Archive for April, 2009
Shhh! Don’t tell Starbucks.
There exists a daily beverage that is more omnipresent and culturally dominant than Seattle’s most famous export. It’s a tea known as tereré and (hooray for American marketing) Paraguayans literally do not leave home without it.
Tereré is a loose-leaf tea that is always served cold. It involves no foams, whips, or syrups, and there’s definitely no decaf. Just mate tea, ice water, and, if you like, a mix of mint and lemongrass. As simple as it may sound, bringing these ingredients together is much harder than saying “grande coffee, no room” to the barista. Prepare tereré correctly (sift out the tea dust, crush the herbs to bring out their flavor, tilt the cup at the proper angle when you first pour your water) and you have yourself an incredibly refreshing, slightly stimulating, antidote to Paraguay’s absurd heat. Fail to do these things (or, alternatively, be a Kiva Fellow named Nick Cain) and you’ve got yourself a slightly bitter, mini-stew of floating tea. Like a good cappuccino, to get it right you’ve gotta finesse it.
But once you’ve prepared a good batch, you’re in business for at least a couple hours, and Paraguayans take full advantage of tereré’s staying power. Men, women, teenagers, police officers, grocery store clerks, construction workers, loan officers—everyone carries around a thermos (térmos) full of ice water and a tereré cup (guampa) as they go about their day.
Tea drinking authorities.
Thus, the tea has been ubiquitous in my daily routine as a Kiva Fellow. When I hop on a bus to head to one of Fundación Paraguaya’s branch offices, the driver always has his thermos by his side. Some buses even come equipped with their very own tea caddy: a person whose sole duty is to pass the driver his tereré whenever he requests it. By the time I arrive at the office and shuffle into the kitchen to prepare my morning Nescafe (I know, I know), one or two loan officers are already there crushing herbs and cracking ice cubes. And, of course, as is the Paraguayan custom, when I arrive at the home of a Kiva borrower for an interview I am always directed to take a seat in the shade and have a sip of tea (a custom that led to one particularly memorable moment).
Tea Caddy on Linea 11
When you’re handed a cup of tereré, it’s easy to see that all guampas are not created equal: some are made of wood, some of stainless steel, and others of the more traditional ox horn. But where they really diverge is in their decoration. Many are wrapped in leather, with the owner’s name or business emblem etched into the side. Just as common are those that come adorned with the logo of the owner’s favorite soccer club (also memorable: my soccer allegiance faux pas).
I’d guess that at least 90% of Paraguayans over the age of 14 own a guampa and térmos. Someone has to produce and sell them all, right? Hugo Ruiz, Cipriano Machuca, Graciella Grosella, and Mario Gomez are just some of the many entrepreneurs who have invested Kiva capital in businesses that sell a wide variety of guampas and térmos. Last week I spent some time with Alejandra Alvarez, a mother and an entrepreneur who manages her own business producing, decorating, and distributing guampas and térmos. Since learning the trade more than seven years ago, Alejandra’s business has grown steadily. Her profits helped her build a new, sturdier home on her property, and she currently employs five workers, one of whom is her son Cristian. On the day of my visit, Alejandra’s team was putting the finishing touches on a batch of Mother’s Day guampas so that one of her employees could load them up and deliver them to Ciudad Del Este, a town six hours to the east of Asunción. You can see more of my visit with Alejandra, as well as the guampas, in the video below:
*******************************************************************************
Nick Cain is in his 11th week as a Kiva Fellow working with Fundación Paraguaya. Based out of Asunción, he travels around the country meeting Kiva borrowers and sharing their stories. Feel free to send questions, comments, or requests for future blog topics to nick.cain@fellows.kiva.org.
6 comments 30 April 2009
Volley Ball, Skirts and Celebration!
As if volleyball and soccer were not challenging enough, imagine playing these sports in long skirts, dress shoes and traditional hats that barely stay on your head in the slightest wind. I have been to and played in sports tournaments my entire life, but until last week I had never experienced a tournament like this!
