Posts filed under ‘KF8 (Kiva Fellows 8th Class)’
Kiva Update from PBS Frontline World
Suzy Marinkovich, KF8 Peru & KF9 Bolivia
One of the most exciting things about being a Kiva Fellow is the opportunity to tell the untold stories of those so remote, so rural, and so ignored by the media. When there are six billion humans sprinkled across the world, the media has the unenviable task of (more…)
Kiva, Transparency and P2P Microlending
by Zev Lowe, KF8 Indonesia
I never knew when I signed up to represent Kiva for 10 weeks in Indonesia that I was also signing myself up for a much longer-term commitment as a Kiva Ambassador. But all jesting aside, as someone who has gone behind the curtain and seen the inner workings of Kiva and one of their MFI field partners, here’s my own personal opinion (not endorsed in any way by Kiva) on whether or not Kiva is actually peer-to-peer microlending.
Continue Reading 11 November 2009 at 08:50 zevlowe 9 comments
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…)
this is not aisle 3
By Shereef Zaki, KF9, Perú
One of my first posts was titled ‘recession proof’’ in which I described the resilience of micro-businesses and the integrity of micro-lending. This time around, I want to detail a theme I had only painted with large brushstrokes.
Although EDPYME Alternativa’s borrowers are scattered throughout the region, I live in Chiclayo and it has become the backdrop and the context of my life. To me, one of the most fascinating parts of this small city is the dearth of big box stores. In their absence exists a constant buzz of small-scale commerce.
Let me describe this vibrant economic landscape. In the center of the city, around the main plaza, there is a mixture of restaurants and shops devoted to clothing and electronics (especially cell phones). As one ventures further from the center, the streets become organized by economic themes.
-
- A shop selling paint or glass on Avenida Cuglievan
-
- Another shop selling glass on Avenida Cuglievan
-
- A string of shops selling paint on Avenida Cuglievan
-
- An endless stretch of candy shops on Bolognesi selling King Kong*
-
- A row of salons on Avenida Arica
-
- Four corners and four pharmacies at the intersection of Balta and Pedro Ruiz
-
- In the Mercado Modelo – one of the largest semiformal markets in Perú – there is a seemingly endless amount of organized commerce. For example, the footwear section
(more…)
Tchau Moçambique
By Cameron Morris KF8, Mozambique
On Monday ten hours of arduous bus travel took me from Maputo to Johannesburg and brought a pretty definite end to my Kiva Fellowship. Before going to Mozambique I was easily amazed by wonky, academic models that sought to bring the end of poverty to the world. It didn’t take long to realize that those theories are exactly that, just theories that in reality cannot be easily applied. People are not merely numbers or statistics and their problems are not inputs into functions. Their problems are real and have voices. Voices that are not full of sob stories, but that are pragmatic and eager to get things done. They do not need economists in white coats to solve their problems, nor do they need bags full of money. They merely need to be enabled to pursue their ideas, plans and dreams. (more…)
Welcome to the family, KF9!
Congratulations on finishing training… enjoy your graduation tonight!
In Freetown
By Jenny Kim, KF8 Sierra Leone
When I told people I was headed to Sierra Leone to work with a local NGO the universal response was “have you thought this through” and “be careful”. More than 4 years after UN Peacekeeping forces pulled out of Sierra Leone following a brutal and devastating 11 year civil war, people continue to associate Sierra Leone with violence or with the Hollywood blockbuster film Blood Diamonds. I can’t say I was that much more enlightened when I chose to live and work in Freetown, the capital city. After grabbing several books, a couple of documentaries, and hours on the internet, my cursory research painted a picture full of machete-wielding and AK47-toting child soldiers alternately terrorizing villages and mining for diamonds. Not good and dated info. Contacts urged me to find accommodations in a gated and well-guarded compound. Advice I took. And others told me to NEVER go out after dark. Advice I ignored. People tried to warn me about getting to town from Lungi Airport which purportedly was a gamble with my life given the three transport options– a “treacherous” ferry whose schedule can sometimes be a mystery, a hovercraft that has “exploded and ran out of fuel mid-trip in the past”, or a helicopter that has crashed several times. Stellar options. And only half true it turns out. With these thoughts swirling around in my head, I arrived in Sierra Leone last week. Since then I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this fascinating country, making a go of untangling some of the myths, tall tales, half truths, and sobering realities as best I can during my 2 month stay.
