Kiva Stories from the Field

By Jeremy Lapedis, KF9, Guatemala

I am the visitor. I am from Kiva. I am Jeremias. This has been my introduction for my first days in Guatemala.

Tueseday, we went to San Martin. It is a two hour drive from Guatemala City: thankfully it was Marco and not me who was driving so I could observe the scenery as we passed through beautiful rolling hills covered in forests. In the distance we could see small peaks, and each one was covered in trees.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by Bertha Carmelina Tohon, who just finished fundraising on Kiva.  She gave us a warm welcome and insisted that we have tea before we leave her comedor (eatery).  She not shy to share her life story.  I quickly learned that her kids attending college, one studying psychology and the other chemistry.  I learned that she thought the Guatemalan school system did not teach the children anything practical, and that she has a typing school where kids learn using typewriters.  I learned that she was hard working: “There is time to rest when you die,” she said.

But not all of our visits on this day would be this happy. Our purpose was to seek out entrepreneurs that had been tardy on paying back their loans.  Complicating matters was the fact that the loan officer who worked with these people, had an accident and is no longer working with FAPE.  With only adresses of where we thought the people would be located, we went on somewhat of a goosechase to find people.  We only ended up finding about 5 entrepreneurs throughout the entire day, one of which I wrote a journal update on.  Each time, Marco introduced me as a visitor from the US who works for Kiva.  Some were more welcoming and some were more closed as a result of my presence.  Either way, the visits were different because I was there.   I can see now, just how hard it is to collect repayments.  Two hours there; 5 entrepreneurs visited collecting repayments from no one; Two hours back.

Wednesday we had a a different task: giving people checks who had been approved for a Kiva loan, and will soon be on the website. Carolina, the coordinator for the region, and I went to Sacatepequez, and I was at the wheel. Carolina introduced me very much in the same way, as the visitor. This activity was a happy one. A sixty-year-old woman smiled widely at me while placing her thumb print on the signature line to receive the check. A thirty-year-old woman gave us frozen ice treats from her store as I left–Carolina told me that this was only because I, the visitor, was there.

I then got to witness the the disbursement of a group loan. About twenty-five women, ages 20-60, sitting in the “courtyard” of a house, kids running around, roosters pecking next to the Carolina, who was taking signatures and distributing checks. Again, I was introduced. I said about 3 sentences in nervous Spanish thanking them for allowing me to share this experience with them, and the whole group broke into applause. They took pictures of me with their cell phones. I was served what I would call a Guatemalan pizza, made on baked tortilla instead of dough. I was the guest of honor.

The whole hour and a half ride home, when I was not concentrating on avoiding giant potholes, or buses that stop at any given moment without warning, I questioned what I did to deserve that applause. More than that, I questioned the impact of my presence in the places, and whether or not is was a good thing. I questioned whether I could ever observe the process of a Kiva loan without affecting the environment. Carolina, Marco, FAPE, and the Guatemalans who have loans with FAPE have been more than welcoming, but what I really want is not to be welcomed, but to be treated the same as anyone else. I know that this is not reality, and as a 6′3″ white male from the United States, I’ll just have to live with being a welcomed visitor.

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