As a Kiva Fellow working with the Microfinance Institution (MFI), Manuela Ramos, I have the privilege of attending not only community bank meetings, where groups of women come together to take out small loans, but also community events that are meant to empower women, spread the word about Peru’s women’s rights movement, in which Manuela Ramos plays a large role, and show the women a great time! Every year, Manuela Ramos puts on as many as eight events in the different zones where they work; sometimes these events afford the women entrepreneurs the opportunity to sell their goods, sometimes they are educational and teach the women how to effectively run their small businesses, and sometimes they involve the playing of sports. Above all, these events encourage camaraderie and self-esteem amongst the women.
The morning started early, with a 4 am wake up call followed by a three-hour, multi bus journey to Lampa, Peru where ten loan officers and I fumbled and laughed our way through the set up of the volley ball court and soccer nets. The fact that I’m about five inches taller than the next tallest woman made me very popular when it came to propping up tents and hanging signs! The women entrepreneurs began to arrive around 8 am and by 9:30 the ceremony began. Dressed in their team shirts and proudly holding their banners, which displayed their community bank names, the women lined up in rows. With a borrowed microphone, the loan officers of Manuela Ramos recognized individuals who had demonstrated excellence amongst their fellow bank members. After singing the Peruvian national anthem, the women and the loan officers ran around the paved court and the games began!
As the community banks participated in the sports, the other women watched, cheered, and took advantage of the local hospital offering of free HIV tests and $.50 women exams, a service that Manuela Ramos set up for the community. After approximately four hours of games, the day concluded around 2 pm, with a large lunch of chicken and potatoes, an Andean favorite, and a closing ceremony where the loan officers played the Manuela Ramos theme song, which is reminiscent of a 1992 Celine Dion hit. The women seemed to truly enjoy themselves, and the event undoubtedly fostered camaraderie among the women in the community banks and made women in the area, who stopped to watch, interested in being a part of Manuela Ramos and all the fun!
Emily Sweeney is a Kiva Fellow, living in Puno, Peru. She has been working with the Microfinance Institution, Manuela Ramos, for three months.
3 comments 29 April 2009
Won’t You Be My Neighbor…And Give Me a Good Credit Rating
"Tea"
Over tiny cups of scalding, frothy sugar water that Senegalese people call “tea,” I have a chance daily to sit around with my fellow MFI employees and talk microfinance. The other day, I was sipping my tea with Moussa, a loan officer, and he told me about how credit is established in Senegal. Now, in America, a credit rating is a logical thing, based on the percent of your total credit you’re using, the type, duration and size of your credits, and your delinquent payments. In Senegal, it’s done a bit differently…
Kiva Fellow: So, Moussa, in America, every person has a credit rating, which is based on a formula and makes it easy to estimate how likely it is that they will repay a loan. Does that kind of thing exist here?
Moussa: (Laughing.) No…Your country is a lot more advanced than ours. We don’t have the ability to do that kind of thing here.
KF: Ok, so how do you decide whether or not to give someone a loan? I know the person has to have a savings account with IMCEC, and they have to provide certain things as collateral or have another person to pledge to back them up if they don’t repay. But is there anything that helps establish credit-worthiness? [This conversation was in French, and I’m being very kind to myself in the eloquence of my translations. I sound a lot more like a 5-year-old.]
Moussa: Well, first of all, we can look at their history with IMCEC. Sometimes we start by giving a smaller loan, and if they repay it well, their second and third loans can be larger. Then we look at the business plan to see if it looks profitable. But, we also talk to people who know the client to see what they have to say.
Moussa, IMCEC Loan Officer, with a Kiva Borrower
KF: You mean, you go to their neighbor’s house and ask them if the client is a good guy?
Moussa: Yeah, basically. I mean, we wait until the client isn’t around before we talk about him.
KF: That’s nice of you. And what if the neighbor just happens not to like the guy? What if the neighbor is actually the one who isn’t a good guy?
Moussa: Yeah, that can happen. Which is why we talk to more than one person. For example, say there is a store in the neighborhood where everyone goes to buy basic items like soap and sugar. The owner of that store usually sells things on credit at the end of the month when people are running out of money. We can ask the store owner for some information on the client – does he repay these purchases on time? We also try to have at least one person on the Loan Committee from each neighborhood to get another perspective on the clients.
