Sarah Grant and friends in Zambia in 2008.

Sarah Grant ’00 recently returned to Hyde-Woodstock to meet with John Rigney’s senior English class, share her experiences in Zambia, and highlight a few of the defining moments that helped inspire her to found Color Me In, a non-profit organization that administers micro-loans to small African businesses. One memory stood out for her. “I was teaching young school children in Kananda, a small rural village in the Northern Part of the country 5km from the nearest town. One day I asked the children in my class to draw what people use trees for, and I noticed many were drawing small boxes. It struck me pretty hard when I found out they were coffins. I learned from experiences like that how much I wanted to help these children and their families have a better future.”

Sarah with her brother Jesse in 2009.

After graduating from Dickinson College, Sarah joined the Peace Corps in 2005 and lived and worked in a village in Zambia sponsored by an international relief organization. “Here was a community of people—people with all this amazing potential—who were stuck in a grinding cycle of dependence and poverty.” When Sarah returned to the U.S. in 2007, she felt her job wasn’t done. “My experience with the Peace Corps made me realize that what I really wanted to do was empower the people in these villages with the skills they needed to change their lives.” Grant returned to Zambia in 2008 and lived once again in the rural areas working with women’s clubs, local schools and visiting her old village in the North. Returning to the US, Sarah’s initial goal of helping her Zambian village to build a school quickly turned to more sustainable thoughts about a program which would empower people to continually generate the income that they needed to build their own schools and address their own needs, while also addressing the deep issue of deforestation in the country.

Color Me In, or CMI, works by pairing micro-loans for small business development in Zambia with local tree plantings. Grant explained, “Village clubs who do not typically have access to micro-loans can take out a small amount of credit with no collateral required and pay it back by planting trees. In a country decimated by deforestation, planting a single tree can make a big difference.”

Sarah calls this process “green lending.” “Let’s say a women’s group or farming club applies for a loan with CMI in conjunction with a volunteer partner organization on the ground. After submitting a business plan and budget, the group receives a loan and can satisfy up to 75% of their debt by planting trees - one tree per 50 cents borrowed. The group can pay back the remaining 25% to CMI or reinvest that payment into their community. For example, one women’s club who borrowed $1,000 to begin a poultry enterprise forwarded $200 to an organization helping widows, orphans and differently-abled community members. By “paying forward” part of their loan, that women’s club helped the Kaskota Social Care for the Vulnerable open its doors to its first 55 clients.”

Grant credits her Hyde experience with much of the drive and determination she needed to explore her passion and ultimately found the non-profit organization CMI. “At Hyde I learned through experience to view challenge and risk as good things —things which can help me to feel good at the end of the day and pave a path to feel good about what I am doing in the world. I always say that if I had not gone to Hyde then I would have still excelled at sports in high school, gone to a good college and maybe even done the Peace Corps, but it is highly unlikely that I would have taken the risks that I’ve needed to create a purpose-driven life.”

To learn more about Color Me In!, current groups who are seeking support for a loan and the Green Loan concept, please visit: www.colormein.org