Archive for August, 2009
Liberian Highway Exorcism
I was in a 3-hour bush taxi (8 people crammed into a Hyundai) from Monrovia to Gbarnga, Charles Taylor’s former stronghold, when we hit a traffic roadblock. Curious to know what could cause a complete stoppage of traffic, I walked to the front of the line of cars to find a group of people doing an exorcism of the evil spirits that have caused so many accidents at this exact spot. It was fascinating to watch, mainly because of the apparent fusion of Christianity, Islam, and “local vodoo” (for lack of a better descriptor). Here’s a quick glimpse of the full event that lasted for over an hour. Make sure your volume is up to hear the inclusion of all the higher powers…
4 comments 31 August 2009
The Other Side of Women for Women (Bosnia), a partner MFI of Kiva.org
As time goes by in my work as a Kiva Fellow, I realize more and more how important the social mission of an MFI is. At my first placement, I was greatly impressed by Kiva’s partner in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I would like to share the story of this institution. Through Kiva, the relationship and the space for the borrower’s voice is not established solely because of technology, but because of the real person-to-person communication that an MFI has with its clients. If the MFI atmosphere and staff are personable and human, the clients truly feel that they are not just borrowing money from a bank. This is where the borrower really has a space. This is where real healing and real help happen.
“War is not a computer-generated missile striking a digital map. War is the color of earth as it explodes in our faces, the sound of child pleading, the smell of smoke and fear. Women survivors of war are not the single image portrayed on the television screen, but the glue that holds families and countries together. Perhaps by understanding women, and the other side of war…we will have more humility in our discussions of wars…perhaps it is time to listen to women’s side of history.”
—Zainab Salbi, President and CEO of Women for Women International
When I found out that Zainab Salbi was coming to Sarajevo and the regional managers of Zene za Zene were attending her talk, I decided to go on the 3-hour-long ride to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina in hopes to find an inspiration. Zainab’s talk proved to be eye-opening.
With a sensitivity and apparent interest in every person present, she talked about her story and what motivates her and asked each individual in the room, mostly women, to tell the others something about herself. The energy that ran through the colleagues as they stood up, in addition to their slight nervousness, was impressive.
The Bosnian branch of Women for Women International (WfWI) is the first one and the stepping stone of the larger organization. On June 12, 1993, with only 30 women, WfWI started because of war-time rape camps in BiH. Now the organization serves 53,000 women annually (including microcredit) and has served 207,000 women directly while mobilizing 250,000 women in 101 countries. This half a million is comprised of both people who donate and the ones who need help. All of these women are asking for justice.
Zene za Zene has sister offices in Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Sudan; all branches zealously follow the mission of WfWI. What distinguishes WfWI is that the organization stresses the holistic approach needed to help struggling women. Microcredit is far from the only solution to the difficulties of every woman in the world. In addition to financing entrepreneurs, WfWI educates women about their rights and connects them to the public and private sectors to give them an opportunity to gain politically important roles. Through organic farming programs and job placements, WfWI addresses the non-entrepreneurial women who need assistance. In job placements for their program participants, WfWI defends the need for rights awareness, fair wages, and fair labor practices. “Placing women in jobs is not unique, but placing women who know their rights and can mobilize is,” says Zainab. Through the programs of WfWI, participants acquire skills, create friendships, raise their self-confidence, and familiarize themselves with their rights. The combination of financial support, a community, and access to knowledge and resources brings a lasting change in these women’s lives.
If you feel inspired to support the mission of Women for Women International, please visitwww.womenforwomen.org. In 2009, due to the economic changes in the world, donations have dropped by 10% and WfWI has had to cut $3 million of spending and 17% of their staff. Even when sponsors ‘drop out,’ the organization cannot suddenly stop financing the women in need. Now is the most important time to donate for this cause and make sure that no branches have to be closed, so that Women for Women International can keep uplifting as women all over the world.
If donating is not a good alternative to microcredit for you, you could lend to borrowers of the MFI Zene za Zene. Kiva.org partners with microcredit institutions that have a strong social mission and allows you to give a hand to entrepreneurs all over the world. The 90% repayment rate should show you how safe it is to invest in Kiva borrowers.
This post has been written by Velizara Passajova, a Kiva Fellow working for 4 weeks at her second placement in Armenia (withNor Horizon). Check out currently fundraising loans in Eastern Europe and join Kiva Lending Team – Friends of Women for Women International or Armenia.
3 comments 29 August 2009
Recession-proof
By Shereef Zaki, KF9, Perú
As my first week working with EDPYME Alternativa, one of Kiva’s newest partners, draws to a close I can think of only one phrase to describe the world of micro-finance: recession-proof. Having just come out of the economic and political turmoil caused by the so-called, “Great Recession,” in the US, the vitality and celerity of micro-businesses is cast into even greater relief.