Observation #1
Sierra Leone needs better PR (more on this in the next blog). The country suffers from an undeserved and badly tattered public image—essentially a snapshot taken in perhaps the worst period of it’s history. Although the war is still very much woven into the fabric of this country and almost without exception every individual I have encountered has either witnessed atrocities or has suffered directly at the hands of warring factions, most Sierra Leoneans want to focus on rebuilding the country. Here in Freetown, perpetrators of murders, rapes, and mutilations live peaceably side by side with their victims. As my taxi driver put it to me, “What else can we do. We need to heal and move on.” The Truth and Reconciliation Trials continue to try the “big fish” a co-worker tells me. But “who can tell who was forced to kill and who can tell who was forced to take cocaine and drugs in order to cut off people’s wrists or legs? I don’t understand it. But we forgive and we have to live as brothers. It’s the past.”
Some context…
Ranked at the very bottom of the UN Human Development Index, Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world with a whole host of challenges in front of it. 1 in 6 mothers die here in childbirth making Sierra Leone the most dangerous place in the world to become a mother. Once born, 1 in 4 children will not survive past the age of 5. If you consider that Sierra Leone is a donor-driven nation which receives over a third of it’s annual budget from other countries and abroad, one can begin to grasp the magnitude of the work ahead when the national agenda includes combating severe infrastructure deficiencies, a non-existent healthcare system, illiteracy, and corruption.
- 1 in 6 mothers die as a result of childbirth (more than anywhere else recorded in the world)
- 1 in 4 children will never turn five
- 70% of the population live below the poverty line
- 57% of the population do not make a dollar a day
- Less than 10% of population has access to energy
- 1/3 of the Sierra Leonian government budget every year is donated
- Life expectancy at birth is 42 years (2007)
- Ranked 177 out of 177 countries in UN’s Human Development Index
- Ranked 168 out of 175 countries by World Bank for ease of doing business
- Average GDP per person is $209 (adjusting for purchasing power parity approximately $800)
Sources: UN, Unicef, World Bank, Sierra Leone by Bradt
The video below is of my first loan visit in Dove Court market located in Freetown.
Comparing Malaria Solutions
Artemisinin: an ancient malaria cure for 21st century Africa
Continue Reading 16 September 2009 at 16:54 DaveMcMurtry 7 comments
Microcredit Operators–>Microbanks–>Banks
By Cameron Morris, KF8 Mozambique
Microcredit operators, microbanks, and banks are the three primary designations for consumer facing financial institutions in Mozambique. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been spending some of my time assisting the Kiva portfolio team with MFI recruitment. I’ve met with a full range of financial institutions with executive directors as diverse as the populations they serve.
I would guess that currently the majority of Kiva’s partners fall into the microcredit or microbank category. These institutions are the quaint organizations that usually characterize microfinance and that more importantly meet the requirements for working with Kiva.
What I’m curious about is what will happen when these institutions start to mature. (more…)
Spreading the Kiva love…
by Cissy DeLuca, KF8, Indonesia
This past week is my last week working at TLM in West Timor. TLM is also partnered with Opportunity International (OI) Australia, which is their primary source of funding. To promote this relationship, TLM often hosts “Insight Trips,” which allow supporters of OI to pay a fee to visit a partner MFI of their choice. These trips promote donor understanding and create the potential for them to further contribute to the work of the MFI.
TLM staff members introducing the Australian guests to a client
Eight Australians arrived this past Monday to be toured around to visit clients, see the office, meet the staff and gain an insider perspective on microfinance and TLM. Upon hearing I was working on behalf of Kiva, an instant fan club materialized right before my eyes. They wanted to know everything they possibly could about Kiva and their partnership with TLM. Some had heard of it, while others had not. This resulted in me hosting an impromptu training session at my desk on how to use the Kiva website. One of the Australians had even googled “TLM” and “Microfinance” prior to the trip and stumbled upon the fellows blog and a video I had made! He had known of the existence of a “Cissy” at TLM before he even arrived… I am a minor celebrity!