KF: Wow. So it really pays to be nice to your neighbors! And you loan officers really need to know everyone in town!
Moussa: Yep!
***
It’s pretty incredible to me that the system works this way, or, more specifically, that the system actually does seem to work this way. With a write-off ratio of less than 1% of all loans, IMCEC seems to be doing pretty well. Maybe American banks should have considered the “neighborhood” aspect of credit – for all its imperfections, the Senegalese way of evaluating creditworthiness might provide a more meaningful and accurate perspective than the impartial, formulaic system we use.
Furthermore, in conclusion, next time you live in Thies, Senegal, and you feel tempted to throw a wild party and annoy all your neighbors with the noise, think twice. Afterwards, you may mysteriously be rejected for every microloan you apply for.
That is, of course, unless you invite them all to your party and give them free food and drink. Just imagine how the credit will flow then!
***
I am a Kiva Fellow, Class of KF6/7, serving three months in Lome, Togo, and three more in Thies, Senegal. Please check out my current MFI, IMCEC, and see all of their fundraising loans here!
5 comments 29 April 2009
Fellow-vision
I think that most Kiva Fellows will agree that anytime we meet with Kiva Entrepreneurs we are confronted with a gauntlet of emotions from happy to sad, from inspired to depressed, from energized to drained. While for the most part, for me anyway, the experience tilts towards the positive side of things you never know who or what you are going to run into when you hop on the back of your credit officer’s moto.
I spent the beginning part of this week meeting with twenty-five Kiva Entrepreneurs and felt practically every emotion I can think of. While my first idea for this post was to tell you how I felt meeting these people I decided that each one of these experiences could mean something totally different to every person. I am going to try to introduce you to three of the individuals I visited with via a brief intro and a short video so you can meet them with as little filtering and subjectivity as possible.
In almost every video I ask them if they have any hopes or dreams for the their family’s future. Most of the answers are fairly ordinary; increase my sales, change business, fix or build a new home, but even these answers represent a desire to overcome significant obstacles to better the lives of them and their children.
Meet Ny Sokythea:
Ny Sokuthea and her husband expanded their fish selling business with their Kiva loan. With the money from the loan Ny Sokuthea went to several local fishermen and gave them money up front in return for the promise that they would sell exclusively to her and at a price they determined in advance. This brilliant piece of negotiating has helped her stabilize her costs while ensuring that she has a product to take to the market everyday. After only a few weeks she was able to earn about $5 in extra profit per day. They also farm a small plot of rice for about 6 months out of the year for extra income. Ny and her husband have three children, all daughters, ages five, thirteen and fifteen. They all attend school and Ny says that they all study both Khmer and English.
In the video you can see she is a very funny and playful person, when I asked her about how she would want to grow her business she told me that she wanted a car so she could fill it with fish to take to the market, a joke, maybe. When I asked her about her dreams about her future she told me with a mischievous smile on her face that she wanted to be a “Ms. Excellency” or a high official in the national government.
Meet Lia Lun:
When I went to visit Lia Lun I was greeted with extreme hospitality despite very difficult circumstances for her. The night before I came to her house her 40-year-old next-door neighbor had passed away in his sleep and she was busy making preparations for his funeral. When I offered to come back another day she flatly refused and pulled up a chair and table for us to sit at. While what I was there for was of much less importance than what was going on around me I felt it would be rude to not accept her hospitality and so we sat and spoke for a few minutes.
Both Lia and her husband have been creating decorative Khmer wood pieces since the early eighties (see video for example of their work). They have three children, two sons and one daughter. They have two grandchildren as well with three more on the way as their daughter in law is expecting triplets next month.
As I sat and spoke with Lia, her husband and other men from the neighborhood were building the coffin only a few yards away while her neighbor lay on a table under a tree just beyond them. The banging you hear in the background of the video was all of this going on.
Meet Rom Chhoeuy:
Rom Chhoeuy has been selling fish and traditional fish paste for about seven years. Her normal routine is to go to the local fishermen every morning and buy some of their catch and take her purchase to the local market to resell. She makes a good living of $7 a day and is very happy with how things are going.
