Kiva Stories from the Field

by Jane Lim, KF9 Mongolia

notable quotes from recent reads…

“Ulaanbaatar is possibly the coldest capital city in the world.“
- Michael Kohn, Lonely Planet Mongolia, p14

as a testament to the point above, it snowed on wednesday for the first time since summer… and it’s only early october.

“The Mongols loved competitions of all sorts, and they organized debates among rival religions the same way they organized wrestling matches… Their debate ranged back and forth… No side seemed to convince the other of anything. Finally, as the effects of the alcohol became stronger, the Christians gave up trying to persuade anyone with logical arguments, and resorted to singing. The Muslims, who did not sing, responded by loudly reciting the Koran in an effort to drown out the Christians, and the Buddhists retreated into silent meditation. At the end of the debate, unable to convert or kill one another, they concluded the way most Mongol celebrations concluded, with everyone simply too drunk to continue.”
– Jack Weatherford, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, p172-173

absolutely hilarious stuff.

“Mongolians are lazy and (insert negative adjective that i’ve forgotten). Would you describe yourself as so?“
- Mongolian Airlines In-flight Magazine, Interview question for J. O- a prominent Mongolian businesswoman

WOW. all I can safely say is that Mongolians are extremely candid. (i still can’t believe they published that and made it accessible to an international audience!)

lastly,

“Why have economists remained silent while banks rejected the poor as unworthy of credit? Nobody can provide a convincing answer. Because of this silence and indifference, banks have imposed a financial apartheid and gotten away with it. If economists would only recognize the powerful socioeconomic implications of credit, they might recognize the need to promote credit as a human right.”
- Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor, p150

go kiva.