A Great Vision Can Lead a Businessman Far
The Best Lahmajun Place in Yerevan — Mer Taghr or “Our Street”:
“A friend in need is a friend indeed”
Volunteering in the field of microfinance since May 2009, I have encountered numerous borrower stories that absolutely inspire me. For many, receiving a small credit is a matter of survival, not a matter of ambition. The borrowers’ commitment to work and their willingness to fight so hard are two reasons why Kiva exists. Kiva’s goal is to remove the conditions for this need. Through my encounters with Kiva borrowers, I have learned to appreciate the opportunities that the world of business can give people.
At the beginning of September 2009, I took a friend to what had been presented to me as the “Best Lahmajun place in Yerevan, Armenia.” That evening, we had the pleasure of meeting the owner–Mr. Sargis Grboyan–who shared the story of his the vision for restaurant “Mer Taghe.” I enjoy meeting entrepreneurs like Sargis, who would, in Kiva Slang, be “graduates” from the organization in the sense that their businesses are already well developed. These are the entrepreneurs who fall in the category in-between needing micro-credit and heading a big business. If everyone had access to credit resources like Mr. Grboyan did, Kiva and the field of microfinance would not be as vital in the fight for alleviating poverty as they are at the moment.
Velizara with the owner of Mer Taghe (Tumanyan Street, Yerevan)
According to Mr. Grboyan, the past 20 years have brought about a positive climate for entrepreneurship in Armenia while the Soviet regime kept the hands of businessmen tied. When his parents moved to Armenia in 1947, Sargis began studying at the local university. In history lectures, he was taught that Capitalism was the worse system and that as young people create families, they must make sure to educate their children of that fact. What he learned from this “brainwashing” was to get “into the blood of a customer”–just like the Communist ideal was supposed to get under the skin of people–and to make sure no client forgets “Mer Taghe.”
Sargis was brought up understanding how to “make money;” but more importantly, he was brought up a good and sociable person. One of his visions is being kind to others, while his everyday priority is to meet new people and help them. He says that if from age 14 you help everyone around you (and most importantly your neighbors), at age 18 one of these people will return your kindness and give you credit to start a business. Sargis says, “If you asked me for money, the first thing I would ask you is ‘Why are you not going to your neighbor’.” You have to seek out the acquaintances that could help you in a hard situation.
It was precisely thanks to such a generous hand that Sargis was able to leave his successful textile business and open a restaurant. Using their own hands, Sargis and his brother, Vazgen, engineered and decorated the place on Tumanyan Street, where they is currently employing 20 people. Sargis thought through every detail from the connection with the kitchen, through the type of seating, to the little Armenian-English wisdom-notes he puts inside the menus:”
“A good name keeps its luster in the dark”
“A fool and his money are soon parted”
“Strike while the iron is hot”
“An honest man’s word is a good as his bond”
I wish all Kiva Borrowers to be able to achieve the ambition, comfort and enjoyment that Sargis Grboyan finds in his work. Part of Kiva’s mission is to provide entrepreneurs from all over the world with the necessaryconnections to develop their business to such an extent. Helping others in a sustainable way is the goal of all of us who commit to the Kiva Community.
Velizara Passajova is serving as a Kiva Fellow with the new field partner Nor Horizon in Yerevan, Armenia.
To view currently fundraising loans from Nor Horizon click here.
To become a member of the “Armenia” lending team click here.
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…)
Just want to be starting something
By Suzy Marinkovich, KF8
I remember when I was a teenager, I’d awaken in the middle of the night and meander to the kitchen for a glass of water and my dad would be perched there in his chair with a yellow notepad, writing madly about some scientific revelation. He was always so quiet, and his presence would catch me by surprise. The way his hair was completely messed up and his eyes scarily determined, I could swear in these moments he was a mad scientist. He was coming up with a new theory, some new protein to test for in his lab. I always felt that surely, by the aura of madness accompanying him, he was writing down information that would lead to finding a cure for something that I was incapable of understanding due to his annoying inability to use layman’s terms in explanations.
Writing this post was the first time I felt a little of my Dad’s madness, because I wrote this post quickly with just a pen and notebook in hand and a bad case of writer’s cramp. As I wrote it, one of the loan officers asked to borrow my pen four times before I noticed she was speaking to me. I am sure I looked insane to her. I just feel very occupied by this issue, as I am sure a lot of the other Fellows, Kiva staff, lenders, and borrowers themselves feel.
