Toilet, WC, Latrine?
What type of toilet facility does the household have?
A. Pit latrine, septic tank, other without septic tank, public toilet, shared toilet, or other
B. Connected to sewerage
C. Open land
D. None
I had spent the last two weeks pouring over material on the Cambodia Progress Out of Poverty Index (PPI) scorecard from which the above question is excerpted. However, I was still unsure of how–were I a client of CREDIT MFI taking the PPI survey–I would distinguish between the last two answer options. What is the difference between “Open land” and “None”? Maybe, I pondered, “None” has a different cultural meaning that I am not able to understand as a foreigner?
Continue Reading Add comment 10 February 2010
Microfinance Will Not End Poverty, Microfinance Institutions Will
Inspired by Nicholas Kristof’s latest blog post: The Role of Microfinance
Microfinance is “the most visible innovation in anti-poverty policy in the last half century.” Because of this, many have put such high expectations on the effects of microfinance and the pace at which it can have an impact on ending poverty. Some have even called it the panacea for poverty.
Continue Reading Add comment 9 February 2010
A Community in Search of Progress
Throughout my Fellowship in Peru and now in Ecuador, I have been bestowed the opportunity to launch Kiva partnerships with 2 microfinance organizations and teach loan officers in various communities how to administer loans and interview borrowers. However, after visiting the town of Chillanes, Ecuador with new Kiva Field Partner Cooperativa San José, this time I didn’t leave with the exciting feeling that I am helping bring the Kiva support and hopefully positive change to more people in underdeveloped communities.
Continue Reading Add comment 9 February 2010
Giving hope and commitment
One of my lasts tasks as a Kiva Fellow was to do a journal update an incarcerated Kiva entrepreneur.
Kiva’s field partner in Guatemala City, FAPE, has a program where they give women in jail trainings and a loan for their businesses while incarcerated. About one year ago, FAPE initiated this program in the jail in Guatemala City, four of the women were Kiva clients. Training programs were given. Loans were being repaid, and the women were even putting money away in savings. The program was a success. In late Summer of 2009, two things happened: the women were moved from the jail to the correctional facility and FAPE changed directors.
Continue Reading 3 comments 9 February 2010
Do you need more fun in your life?
I am not sure if it is an East Coast thing or a Catholic school thing but when I was in grammar school I loved field day. In kid language Field Day = “No more classes, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks.”A day full of watermelon to eat and games to play – a clear demarkation that summer and weeks of PLAYTIME were on the way – This was only the beginning!
6 comments 9 February 2010
Day 0: A Kiva Fellow’s reflections
As I sit at a local internet cafe in Cabanatuan city, Philippines (where I am surrounded by five kids all reading out loud the blogs of other Kiva Fellows’ from my computer screen!), I find myself reflecting more on what I hope to learn when I’m in the field.
Continue Reading 5 comments 8 February 2010
Offense Defense
With Super Bowl Sunday upon us, I have begun to think of life as a football game. Closer analysis of the sport inevitably leads to two topics of deliberation: offense and defense. Sunday night, the Colts and the Saints will be rotating their players based on their specialized roles in the field. We will see the offense attack, take control and engage the opposing team with the objective of scoring points. Then there is the defense, guarding their possession and protecting it from attack. As I thought about these two “ways of life”, I realized, I myself had rotated between offense and defense modes since living in South America.
Continue Reading 7 comments 7 February 2010
Cusco on My Mind
If you haven’t heard, there have been terrible floods in Cusco, Peru in the past week. Since we are in the thick of La Epoca de la Lluvia (the rainy season), rain is expected but the level of destruction seen in the area is unimaginable.
Tourism is the main industry in Cusco, and the damage produced by the rain does substantial damage on the Cusco economy. From the February 3rd warden message from the U.S. Embassy in Peru, I read that Machu Picchu is closed and the rail line between Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes is closed due to landslides until possibly March. I also read that tourists were stranded in Aguas Calientes (the town closest to Incan archeological site Machu Picchu) and that the conditions were excruciating. Luckily, helicopters eventually evacuated all the tourists from the town.
Unfortunately, my Kiva clients in Cusco don’t have that luxury.
Add comment 5 February 2010
Don’t Cry for Me…Ecuador!
As my first entry in the Kiva Fellows Blog, I thought I would answer the obvious question, “Why did you apply to be a Kiva Fellow”? Leaving a (paying) job to work for free for 3 months doesn’t always sound appealing, yet I could not be more thrilled to start work in Ecuador as a Kiva Fellow at Fundación D-MIRO this Monday.
While filling out my application to become a Kiva Fellow, I was asked to write a short essay answering this very question and I would like to share with you my response:
6 comments 5 February 2010
