Inspired by true events, One Hen tells the story of Kojo, a boy from Ghana who turns a small loan into a thriving farm and a livelihood for many. After his father died, Kojo had to quit school to help his mother collect firewood to sell at the market. When his mother receives a loan from some village families, she gives a little money to her son. With this tiny loan, Kojo buys a hen. A year later, Kojo has built up a flock of 25 hens. With his earnings Kojo is able to return to school. Soon Kojo's farm grows to become the largest in the region. Kojo's story is inspired by the life of Kwabena Darko, who as a boy started a tiny poultry farm just like Kojo's, which later grew to be the largest in Ghana, and one of the largest in west Africa. Kwabena also started a trust that gives out small loans to people who cannot get a loan from a bank. One Hen shows what happens when a little help makes a big difference. This help comes in the form of a microloan, a lending system for people in developing countries who have no collateral and no access to conventional banking. Microloans have begun to receive more media attention in recent years. In 2006 Muhammad Yunus, a Bangledeshi economist who pioneered microloan banking, won the Nobel Peace Prize.The final pages of One Hen explain the microloan system and include a list of relevant organizations for children to explore.
Katie Smith Milway, winner of the 2009 Massachusetts Best Book for Children Award and 2009 Children's Africana Book Award, for One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference, is on a quest to bring world issues to elementary and middle school children. She continued her quest in Fall 2010 with the launch of a new book that introduces kids to the concept of food security and how each of us, at any age, can combat global hunger. Her new book is titled The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough, set in the Honduran hillsides.
When not writing children's books, Katie is a partner in Boston with nonprofit and philanthropy advisor The Bridgespan Group. She also serves on the board of World Vision USA, has coordinated community development programs in Latin America and Africa for Food for the Hungry International and was a delegate to the 1992 Earth Summit. She has written several adult books on sustainable development, including The Human Farm: A Tale of Changing Lives and Changing Lands (Kumarian Press, 1994), which documented the work of sustainable agriculture pioneer Don Elias Sanchez (role model for The Good Garden's teacher).
Katie is also cofounder with SapientNitro of award-winning website http://www.onehen.org and the financial literacy nonprofit it supports, One Hen Inc., which aims to equip elementary and middle school students to become social entrepreneurs. In Fall 2010, One Hen, Inc. launched its second website, www.thegoodgarden.org
Prior to moving to Bridgespan in 2008, Katie served as editorial director and founding publisher at Bain & Co. A graduate of Stanford University, The Free University of Brussels and INSEAD, Katie spent a decade working in and around more than a dozen countries in Africa and Latin America on sustainable development projects, including village banking, food security, primary health care, water resourcing and education.
