Archive for October, 2009
Halloween in Cusco
By Sheethal Shobowale, KF9, Peru
In Cusco, Peru, Halloween is celebrated in full force. It kinda feels like home (side note: home for me is Brooklyn, New York). Back in New York, I usually put some pumpkins on my stoop and make some curried pumpkin soup. This year, Cynthia McMurry (Kiva’s Field Support Specialist in South America) and I are going to carve a zapallo and make some soup. So it will feel like home!
Here are some photos from Halloween in Cusco -
I’ll add more over the weekend when I see people dressed up and out trick ‘o treatin’… Hopefully I’ll get to see some cute little kids dressed up like pumpkins.
Happy Halloween from Cusco, Peru!
Celebrate Halloween by lending to Kiva borrowers.
Sheethal Shobowale is currently serving as a Kiva Fellow in Cusco, Peru with Asociación Arariwa
Why We Should Debate Loan Expiration
By Suzy Marinkovich, KF 8/9
As you may have seen, over the past couple of months Kiva has seen its first loans expire on the site. Currently, I am in my eighth week of working with a brand-new Kiva partner, CIDRE, an MFI specializing in agriculture and livestock loans in Bolivia. I mention this because I’ve noticed a significant portion of the loans that have expired or are close to expiration are from MFIs in Bolivia. I realize my opinion is skewed by having spent only a handful of days at Kiva headquarters followed by 5 months at two Kiva partners in South America. As a result, I don’t have really have a great vision from the top – I don’t understand all the organizational elements in place to keep Kiva sustainably rolling. I am just going to call it like I see it now, sun-drained from a long day spent on grueling rural roads, visiting incredibly inspiring Kiva borrowers and successful social projects CIDRE has had a hand in.
My understanding of the premise behind loan expiration is that it allows for Kiva to be more of a marketplace – where instead of making decisions on the end of Kiva, they are made on the end of the MFI and the funding choice is up to the lenders. Thus, the website itself is designed to be like an Ebay for microloans, an intermediary between funders and the funded.
Here is my reasoning for why I personally believe the expiration of loans on Kiva could be detrimental:
1(a). To make an analogy with the child-sponsorship model (please bear with me as it’s stretch): imagine a marketplace for sponsoring children’s school loans, with the exact same design as Kiva. At this hypothetical site, lenders like us could lend to cover school fees for children that would pay for middle or high school (in many countries, attending said schools requires paying school fees). Children’s photos and biographies are thus posted to this hypothetical site, and we treat it like a marketplace. Then, as the site expands and more loans are posted, certain kids aren’t being funded – their loans expire on this site. Then, you pull up the pages of all the children whose loans expired, and they are all kids who aren’t cute or aren’t fitting our notion of how a needy child should look. As you can see, this is unfairly discriminant.
No Short Cuts to the Top of a Palm-tree
By Ibrahim Oumarr Jalloh, Kiva Coordinator, Salone Microfinance Trust, Sierra Leone
There is a lot of wealth at the top of a palm-tree. Many would like to reap the benefits it possesses.
The palm-wine taper wants the palm-wine, the palm-oil producer wants the palm-oil, the mats designers and broom makers want the palm-leaves – even the snakes and rats want to feed from the palm fruits.
There are no rules about who is allowed to try to climb and reach the top of the palm tree to get what they want, but it is clear, because of the difficulty of getting to the top, that adhering to the policies of the palm-tree is crucial to success. There should be no thoughts about possible cunning ways to get to the top – one needs to begin from below and then work to the top. When one reaches there, one can reap whatever benefit there is.
The Show Me Game!
By Prem Thomas, KF9, Manila, Philippines
One of the great parts of being a Kiva Fellow in the Philippines is the access it gives you to other countries with relatively inexpensive domestic and international flights. Cebu Pacific is one of a handful of budget airlines in the Philippines that allow you to fly internationally to places like Hong Kong, Taipei and Vietnam for around $100 USD round-trip. You can also fly domestically for less than $40 USD which already came in handy when visiting a branch about a 45 minute flight away.
My favorite part about flights on Cebu Pacific is the Show Me Game. After take-off, flight attendants ask passengers to show them certain items for prizes:
Les bijoux en toc au service du développement économique ?