When your heart is invested in someone, it feels instinctive to look for dangers in their path to warn them. I do the same thing for microfinance; I am always pining around our borrower’s stories to unearth obstacles to its success. I’ve come to believe microfinance’s first and most formidable threat is living without ever having had instruction in economics.
By removing certain variables we can make sense of at least a part of this problem.
When small loans don’t work, let’s assume that means one of two things:
A) It didn’t help the borrower financially and they are about the same.
B) It financially hurt the borrower.
Let’s go ahead and remove all extraneous factors – e.g. political strife, health, personal problems, weather, etc. I am aware that presently, it’s virtually impossible to bar these factors in the developing world as we know it. However, for all intents and purposes, let’s work with variables we might be able to control.
As I write this blog post in my notebook, I am seated in the back of a sea of white plastic chairs that hold the many socias (borrowers) at FINCA. We are all watching a Power Point presentation on the subject: “How to know if you are winning or losing in small business.”
FINCA organized this talk because of the following statistic:
The average life span of small businesses in Ayacucho is 18 months.
FINCA Peru lecture on fostering successful business
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…)
Typical
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.
Liberian Highway Exorcism
I was in a 3-hour bush taxi (8 people crammed into a Hyundai) from Monrovia to Gbarnga, Charles Taylor’s former stronghold, when we hit a traffic roadblock. Curious to know what could cause a complete stoppage of traffic, I walked to the front of the line of cars to find a group of people doing an exorcism of the evil spirits that have caused so many accidents at this exact spot. It was fascinating to watch, mainly because of the apparent fusion of Christianity, Islam, and “local vodoo” (for lack of a better descriptor). Here’s a quick glimpse of the full event that lasted for over an hour. Make sure your volume is up to hear the inclusion of all the higher powers…
The Other Side of Women for Women (Bosnia), a partner MFI of Kiva.org
As time goes by in my work as a Kiva Fellow, I realize more and more how important the social mission of an MFI is. At my first placement, I was greatly impressed by Kiva’s partner in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I would like to share the story of this institution. Through Kiva, the relationship and the space for the borrower’s voice is not established solely because of technology, but because of the real person-to-person communication that an MFI has with its clients. If the MFI atmosphere and staff are personable and human, the clients truly feel that they are not just borrowing money from a bank. This is where the borrower really has a space. This is where real healing and real help happen.
“War is not a computer-generated missile striking a digital map. War is the color of earth as it explodes in our faces, the sound of child pleading, the smell of smoke and fear. Women survivors of war are not the single image portrayed on the television screen, but the glue that holds families and countries together. Perhaps by understanding women, and the other side of war…we will have more humility in our discussions of wars…perhaps it is time to listen to women’s side of history.”
—Zainab Salbi, President and CEO of Women for Women International
When I found out that Zainab Salbi was coming to Sarajevo and the regional managers of Zene za Zene were attending her talk, I decided to go on the 3-hour-long ride to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina in hopes to find an inspiration. Zainab’s talk proved to be eye-opening.
With a sensitivity and apparent interest in every person present, she talked about her story and what motivates her and asked each individual in the room, mostly women, to tell the others something about herself. The energy that ran through the colleagues as they stood up, in addition to their slight nervousness, was impressive.
The Bosnian branch of Women for Women International (WfWI) is the first one and the stepping stone of the larger organization. On June 12, 1993, with only 30 women, WfWI started because of war-time rape camps in BiH. Now the organization serves 53,000 women annually (including microcredit) and has served 207,000 women directly while mobilizing 250,000 women in 101 countries. This half a million is comprised of both people who donate and the ones who need help. All of these women are asking for justice.
