Posts filed under ‘KF9 (Kiva Fellows 9th Class)’
Community Loans: Another Level of Microfinance
By Josh Weinstein, KF9 Philippines
I spent the last week with the research department touring the region, tagging along on a market research survey. On the last day, we were driving through a coastal town when the paved road turned to dirt. According to the driver and director of the research department at NWTF, when the road turns to dirt, you know you are headed in the right direction. Sure enough, within a few minutes we reached a squatter community bustling with people. (In the Philippines, the government protects squatters, and large communities spring up on other peoples’ lands.) The road was just wide enough to fit the van and lined with nipa huts and sari sari stores. We passed by two makeshift basketball courts before coming to the end of the road. We parked the van and split up to walk around and talk to the people. Unfortunately, the interviews are all in Illonggo, so I chose to follow the director down to the shore. He began talking to a group of women on the beach holding their infant children. He asked a few questions, one of which is particularly interesting. If they could have a loan to spend on anything in their community, what would it be? Their response: a storage tank for diesel fuel or an icemaker. I’ll explain why this is important, but first some background. (more…)
Microfinance: One industry, multiple methods
By Rob Packer, KF10 Colombia
Microfinance is commonly seen as the exclusive territory of non-profits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). While there are a lot of non-profits on the Kiva platform, there is also a fair number of for-profit MFIs and additionally, a lot of the non-Kiva money coming into microfinance is returns-driven (i.e. investment for profit). Whether it’s interest charged on a loan from a bank, the spread required for philanthropic financing by national or supranational governments, or the more apparent return sought by microfinance investment firms, there is an implicit profit motive in microfinance that touches all areas of the industry. Does a for-profit MFI with a strong social mission automatically cause lower levels of development because the ultimate aim of the company is profit? As is always the case in microfinance, the answer is “it depends”, but from my experience in Kyrgyzstan, I don’t see that microfinance and for-profit are mutually exclusive. In all the discussion of whether for-profit or non-profit organizations are better, there is an important point that is often overlooked. The main struggle for an MFI is not how much of a profit they make, but whether they break even.
Leonardo, barber and FMSD client - and coming soon to Kiva.
“Does Microcredit Really Help Poor People?” Yes, but…
KF9 Ilmari Soininen UIMCEC, Thies, Senegal
Over the last four months working in microfinance in urban Senegal, I have come across many clients who report increased income thanks to their loans. Fishmongers, clothing salesman, taxi drivers, you name it. Indeed, this has come to be expected – put the capital into the entrepreneur’s hands and he will surely put it to the most efficient use, and help bring his family out of poverty.
Makes sense. But trying to tease out exactly by how much the client’s income has increased is not as straight forward. Clients rarely keep good track of revenues and expenses, so the bottom line at the end of the month can be pretty hard to decipher. Often I wonder after the interest payments, did the client really increase his income or was it a mirage simply reflecting more money coming in and out?
My experience is consistent with the broader lack of evidence to link microfinance with increased incomes and reduced levels of poverty. In “Does Microcredit Really Help Poor People?”, an excellent recent report for CGAP, Richard Rosenberg examines recent research and looks to answer this question.
Bienvenido a Chile, Kiva!
By Suzy Price Marinkovich, KF9 Chile
If the video above doesn’t show on your browser, here it is at this link: http://vimeo.com/8899555
To see & read the bios of all the loans Fondo Esperanza has uploaded to Kiva to date, click here!
Check out all fundraising loans from Fondo Esperanza by clicking here! Also, feel free to share that link with everyone you know in a fun, cute, and easy to remember form: http://bit.ly/KivaFE
Suzy Marinkovich is currently on her last placement as a Kiva Fellow — and she is training Fondo Esperanza, a brand-new Kiva partner in Chile! Suzy has a wholehearted passion for microfinance, social justice, and poverty alleviation; what she enjoys the most is listening to the incredible stories of Kiva borrowers in South America.
The Last Days of the Dodo
by Avani Parekh-Bhatt, Kiva Fellow at SMEP in Nairobi, Kenya.
The "dodo" bird from SMEP
Jambo! I’d like to introduce myself, My name is Avani Parekh-Bhatt, I’m a 9th class Kiva Fellow and the last of my class to get to the field in Kenya. I hail from Durham, North Carolina. I believe in the power of human relationships, and grassroots led development, and I want to see the real nuts and bolts of microfinance, so that’s why I applied to be a Kiva Fellow (and to start my own microfinance organization one day.)
At my second day on the job at a Kiva fellow at my MFI, I looked out of my window in the marketing office, and saw in the garden the vestige of a time gone by, a bird that to me looked exactly like a dodo bird. You remember learning about the dodo –it’s now extinct, but living on in the faded black line drawings in elementary school textbooks. It struck me today that I am witnessing the death of the dodo at my MFI, and the creation of an entirely new species of organization.
Working with Ecovillages in Senegal
By Nicki Goh, KF9 Senegal
Now that I am well into my second month here in Senegal, I thought it was worth sharing a little background on the MFI where I am working.