By Thomas Gold, KF9 Dominican Republic
For English version, click on “(more…)”, then scroll down.
Après quelques jours dans la province de Samanà, une péninsule qui se situe au Nord-est du pays, je n’ai pu m’empêcher de m’interroger sur l’utilité réelle et les bénéfices concrets du travail réalisé par mon institution hôte et surtout par la microfinance en général.
En effet, après avoir passé ces premières journées à faire de longs trajets, dans des conditions difficiles sur les quelques routes bosselées et mal entretenues de la péninsule pour assister aux réunions bimensuelles de remboursement des prêts, j’ai constaté que la majorité des commerces tenus par les clients d’Esperanza, sont en tout points identiques : il s’agit de femmes qui vendent de manière ambulante des vêtements, chaussures et bijoux fantaisie (en toc), et dont la situation n’évolue pas vraiment, même après plusieurs cycles de prêts.
Different ways to get from one borrowers meeting to another
Three Earthquakes Spell Climate Change and perhaps the Wrath of God
by Agnes Chu, KF9, Samoa
Since the infamous earthquake that caused the tsunami in Samoa on Sept. 29, there have been three more earthquakes felt here. They are minor but no less nerve-wracking. As the ground jolts for a few seconds, people, including senior management, rush out of the office and some stay in the hills for the night. When a harmless earthquake struck near Vanuatu, an island 1,400 miles away, Apia was evacuated for a couple of hours; tsunami drills are certain to be a fixture in Samoa’s future. Ghost stories also abound around the island (Samoans are very superstitious). I accompanied a centre manager on field visits to areas of the coast wrecked by the tsunami, because she had heard those stories of taxi drivers picking up the ghosts of tsunami victims, was afraid and needed company. She also insisted that I keep an eye on the ocean as she barreled down the road. (Her fear, though, was well-justified by an earthquake which occurred during our trip. Fortunately, we were at a loan centre away from the ocean and the earth shook for only a couple of seconds.) Archbishop Alapati Mataeliga has declared that there is “great fear in the country.” Samoa is on edge.
Traditionally, Samoans view the ocean as peaceful and giving. They struggle to reconcile the events of Sept. 29. Many explanations are offered and discussed in circles. For some, the tsunami and the recent geological unrest in the Pacific are an affirmation of climate change and a wake-up call for awareness and action from the rest of the world. A low-lying island, Samoa is at high risk when seawaters rise and storms come. Many houses lie on the edge of the coast, which is ringed by a little seawall made of stacked rocks only three feet high in most spots. It resembles decoration more than a barrier. (Most of the seawall is privately owned and built, another reason of why it is so tiny.)
A typical house and seawall along the coast of Samoa
Reconstruction of the seawall near the wharf which was damaged. Note the demolished house in the background.
getting there
By Shereef Zaki, KF9, Perú
Cultural issues surrounding privacy can be one of Kiva’s biggest challenges regarding implementation in the field. Not everyone wants their photo publicized and many hold suspicions when it comes time to sign a waiver. But I think the biggest challenge for Kiva is far more prosaic. The act of getting to a borrower can be an ordeal in and of itself, and things just got more ‘adventurous’ at my MFI.
EDPYME Alternativa has created a new loan product – called Capital Semilla or Seed Capital – destined specifically for clients who will become Kiva borrowers. Loans of $300 or less at a low interest rate are now offered to rural entrepreneurs. Finding them for the interview generally involves a unique combination of collective vans, collective taxis, mototaxis and walking aimlessly through fields – for hours.
And the journeys take us through landscapes that are beautiful whether through unforgivingly desolate desert or knee high cornfields with palm and locust trees spotting the hazy windless horizons.
For your viewing pleasure I have chronicled one day’s worth of transportation that Manuel (the Kiva Assistant) and I embarked on in order to find just 4 borrowers.
Photos after the jump… (more…)
“Nuestra Capital Semilla” (Our Seed Money)
By Sheethal Shobowale, KF9, Peru
My first loan disbursement outside of the Asociación Arariwa office took place in San Sebastian, an area of Cusco about 15 minutes away from the office.
