Archive for August 17th, 2008
Patan Business and Professional Women Photos
A few of P-BPW’s borrowers.
A regular borrower’s group meeting.
Borrowers making payments with loan officer.
1 comment 17 August 2008
Ms. Rita
Field visits are by far the best part about being a Kiva Fellow. You’re given the opportunity to hop on a motorbike, hike up a village trail, and actually see the impact of a Kiva loan firsthand.
While this is indeed an incredible experience, after a few weeks of checking in on chicken farmers and vegetable vendors, you begin to think you’ve seen the extent of microfinance’s impact: a few new chickens or vegetables, a small increase in profit margins, etc.
But then you meet someone like Ms. Rita…
Ms. Rita Bashnet lives in the village of Bhatkepati, a small rural development on the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley. Five years ago, Ms. Rita took her first loan of NRs. 10,000 (USD $150) and purchased some extra seed and fertilizer in the hopes of expanding her small vegetable patch. With the profits from this initial investment and a second loan from Patan Business and Professional Women (they offer a graduated loan program), she then purchased her first dairy cow.
Most dairy cows in Nepal give about 6 liters of milk per day. At about USD $0.50 per liter, Ms. Bashnet hoped that this additional revenue would allow her to further diversify her family’s income. The investment paid off and, with her small savings and the funds provided by the new cow, Ms. Rita purchased a van for her husband, which he now uses to ferry passengers from the village to the more central urban areas of the capital.
From an initial loan of USD $150, Ms. Rita had managed to expand her vegetable operation, purchase a cow, and provide her husband with a job. But Ms. Rita still had more plans…
Kathmandu has long been plagued by fuel shortages that force people to wait up to three weeks for a single cylinder of cooking gas. With deforestation a serious concern throughout the country, many are forced to either further contribute to this environmental problem or use fuel sources such as small brush and trash that are both inefficient and fill small, poorly ventilated homes with heavy black smoke. After hearing about a program that subsidized the installation of methane gas storage tanks, Ms. Rita took another loan and applied for the program. With this new system, she is now able to capture the valuable gas released from her cow’s waste in a simple controlled-release storage tank. Today she no longer purchases gas from the city and can even sell some during times of shortage. With a smart investment, Ms. Rita was able to meet her own energy needs while increasing the income-generating potential of her previous investment.
With her gardens producing healthy vegetables, her husband employed, and her cow producing valuable milk and fuel, Ms. Rita recently took a final loan of NRs. 30,000 (USD $475). This loan has been used to purchase a high-yielding jersey cow that Ms. Rita reports is now producing a whopping 20+ liters of milk each day. This new investment has already proven so fruitful that the Bashnet family has begun construction on a new home on their property.
Ms. Rita exemplifies the potential of microfinance. A combination of access to capital and strategic investment has allowed her and her family to drastically improve their economic situation in a short five years. On the day I visited her farm, she fed me cucumber from her fields, milk (heated on her methane stove) from her new cow, and gave me a tour of her nearly-completed home.
See photos below:
Ms. Rita's old home.
The Bashnet family.
8 comments 17 August 2008
Playing Catch Up.
I should have been a better blogger.
After two months in the field as a Kiva Fellow, I have now returned home to speedy internet, reliable electricity, and a slightly more predictable daily schedule. So, from my comfortable desk with my cup of coffee, I will now try to make up for a less than prolific blogging history.
It can be hard to convey the sights, sounds, challenges, and small victories that are experienced in the field, but here I will attempt to pass along a few stories that might give others a better understanding of Kiva Fellows and the field partners that so kindly put up with us.
Waiting for that elusive internet connection...
During my fellowship, I was posted in Kathmandu, Nepal, where I worked with Kiva’s first and only Nepali field partner, Patan Business and Professional Women. Over the course of two months I completed 150+ field visits and had the opportunity to experience and document the success of this small, but quickly growing, MFI.
In these catch up blogs, I will…
1) Present photo and video documentation of borrower group meetings and individual interviews.
2) Present a few short stories that demonstrate both the success and challenges of microfinance in Nepal.
3) Present a small picture of what it’s like to live and work in Kathmandu.
Coming soon….