Zene za Zene has sister offices in Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Sudan; all branches zealously follow the mission of WfWI. What distinguishes WfWI is that the organization stresses the holistic approach needed to help struggling women. Microcredit is far from the only solution to the difficulties of every woman in the world. In addition to financing entrepreneurs, WfWI educates women about their rights and connects them to the public and private sectors to give them an opportunity to gain politically important roles. Through organic farming programs and job placements, WfWI addresses the non-entrepreneurial women who need assistance. In job placements for their program participants, WfWI defends the need for rights awareness, fair wages, and fair labor practices. “Placing women in jobs is not unique, but placing women who know their rights and can mobilize is,” says Zainab. Through the programs of WfWI, participants acquire skills, create friendships, raise their self-confidence, and familiarize themselves with their rights. The combination of financial support, a community, and access to knowledge and resources brings a lasting change in these women’s lives.
If you feel inspired to support the mission of Women for Women International, please visitwww.womenforwomen.org. In 2009, due to the economic changes in the world, donations have dropped by 10% and WfWI has had to cut $3 million of spending and 17% of their staff. Even when sponsors ‘drop out,’ the organization cannot suddenly stop financing the women in need. Now is the most important time to donate for this cause and make sure that no branches have to be closed, so that Women for Women International can keep uplifting as women all over the world.
If donating is not a good alternative to microcredit for you, you could lend to borrowers of the MFI Zene za Zene. Kiva.org partners with microcredit institutions that have a strong social mission and allows you to give a hand to entrepreneurs all over the world. The 90% repayment rate should show you how safe it is to invest in Kiva borrowers.
This post has been written by Velizara Passajova, a Kiva Fellow working for 4 weeks at her second placement in Armenia (withNor Horizon). Check out currently fundraising loans in Eastern Europe and join Kiva Lending Team – Friends of Women for Women International or Armenia.
Explaining Kiva
By Alison Carlman, KF8, Kenya
“ It’s this place, on the computer… like a bulletin board… where people post stories…”
Explaining Kiva isn’t easy. It wasn’t easy for me to explain Kiva to my Mom, (no offense, Mom) – so imagine me trying to explain Kiva to a Kenyan farmer who’s never touched a computer and never even heard of “the internet.”
As lenders, some of us hope that Kiva borrowers daydream about us in the way that we daydream about them. After all – we feel this connection with people half a world away because we’ve read their story and seen their photo – and we’ve shared a part of ourselves with them – a portion of our income, and perhaps a photo or a peak into our lending philosophy.
But as a Kiva Fellow it was my experience that many times borrowers know very little about their lenders. There are several reasons for this. The first – as I have alluded to – is the sheer difficulty of explaining Kiva to someone who has never heard of the internet, and cannot imagine how someone from Canada could know who they are. There is a steep learning curve along the road to understanding Kiva. (Read Matt Flannery’s blog article about an encounter gone wrong in this regard).
(more…)
On Buoyancy
by Joel Carlman, KF8
As I enter the final week of my Kiva Fellowship here in Kisumu, Kenya, I find myself thinking about what my time here has taught me. Kenya is so different from any place that I’ve ever been. The smiles are brighter, the hand-shakes longer, and the hospitality warmer than just about anywhere.
I know that I’m doing microfinance, and that Kiva is about borrowing and lending. The terms, the accounts, the figures, and financials are so interesting to me, and that can sometimes seem like what it is all about. During my fellowship, I dove deep into microfinance, and it’s tempting to look at everything through an analytical lens. Even as a student of development, I always want to find the golden thread that leads you from problem to solution through the complicated fabric of global and local issues.
But, even more than borrowing and lending, Kiva is about connecting. It’s hard enough to connect to people of your own background, from your own hometown, and of your own color, tribe, or social status. How can we possibly connect to people so different from us? I don’t know if I can really answer that question, but I am inspired to tell of the ways in which I have connected to this place during my fellowship.
How I Became a Godmother
By Courtney Kemps, KF8 Peru
I thought I’d share this little story because I think it nicely illustrates both the typical and the wildly atypical in my work as a Kiva Fellow. And it also illustrates how these two opposites sometimes intertwine in unusual ways . . . .
In the course of my work with Kiva field partner Manuela Ramos I have spent a lot of my time interviewing Kiva borrowers to provide lenders with updates on their businesses. Each week I attend several communal bank meetings in order to meet the borrowers and set up interviews with them. All of Manuela’s communal banks meet monthly with their loan officers. These meetings, called “Reuniones de Pago,” have several purposes: 1) Review of the bank’s financial situation. The month’s loan payments are verified, borrowers’ passbooks are filled out, and any delinquencies in payments are discussed. 2) Participation in an educational session given by the bank’s loan officer. During the course of my work, these sessions have dealt with how to manage, promote and grow one’s business. 3) Discussion of any other issues and announcements from the loan officer regarding upcoming plans or programming from Manuela.