This group meeting was my ideal picture of group microfinance. Banco Comunal de Maria Auxiliadora is a group of 11 low-income women from Cusco, engaged all all different types of businesses, from cosmetic and grocery sales to artesanía. They had failed to make their repayments on time in their last loan cycle but this time, Valentina, their loan officer was determined for them to succeed.
(more…)
No More Genocide
By Gavin Sword, KF9 Rwanda
It is true that internationally, Rwanda is most known for the horrific events of 1994; a genocide that claimed the lives of more than 800,000 of its people. There is no satisfactory way to comprehend what happened here. Yet as a testament to the human spirit – life in Rwanda carries on. (more…)
Tuning Out and Coming To…in a Chicken Coop
By Jessica Chervin, KF9 Togo
Yesterday evening, West Africa made me giddy.
I have been in Togo for almost five months, and in West Africa for almost nine. Here, my senses are never neutral. The most lovely moments are tempered by inconvenience. My daily moto rides to and from Microfund are at once thrilling and relaxing, but the soot and smell of burning garbage, the potholes that make Lome’s boulevards feel like urban mogul fields, and the passage by open landfills smack in the middle of the capital, tinge the experience with unpleasantness. Sensory and experiential overload and deprivation are not mutually exclusive. On those moto rides, I am equally attuned to what my heightened senses do not perceive: safety, calm, balance, and the ability to breathe deeply. The expatriate experience in West Africa is one of inescapable contrast. Everything is more colorful, too spicy, impossibly beautiful, unbearably filthy—but never quite normal. If one reacts every time to each of these stimuli, one is quickly exhausted. So, with time, in order to complete the marathon, one has to find a sustainable cruising speed, some semblance of equilibrium in a world that is anything but balanced—or, for that matter, equal.
Tchilabalo in his coop (for the grown hens. The chicks were kept separately across the way).
What’s Masskara?
By Ed Coambs, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, Bacolod Philippines
Masskara
It is time to smile! That’s right Bacolod, Philippines has a festival that is committed to smiling. After all the city is also known as the city of smiles. I have had the distinct please of witnessing bright colors, load music and smelling chicken roasting on an open BBQ.
During the third week of October every year Bacolod decorates its city in smiling faces. These faces are symbolic of the resilience and strength of the community. The festival was originally created during a hard period of time in Bacolod’s history. It’s 1980 (more…)
Main Street = D-MIRO’s Main Priority
Fortin district of Guayaquil
The recession has affected most families in one form another. Personally, I was laid off from my first post-collegiate job and ushered over to the unemployment line. Post lay-off, I spent a solid week sitting in my pajamas and watching the news. I rolled my eyes as every other segment was titled “from Wall Street to Main Street”.
Upon arrival in Guayaquil, I quickly learned that the fallout of the recession looks different in Ecuador (more…)
A Violin Lesson in Geppetto’s Workshop
By Prem Thomas, KF9, Philippines
I haven’t picked up a violin in over 12 years despite playing for most of my childhood. But when I saw that CCT had made a Kiva loan to a violin-maker 3 hours outside of Manila, I knew I had to visit. Evelyn Gabute and her husband Angel recently received a 22,000 peso ($475) loan.
Angel Playing the Guitar
They used the entire loan to purchase maple wood from Germany to design and construct stringed instruments.
Walking into the Gabutes’ shop (which is also their home) reminded me of Gepetto’s workshop from Pinocchio. (more…)
How I Got Here
Since arriving in Togo last week, a lot of my colleagues at FECECAV have asked how I actually got from Toronto to Kpalimé. Luckily, ten minutes into my trip I pulled out my trusty flip cam, which every Kiva Fellow has been given (thank you Flip!), and started shooting. The following 3-minute video is a condensed version of my trip, the full 16 hours of footage is available upon request.
Businesses Look Different Here
By Meg Gray, KF9, Nicaragua
"Rent a telephone here"
Walking around my neighborhood in Managua, Nicaragua made me realize that businesses look very different here. Every couple of houses there is asign in the window- “We sell nacatamales” or “We offer haircuts” or “Rent a Nintendo here”. Usually the sign is hand written, but occasionally it has been neatly typed. I only have to walk a block or two from house to find tortillas, chocolate-covered bananas, a pedicure, reading lessons, and all sorts of other things. It seems like everyone is selling something, but there is also hardly a storefront in sight.
