Author Archive
Last Thoughts from Ghana
Memories of Ghana
by Nancy Tuller, KF8, Ghana
I came to Ghana as a Kiva Fellow at a time when the entire country had been experiencing an economic turndown. Since the beginning of this year, the Ghanaian currency has been losing value, prices have been creeping steadily upward, and the fishing and farming industries have been experiencing low outputs. 
Ghanaians, even the relatively few who would be considered “well-to-do”, are feeling the pinch. For the poor, who are the vast majority in the country, it has been more like a gut punch. I have spent a lot of my time talking with loan clients about their lives and the businesses they operate which Kiva lenders have supported. The majority of these clients had taken out loans to “expand their business”, which means that their businesses were under-capitalized. In most cases, their productivity was extremely low, and their capacity to increase productivity was limited by a lack of sufficient inventory, inputs or productive assets that all demanded a cash injection. Repeatedly, clients told me how rising prices had eaten into their profits and decreased their ability to sufficiently re-stock their merchandise, or purchase fish to smoke, or make enough from farming to last until the next harvest season. Even those who had taken out several loans already, and had managed to improve their quality of life in various ways during previous loan cycles did not make substantial profits in the first half of this year. It has been a tougher-than-usual year for poor Ghanaians, and there is no sugar-coating that fact.
That being said, I often found myself wondering what many of these loan clients would have done without the loans that kept them afloat this year. Their situations are dire. Clients are often living so close to the edge that when they lose income, they have to immediately take their children out of school because they can’t afford the school fees due that week. (more…)
Allah’s Rewards
By Nancy Tuller, KF8, Ghana
As a Kiva Fellow in Ghana, the most rewarding aspect of my fellowship has been meeting people like Khadija, whom I met while visiting microloan clients in a “zogo” (Muslim neighborhood) in Hohoe, in the eastern region of Ghana. Because she touched me deeply, I’d like to share the little I know of her story with you.
Khadija is a beautiful woman who has seen more than her share of hard times. In this photo, you can see her lovely smile, which I had to coax from her after we had quietly chatted for some time. She has had one leg amputated, and must use crutches to move about. She is a single parent of two boys, ages ten and seven, and lives with her mother and a sister in the eastern region of Ghana. As a single parent and an amputee, Khadija almost certainly faces untold prejudices in this cultural context. These facts alone speak of her strength and perseverance in the face of adversity, which have surely aided her in her entrepreneurial efforts. Khadija is a seamstress, and has been for the last 16 years. She just opened her own shop four years ago, however, and this is the major source of income for her household.
All Things Ghanaian
By Nancy Tuller, KF8, Cape Coast, Ghana
Some days as a Kiva Fellow are just about soaking up the culture, and Nyame adom (“by God’s grace”), I have my Kiva counterpart here in Ghana, Ab (
short for Abraham) to help me out with that. For example, how else would I know the difference between kenkey and kente? Some days, as we are traveling to our destination or the electricity has gone out again and all work is halted, we have 30 minutes to one hour sessions on the nuances of various types and textures of kenkey, Ab’s favorite dish made of maize and often served with fish, grasscutter (cane rat), or goat meat stew (and pepper sauce for dipping). He can speak interminably on how to make kenkey, where one can buy the best kenkey, and even what illnesses are cured by two or three (in really serious cases, it could be four) bowls of kenkey. “In fact,” Ab tells me, “Accra kenkey is the best. I cannot live without my kenkey.” (And everyone in our office knows it!) Though he may not speak as passionately about kente, the beautifully hand woven fabric that is highly valued as the cloth of a well-to-do man or woman, he can still describe in great detail the process of the weaving, as well as the symbology often woven into the fabric, that is often made on the village looms we pass on our way to visit loan clients. Ab tells me things I might never know otherwise, such as the common perception here that only tribal chiefs should wear a certain type of white shell as jewelry, and that others who wear it are looked at with a disapproving eye, or that in this part of Ghana, it is believed that if you fish on Tuesdays, you will bring tragedy upon yourself. (more…)
Connecting with Fuseina
By Nancy Tuller, KF8, Ghana
Fuseina is the kind of person that you want in your life. She is kind, gracious, friendly, confident, warm, generous in spirit and loving, all at the same time. Our short visit together reminded me of the reason I am here, and the reason I love this work (if you can call it that!), and the reason I so admire what Kiva is facilitating. This is human connection at its finest.
This connection is what drew me to microfinance 15 years ago. When Kiva came up with a way to personalize that connection even further with their online lending to specific individuals back in 2005, I knew they had hit upon a recipe for success. It is this personal, intimate connection between individuals—knowing that your loan is going to Gifty Mensah in Senegal, whose face you know, and whose need to buy a new oven for her baking business is so real—which draws increasing numbers of people who may have never considered giving to other organizations, to begin a sustained program of lending and re-lending. I told several of my mail clients (I am a letter carrier at home in California) about Kiva and several of them have loaned to clients here in Ghana. I visited two of those clients last week, and we had a wonderful connection. I”ve visited with clients and their families in their homes and just the other day made a lunch date with another client’s wife! I have friends who have emailed me wanting to lend to clients, I have started three lending groups so far, with many joiners who have expressed their desire to make that connection with a particular client. I have made many intimate connections with Kiva loan clients, which has been the most rewarding aspect of my Kiva Fellowship. My photos and memories are my own proof of that connection. Clients have, time and again, expressed their deep gratitude to their lenders, and I have even seen a woman break down in tears when expressing that gratitude and wonder that someone she doesn’t even know would give her such help through a loan. This is what connections are all about: recognizing that we are one family interconnected through our shared humanity and our shared destiny. (more…)
Obama-rama in Ghana!
