IRC

THE PERILS OF ORGANIZING CREDIT UNIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The perils of organizing credit unions in remote areas of the world could be daunting. Missionaries carried the credit union idea as an instrument of social justice to native peoples of Africa, Latin America and the Pacific islands. In doing so, they faced the frustrations of dealing with prejudiced government officials who were convinced that no "native" could "manage" anything, and especially not money. Then there were the loan sharks, who were not above using violence to protect the monopoly they held on the local money lending business. Finally, there was at least the potential of violating some local taboo with dire consequences. But, despite these difficulties, the missionaries continued to preach credit unions along with faith to the people they served.

One of the first of these missionary credit unionists to brave the perils was Marion M. Ganey, S.J. He went to British Honduras in 1943 and found the activity of loan sharks there so repugnant that he immediately began a search for some means to alleviate the plight of their victims. He discovered that some of them were charging interest rates of 100% per month. A farmer who borrowed 35 pounds for implements had paid one-third of his crop to a shark for eight years and still owed hundreds of pounds in interest. To Father Ganey, such conditions were intolerable. In his research for a solution, he discovered the credit union.

Part of his mission became a practical program to educate the people in managing their own finances, giving them control over their own economic future. Government red tape to obtain legislation for credit unions was frustrating. Fortunately, Sir Ronald Garvey, the governor-general of Honduras, understood and supported the concept of credit unions, and he assisted Father Ganey in getting the necessary legislation passed. The first credit union, St. Peter Claver, opened in Punta Gorda in 1943. A local loan shark vigorously objected and suggested to the bishop that Father Ganey should be stopped as an "imposter." "I have looked everywhere in the Christian Bible," he told the bishop, "and nowhere do I find the words, ‘credit union.’" Over the next decade, Ganey established other credit unions in Honduras which had a significant impact on reducing the activity of loan sharks.

When Sir Ronald Garvey became the governor of Fiji in 1953, one of his first acts was to write the Superior General of the Jesuit Order in Rome requesting that Father Ganey be assigned to Fiji. Just getting to Fiji proved to be a difficult task. Ganey finally shipped his car to New Orleans and made a hurried trip to his home state of Illinois. There he found a sponsor to finance the remaining part of his journey to Fiji.

The territory of Fiji was composed of more than 100 islands spread over 100,000 square miles in the Pacific. Armed with literature and the movie "King’s X" from CUNA, Father Ganey finally arrived at Bishop’s Court in Suva, the capital of Fiji. Welcomed by Bishop Victor Foley and Sir Ronald Garvey, Ganey soon began to comprehend something of the size of the task he was undertaking.

In Fiji, as in Honduras, many small borrowers were at the mercy of loan sharks. One young man borrowed 10 pounds to buy a wedding suit and had repaid 44 pounds in interest without even touching the principal. The native custom of kare-kare—the giving away of possessions to anyone who wanted them—also proved an obstacle to sound financial management. Clearly, credit unions were desperately needed, but organizing them was not going to be easy.

Father Ganey wrote of the difficulties he faced with candor and good humor. Again, frustrations with government red tape, officials who obstructed progress for little reason, bankers too important to consider assisting the project, native customs that must be observed at all cost—all presented obstacles to the priest in his rounds from village to village preaching credit unions. There was, however, valuable assistance as well. Garvey helped him deal with the government. In one of his first village meetings he encountered a village chief, Joane Naisara, who was educated at Cambridge University in England and who instantly grasped the importance of the credit union for his people. He agreed to act as interpreter and assistant to Father Ganey in his travels. In one month the two of them made a strenuous tour of the islands and then returned to Suva where Father Ganey organized the first credit union among a group of Samoans who had settled there.

Organizing a credit union in Fiji was a social enterprise. The whole village turned out, and the event required a celebration. Seated on grass mats, the guests were treated to a feast, and drank cava, a native concoction, from a shallow, carved wooden bowl that was passed around many times. The villagers performed native dances and entertained the guests with spear-throwing contests and simulated hunts. Only after the entertainment could Ganey and Naisara get down to the business of explaining the credit union.

At one of Father Ganey’s first presentations, the village chief announced that his grandfather had cooked and eaten a Baptist missionary for breaking a village taboo. A little disconcerted, Father Ganey looked around at the gathering of spears. "Then," he wrote with a touch of humor, "the chief and I decided to let by-gones be by- gones" and got on with the meeting. But, he was careful to observe all village customs.

The idea of credit unions appealed to the Fijians. Ganey stressed over and over that "credit unions are for everybody" and made sure that a strong educational program was put in place to ensure that the operation of the credit union was properly understood and followed. Every credit union meeting, every loan consideration was a village affair, taking hours to deliberate and accompanied by great celebration. Father Ganey became a much-loved and sought-after guest. Songs were composed and stories told about his victory over the loan shark. In one village, a son born to a local chief on the day the credit union was organized was named "Marion Father Ganey Credit Union" in honor of the occasion.

As the number of credit unions grew in the islands, Father Ganey and Joane Naisara organized the Fiji Credit Union League and Naisara served as the first managing director. A jeep was purchased for getting over the rough terrain since roads were few and not well maintained.

Officials made the rounds of the villages to inspect the books, answer questions and help solve problems. The arrival of the "mobile credit union" was again a great occasion for the villagers, and if Father Ganey were aboard, the celebration escalated in response.

Recognizing that education was the key to the safety and soundness of credit unions, Father Ganey stressed that importance over and over again. In October 1964, the first training program opened at the Roy F. Bergengren Credit Union Training Center in Suva. A new building for the center was completed and dedicated on March 14, 1970. Mrs. Gladys Bergengren made the long journey to Fiji to attend the dedication.

What had begun as a six-month stay in Fiji for Father Ganey continued into years. Unfortunately, most of his papers were destroyed by his family, but the CUNA archives contains a small portion of his correspondence with credit union officials which makes interesting and entertaining reading. Most of the letters were to Charles F. Eikel, Jr. of CUNA Mutual. There are also a few in the Bergengren correspondence.

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