Inside, the children were helping their mother make pinatas with the proceeds of a $50 loan they had received from donors to EMI.

When he had finished his visit, Rivas found the visiting girl crying outside, unable to comprehend how the family was able to live in such conditions. He told her their lives had been vastly improved because the loan had allowed the family to buy supplies to make the pinatas, which they sold to boost their income.

When the girl returned home, she was so excited about what the small loans were doing for EMI clients that she managed to raise $50,000 at her high school to help other EMI clients.

"If one girl can do that," Rivas said, "everyone can do something to help."

Through 1994, EMI had loaned $11.8 million worldwide to 62,051 people at an average of $190 each, with a cumulative repayment rate of 95.3 percent.

"This proves that the poor are credit-worthy and they save," Guanzon said. Among the more than 10,000 current clients in the Philippines, they have accumulated a total savings base of 22 million pesos, or about $400,000. At that rate, "in a few more years, they would have enough saved to capitalize a bank."

For more information, go to www.enterprise-mentors.org.

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com