I want to begin by introducing you, the Kiva community, to EDPYME Alternativa. Born of an effort in the Peruvian Chamber of Commerce, EDPYME Alternativa is a highly effective and organized MFI whose mission is to improve the living condition of its clients by supporting their entrepreneurial activities, generating employment in the small and micro enterprise sectors, and strengthening the financing for sustainable and profitable businesses in the region.
In addition to issuing financial products like loans EDPYME Alternativa also provides the following services for its clients: bi-yearly medical checkups, agricultural capacitation workshops, technology training workshops, and sales workshops.
And to maintain their presence in the community EA also holds an annual “Chocolatá” where they give out chocolate and presents to the children of their least fortunate clients and clothing to the adults. Additionally, they collect clothing and supplies for clients who are the victims of natural disasters such as the cold snaps, heat waves and earthquakes common to this region.
In the Mercado Modelo, where many Kiva borrowers have setup stands, competition can be fierce but it stokes the fires of their ambition
In spite of having been here only a brief amount of time, EDPYME Alternativa has already demonstrated to me the the recession-resistant nature of microfinance. They lend regardless of crisis and focus on the well being of their clients. This is a world that lacks Best Buy, Wal Mart, Staples and Barnes and Noble. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and the other institutions that line that gilded casino known as Wall Street have peripheral influence here. (more…)
3 comments 28 August 2009
Explaining Kiva
By Alison Carlman, KF8, Kenya
“ It’s this place, on the computer… like a bulletin board… where people post stories…”
Explaining Kiva isn’t easy. It wasn’t easy for me to explain Kiva to my Mom, (no offense, Mom) – so imagine me trying to explain Kiva to a Kenyan farmer who’s never touched a computer and never even heard of “the internet.”
As lenders, some of us hope that Kiva borrowers daydream about us in the way that we daydream about them. After all – we feel this connection with people half a world away because we’ve read their story and seen their photo – and we’ve shared a part of ourselves with them – a portion of our income, and perhaps a photo or a peak into our lending philosophy.
But as a Kiva Fellow it was my experience that many times borrowers know very little about their lenders. There are several reasons for this. The first – as I have alluded to – is the sheer difficulty of explaining Kiva to someone who has never heard of the internet, and cannot imagine how someone from Canada could know who they are. There is a steep learning curve along the road to understanding Kiva. (Read Matt Flannery’s blog article about an encounter gone wrong in this regard).
(more…)
5 comments 28 August 2009
Kiva’s Ever stretching Hand
by Grace Nattoolo , Kiva Coordinator at Pearl Microfinance in Uganda
I know and believe so, that many have been wondering about Grace, and her blog postings. Yes, I have taken some months without blogging but good enough, the interesting stories about the clients’ businesses and social lives still appear on the website for you to read and fund if possible.
Once again, I would like to commend all the fans of Kiva for the wonderful job of supporting and in turn spreading the word.
During my previous visits to the women and men in their lending groups at the various branches of Pearl Microfinance, I realized that many borrowers take loans to cater for their children’s school fees and upkeep. Surely everyone would love to see their children and those that they care for have the best of education and when you go deep into this issue, it’s interesting. (more…)
4 comments 27 August 2009
On Buoyancy
by Joel Carlman, KF8
As I enter the final week of my Kiva Fellowship here in Kisumu, Kenya, I find myself thinking about what my time here has taught me. Kenya is so different from any place that I’ve ever been. The smiles are brighter, the hand-shakes longer, and the hospitality warmer than just about anywhere.
I know that I’m doing microfinance, and that Kiva is about borrowing and lending. The terms, the accounts, the figures, and financials are so interesting to me, and that can sometimes seem like what it is all about. During my fellowship, I dove deep into microfinance, and it’s tempting to look at everything through an analytical lens. Even as a student of development, I always want to find the golden thread that leads you from problem to solution through the complicated fabric of global and local issues.
But, even more than borrowing and lending, Kiva is about connecting. It’s hard enough to connect to people of your own background, from your own hometown, and of your own color, tribe, or social status. How can we possibly connect to people so different from us? I don’t know if I can really answer that question, but I am inspired to tell of the ways in which I have connected to this place during my fellowship.
19 comments 24 August 2009
How I Became a Godmother
By Courtney Kemps, KF8 Peru
I thought I’d share this little story because I think it nicely illustrates both the typical and the wildly atypical in my work as a Kiva Fellow. And it also illustrates how these two opposites sometimes intertwine in unusual ways . . . .