Senegal Ecovillage Microfinance was set up in 2004 by an American volunteer, John Fay, who was carrying out an economic assessment of the village of Louly Ngogom in Senegal. Following interviews with the villagers, John decided to set up a small micro-loan pilot programme to meet the demand for financial services in otherwise un-served communities. In that first year of 2004, he lent fifteen families just $30 each to purchase peanut seed and received 100% back in repayments. Since then, and with the help of Kiva – whose timely launch in late 2005 saw SEM taken on as Kiva’s 4th ever partner – SEM has succeeded in providing financing to groups in nearly 40 villages.
SEM is the microfinance arm of GENSEN, the Global Ecovillage Network here in Senegal. The Global Ecovillage Network’s mission, as expressed on its website includes: “contributing to the worldwide transformation toward sustainability, by supporting ecovillages, joining with like-minded partners, and expanding education and demonstration programs in sustainable living.” Sustainable living as described by GEN is not only a lifestyle dedicated to the preservation of the natural environment, but also a way of life that protects the society and its traditions in an economically viable way.
As one of these “like-minded partners” SEM’s policy is to finance only those clients who are members of a GEN-SEN accredited ecovillage. As such SEM would describe itself as an MFI with a very strong social mission: not only does it operate in rural areas of the country with no other access to financial services, but it is working with a network that encourages sustainable rural development
So what is an ecovillage? And what does being a member of one entail? How does this affect the kinds of business activities that the entrepreneurs can take on with the loan from SEM (and Kiva)? Does this mean that all of the business activities of SEM’s clients are wonderfully eco-friendly, accepting of traditional values and socially beneficial in every possible way?
I have a dream…
By Ed Coambs, KF9 Philippines, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation
Have you ever had a dream. Sure you have. We all have.
I have created a short video in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and the women of Negros, Philippines to remind us all that it is important to dream and dream big.
Spending the last three months in the Philippines has been an amazing experience. I have traveled to meet many Kiva entrepreneurs all over the island of Negros, and no matter what I find a way to ask about their dreams. There is no doubt this has been the most inspirational part of my time here. I hope that you will take a few minutes to remember Martin Luther King Jr. and the women of Negros. They are both great dreamers.
Financial Education and Microfinance
By Sheethal Shobowale, KF9, Peru
Doris, one of the loan officers at Asociación Arariwa, has been working with clients in Urubamba and Cusco for 17 years.
I sat in on one of the monthly loan payment meetings of one of her communal banks, Aguas Buenas. All members paid their monthly payments on time, but two of the members asked permission beforehand not to attend. Because of their absence, Doris commented on the importance of attending the monthly meetings, saying “No vamos a lograr nada” (We won’t achieve anything this way). She even called one of the absent members on her cellphone to remind them of the importance of attending monthly meetings.
Attendance is importance especially since during each meeting, loan officers teach a short workshop on different topics such as financial literacy, business training, family well-being or health. In this meeting Doris taught a lesson on setting financial goals. Having done some financial literacy workshops for teenagers and some credit counseling for adults in my work with the Lower East Side Credit Union in New York, I was excited and honored to see Arariwa’s financial literacy training in action, especially by a loan officer as experienced as Doris.
Consider Microfinance Ancillary Effects
By Alex Duong, KF9, Vietnam
Before continuing, please take time to read colleague Victoria Kabak’s post on Nicaragua. I’d like her courageous efforts to be recognized. And if you are out to make a loan today, rather than Vietnam, please consider funding someone in Nicaragua here, particularly a borrower with AFODENIC.
Victoria, I don’t have an answer either. Perhaps build a regression model? But that is probably skewed by my swimming in a quantitative pool these last few days with friends cash flow and NPV.
***
Ok, on to this post about ancillary effects. A recent trend in microfinance (MF) has been to incorporate social performance indicators. The concept involves measuring poverty alleviation actually induced through loans and other MF efforts. Metrics or not, what I can tell you is that Madame Lien would put those statistics to shame. Check out her preschool students below.
“Il faut profiter, ein?”
This is as close as I can get to looking Togolese!
By Taylor Akin, KF9, Togo
It’s amazing how identity can be so malleable. In a matter of hours, a person can be transformed from local to foreigner, fluent to fumbling, familiar to fascinating, and even from black to white. Anyone who has ever travelled even just a couple hours outside their hometown has experienced this shift. The change in identity may happen to varying degrees, but its unpredictability remains a constant.
In the past, I have often travelled to locations where my skin colour has conveniently allowed me to blend in. The mix of my Jamaican and British heritage has provided me with a variety of clever masks. I may appear to be Ecuadorian, Spanish, and even Moroccan depending on my location. Since my arrival in Lomé, however, I have done anything but blend in. (more…)
How to write a borrower profile
By Jeremy Lapedis, KF9, Guatemala
This morning, I went to do some borrower profiles. The things that you see on Kiva’s website when you want to make a loan, those are borrower profiles. The picture, the description of the person and his or her business are really the meat of the profile (especially if they are selling animal products). Well, from people far away from the scenes, it might be simple enough what you want to see: a smiling person, with his or her business in the background, a description of family life, of business history, of what use the loan will be, and of hopes and dreams. All this in three paragraphs. What would your profile look like? I made one for myself, and it’s at the bottom of this post.