Her husband has been repairing machinery for two years and makes about $5 a day. Before he had his current job he was a moto taxi driver for six years. They have two children, one son aged 6 and one daughter aged 8. Both of her children attend the local school.
The entire time I was completing the interview her kids were waving and smiling at me. See the video of my final question to see what I mean.
Meeting each one of these women and hearing about how they were using their loans was an amazing experience and I hope I was able to share that in some small way.
***********************************************************
Drew Loizeaux is currently serving as a Kiva Fellow with Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
4 comments 28 April 2009
U.S. Microfinance 101
U.S. Microfinance 101
I hear the phrase U.S. microfinance and I perk up- I’m not alone. Last week I was at a microfinance 101 meeting in New York City. The event was catered to a group of young professionals that were interested in getting involved, somehow, in U.S. microfinance. Someone asked a question about repayment systems for U.S. microloans, wondering if borrowers come into the office to make repayments or do the loan officers go “into the field” to collect? The end goal with domestic microfinance is the same as it is internationally; empower individuals to create prosperity through entrepreneurship.
To answer her question: on occasion a borrower may come into the office to drop off their payment, or a loan consultant will do a site visit. Generally speaking in the U.S. the repayment system is electronic, a monthly debit from the borrowers bank account. This sounds less compelling than the vision of a loan officer riding the entire day on a motorcycle to a rural village to collect a five dollar repayment from a loan for a cow. But, not to worry there are definitely other aspects of appeal for domestic microfinance.
Entrepreneurs are turned away from traditional U.S. banks for many reasons, maybe because of a low credit score or no score at all. They may not have a solid business plan or have not yet acquired the appropriate permits and licenses. In many cases though, the estimated $30 million unbanked Americans simply aren’t served or don’t have access to traditional banking. Many entrepreneurs just need a few tools to help them create prosperity- microfinance institutions can provide that.
Credit scores were discussed at the microfinance meeting last week. One person pointed out that a large American bank just announced that they weren’t loaning to anyone with a credit score below 800, in other words: they aren’t lending. Microfinance institutions are lending, the largest U.S. microlender requires a credit score of just 575. U.S. microfinance institutions make loans to individuals ranging from $500- $50,000. They offer loans and other products such as financial literacy to individuals from all walks of life.
It’s very common in the U.S. to have a client walk into a microfinance institution with a bag full of tiny pieces of paper and request a loan. Traditional banks would quickly turn the client away. At an MFI, a loan consultant will sit down and go through each piece of paper to create a cash flow, help create a business plan and refer the entrepreneur to other agencies to get appropriate licensing. An MFI loan consultant will do everything they can to give the borrower the credit they need.
Domestic microfinance is in a position to begin scaling up to meet the needs of more low-medium income borrowers. Individuals from all walks of life can find themselves in need of the kinds of services a U.S. MFI can offer. Services like $500 credit builder loans, or help with creating a business plan, larger loans for business capital and inventory, and other types of financial literacy services. Microfinance provides individuals with the power to be self-sufficient and to create a legacy and life of prosperity. Domestic microfinance is playing a part in fulfilling this dream for entrepreneurs from coast-to-coast.
**************************
Erica Dorn is a Kiva Fellow researching U.S. microfinance in New York City.
7 comments 27 April 2009
Best for Bolivia
Bolivia’s political conflict, antics and struggle are very much a part of the day to day. But somehow, I haven’t really felt it. I know that in September of 2008 the situation was much more tense. Violence was on the rise. The US Ambassador was expelled. A potential civil war between the highly indigenous west supporting Evo Morales and the more politically conservative, often land-owning east seeking autonomy? Throw in the simplifying and mystifying fact that in Latin America, right now, you are with Chavez or you are with the US, and I am left constantly talking about Evo’s policies and in equal portion, American sins.
Chavez and Evo
This was true this week when I met Don Lorenzo, who with a loan in his wife’s name, makes cholita hats. He asks me within the first five minutes a simple question: do you believe in the indigenous people of Bolivia? Simple. Yes.
