Typical
1 September 2009
by Joel Carlman, KF8
As a parting shot from my Kiva Fellowship, I put this short video together to represent what a “typical” Kenyan woman’s life is like. It doesn’t even begin to do justice to any of the great Kiva borrowers, but it’s at least my best attempt at immortalizing all of them! Enjoy.
Joel Carlman recently finished his time as a Kiva Fellow with Kisumu Medical & Education Trust in Kenya.
Entry Filed under: Africa, All, Countries, KF8 (Kiva Fellows 8th Class), Kisumu Medical & Education Trust (K-MET), blogsherpa. Tags: biochar, blogsherpa, Borrowers, charcoal, food crisis, food prices, Joel Carlman, K-MET, Kenya, KF8, Kisumu, Kiva, Kiva Fellow, Lake Victoria, loan, microfinance, Mothers, Post-election violence, Scholar, water, Women, working mothers.
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1. Guide Me Green | 1 September 2009 at 10:33
great video – are you planning on producing any more?
2. Unilove | 1 September 2009 at 20:37
A quality video and quality message. I can’t believe your Kiva Fellowship is over already!! ~Sigh. It was a pleasure to read what you wrote, and to watch what you filmed. Best of luck and best wishes are you move on to new challenges… thank you!
Lisa
Kiva Fellows fan
3. Pierre Smith | 2 September 2009 at 00:28
Hey…
Great video… Moving!
You guys are still my heroes! Thanx for being such an inspiration!
We heading off to India in 2 1/2 weeks… can’t wait!
Miss you guys!
4. Pete | 2 September 2009 at 04:39
Amazing – love the tenacity and courage displayed here! What great work this truly is! You guys are modern day heroes….
5. Jan & John | 2 September 2009 at 07:54
Thanks Joel. I will be sharing that video with my friends. jan
6. premal shah | 2 September 2009 at 08:41
This is an amazing video – very moving. Thanks for putting it together Joel.
7. Charity | 4 September 2009 at 11:35
Thank you so mcuh for putting this video together and for Scholar and the other women of Kenya for sharing thier life with us!
8. Erin | 4 September 2009 at 14:20
Wow, this just puts life in perspective. Thank you for opening our eyes.
9. Brittni | 4 September 2009 at 15:24
This is awesome Joel! Thank you for sharing! We hope you and Alison are doing well and we’re so impressed with all the good work you’re doing!
10. A Typical Life for a Kenyan Woman | myKRO | 4 September 2009 at 17:06
[...] [via Joel Carlman on Kiva Stories from the Field] [...]
11. Ibrahim | 5 September 2009 at 00:04
Hi.I understand that video just very much because I live in Kisumu and schooled in primary school in Dunga.The school is called Nanga primary.
12. Leslie Storie-Pugh | 5 September 2009 at 00:06
Dear Alison and Joel- Thank you so much for the video- it gives us all a good opportunity to see the positive results of Kiva lending. LSP
13. Hiromi | 5 September 2009 at 02:27
Thank you so much for the video. I lived in a village near Kisumu and the video brought back my memories. Now I teach at an elementary school and would like to show it to my students. May I have access to this great short video any time through this site?
14. farzad safaei | 5 September 2009 at 02:53
very good work,
15. Phyllis | 5 September 2009 at 06:33
There are scholars in every community. This video helps to identify, acknowledge and partner with the scholars of our global community. Thanks for raising our consciousness in such a strong and positive way. 7 stars….job well done!
16. David | 5 September 2009 at 06:36
The video highlights the struggles of Kenyan women, she is indeed hardworking but what I fail to understand is where is the father of the Children??? It will make sense if something was mentioned as it is important to know if he is around or dead. A woman cant bear all the burden by herself. If the father exist and he is in good health then SHAME on him.
17. elnora | 5 September 2009 at 06:53
What a beautiful video. Thank you for sharing this story with us.
18. Kiva video från Kenya | BlackCat.se | 5 September 2009 at 07:10
[...] Joel Carlman presenterar typiska Kiva-låntagare. i Kenya. Exempel på bistånd som fungerar. [...]
19. Misty | 5 September 2009 at 08:01
Thank you so much for this thoughtful video that shows the daily life of an extraordinary woman. ‘Kamu Kamu gwe mugaanda’
I teach anthropology to college students in the US. May I show this film to my students?
