We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky

A deeply reported work of journalism that explores the promises and perils of global microfinance, told through the eyes of those who work in small-scale lending and of women borrowers in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

In the mid-1970s, Muhammad Yunus, an American-trained Bangladeshi economist, met a poor female stoolmaker who needed money to expand her business. In an act known as the beginning of microfinance, Yunus lent $27 to 42 women, hoping small credit would help them to pull themselves out of poverty. Soon, Yunus's Grameen Bank was born, and, very small but often high-interest loans for poor people took off. In 2006, Yunus and the Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize.

But there's a problem with this story. There are mounting concerns that these small loans are as likely to bury poor people in debt as they are to pull them from poverty, with borrowers facing consequences such as jail time and forced land sales. Hundreds have even reportedly committed suicide.

What happened? Did microfinance take a wrong turn, or was microfinance flawed from the beginning?

We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky is a story about unintended consequences, blind optimism, and the decades-long ramifications of seemingly small policy choices, rooted in the stories of women borrowers in Sierra Leone. Kardas-Nelson asks- What happens when a single, financially focused solution to global inequity ignores the real drivers of poverty? Who stands to benefit and, more importantly, who gets left behind?

'A keen examination of the rise and fall in popularity of the microfinance loan system ... This thoughtful deep dive into the world of microfinance is both educative and heartbreaking.'
-Kirkus Reviews

'Through a dazzling, superbly paced combination of astute history and on-the-ground observation in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Mara Kardas-Nelson holds the claims of microfinance up to the light. I wish that every new idea touted as the solution to the world's problems had such a thoughtful and compassionate examination.'
-Adam Hochschild, bestselling author of American Midnight and King Leopold's Ghost

'What happens to money loaned to extremely poor people? Who gains and who loses? In her exhaustively researched tour de force, Mara Kardas-Nelson explodes myths - in some cases, lies - bringing tough truths to microfinancing, high-interest loans, and even the Nobel Prize. We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky should be mandatory reading for everybody looking for solutions to extreme poverty.'
-Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Betrayal of Trust- the collapse of global public health