Don Lorenzo and His Hats
So why does my government choose to burn down the coca fields, not only an ancient custom but also a competitive product on the capitalist global stage? I’m well versed in this- first, Don Lorenzo, I disagree with the US government’s war on drugs. But I can help explain some of the complex internal politics that have led to our obsession with curbing supply, and often ignoring demand. Second, we should make a distinction between the government of a country and the people of a country. I will do the same in the way I view the Bolivians.
An error. NO! Don Lorenzo sees himself perfectly reflected in his government. Evo is the face of the people. He understands their culture, their dreams, their hopes. He is one of us. Don Lorenzo says he has been molding, steaming, cutting and selling these hats, an image of indigenous Bolivia for his whole life, and Evo makes him even prouder every time his wife dresses in her pollera and sombrero and hits the streets to sell these beautiful products. I am Bolivia, says Don Lorenzo. So, by extension, Sierra is the US. The US government that is. Will it work to explain that electing an African American in some ways carries the same meaning for us as electing Evo was for them? I hesitate to call Obama an indigenous leader, but will “community organizer” transfer?
Bolivian Congressional Building
Probably not. I steer clear of the conversation, sweeping a wide arch that includes questions about where felt comes from and how his father learned the trade, but inevitably land roughly on, “so you are in support of Evo?”. “Are you?” he returns. Flat. Well. I don’t know. Like most places, the truth about what’s best and what’s worst lies somewhere in the forgotten in-between. Do I think Evo is good for Bolivia?
Several little points, primarily as anecdotes, come to mind. First, every person over the age of 65 gets 200 Bolivianos a month. This is practically nothing, but it feels like something. It feels like the government cares and that’s not nothing. He is fighting for literacy. Signs everywhere say, “Un Pais Libre de Analfabetismo”, a country free of illiteracy. Good effort, but I know several illiterate people. Still, they can take classes for free…if only they had the time. A rebirth of kids speaking Aymara. I love the thought that languages can be preserved, and something in me lights up when I hear Atajo’s lead singer rapping in Ayamara, even if it’s against the Yankees stealing his identity. More people than ever are employed by city governments to clean up and preserve immaculate plazas. And aren’t they pretty? Makes me proud to be here, like I know a secret- Bolivia is really beautiful.
San Pedro Plaza
But there are several little things that worry me. First, that he keeps changing the constitution so he run again. And then maybe again and again. Hunger strikes, Evo sitting on his floor munching coca, are an effective way to get congress to pass his measures. Corruption hard to measure but still a real force.
And the grey area. A perfect example is the fractura system. Each person in Bolivia has a section of their salary withheld and they can only use it in places that offer fractura. Or a receipt. To be able to offer a receipt, and thus attract customers, the business must both register with the government and pay taxes. This encourages the formal sector, and raises money for the state. A good thing. Except its hard to offer fractura, and most small businesses can’t. And it hurts. Not the woman on the corner selling just a few dozen oranges a day, but it does hurt a Kiva client who dries and packages chili peppers and wants to start selling to incorporated supermarkets. Plus, it seems to infringe a bit on one’s liberties to be told where they can shop. But oops, that’s my American-ness again.
Kiva Entrepreneur's Chili Peppers
And really, how does the political situation here affect business? For Don Lorenzo, his business is, in part, a political expression. Still there aren’t that many jobs, and people become business owners not because they want to, but because they have few options. The market appears saturated, but how could I possibly measure that with my limited tools- a camera and a notepad? I found out partway through my visit that his wife, Mercedes wasn’t at home because she was in a big march down the main street expressing general support for Evo. I asked how often she does this, and was surprised with the answer. Whenever her association requires.
Most small businesses like Don Lorenzo and Mercedes’ are part of a neighborhood association, that pools money to keep the street they sell on safe, and mostly clean. The have meetings once a month and are organized. Its one of the parts I like most about small businesses here. But whenever the director (a member of Evo’s MAS party, always) says they have to march, or blockade, they pick up and do it. If they don’t, the association issues a fine -they can’t sell their products for 1-3 days. Political participation in support of Evo is thus compulsory. Good thing Don Lorenzo and Mercedes believe in it. Otherwise this would be corruption, and an infringement on individuality. But oops, that’s my American-ness again.
