AS A CHILD, I saw that my mother was always surrounded by poor neighbors she helped and advised. And there was one poor woman who lived very close to our house who had a child about my age. And we not only played; we worked together picking up leftover grains in the field. An hour or so of work, an hour or so of play, and I would pick up grains and give them to him. His collection would be double the size because he had a friend doing it with him. I never felt that we were in any way different. But as I grew up, I saw the distance grow because I went to school and he dropped out very quickly.

[IN 1969,] I TAUGHT A SUMMER COURSE IN BOULDER, COLORADO, and it was kind of the hippie capital of the world. It was striking for me coming from Bangladesh to see these hippies reject everything. Their parents were very rich, but they lived like street beggars. You see them and wonder, what satisfaction does one get from enjoying all the wealth in the world and rejecting it? Even when they can touch it anytime they want?

[BEFORE GRAMEEN BANK,] the conventional banks not only rejected poor people, they rejected women of all economic levels. I wanted to make sure that 50 percent of the borrowers in my program were women. And as I talked to women, they said, “No, no, give it to my husband. I have no idea what to do with money.” So, it was a big struggle. It’s the voice of the fear that we have generated from centuries of neglect and scare tactics.

TODAY, THE UNITED STATES has taken a position that the world cannot understand. You see what a difference one leader makes.

ECONOMIC THEORY DID THE WRONG THING by imagining human beings as money-making robots. If economics is to be useful to the world, it must start by acknowledging that human beings are also interested in helping other people.

ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF BANGLADESH’S TERRITORY is less than 1 meter above sea level. We’re trying to help the poor get out of poverty, but then what? Global warming will ruin their lives? Is that what we’re working for?

I WOULD BE REALLY HAPPY if I didn’t have to go into [politics]. Because of the circumstances, I thought that if I didn’t do it, people would always say, you abandoned the country. So, I tried. And I very soon came to the conclusion that it’s not the type of work I want to do.

Muhammad Yunus, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, is the founder of the Grameen Bank.

• For the original Epiphanies interview that appeared in the January/February 2008 issue of FP, click here.
  
• For additional Web extras from the January/February 2008 issue of FP, click here.