In the course of my work with Kiva field partner Manuela Ramos I have spent a lot of my time interviewing Kiva borrowers to provide lenders with updates on their businesses. Each week I attend several communal bank meetings in order to meet the borrowers and set up interviews with them. All of Manuela’s communal banks meet monthly with their loan officers. These meetings, called “Reuniones de Pago,” have several purposes: 1) Review of the bank’s financial situation. The month’s loan payments are verified, borrowers’ passbooks are filled out, and any delinquencies in payments are discussed. 2) Participation in an educational session given by the bank’s loan officer. During the course of my work, these sessions have dealt with how to manage, promote and grow one’s business. 3) Discussion of any other issues and announcements from the loan officer regarding upcoming plans or programming from Manuela.
One afternoon this past week I attended a “Reunión de Pago” for the communal bank “De La Amistad” (Friendship). Arriving early, I had a chance to interview the bank’s president, Teresa, who is a Kiva borrower with a growing juice sales business. Before the meeting began I quietly went around the room, introducing myself to the 3 or 4 other Kiva borrowers in the group and setting up times to interview them.
Many of the original founders of “De La Amistad” are still members and are quite proud of the fact that “De La Amistad” is one of Manuela’s oldest communal banks. The members spent a large part of last week’s meeting planning a celebration for their 11th anniversary, an unusual activity for a communal bank. As they began their discussion, I assumed that such an event would mean going out for lunch or dinner as a group. Not so at all: “De La Amistad’s” 11th anniversary celebration will be an elaborate affair! After an hour’s planning, on the wall hung a piece of poster paper with a numbered schedule of events for the gala, to be held at a nearby event hall. Tickets will be sold. Everyone will dress up and bring her spouse or partner. There will be dinner and dancing. There will be a brief talk about the bank’s history, followed by a speech from a Manuela Ramos representative, followed by a toast. Finally, from among its members, “De La Amistad” will choose a queen for the year.
Near the end of this planning, Teresa called me up to the front of the room. I assumed that she was going to introduce me and explain my purpose to the group as a whole. Usually a loan officer introduces me when I attend meetings, but I figured that Teresa had taken on this task because we had already had a chance to chat. Instead of introducing me, however, Teresa asked me if I would be the godmother of the 11th anniversary celebration! I was rather startled. All I could think was to ask if this was the same as being the queen. “No, no!” the women told me. The godmother provides the cake and becomes the “guest of honor.” I protested that I was heading home next week and, therefore, could not attend the event, which was scheduled for the end of September. No problem, they told me, I could send someone to represent me. Another bank member recounted “De La Amistad’s” long, proud history with Manuela Ramos and their annual tradition of having an anniversary celebration. How could I refuse a roomful of 20 expectant women?
This is how I became a godmother. Not of a person, but of an event that I cannot even attend! On my way out the door, several women smiled, saying “Goodbye, Godmother.”
Courtney Kemps has been serving as a Kiva Fellow with Manuela Ramos in Pucallpa, Peru since the beginning of June. She’s had a great experience meeting many of Manuela’s Kiva borrowers and will be finishing up her Fellowship next week. Learn more about Manuela Ramos’s microfinance program or check out a list of currently fundraising loans for the organization’s borrowers.
2 comments 22 August 2009
Anything but Routine…Microfinance in Nairobi’s slums
By Jaclyn Berfond, KF8 Kenya
After a month of going out, interviewing borrowers every day, life can start to feel rather routine. Yet, all I have to do is look around – really look around at the slums where I have been working – and I know that Faulu’s work here in Nairobi is anything but routine.
Many fellows before me have offered poignant descriptions of slums around the world. Yet, I felt that the impact of the informal settlements (as they are so politically-correctly called) on my perceptions of poverty, economic empowerment and microfinance, as well as the impact on Nairobi and Kenya as a whole, merited yet another word on the subject.
It is estimated that over half of Nairobi’s population – around 2 million people – live in the city’s numerous informal settlements. Nairobi’s largest slum, and probably most infamous, is Kibera, home to over 1 million people. My work through Faulu has largely centered on the smaller Mukuru settlements. My first day in the Kwa Njenga section of Mukuru slum – where an estimated 75,000 people live on 80 acres of land (and these are only the official numbers) – was an experience like none I’ve ever had before. Walking for what felt like miles among shacks made of corrugated iron, navigating piles of garbage waiting to be burned, jumping over streams of waste winding through the makeshift streets, inhaling the fumes from the cars that attempted to squeeze through the giant maze of stalls and people…it was the making of a nightmare. Yet, for millions of people, this is reality.
Titus, a Faulu client in Mukuru
5 comments 21 August 2009
Chia Buồn
By Hanh Tran, KF8 – Fund for Thanh Hoa Poor Women (FPW) – Vietnam
I never leave home without my camera these days. But there are many instances when I fail to pull it out in time to capture some of the interesting things I pass on the street everyday.