When I moved to Managua, I was prepared to say goodbye to big box stores (more…)
On the Road from Bethlehem, Danger is in the Eye of the Beholder
By Mohammed Al-Shawaf, KF9 Palestine
I’ve been in Palestine for one week and have feared for my life. Have I reinforced the stereotype yet? It might be surprising to learn that the only times I have actually felt scared here have been dodging reckless drivers, not bullets.
But that’s me. On my first day in the field I learned an important lesson: risks are calculated and danger is in the eye of the beholder. (more…)
Microfinance for Beginners~
By Anne Hector, KF9 Kenya
When last I posted (http://tiny.cc/pl68v), I was preparing to plunge into Nairobi traffic with the redoubtable intern, Mary Chege, to visit the Kitengela branch to gather up loans and work with the lending officers on Kiva postings. (more…)
Adapting to Armenia (..still?)
By Brian Kelly, KF9, Armenia
So after being in Armenia for almost two weeks, I have to say the introduction was a little tougher than imagined. As a preface, I don’t speak Armenian and I don’t speak Russian, both of which are the primary languages used here. English is everywhere at my MFI, but not too present elsewhere, other than the really western-style restaurants and cafes. So adapting to a new alphabet has been a challenge, as I see this foreign script all over a menu, and then a bunch of numbers. Then I point at something, similar to google’s “I’m feeling lucky” function, and hope for the best. Street signs exist about 50% of the time (so I feel you Victoria), and when they do, about 50% of the time the street name is recognizable. Those are quickly diminishing odds right there.
What I’ve found is the simplest transactions can have me looking like a complete fool. (more…)
A great day at Vision Finance in Rwanda
By Gavin Sword, KF9 Rwanda
I am really enjoying working with my MicroFinance Institution today – I think it’s worth reporting this because there have been some low moments leading up to this point. But today, I am really experiencing that the people at Vision Finance Company (VFC) are all here doing the best they can with the resources of the organization. Management is highly capable with far reaching ambitions for VFC in Rwanda. They are committed to Vision Finance Company’s mission to help the poorer people in the country that need and deserve access to credit to make a better living in this land. Did I mention that most of us are working today and it’s a Saturday af (more…)
On the road with Pastor Zach
by Rachel Brooks, KF9, Kenya
Faulu Kenya, where I recently began as a Fellow, has a full-time Kiva Coordinator, Zachary Muriithi. He’s a busy guy. He works long hours at Faulu, manages his several small farms, helps run a home for 24 orphans, and preaches on Sunday. He has old and new friends wherever we go and has become an active user of Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress.
Still, Pastor Zach was excited for our first big task: completing a borrower verification process. We randomly picked ten of Faulu’s Kiva borrowers for a mini-audit and then appeared unannounced at their businesses to confirm their profile details. We really might as well have dropped a bag of marbles onto a map of Nairobi because the ten businesses could not have been farther apart but it was worth it.
(more…)
How to “Seguir Adelante” in Nuevo Laredo, Kiva-style
By Julie Pachico, KF9 Mexico
I said in my first post that I wanted to keep my eyes and ears open, especially in terms of how “la crisis” has been affecting the lives of Kiva borrowers in Nuevo Laredo. Most of the clients I’ve interviewed for journals have definitely commented (quite emphatically at times) that business these days has been certainly tough. What’s surprised me, though, has been the number of clients I’ve met whose struggles are more due to random acts of life or just plain bad luck, rather than the economy.
Making a mountain…
By Julia Kastner, KF9 Mexico
This week, I visited a Kiva group loan called Peña Blanca at the top of a mountain. Sometimes you can drive up to the top, but when it rains, the stones that make up the path can come loose and it can be dangerous. So the Fundación Realidad loan officer and I climbed the four hours up the hill to see how the loan was going.
I documented some of our journey so you can get an idea of what it was like!
