Archive for May, 2007
Roxanne in Tanzania
Hi, I’m Roxanne Miller from San Francisco, CA. I am a Kiva Fellow volunteering this summer with Kiva’s partner Youth Self Employment Foundation (YOSEFO) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I arrived in Tanzania in the middle of May and will be working here until the beginning of August.
The first two weeks have been amazing and I’m learning so much from this experience. Swahili and English are the national languages of Tanzania but Swahili is much preferred over English, so I’m first trying to learn enough Swahili to hold a basic conversation and be able to navigate the city. Tanzanians learn English in secondary school and all university classes are taught in English, but not everyone had the opportunity to learn English or remembers the language. Luckily this language barrier hasn’t kept me from meeting Kiva entrepreneurs. Rodney Chubwa, the manager of the Kiva program for YOSEFO, has been serving as my translator. During our interviews it’s been easy to hear the enthusiasm in the voices of the Kiva entrepreneurs when they talk about their business, even if I can’t understand the words.
I am lucky to be living with four Tanzanian women in their home in a suburb of Dar es Salaam. They are sisters whose ages range from 23-31. I work with their aunt, Happy Sambega, at YOSEFO and she arranged for me to stay with them during my time here. I am learning so much about Tanzanian culture from them and they like to hear my stories about American culture as well. We watch cable TV together (American Idol is one of their favorite shows), cook dinner (I’m learning to cook East African meals and eat food with my right hand), and go shopping (the second hand clothing stores here are fantastic). Living someplace where you don’t speak the language can be isolating, but with my roommates I don’t feel lonely. A few weeks into the trip the only thing I find myself really missing is Mexican food. The grocery stores here don’t stock tortillas or black beans; I did find a bottle of El Paso salsa, but it cost $7 USD!
I’m looking forward to sharing with you more about living in Dar es Salaam, working with YOSEFO and meeting Kiva entrepreneurs this summer. Tutaonana! (Goodbye in Swahili)
Liz in Azerbaijan
Hi, I’m Liz Vallette and I’m from Houston, Texas. I just arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan last Friday to work as a Kiva Fellow with Normicro. Normicro has 5 branches throughout Azerbaijan that serve internally displaced (IDPs) and low-income persons. I was lucky to show up right as the branches are having their annual General Assemblies.
Normicro has a unique structure that allows the customers to have a role in the governance of the organization. Each branch has an elected advisory council made up of three male clients and three female clients that meet monthly to review operations and financial figures. Each year, all of the clients gather to hear about Normicro’s progress and to vote for new councils members. Yesterday I went to Khachmaz where about 130 clients attended the annual General Assembly. Today I went to the General Assembly today in Aghsu, attended by about 75 clients. Tomorrow I am traveling to Beylagan for that branch’s General Assembly. Finally, next week I will begin visiting with individual clients and posting journals!
I’m staying in Baku with a terrific host family that I met through a contact at my university. I have my own room, more food than I should be eating, and easy access to the Baku Metro. I traveled to the Normicro branches in cars – and I should point out that driving here is much more of an adventure than back home.
Speaking of driving, the head of Normicro thought it would be a good idea if I drove for a little while on our way to Khachmaz yesterday. Since we were well beyond the congested streets of Baku, I took him up on the offer. I jumped into the driver’s seat and realized that it was a manual transmission. I’m embarrassed to say it, but I don’t really know how to drive a stick. He was totally nonplussed and said he’d teach me…as we drove. I made a feeble protest about licenses and police to which he responded, “Police won’t stop a woman.” So we were off, with me working the pedals and him shifting. After a little while, he made the observation that our joint driving was like the Kiva – Normicro partnership J
Dalia in Togo
My name is Dalia Palchik and I’m the Kiva Fellow currently volunteering in Togo with Microfund Togo. I’ve been here since the end of April and will be staying through the end of May. I will be posting my new blog posts here, and to see my previous entries you can also visit my personal blog located at: http://www.lodedalia.blogspot.com.
16 May 2007
This picture was taken yesterday in the market with the last client that I visited who resells “gari,” tapioca, rice and beans in the market. I wanted to buy some tapioca from her, but she very generously offered it as a gift, so I also gave her a small gift I had brought with me from the US. She was very sweet and even helped me locate the women selling cloths so I could buy one that I wanted.
I can’t believe it’s already May 16…I leave in exactly two weeks from today. The time went by very slowly at first, but now it’s flying by…and the rains are here to stay. I’m supposed to be going to another city, and we were going to stay there with the director, but tomorrow is another holiday her (l’Ascension), so we will be returning tonight. I’m not sure how much I will get to do in the rain today, but I’m guessing I will at least get to see some clients who live inside the city. This work really takes much more time and is more tiring than I’d expected, but going out to the small poor village is the most rewarding as well.
I think the one thing that I really regret, and that I’d said to myself I wouldn’t do again when I was traveling through Eastern Europe, is to be in a country where I don’t at least partially speak the language. Of course I speak French, and that is the official language here. But the unofficial and the language used in the vernacular is Ewe, and I’ve been very slow to pick it up. I can basically say and understand good morning and thank you, but everything else is rusty. This basically means that I miss out on most of the daily conversations, and am often asking what’s been said (which I’m sure must get tiring after a while). People are very nice, however, and today I’m wearing an outfit the mom got me, and it’s very pretty and keeps me cool. Next week I will try to go get some clothes tailored.
Well, not much else for now. I’m getting very used to being here and I’m very happy that the motorcycle present is working out. Thank you to all who have already donated money, I know we have passed the $600 mark and the first bike has already been purchased. The second bike should be ready by next week (it takes me a few days to take the money out of my account). To make a donation for the motorcycle gift to Microfund Togo: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr
(Photo: Women making the local dish Fou Fou by pounding cooked cassava root in the market.)
Best wishes to all.
Dalia