20. Dondee | 5 September 2009 at 11:22
Tears rolled down my face as I viewed this video. I am humbled to be a KIVA supporter.
21. Christine | 6 September 2009 at 04:28
Extremely well done. Very eye-opening.
22. Sheila Osmond | 6 September 2009 at 12:15
Brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for the great video.
23. thomas arvoin | 6 September 2009 at 15:07
This only makes me see how little i do and well make a better effort to do more..
24. ian preston | 7 September 2009 at 01:30
how can I download this to show people?
25. Justin Isenhart | 7 September 2009 at 08:47
Joel & Alison – I got a little teary watching this because I remember sitting at the Matador in Tacoma talking about these moments you were heading into with Kiva in Kenya. You two are amazing friends – way to go. Nice video work Joel!
26. neil | 7 September 2009 at 09:16
11 out of 10
27. Frank | 7 September 2009 at 15:50
your video shows the hardship every woman has to go through everyday in Kenya. Still, I do believe that no man or woman was born poor. Circumstances forces one in a horrible poverty, and as humans we have a duty to fight this calamity.
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various form. 1Peter4:10
28. M.a Kiva lender | 8 September 2009 at 12:15
Great video, thank you for posting it.
I have made many loans but even so I wish that I could do more. If there is a way to contribute to entrepreneurs like Scholar without being paid back I would appreciate it if you could please let me know.
Thank you
29. Alicia Eakins | 12 September 2009 at 07:51
That was an incredible video. Thank you.
30. Tracey | 12 September 2009 at 22:25
Thank you for this video.
It shows a hard life, but the message is so positve.
31. milena08 | 16 September 2009 at 19:39
Amazing video! Thank you for making this.
32. Joel Carlman | 18 September 2009 at 01:55
Hello everyone! Thanks for all the comments! I wanted to take a minute (now that I’m back in my semi-permanent home in South Africa) to respond to some of your thoughts, questions, and comments.
For Ibrahim and Hiromi — It’s so exciting that you are both familiar with the Kisumu/Dunga area. I’m glad that we have Fellows Blog readers from all over the world, and that you were able to connect to a locale that is close to your heart.
To M.a Kiva Lender — Rather than directly supporting someone like Scholar financially, I would encourage you to contact K-MET, the MFI that has provided Scholar’s loan. They are currently building a new complex that will be a big boon to the community and to borrowers like Scholar. They would be happy to connect you to opportunities in Scholar’s community–or maybe even make a direct introduction for you. I’ll leave that up to them, however. The link for their website is included at the bottom of the blog entry above.
To Hiromi, Misty, and Ian — You are welcome to show the video to anyone that you like! I’m honored that you would want to show it in your classes or download it. I’m happy to send you a link for a direct download of the original file. Send me an email at joel.carlman@gmail.com and I’ll get it to you.
To David — In all fairness, you are right that I did not show Scholar’s husband, Morris. The truth is that Morris IS around, and tries to provide for his family. He is actually has a small camera and does portraits for people. He is currently not finding much work, and Scholar is carrying most of the burden for the family. The video isn’t meant to deceive in any way, but just show how much responsibility an African woman carries–and how impressive Kiva borrowers are. Scholar was portrayed as “typical” and in some ways she is actually a-typical. Her husband is actually caring and gentle. However, many women aren’t so fortunate. The video was an attempt to focus on the women, many of whom don’t have anyone else to help them.
Again, thank you to everyone for the incredibly positive feedback I’ve received on this video. I encourage you to all continue to lend on Kiva.org, and to forward this video to anyone you think it would inspire to get involved. Like I said, I’m happy to send you a link for direct download of the video if you just shoot me an email at joel.carlman@gmail.com.
Cheers! -Joel
33. Monica | 18 September 2009 at 17:22
Alison
Happy to hear that you re safely back home!
Thanks for sharing the true picture of the hardship every woman has to go through every day in the communities we serve in Kenya. This confirms why women are in the main focus in all KMET projects.
We are proud of kiva and the loans have saved many lives. We will be soon be on paypal for any good Samaritan who wish to donate towards KMET community bank within the new complex coming up.
This is an initiative to strengthen the capacity of the KMET micro finance facility and reach out to more scholars
And to all lenders, you are saving many souls out here!
God bless you all
Monica Oguttu
34. Sally W Davies | 4 November 2009 at 10:38
I loved the video, especially the music. It was just about perfect.