One afternoon this past week I attended a “Reunión de Pago” for the communal bank “De La Amistad” (Friendship). Arriving early, I had a chance to interview the bank’s president, Teresa, who is a Kiva borrower with a growing juice sales business. Before the meeting began I quietly went around the room, introducing myself to the 3 or 4 other Kiva borrowers in the group and setting up times to interview them.
Many of the original founders of “De La Amistad” are still members and are quite proud of the fact that “De La Amistad” is one of Manuela’s oldest communal banks. The members spent a large part of last week’s meeting planning a celebration for their 11th anniversary, an unusual activity for a communal bank. As they began their discussion, I assumed that such an event would mean going out for lunch or dinner as a group. Not so at all: “De La Amistad’s” 11th anniversary celebration will be an elaborate affair! After an hour’s planning, on the wall hung a piece of poster paper with a numbered schedule of events for the gala, to be held at a nearby event hall. Tickets will be sold. Everyone will dress up and bring her spouse or partner. There will be dinner and dancing. There will be a brief talk about the bank’s history, followed by a speech from a Manuela Ramos representative, followed by a toast. Finally, from among its members, “De La Amistad” will choose a queen for the year.
Near the end of this planning, Teresa called me up to the front of the room. I assumed that she was going to introduce me and explain my purpose to the group as a whole. Usually a loan officer introduces me when I attend meetings, but I figured that Teresa had taken on this task because we had already had a chance to chat. Instead of introducing me, however, Teresa asked me if I would be the godmother of the 11th anniversary celebration! I was rather startled. All I could think was to ask if this was the same as being the queen. “No, no!” the women told me. The godmother provides the cake and becomes the “guest of honor.” I protested that I was heading home next week and, therefore, could not attend the event, which was scheduled for the end of September. No problem, they told me, I could send someone to represent me. Another bank member recounted “De La Amistad’s” long, proud history with Manuela Ramos and their annual tradition of having an anniversary celebration. How could I refuse a roomful of 20 expectant women?
This is how I became a godmother. Not of a person, but of an event that I cannot even attend! On my way out the door, several women smiled, saying “Goodbye, Godmother.”
Courtney Kemps has been serving as a Kiva Fellow with Manuela Ramos in Pucallpa, Peru since the beginning of June. She’s had a great experience meeting many of Manuela’s Kiva borrowers and will be finishing up her Fellowship next week. Learn more about Manuela Ramos’s microfinance program or check out a list of currently fundraising loans for the organization’s borrowers.
Anything but Routine…Microfinance in Nairobi’s slums
By Jaclyn Berfond, KF8 Kenya
After a month of going out, interviewing borrowers every day, life can start to feel rather routine. Yet, all I have to do is look around – really look around at the slums where I have been working – and I know that Faulu’s work here in Nairobi is anything but routine.
Many fellows before me have offered poignant descriptions of slums around the world. Yet, I felt that the impact of the informal settlements (as they are so politically-correctly called) on my perceptions of poverty, economic empowerment and microfinance, as well as the impact on Nairobi and Kenya as a whole, merited yet another word on the subject.
It is estimated that over half of Nairobi’s population – around 2 million people – live in the city’s numerous informal settlements. Nairobi’s largest slum, and probably most infamous, is Kibera, home to over 1 million people. My work through Faulu has largely centered on the smaller Mukuru settlements. My first day in the Kwa Njenga section of Mukuru slum – where an estimated 75,000 people live on 80 acres of land (and these are only the official numbers) – was an experience like none I’ve ever had before. Walking for what felt like miles among shacks made of corrugated iron, navigating piles of garbage waiting to be burned, jumping over streams of waste winding through the makeshift streets, inhaling the fumes from the cars that attempted to squeeze through the giant maze of stalls and people…it was the making of a nightmare. Yet, for millions of people, this is reality.