Peddling Bamboo
Then there are times when I am tired of filming or when I capture a moment on video and find myself debating what I should do with it. When you are interviewing people each day and they trust you with their stories, it’s a great privilege – and at times overwhelming. I had one of these moments last week.
Chief Credit Officers, Ms. Ha, whom I’ve grown very fond of, and Ms. Hanh gave me instructions to meet them at Nuoc Mam Thanh Huong for a borrower meeting. This is the area where the popular brand of nuoc mam (fish sauce) is made in Thanh Hoa. I hopped onto a Xe Om (motorbike) and told the driver to take me there. I knew immediately when we had reached the vicinity of our final destination…distinct harsh and pungent whiffs of fermented fish floated through the heavy, humid air. Nuoc mam is a staple of Vietnamese cuisine. I grew up eating many meals with nuoc mam, and still, the scent is too strong for me. I was glad that I had recently caved in and bought a facemask to avoid breathing in the dusty Thanh Hoa air…and in this case, the strong fermented fish odor.
Ms. Ha and Ms. Hoa at a borrower meeting
2 comments 20 August 2009
“No worries; we are always together”
By Andrew Whiteman, KF8
My fellowship in Benin is nearly over. It has been ten weeks of hard work, but I have learned a ton and I have great stories to take back to the US. Some everlasting memories include taking a baboon for a walk (yes, on a leash), being told that I could only wear a speedo at the swimming pool, and visiting a sacred forest, the home of a tree that was once a king. More importantly, now I better understand my reason for being here. During my first few weeks, when everything was stressful and confusing, I remember writing in my journal, “Why I am here? What difference can I, a foreigner, make?” Now, I think I have found a good enough answer for myself. Here are a few things I have learned:
Development takes a long time. Democracy in Africa is at most fifty years old. A working financial sector is even younger. Benin was communist in the 1970s and has therefore only recently adopted a market economy. Although the example is dated, our own country had a lot work out in the first fifty years of its history. Many people, including myself, want an easy answer to all of the world’s problems. But it doesn’t work that way. We work on a problem and then others build on what we have done, slowly resolving the problem. Microfinance is a perfect example. It is a relatively new field and we are all working to make it stronger. It is not perfect right now. It is often hard to see a real impact after someone has taken out three loans and they are still selling a small stock of goods on the side of the road. But at least, people are learning how to manage their money. Many borrowers on Kiva have already received a loan from their MFI, meaning that they are considered financially trustworthy. In the future, an MFI might decide to offer advanced money management courses that help people establish financial goals. More Kiva Fellows go out into the field to make Kiva’s work better. As the Kiva community, we should always be thinking of ways to improve what we do, but also we should be patient and give development a chance.
Our world is shrinking whether we like it or not. We are traveling more, learning new languages, and meeting people who are different from us. People in Benin listen to American music and watch Lost and Prison Break. In the rural north of Benin, people are starting to receive Internet service via cell phones. We no longer have the choice to remain separated from the rest of the world. It is our responsibility to engage each other, to figure out where all this is going. This is one great benefit of the Kiva Fellows Program—you enter a totally new environment and are forced to interact. I believe that it is hospitality that can connect us all. Almost every culture in the world places a high priority on hospitality. People in Benin often offer to pay for me, even if they do not have very much money. It is a sign that I am welcome in their country. Often when I say goodbye to someone in Benin, they say, “no worries; we are always together.” Luckily, if we all hold onto our shared generosity and hospitality, we have a lot to look forward to in the future.
In short, engaging the world is relevant and necessary. It is easy to be cynical or overly optimistic about international development, but I think it’s better to be somewhere in the middle. A lot of work still needs to be done to promote development and increase cultural understanding, but through Kiva, we are doing our part. As a Kiva Fellow, I have been able to meet some of the people that you lend to from thousands of miles away. I think this is powerful and I am fortunate to help make that connection. I look forward to continuing to lend to others around the world over the years. I wonder what microfinance will look like in ten, fifteen years…
Part tour guide, part Kiva-in-Benin promoter, here are a few photos of this beautiful country:
Ganvier, the "Venice of Africa", located thirty minutes north of Cotonou
On the road to Bassila. During the rainy season, Benin is quite green.
A mosque in Porto-Novo
A view over the Dantokpa Market in Cotonou.
Andrew Whiteman is a Kiva Fellow (KF8), currently working at Alidé, a Kiva Field Partner, in Cotonou, Benin.
Please consider joining my lending team, Friends of Benin. Together, we can make a difference!
7 comments 20 August 2009
RSS - Posts