After saying goodbye, and eliciting a few friendly laughs with my attempt to bid farewell in Aymara, I was in a taxi on the way to visit a friend when we bumped into Mercedes’ march. It was big. Lots of color and guns. A zebra is knocked down by the crowd. People dressed as zebras direct traffic in La Paz with happy faces and fancy dances. This is Evo’s attempt to “re-educate” people about traffic manners, and its harder to fight a zebra than a police officer. I open the door of a cab to help the zebra up when a riot cop sprays the mob with tear gas.
Zebra hard at work
Burn. My nostrils afire, my eyes burned shut. Have I really just been tear-gassed in La Paz? Where did the plaza with the flowers go, and my favorite egg lady? Where are the tuba players and the children with the icecream? A different world descends and my nearly blind taxi driver drops me above the blockade, near a gorgeous church where a friend is waiting. I’ve been told cigarette smoke binds to tear gas and helps. A non-smoker, I chock back two, trying to blow the smoke into my own eyes and sit it out. I was 100% fine 20 minutes later. The zebra was fine.
Now amidst Evo’s crys for international investigation of a plot to assassinate him, I find myself wondering still, what is best? The only conclusion that I can come to is, like the surreal moment when I’m helping a man dressed as a zebra move out of the street of half-hearted protestors, facing a cop in full riot gear spraying gas generally through a crowd, I am out of my element. I am not in a position to evaluate what is best for Bolivia.
Although, I did like sharing in Don Lorenzo’s pride, and will forever remember his smile more vividly than a blurry taxi ride.
Don Lorenzo and Sierra
Sierra Visher is a Kiva Fellow (KF6) from California on her second placement in Bolivia with Emprender. All funding loans from Emprender can be found here. Sierra can be reached at svisher@gmail.com, and enjoys hearing from Kiva lenders!
10 comments 24 April 2009
Adios Guatemala
Today is my last day as a Kiva Fellow working in Guatemala City. I will admit that in recent weeks my mind has been wandering to the luxuries of home: ethnic food, safe and timely public transportation, dishwashers, smog laws, etc… But as always, when leaving a new “home”, I know that I will miss the experiences and friendships that I have been lucky enough to experience while here.
As one of my fellow Kiva Fellows pointed out in an earlier post, we fellows tend to receive credit for the support that all of you lenders are really giving. I wish I could offer you one of the glasses of Coke or Fanta that I’ve been given, perhaps sit you down with a basket of fresh tortillas, bring out a photo album and begin to show you the true gratitude that I was shown by countless Kiva borrowers. Earlier this week I re-visited a client that I had already met a few times. As I was leaving she shouted after me “make sure to tell all your friends at Kiva thank you!” What she meant by “friends” was all of the lenders who had chosen to believe in her.
The field partner that I have spent the past 3 months with is called FAPE, a small MFI with over 25 years in the industry. In addition to their core business of providing small loans to women from mostly rural area, FAPE stays true to their deep social mission of improving the lives of Guatemalans – specifically those with little or no access to financial services.
FAPE Staff - When else will I be taller than most of my co-workers?!?
One of the pilot projects they have begun is a training course delivered to women at the Santa Teresa Women’s Prison. While the project is only one very small piece of the incredible work that FAPE does, I thought it would be interesting to share one of the stories that was shared with me. Here is a short video of a Kiva borrower who lives is a prison in Guatemala City:
******************************************************
In The Field
Andrea Bouch just finished her first placement in Guatemala. She will be returning home to San Francisco (tomorrow!!!) where she will continue working as a Kiva Fellow.
1 comment 23 April 2009
Rice Accounting 101 in Rural Cambodia
Rice plants nearly ready for harvest
Sophisticated income statements and balance sheets are the standard tools used by global corporates to demonstrate their year-over-year growth and net change in assets and liabilities. I saw my fair share of SEC sanctioned 10K annual and 10Q quarterly financial reports while working in corporate banking in New York City, but from where I stand now as a Kiva Fellow in my third month in the field, these accounting instruments are of no use to Kiva entrepreneurs in rural Cambodia, many of whom cannot read or write.