Titus, a Faulu client in Mukuru
Chia Buồn
By Hanh Tran, KF8 – Fund for Thanh Hoa Poor Women (FPW) – Vietnam
I never leave home without my camera these days. But there are many instances when I fail to pull it out in time to capture some of the interesting things I pass on the street everyday.
Peddling Bamboo
Then there are times when I am tired of filming or when I capture a moment on video and find myself debating what I should do with it. When you are interviewing people each day and they trust you with their stories, it’s a great privilege – and at times overwhelming. I had one of these moments last week.
Chief Credit Officers, Ms. Ha, whom I’ve grown very fond of, and Ms. Hanh gave me instructions to meet them at Nuoc Mam Thanh Huong for a borrower meeting. This is the area where the popular brand of nuoc mam (fish sauce) is made in Thanh Hoa. I hopped onto a Xe Om (motorbike) and told the driver to take me there. I knew immediately when we had reached the vicinity of our final destination…distinct harsh and pungent whiffs of fermented fish floated through the heavy, humid air. Nuoc mam is a staple of Vietnamese cuisine. I grew up eating many meals with nuoc mam, and still, the scent is too strong for me. I was glad that I had recently caved in and bought a facemask to avoid breathing in the dusty Thanh Hoa air…and in this case, the strong fermented fish odor.
Ms. Ha and Ms. Hoa at a borrower meeting
“No worries; we are always together”
By Andrew Whiteman, KF8
My fellowship in Benin is nearly over. It has been ten weeks of hard work, but I have learned a ton and I have great stories to take back to the US. Some everlasting memories include taking a baboon for a walk (yes, on a leash), being told that I could only wear a speedo at the swimming pool, and visiting a sacred forest, the home of a tree that was once a king. More importantly, now I better understand my reason for being here. During my first few weeks, when everything was stressful and confusing, I remember writing in my journal, “Why I am here? What difference can I, a foreigner, make?” Now, I think I have found a good enough answer for myself. Here are a few things I have learned:
Development takes a long time. Democracy in Africa is at most fifty years old. A working financial sector is even younger. Benin was communist in the 1970s and has therefore only recently adopted a market economy. Although the example is dated, our own country had a lot work out in the first fifty years of its history. Many people, including myself, want an easy answer to all of the world’s problems. But it doesn’t work that way. We work on a problem and then others build on what we have done, slowly resolving the problem. Microfinance is a perfect example. It is a relatively new field and we are all working to make it stronger. It is not perfect right now. It is often hard to see a real impact after someone has taken out three loans and they are still selling a small stock of goods on the side of the road. But at least, people are learning how to manage their money. Many borrowers on Kiva have already received a loan from their MFI, meaning that they are considered financially trustworthy. In the future, an MFI might decide to offer advanced money management courses that help people establish financial goals. More Kiva Fellows go out into the field to make Kiva’s work better. As the Kiva community, we should always be thinking of ways to improve what we do, but also we should be patient and give development a chance.
Our world is shrinking whether we like it or not. We are traveling more, learning new languages, and meeting people who are different from us. People in Benin listen to American music and watch Lost and Prison Break. In the rural north of Benin, people are starting to receive Internet service via cell phones. We no longer have the choice to remain separated from the rest of the world. It is our responsibility to engage each other, to figure out where all this is going. This is one great benefit of the Kiva Fellows Program—you enter a totally new environment and are forced to interact. I believe that it is hospitality that can connect us all. Almost every culture in the world places a high priority on hospitality. People in Benin often offer to pay for me, even if they do not have very much money. It is a sign that I am welcome in their country. Often when I say goodbye to someone in Benin, they say, “no worries; we are always together.” Luckily, if we all hold onto our shared generosity and hospitality, we have a lot to look forward to in the future.
In short, engaging the world is relevant and necessary. It is easy to be cynical or overly optimistic about international development, but I think it’s better to be somewhere in the middle. A lot of work still needs to be done to promote development and increase cultural understanding, but through Kiva, we are doing our part. As a Kiva Fellow, I have been able to meet some of the people that you lend to from thousands of miles away. I think this is powerful and I am fortunate to help make that connection. I look forward to continuing to lend to others around the world over the years. I wonder what microfinance will look like in ten, fifteen years…
Part tour guide, part Kiva-in-Benin promoter, here are a few photos of this beautiful country:
Ganvier, the "Venice of Africa", located thirty minutes north of Cotonou
On the road to Bassila. During the rainy season, Benin is quite green.