Hotel Obama
By Nancy Tuller
KF8, Cape Coast, Ghana, Africa
I knew President Obama was going to visit Ghana even before I came here, and was excited to think that perhaps on some off-chance I might meet him. Ha! After completing my first placement as a Kiva Fellow in the regional capital of Kumasi, I arrived in the country’s capital, Accra, on July 8th, and Obama arrived the next day on July 9th. I went to several hotels and all were fully booked. My taxi driver suggested a new hotel called, (guess what!) Hotel Obama! Only in Africa! It was actually a very cool hotel owned by a Ghanaian family who had lived in New Jersey for some years, and had returned to start up this hotel. Each room was named for someone. There was, of course, the Barack Obama suite, the Michelle Obama room next door to it, and the Joe Biden room across from it. I stayed in the Coretta Scott King room that was right next to the Martin Luther King room. There was beautiful African art work on the walls and there was a good restaurant attached. And, I was definitely in good company! It rained hard that next day, and I didn’t even know Obama’s schedule, so I went about my business in the capital city of Accra, including buying my bus ticket for Cape Coast, where my second Kiva placement would begin the following Monday.
The next day I left for Cape Coast. (more…)
On Committment, Hope and the Meaning of Wealth; A Kiva Fellow’s Perspective
By Nancy Tuller,
Kiva Fellow Class 8, Ghana, Africa
As a Kiva Fellow in Ghana, Africa, I have been working with Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT), established in 1994 and based in Kumasi, the heart of the Ashanti region. Sinapi Aba, as the non-governmental organization (NGO) is often referred to, has a vision of dedication to the building of a nation in which the strong help the weak and people’s dignity is maintained through their own efforts at providing for themselves, their families, and their community. The NGO aims to do this through the provision of both financial and non-financial services to the economically active poor in ten regions of Ghana. It currently serves over 76,000 clients from 40 branch offices spread throughout these regions. Your loans to Sinapi Aba clients are helping Sinapi Aba to come closer to the realization of its vision through expanding the reach of microloans in Ghana.
In addition to offering microloans, Sinapi Aba offers its clients business training, social service and consultancy services, as well as training in wise credit usage, vocational skills, savings, accounting and record keeping, and customer service. Its non-financial services include capacity building, training and technical advice to other microfinance institutions, along with client-oriented programmes in HIV/AIDS awareness and community development, and a very successful youth apprenticeship programme. Sinapi Aba Trust staff is comprised of some of the most dedicated and committed individuals I know. Their salaries are not handsome by any measure. They do this work because they believe that their actions should reflect their belief in, and commitment to, serving others. Their passion to stay true to their mission of serving the economically disadvantaged in society through providing opportunities for enterprise development and income generation is only surpassed by their successful track record in doing just that.
It is with Sinapi that I have taken my first baby steps in this continent. It is Sinapi staff that has nurtured me with its knowledge, wisdom and love. I adore my Sinapi family, and am beyond finding the right words to convey my gratitude for what I have gained through this experience. Now, all too suddenly, I have to leave my Sinapi family, and move on to my next placement in Ghana. As I ride the bus that takes me further and further from Sinapi and towards my next destination, (more…)
Ghanaian Reality Check
By Nancy Tuller, KF8 Ghana, Africa
“Akwaaba!” (Welcome!), I heard, over and over in my first few days here in Ghana, and what a wonderful welcome it has been! When I stepped outside the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, my heart lept at the feel of the warm and humid summer night clinging to my skin and the cacophony of voices in Twi, which is the most commonly spoken language here in Ghana. It sounded to me like a kind of chaotic harmony, blending perfectly with snatches of disparate Ghanaian music coming from various vehicles as I left the airport for my hotel. Every face I encountered could only be described as friendly, every voice warmly welcoming me!
Now I have been in Kumasi, the city of about three million residents, where Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT) has its headquarters, for four whole days as a Kiva Fellow. That is enough to know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be! One Kiva staff member told me that she felt that Africa was her home. I wonder if I will be next to express that sentiment! Already I am calling the apartment where I am staying with one of the SAT staff members and his wife “home”. Joshua, Nana and I live in a two bedroom apartment on the third floor in a complex that at one time was a prestigious address, but has lost the right to that claim since the corporation who owns the complex decided not to maintain the roads, lights, security or even the reservoir that should be pumping water to the complex. The apartment itself is modest, simple, clean and lovely, and I am very comfortable here, but all residents suffer a lack of running water. A water truck brings water, and persons are paid to carry water in 20 liter buckets on top their heads, up the stairs (no elevators) to each apartment. Water is used very sparingly, and of course the water problem is not just in this complex, it extends all over Africa, and much of the developing world. The effects of climate change are very real-time here. Nana says the monsoon season definitely is bringing less rain (it’s only rained briefly one time since I’ve been here and it is monsoon season now), and the large river that has always supplied the Kumasi area with water is low. Though there is a large water table beneath Kumasi, very few can afford to bore a hole to access it. This is a country where almost everyone, and perhaps especially the poor, have to pay market prices for clean water or make do with polluted water, increasing their exposure and vulnerability to illness and disease. Add to this the absolutely alarming rate of inflation (currently 20.6%), in which the price of a banana or a cassava (and water) might go up by almost 0.66% overnight, and where unemployment is (depending upon whom you ask) between 30-40%!! Such are some of the most visible factors of poverty here in Ghana, making microfinance,the provision of basic financial services such as savings, loans, and insurance, all the more crucial to the ability of the poor to weather such tumultuous financial storms.
If you would like to learn more about Sinapi Aba Trust and the provision of microloans to Ghanaian entrepreneurs, go to: http://www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=88&_tpg=fb
Browse through SAT borrower profiles, make a loan, and and make a positive change in someone’s life at: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&partner_id=88&status=fundRaising&sortBy=New+to+Old&_tpg=fb