When I interview Kiva borrowers in the agriculture sector (which fits the description for the majority of AMK’s clients in Cambodia), I try to get a sense of how their crops are doing and if they are satisfied with the most recent harvest. Some borrowers cultivate rice solely for personal consumption while others grow to sell. When entrepreneurs have multiple businesses (which many of them do), the decision to sell or keep the rice they grow is often a function of the success of their harvest. If a farmer lives near a good irrigation source they can harvest rice twice a year during both the rainy and the dry season, but otherwise rainy season is the only option since rice cultivation is heavily dependent on the weather.
My enthusiastic instructor
Most farmers I speak with can quickly tell me the market price they can get for one kilogram of rice: typically about 800 Riel (20 cents USD). When I ask borrowers how many kilograms of rice they recently harvested, however, I get a variety of answers, and seldom are they numerical. The general response trend is that year over year growth is described in terms of “better or worse.” While visiting Svay Village in the Kandal Province of Cambodia yesterday I encountered the most enduring and perhaps practical explanation yet of how one entrepreneur measures her yearly “profit.” Check out this video to see my rice accounting 101 tutorial:
Can a line drawn semi annually inside a giant bin marking the height of a rice harvest really provide accurate data? For a hardworking family living in the in Svay Village of rural Cambodia the answer is yes, accurate enough. If this seasons harvest exceeds last seasons harvest and last seasons harvest was enough to feed the family, then some of the excess yield can be sold to bring in additional income for the family.
It was a humbling but wonderful afternoon
Katie Davis is currently serving as a Kiva Fellow (KF7) at Angkor Microfinance Kampuchea (AMK) based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
7 comments 23 April 2009
It’s Time to Invest in Stock! Livestock, That is.
As a Kiva fellow, one of my jobs is to attend the various centers during their bimonthly meetings. At the meetings, I have found a routine: watch the groups gather and prepare their money to turn in, sing the GHAPE anthem, discuss upcoming events, and then while the loan officer works out money logistics, I interview Kiva borrowers. As you can see from the video, the other day was slightly different.
After the meeting, all the members and staff stayed in the center room and two members brought in two piglets. It was quite the spectacle; well, I think I was the only one who thought so. Many of the borrowers at GHAPE deal with agriculture from farming vegetables to livestock, and with some training, raising and breeding pigs is a great way to increase one’s capital for both the short and long term.
When a new center begins, GHAPE gives the center capital to purchase one female piglet. The borrowers of that center then discuss which breed to buy and who gets to receive the first piglet. The guidelines are that the borrower must be a female and have a suitable pig fence. In addition, the chosen borrower must continue the cycle of “pass on a gift and be donor” by bringing in two female piglets after the given one has had a farrow (a liter of piglets) to give to two other GHAPE female clients. This ‘gift that keeps on giving’ (literally) is a way for GHAPE to encourage its female borrowers to invest some time and money into an area of farming that really assists in saving money and provides free manure for their farms.
While raising and selling pigs is a good investment in Cameroon, training is necessary and the process is a bit more complex than it looks. Luckily, GHAPE conducts workshops on pig farming twice a year and asks the experts to share their advice with new or potential pig farmers. For instance, there are several breeds of pigs and each has advantages and disadvantages; so when choosing a breed, one must consider factors, like which has a better resistance to disease, which ones grows faster, etc. At the workshop, potential pig farmers also learn how to build a good pig fence and how to keep its area clean.
Some of you may ask, “Why pigs?” One of the main reasons is that they can breed twice a year because their gestation period is “3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days,” and pigs eat less feed but provide more meat compared to other animals, like the bovine clan. However, don’t be fooled: there are a good amount of challenges a farmer takes. A year or so ago, the area of Bamenda was hit with Swine Fever, which is also known as Hog Cholera and Pig Plague. This air-born disease is highly contagious and the Cameroon government is still attempting to find a solution, like a vaccine, to prevent such a damaging spread like last year’s. The only recommendation they have is to keep the pig area clean and away from other pigs.