A mosque in Porto-Novo
A view over the Dantokpa Market in Cotonou.
Andrew Whiteman is a Kiva Fellow (KF8), currently working at Alidé, a Kiva Field Partner, in Cotonou, Benin.
Please consider joining my lending team, Friends of Benin. Together, we can make a difference!
A quarter million hits and counting!
By JD Bergeron, Kiva Fellows Program Director
Perhaps a few of you noticed in the sidebar to the right that Kiva Stories from the Field recently passed 250,000 views. Started in summer 2007, the blog was intended to promote the work of Kiva Fellows in the field and to provide a view into the daily lives of these incredible, generous people doing their part to promote Kiva’s mission of connecting individuals through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.
This blog has seemingly inspired a number of other social enterprise blogs and Kiva is quite proud of the reach, breadth and enthusiasm shown toward these stories. We have recently been added to Lonely Planet’s blogsherpa program which automatically links content from specific countries to those pages on the Lonely Planet website. See Liberia for an illustration of how Kiva Fellow Dave McMurtry has become one of the voices for visitors to the West African nation.
It is our aim to continue to provide high quality personal stories and observations on a daily (or nearly daily) basis. Please share the blog with your friends. And we would love to hear your suggestions for stories you’d like to read!
Sometimes it just aint enough…
by Michael Kasseris
Often times life is like a boxing match. You’re put into the ring with a challenge and you have some rounds to hash it out. Once you’re in this figurative ring you have a few options: you can get scared and jump out of the ring, you could dance around for a few rounds, or you can try to engage the challenge and see how you hold up. I know this metaphor sounds incredibly cliché, however it reminds me of a phrase our Fellows director told us way back in San Fran. To prepare us for our experiences in the “microfinance mundo,” ( I borrowed this from Susan Arthur, I really like it!) he told us that we should be ready for a few “gut punches.” (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…)
Charles Taylor’s Legacy – Perspective From Liberia
Charles Taylor systematically murdered 10% of Liberia’s population. The who remain walk the streets of Monrovia as his legacy.
Continue Reading 15 August 2009 at 08:15 DaveMcMurtry 5 comments
A Tale of Two Cities in One
By Rob Mittelman, KF8, Peru
Most days I struggle with what I see.
The academic in me would explain the concept of economic dualism as the coexistence of modern and traditional sectors within a single economy, especially as found in less-developed countries. Modern and traditional are perhaps polite terms for rich and poor (that’s not the academic in me, that’s the cynic). The division between rich and poor, or modern and traditional, is as great here as I’ve seen in Latin America. Statistics may say otherwise but I see a great discrepancy.
During my Kiva Fellows Program I am living in a middle class neighbourhood in Lima called Jesus Maria. There are much nicer and safer neighbourhoods nearby where most of the other foreigners live but I chose this one as it’s close to EDAPROSPO’s main office. This wasn’t the Peru I was expecting.
Kenya’s Post-Election Crisis Revisited.
By Alison Carlman, KF8, Kenya
Kenya’s post election violence is probably far from the minds of most people in the world. After all – the contested election and its ensuing rioting happened in late 2007, and that was years ago. (See Former Kiva Fellow Zack Turner’s blog post from 2008 here, describing the conflict.) Surely you’d think that people were recovering from the trauma and have moved on with their lives.
Yes and no.
In my first several weeks of borrower interviews, a few borrowers brought up the violence when asked I about their challenges. Many eyes even swelled up with tears as these Kenyans described what happened to their businesses and to their families in the aftermath.
Surprised by how close it all still felt to many of these people, I began to ask every borrower about the post-election violence and how it has affected their lives. They have remarkable stories. Peres Akinyi Mimba, for example, had a successful informal hardware business in 2007. “I had a big shop, I even had to transport things on lorries” she explained to me. But during the period of violence her shop was looted and she lost most of her goods were stolen. Now she is taking a loan out to help re-build her business back to where it was before – she currently just sells basic paints and nails, but she wants to sell a larger variety of hardware supplies.
Alison (right) interviewing Consolata (center), with help of K-MET translator, Debra (left)