Add comment 17 August 2008
Bolivin´ at high altitude
During Kiva orientation, we each had to name our biggest fears about the fellowship. I said I was nervous about not fitting in—I’d learned to adapt pretty well while living in Chile for a year and on my best day I could pass for Chilean, but I knew living in Bolivia would be another story. As soon as I set foot in El Alto, however, I realized how silly my worries were as this fear was immediately eclipsed by another—the constant feeling that I was about to be run over by a minibus.
El Alto is a really vibrant, mostly indigenous Aymara city on a plateau above the valley of La Paz. The neighborhood I’m living in is called La Ceja (“the eyebrow”) because it’s perched right on the rim, about to spill into the city valley. I’ve never seen so much life packed into so little space before—virtually all of my needs can be met without going outside of the two square-block radius around my hostel. Buses to anywhere in Bolivia, international flights, four different microfinance banks and at least one regular bank, quinoa juice, whole limbs of animals in jerky form, you name it. Like Cara and Chantal, I’ve found that Spanish only gets me so far here. Many alteños, especially older folks and recent migrants, speak Spanish as a second language to Aymara. I had hoped to be really good at picking up Aymara, but as it turns out I’m totally useless.
At home in the U.S., two of my tried-and-true maxims are “I’ll take whatever’s cheapest” and “They wouldn’t sell me that if it were really dangerous.” However, after a month in Bolivia (and a handful of broken down buses, a bout with food poisoning and an attempted trip up a narrow mountain road in a snowstorm on a minibus with no snow tires), my mom will be happy to hear that I’ve reluctantly retired these maxims and replaced them with “Is this really a good idea?” There doesn’t seem to be a regulatory agency for much of anything in Bolivia, which leads to delightful labeling like that of my favorite Bolivian beer, El Inca: “An iron-laden beer tonic recommended by the most renowned doctors for anemic, weak and convalescent persons.” Another one of my favorite claims was by a boy on the bus from Oruro to La Paz who was selling powdered maca (a Bolivian root vegetable)—“Do you feel tired? Weak? Jittery? Anxious? Lackluster? Señores y señoras, I have the answer. Maca, señores y señoras, will cure what ails you. Maca is the most potent vegetable known to humanity. Señores y señoras, maca prevents osteoporosis and cancer. It cures anemia, señores y señoras. It is a stimulant, señores y señoras; it is a tranquilizer. It cures impotence, señores y señoras—maca has been called the Bolivian Viagra by international experts. Señores y señoras, maca is used by NASA scientists in the United States to ensure the vitality and heartiness of their space astronauts. And I’m here to offer you, señores y señoras, three envelopes of miraculous maca for just 30 bolivianos.”
One morning, about two weeks ago, I awoke and walked outside my room at the hostel where I’m staying, only to nearly walk into a giant hole with a two-story drop (pictured). Confused, I asked the nice young guy at the front desk what was with the giant hole outside my room. “Oh, that—just wanted to let some more light in,” he replied, equally confused as to why I would ask a question like that.
Letting the light in
There’s a lot of improvisation in everyday life here – which can be fun or frustrating, depending on the circumstances – and serves as a continuous reminder of just how orderly and predictable my life usually is. Last week, for example, we were heading back to El Alto from La Paz, and halfway there the driver told us we couldn’t go any further because the alteños had taken to the streets in an impromptu pro-Evo rally. So we got out and walked along the shoulder. Along the way, we noticed that an awful lot of drivers had gotten out of their cars and were taking apart the highway median by hand so that they could turn their cars around—this was a standard, sturdy metal freeway median with big bolts the size of my fist! It never would have occurred to me that such a thing could be taken apart by hand, much less that this was the logical solution to being stuck in traffic. But when in Rome (or El Alto)…
All in all, Bolivia has been a great experience and quite the adventure. I’ve really enjoyed my first week working with AgroCapital, my MFI, and have been really impressed by the hard work of both the loan officers and the clients I’ve met with. I was also lucky enough to meet up with Partner Development Specialist Dan, retired Kiva Fellow Cara and her husband Engineer Sam in La Paz—it was great to see some familiar faces.
Looking forward to writing more soon!
To see all AgroCapital clients currently fundraising on Kiva, click here
4 comments 17 August 2008
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