Archive for 9 July 2009
Agriculture: We Want More!
By Cameron Morris KF8, Mozambique
In San Francisco waking up on a Saturday morning and hitting the Noe Valley farmers market is always a good time. Organic, sustainably grown, local produce , grass-fed, free range meat, 30 something couples playing with their toddlers and quaint discussions with local farmers are just a few of the delights. I’ve got a particular soft spot for the ever-popular heirloom tomatoes, I even went so far as to cultivate my own last year.
How does the image I’m painting relate to the market I visit every day in Boane, Mozambique? While there obviously aren’t three year olds sporting Obama tees in the Boane market part of me always assumed that the products being peddled in such markets were being sold by someone just a few deviations away from the local farmer. My dream was recently crushed when a co-worker told me that a lot of the agricultural products found in the market were imported from South Africa. While Mozambique isn’t entirely dependent upon food imports from South Africa they do get a lot of their food from their neighbor and certainly have deficiencies with local agricultural production. (more…)
The Effects of Pyramid Schemes on Microloan Recipients: An Example from Peru
By Courtney Kemps, KF8 Peru
Last week I spoke with Patricia Isidro, supervisor of the loan officers in Manuela Ramos’s Pucallpa office, about a wave of pyramid schemes which seriously affected many of the institution’s borrowers in the Pucallpa area over the past year. This “pyramid game” (juego de la pirámide), as it is known here, can take several different forms, but most commonly each person recruits two others to contribute 300 soles (about $100). These two each recruit two more, and so on down the line. The money is transferred up the pyramid to the person at the top, who walks away with 2400 soles. The people immediately below this person then move up to the top spot. Once the chain of money transfer breaks and the scheme collapses, however, everyone in the lower tiers ends up losing.
Patricia Isidro at her desk
It is not clear who brought the pyramid game to Pucallpa (other areas where Manuela Ramos operates did not appear to be affected), but this series of schemes impacted many area residents, not just those receiving loans. With respect to Manuela Ramos, Patricia estimated that such schemes affected 80 to 90% of the institution’s Pucallpa-area borrowers between November and March! The majority of these women lost their capital for investment in their businesses and ended up unable to make their monthly loan payments on time. In the hopes of making some quick, easy money, the poorest borrowers were the worst off as many had not only given up their investment capital, but also many of their household items in order to play the game. (more…)
Global economics and your pocketbook
Last week I had a moment when the confusion of globalization washed over me…
I got into one of Kigali’s tiny city buses, officially called matatus, but affectionately known as a “one-more” because one more person can always be squeezed into the already sardine-packed vehicle. (The size of a Toyota Previa, seats 18). These buses are scrawled in Mandarin script— they were likely hand-me-downs from one of China’s cities after realizing that they were no longer safe enough to transport people by China’s standards. Most of these buses have some other art added— usually hand-drawn paintings of Barack Obama, Canadian flags, Arabic calligraphy, or Bob Marley. I hop in and instantly notice that the interior is decorated floor to ceiling with Manchester United stickers. The radio in the bus is playing in a familiar mélange of French (the colonial language of Rwanda) and Kinyarwanda (the indigenous language of Rwanda.) I learn that we are listening to an international friendly football match with Egypt. From my bag, I take out the material I am currently reading, Agamemmnon, from a book of a collection of classic Greek plays. As it happens, I am on my way to an North African-fusion pizza restaurant. Of course, I know I am in Rwanda… but… wait… am I?
Globalization can really confuse a girl…
