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Sep 17, 2004
"Prayer carries us half way to God, fasting brings us to the door of his palace, and alms-giving procures us admission." --The Koran
New Kind of Alms-Giving
For a group of beggars, there's a new kind of alms-giving: a phone call. Grameen Bank, famous for pioneering micro-credit programs in Bangladesh, has introduced a new idea to empower the poor. It plans to arm beggars with mobile phones so they can sell a roving service for cash. Dipal Barua added, "We won't ask them to stop begging immediately but would encourage them to ask people they stretch hands to if they need to make a phone call."