The House on the Corner
The story of the people in live in a house near mine.

There is a sense of mystery with this house, simply because I do not know who lives here, for I have never met anybody from this house, not a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, not even a cat or a dog. I do not know why I have not encountered anyone who resides within these walls, I merely live down the street and up the hill from this home where the sculptor and his wife live. I think it might be better to consider this a home instead of a house, after all people do live in it, I am sure of this. If no one lived here, who would put the two neon tubes of light, one colored red and the other green, out each Christmas, or plant the towering sunflowers on the side of the road, or mow the small patch of grass in the front. It must be the sculptor and his wife.

Why do I assume a sculptor lives here, I often wonder, and the only reason I can recollect is that one of my parents once told me that he was, in fact, a sculptor. There is only one other sign of this, the pieces of metal that have been welded and molded together with other pieces of metal to form the ever changing figures that often sit outside the residence.

I have never seen a vehicle pull out of the garage or parked on the side of the road next to the house, I think perhaps they might walk around or ride a bike around town, and when I see them it is not apparent that they reside within this home.

Perhaps one day I might meet them, learn who they are, find out what they did with their lives, and hear some lengthy stories over a cup of tea in the garden they have atop their home, on the roof of this red brick home, with green plants clinging to its side, a garage door with something behind it, and the metal sculptures standing proudly in front of the house on the corner.

Microfinancing
Research Paper on the Position of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is located in the Middle East and and is the location where Islam was born. This makes it home to the two large shrines in Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia has been a member of the United Nations since the year 1945 and has a government that is a monarchy. The countries economy is based mainly on oil and is looking to grow the private sector to move away from being dependent on oil. It joined the World Trade Organization in the year 2005 in order to find invest from the international community. Also, the government of the United States has sold more than $39.6 billion of military sales to the Saudi Arabia.

In the country of Saudi Arabia there are more than 443,000 poor households that would benefit from microfinance programs. In the year 2003, Saudi Arabia took part in the First Annual Conference of SANBEL, which discussed microfinance in the Arab countries. They are also members of the Microfinance Network of Arab Countries. This organization focuses on training, information exchange and transparency. Microfinancing is occurring in Saudi Arabia through the Adbul Latif Jameel Company in partnership with the Grameen Foundation. This initiative is helping low income woman to become entrepreneurs and sell the goods that they produce. A competition held by the SANBEL Network declared one of the winners the Adbullatif Jameel Program of Saudi Arabia for “innovative thinking, business skills, and having played an instrumental role in improving the likelihood of families advancing in their communities” through microfinance. Overall, microfinance is a growing trend in the country of Saudi Arabia that still needs to figure out the direction in which to grow more.

The country would not benefit from for-profit microfinance due to several reasons. The first one is the restrictions of how much someone can earn from income. The second reason is investors lack of confidence to invest in the country, along with the high risk. Each is due to Saudi Arabia being located in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia proposes that we work on a a non-profit model for microfinance. Furthermore, the country would benefit from directing microfinancing towards females in order to assist them with becoming entrepreneurs. The moral issue also comes into play, the country does not believe it is right to profit off of the poor, whether it be in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere. In closing, Saudi Arabia would like to see microfinance run as a non-profit system of be run by the government, thus benefiting the citizens the most.