads of- houM-hold. If the prrtgram is on mivsion in a nr rmal village bank about 50% of all new members entering the program are ses-crely poor, representing families with a dailv per-capita ex- penditure (DPCE) of lew than US $ I ; the rest are mrxierately poor (DPCE = $I-2) or non poor (UPCE $2).7Tic»e women meet once a wrek in a member ' s home to avail them.selves of working capital loans, a safe place to save, skill training, men- toring, and motivation. Loam normally surt at S50$K)0 and arc repaid in WTckly installments oi-er four months. 28 feotures

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southern California up in flames Fires threaten students ' homes, famihes av Ih llri ' s l)uriu-il in Soulhi-rn Calilornij, mnri- than half ' a million acres wore torched .itnl more than UK), 000 pfopli- «iTi- cvac- uatcil across scM-n counties. Almost 5,000 structures ■ including over 2,000 homes ■ were de- stroyed, as more than I 5, (XX) firefighters and l.iOO fire engines were used in the containment ellorts. The fires started on Oct. 2 1 , when the driest brush in years erupted across SoCal with the help ol desert like Santa ni yyinds. Within the week, Goy. .Arnohl Schwar cncgger had declared seven counties in a state of emergency: Los . ngeles. Orange, Riyersicle, San Bernardino, San liiego, Santa Barbara and ' entura. President Bush also issued a partial federal declara- tion, which proyided federal a.ssistance for debris re moyal and emergency protection, including fire fight mg, evacuation operations and .sheltering of displaced people and animals. . ccording to the Office of Student Research, 7,886 of the Fall 2007 student population hailed from the seven counties in a state ( emergency. Slightly more than 1 ,000 were from San Diego County, w here the fires were at their worst. Many people who are part of the UC family have been displaced or other wise affected by the fires, said UC President Roln-rt Dvnes in a statement. 1 vvant them to know that they arc being thought of, and that the University will work to a.ssist them in every way possible. The office of Campus Life and Leadership also sent an email to students Irom affecte l areas t ffer- ing support services, ranging Irom counseling at the Tang Center to emergency loans from the Financial . i(l Office. ■As the fires worsened, students like freshman Keri Murphy said thev felt frustrated and hopeless. It ' s re- ally hard being away Irom home not knowing if your house is okay, ii your Iriends or lamily are okay, il their houses are okav, said Murphy, whose family lives in Ramona, in San Diego County. Other students like Murphy were attempting to cope yyith the situation lar avyay from home, many remaining anxious as thev awaited word on the safety of their loved ones and homes. There ' s nothing I can Story by Coitlin Green do about It II I llv down there, what am I supposed to do? said freshman Mona Zarka, who is from Irvine. For many, news could not lome fast enough. I feel Irustrateil just because the news is yery locused, the information is just on what ' s happening right now, but it ' s so big that they can ' t cover every aspect. said . turphv, who relied on her lamily lor inlormation. It ' s just frustratingbecau.se 1 want to know how Ra mona is being affected, and I lan ' t get that. The minds of several Cal athletes were also focused nil their homes and families. Throughout practice, it was hard lor some SoCal natives to concentrate on the their game, knowing that their homes stood helpless to the fire burning 400 miles south of Berkelcy. l was [at practice), but I was mentally off in my own little place, said women ' s soccer player Torrey Delaplane, who is from Valley Center, a small toven north ol San Diego. Practice helps you not really worry about it, becau.se it helps you not think about it. Further .south in San Diego County, the parents of women ' s golfer .Mlison Goodman, whose home is in Carmel Valley, had to evacuate twice. Meanwhile, the home of teammate .Andrea Waters was threatened, as the fires came one andahalf miles away Irom her Jamul, Calif., house, and of Bears quarterback Nate Longshore, whose backyard in Canyon Country, Ca- lif., was in flames. The stuff is just stufi, said Long shore, whose family moved back into the house. I ' m not really worried about the stuff, as long as everyone is sale or getting to a place vyhere it ' s safe. .Mthough Longshore said his concerns about the fires did not affect his preparation for upcoming games, Goodman and Waters both lound it dillu ult to get through practice rounds, . ndrea and I were definitely distraded just because it yvas getting closer and closer, said (loodman. Right before, I found out two ol my Irienils had lost their homes, so yesterday we were just concerned, thinking about a lot of things. It aflected our focus in practice. .Mthough thev did not opt to go home, a seryice ollered to atliletes by the university, it ' s really nice to know that you have support here and to know that vou have options, said Cioodman. ' ' s2 ». 30 feotures