Gud Road, Light, Klin Water– Sierra Leone “101″
By Jenny E. Kim, Sierra Leone
My taxi driver Sharif is a 001– he eats 0 breakfast, 0 lunch, and 1 dinner. First started by university students in Freetown, classmates used the labeling system to identify those who were able to share meals and those who could not. The system is a reminder that in Sierra Leone access to basics necessities are limited. Food, clean water, roads, and electricity are all challenges. As the local currency continues its downward trajectory, in no other way does the average Sierra Leonean feel the economic pressures more than he does with food.
Above is a picture of a billboard located in one of Freetown’s busiest intersections, Congo Cross Junction. Sierra Leoneans call their country affectionately by the name “Salone”
One meal a day is common. (more…)
Re-Introducing the Guinea Pig
By Bryan Goldfinger, KF9 Peru
After my first blog post and the various emails and comments I received in response, I felt an obligation to at least provide somewhat of an update on the “Guinea Pig Situation” here in Peru. Ironically, after dubbing myself “the Guinea Pig” there seems to be some sort of astrological connection, an alignment of planets, which has been steering me in the direction of various guinea pig interactions (my own curiosity may also have had something to do with this).
Jesús and his "Cuy Campeón"
Le Monde est Petit
By Nick Malouin, KF9 Togo
While most of the other Kiva fellows had already been in the field for two weeks, I was at home in Toronto feeling a little left out and getting increasingly jealous. Well, I’m finally here! In Lome, Togo that is, after 3 flights and countless bad movies I arrived late Saturday night. My final destination is Kpalimé, 2 hours north of Lomé, where I will be working for three months with FECECAV, an MFI that targets under-served borrowers in the Plateaux and Maritime regions of Togo (basically the southern half of Togo).
Th view of Tripoli, Libya on the way to Lomé
Dreaming of Dar
By Jennifer Gong, KF9 Tanzania
My name is Jen Gong and I will be spending a few months at YOSEFO, a Kiva field partner in Tanzania. I arrived in Dar Es Salaam about 2 weeks ago and here is my first entry…
the YOSEFO CREW!
There is something enchanting about Tanzania. Most travelers would say the charm is in landscape. And without a doubt there is much to behold here. I have not yet wadded in the turquoise waters of Zanzibar, climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro or spotted the exotic creatures of the Serengeti, but flying into Dar Es Salaam itself was a treat. I wish I took a photo of how the tin roofs sparkled like stars against the blue Indian Ocean.
But for those who have spent a little more time here and immersed themselves in the local culture, they will claim the charm is in the people. Tanzanians are colorful, diverse and warm. When my coworkers held a meeting to discuss about the upcoming marriage celebration of one of the credit officers, I was asked to be involved because they said “<I am> now a part of the YOSEFO family”. My host family of three sisters, treat me like their own dada (sister in Swahili), and have been generously teaching me Swahili and Tanzanian cooking.
Where The Streets Have No Names
By Victoria Kabak, KF9, Nicaragua
In one of our training sessions for the 9th class of Kiva Fellows at the end of September, a staffer told us that we might be living and working during our fellowships in places without street signs–because the streets are unnamed. He described how, in small towns, a direction might be given simply as “past the banana tree” or something similar. He even had a hand-drawn map that he got when he visited one of Kiva’s partners; the microfinance institution had sketched the diagram to indicate the locations of its clients, since they didn’t have addresses.
I was very interested in his anecdotes and expressed a degree of fascination along with my fellow trainees. In thinking about the challenges we all might face as Kiva Fellows, this particular obstacle hadn’t occurred to me. But I was going to the capital city of a country, not a small rural village. It was certainly intriguing to hear, but it wasn’t going to be directly relevant to me, I thought.
A Stockpile of Dollars: How to Deploy Kiva Funding
by Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru
With a significant new source of funding comes considerable responsibility and opportunity for those who represent the funds at the local MFIs (aka the Kiva Fellows). One of the most exciting privileges about working at a brand new pilot partner is the opportunity to influence how Kiva is best utilized and implemented. When discussing just this topic with the credit manager of Caja Rural Señor de Luren, we brainstormed how the new “Kiva product” could benefit the community within Ica where other capital did not penetrate:
- The major benefit decided upon will be that new “Kiva clients” will be charged a 1% lower monthly interest rate than their other clients, which is quite significant on an annualized basis! This will not only ease pressure off clients who struggle to pay the high interest payments that microfinance institutions typically charge but it will also attract additional microentrepreneurs whose access to funding has been limited due to their inability to make the monthly repayments from solely their standard business operations.