Another challenge of owning pigs is the expenses: at times, the cost of pig feed spikes in the market, making it harder for farmers to justify owning livestock. In order to combat the prices, a farmer can mix feed with their surplus from the farm, like yams or corn, but that can only be done every so often. Another major expense is buying material and paying a carpenter for the pig fence. So when given a piglet from the GHAPE center, this cycle encourages clients to take up pig farming but with caution.
After learning so much about this area of farming, I am quite impressed with its complexities and how helpful it is to own a pig (if executed correctly). To me, it seems like the Cameroonian version of the stock market: with the right education and instruction, the advantages of investing for the long-term will mostly likely outweigh the risk factors of the short-term. And while not everyone wants to own (live)stock, it is always something to consider for the future when the timing is right. In fact, GHAPE will not allow a borrower to receive a piglet until she has attended their workshop. In the video posted here, because there were no borrowers ready to receive a piglet, they sold the piglets to clients who already have received a pig in the past.
2 comments 22 April 2009
Lake Titicaca and the Floating Islands
After almost two months living in Puno, Peru and after a few embarrassing moments when tourists I encountered asked me for advice about visiting Lake Titicaca and I had to sheepishly admit that I hadn’t yet embarked, I decided it was time to make the trip. In my defense, I had been waiting for the rainy season to pass and for someone to go with. Luckily, last weekend both my prerequisites were met.
Through a Kiva connection, I met a fellow microfinance worker, Zoe, who was conducting surveys on microfinance interest rates in Puno. In the good and admittedly much needed company of a fellow expat, I set out at 6 am on a tour boat for the floating islands of Los Uros. Although the translation of the name obviously implies that the islands are floating in the lake, I thought that this was surely just an expression, or perhaps a mistranslation; I was wrong!
Thousands of years ago, out of necessity, the Uros tribe began creating islands off the coast of Puno. The people of Los Uros create the islands using land that they cut away from the shore of the mainland. In order to maintain the islands, layers of reeds must constantly be added on top of those that are beginning to rot. Using large stakes, the islands are anchored in the lake and in order to move the islands the inhabitants simply need to remove the stakes and push the islands with their reed boats. Originally, the idea of the floating island was devised as a defense mechanism against the Aymara tribe, and later against the Incas. Today, the islands are safe and are rarely moved to new locations along the lake. Although many of the inhabitants of Los Uros have moved to the mainland, about 70 of these islands remain inhabited, with each community consisting of between four and 16 families. Although the islands themselves are small, the community of islands makes up a rather large population of people who work together in business and culture. Children travel to nearby islands where teachers provide both primary and secondary education and the island’s inhabitants work with Puno’s tour agencies to ensure that every island benefits equally from the prominent tourist industry.
Docking at one of the islands and being cheerily greeted in the local language of Aymara, Zoe and I explored the approximately 1,000 square foot island, which was just a bit larger than my old apartment in San Francisco. Perhaps even more surprising than the fact that these islands actually float, was seeing the juxtaposition of modern technology and an ancient culture. Looking up at the metallic structures on top of each of the nine thatched roofs I thought, “these can’t be what I think they are”, but again, I was wrong (an ongoing theme!). The tour guide explained that almost all the islands of Los Uros are powered using solar technology. Adding to the islands “green theme”, the guide also informed us that the boats these communities use to travel from island to island are made using used plastic water bottles, which are placed inside the woven reeds and act as floatation devices. As I watched a small girl in the local dress of a top hat and large skirt pop in a CD for us visitors to enjoy, I marveled at the reaches of globalization.
After returning to the mainland and going to the office on Monday morning, I let the loan officers of the Microfinance Institution (MFI), Manuela Ramos, where I’ve been volunteering, know that I finally made it out on the lake. They asked me if I bought any artesian arts and crafts and informed me that many of these artesian workers are entrepreneurs of Manuela Ramos and are part of community banks that take out loans in order to buy supplies in bulk in Puno and increase their profits. After seeing the solar panels and the impressive organization of the community of islands, I wasn’t surprised and was certainly pleased that microfinance too had found a way to merge with the culture of Los Uros.
5 comments 21 April 2009
RSS - Posts