- Another aim for these loans will be to support new microenterprises in need of funding to get on their feet. These entrepreneurs may struggle either because they do not have sufficient credit experience/collateral or because they need an injection of capital to start all over again after their previous business or home was destroyed in the severe Peru earthquake of 2007. By promoting the “Kiva product” to these entrepreneurs who may typically be viewed as higher risk and not eligible for a normal loan, we will provide the funding necessary for many hard-working men and women to realize their business ideas.
Only time will tell how these factors may or may not impact the lives, families, and businesses of those within the Ica community. However, I was quite grateful to be bestowed the opportunity to provide input on how microcredit will be disbursed to entrepreneurs in Peru!
The following is Chapter 2 of my video diary. Enjoy!
Josh Wilcox is a Kiva Fellow at Caja Rural Señor de Luren in Ica, Peru as part of the KF9 class.
Don’t forget to LEND to other South American entrepreneurs and JOIN the Amigos de Caja Rural Señor de Luren lending team!
Добро пожаловать, граф Картошка! Jagaimo-san, Irasshai! ジャガイモさん、いらっしゃい！Welcome Mr Potato!
By Rob Packer, KF9 Kyrgyzstan
Inter-Cultural Exchanges in Kyrgyzstan
The words ikebana and prazdnik started spreading around the offices of Mol Bulak Finance, my MFI last week. Prazdnik was the easy part: it means holiday, festival or party in Russian, but the word ikebana was new to me. My first thought was “That word sounds a lot like the Japanese art of flower arrangement!” and then decided it didn’t really sound all that Russian, and used my limited knowledge of Kyrgyz (eki means two) to convince myself it must be Kyrgyz. When I asked I was met with shocked expressions and told it really was the Japanese word and that on Thursday flowers would be arranged, or lunch prepared.
A Rough Start
By Rebecca Corey, KF9 Tanzania
After my first day interacting with Kiva borrowers I was exhausted but exhilarated. It was slow work, waiting while the money for the loans was counted out and matched with each client’s loan record booklet, paperwork was filled out, treasurer and secretary books were gathered. Outside the Tujijenge branch office in the heart of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, members of loan groups languished in the sun, clothes bright against the dusty ground. I glanced out of the window from time to time to watch them and try to guess what each group had named itself.
At Tujijenge Tanzania, most of the loans are given to groups. Each group consists of 15-40 members, who are split into sub-groups of 5-7, whose members act as guarantors of each others loans. For many poor borrowers, the group’s guarantee is the only collateral they can offer. The social pressure from the group is a major deterrent to delinquency and default, along with the hope for future loans. After a group is approved by Tujijenge, they have one month of business and microfinance training by loan officers. At this time, their information and photos are collected, they elect group leaders, a secretary, and treasurer, and they get to choose a name. Many of them convey a sense of national pride (like “Kilimanjaro” or “Mungu Ibariki Tanzania”–God bless Tanzania), but as you can imagine, these names go fast. So there are also groups like “red rose,” “lion,” and “peace.” Soon, even names like these are gone. So groups pop up named “flag” or “Bob Marley” or “Ferarri”. One of my favorite groups was called “Parachichi,” which means “avocado” in Kiswahili. I loved this little bit of trivia so much that I included it in the business profile for the group on Kiva.org. The other group we worked with that day called itself “Sigara.” I didn’t have time to ask what this meant, but leaving work that day I asked a friend. “Ah, yes, sigara! It means ‘cigarette.’” I recalled my interview with the elected leader of Sigara group, a tall and slender woman with large eyes who held her child in the lap of her green dress as she told me about her shop, her monthly profits, her hours, and saving for her children’s education. I wondered if it was her idea to name the group ‘Cigarette.’