So as you maybe are starting to see, writing the profiles are not as simple as they may seem on the website. (more…)
A view of lending from the field
By Ed Coambs, KF9 Philippines, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation
A great entrepreneur!
By now you have probably had a chance to make a loan on Kiva.org and if not you are thinking about it. Either way you are probably thinking about how does the loan get made in the field. Well like you I wondered this until I became a Kiva Fellow. Now that I have spent 3 months in the field, I can honestly say I know how the lending process works.
Let me just say it is a lot hotter, and (more…)
The Case for Nicaragua
By Victoria Kabak, KF9, Nicaragua
As I finish up my placement as a Kiva Fellow in Nicaragua, there is one question that I didn’t know the answer to when I arrived and that still confounds me three months later. Why isn’t Nicaragua a more “popular” country to lend to on Kiva?
The average time to fund a loan on Kiva to a borrower from AFODENIC, the microfinance institution where I’ve been a Kiva Fellow here in Nicaragua, is 5.65 days, almost 2.5 times the overall average (this information can be found on any partner page, under the “Loan Characteristics on Kiva” heading). Of the first 14 loans to expire without being fully funded in the history of Kiva, six of them were to Nicaraguan borrowers.
Nicaragua is the #1 poorest country in Latin America, with the second lowest per capita income in the entire Western Hemisphere, after Haiti (and a 2009 article in Latin Business Chronicle declared Nicaragua worse-off than Haiti based on figures released by the IMF). Despite its proximity to the happiest country in the world and the similarities the two countries share in terms of tropical climate and natural beauty, a history of political strife and fairly recent revolution – only 30 years ago – has kept Nicaragua (very far away) from enjoying the relative prosperity of its neighbor Costa Rica. As of 2005, the poverty rate in Nicaragua was 48 percent.
On a daily basis in Managua I pass by houses constructed of a combination of metal sheets and cardboard, and I have visited borrowers in houses like this too—homes where curtains are hung to separate rooms because they can’t afford walls. Right outside of the capital many of the roads that Kiva borrowers live on are pure dirt, no gravel (not even what I’d usually refer to at home as a “dirt road”), comprised of rut after rut and strewn with garbage, making them virtually impassable in anything but a pick-up truck. I have met borrowers who work all day making tortillas, which they sell for 1 córdoba each, less than five cents, and borrowers who had to start selling Avon products because their other two jobs weren’t bringing in enough money. I’ve met 13-year-old girls who spend their summer vacation (November-February) trying to sell bracelets for less than $1.50 each at beaches where there isn’t anyone to sell bracelets to. (more…)
From the Office of the President
By Prem Thomas, KF9, Philippines
After spending over three months in Manila working in the Center for Community Transformation Credit Cooperative’s (CCT) head office, I thought it would be interesting for the Kiva family to hear from CCT’s President and Founder Ruth Callanta and meet my coworkers. Ate Ruth, as she is called by her coworkers (Ate, pronounced “ah-TEH”, is a Tagalog term of respect meaning older sister), is very passionate about her work and respected and loved by the CCT community for her vision and dedication.
If you don’t have time to watch the whole video, here is a table of contents of the questions: (more…)
Candy, where’s my skirt?
Mary Riedel KF 9 Philippines
Last month I picked up my clothes from the Washeteria. I was psyched, walking home with that, “I have clean clothes to wear,” feeling (you know the one). I got home, opened the cube shaped bag, it smelled so nice, even my underwear were folded! “What can I wear tomorrow?”
I stumbled upon a long blue, polyester skirt. “Hmmm, this definitely doesn’t look like mine,” (although having worn uniforms for 12 years I did
feel a slight connection.)
Quickly I worried, “If I have someone else things I wonder if someone has anything of mine.” I looked, my black skirt was missing.
Who is Poor? Defining Poverty
by Josh Weinstein, KF9 Philippines
How do you define poverty? A basic needs index looks at whether (and to what extent) fundamental needs are fulfilled – food, water, shelter, clothing – and whether people have access to critical services – education, information (newspapers, etc.), sanitation facilities, healthcare, financial services. This is an absolute poverty calculation, which uses a standard threshold that can be compared across countries and continents. Another method is to use a national poverty line, usually a percentage of median income. For example, if the median income is $10,000 USD, and the poverty line is 60% of that, any family making below $6,000 is technically below the poverty line. This is a relative poverty calculation, because it is country-specific. Using this method, it doesn’t make sense to compare across countries, since the poverty line in wealthier countries with higher median incomes will allow for greater purchasing power than in much poorer countries. In microfinance (and development in general), you often hear about the percentage of the population that lives on less than $1/day – the definition of extreme poverty – or $2/day, or some other defining statistic of poverty.
Statistics are important for microfinance institutions (MFIs). When you know what you are dealing with, you can more effectively target the population with programs that are proven to work. It is important for an MFI to understand its clients and where they exist on the spectrum of poverty. This is actually more difficult to assess than you’d think. It is not feasible to ask clients how many dollars a day they spend, or even try to determine their income relative to the rest of the population. Instead, MFIs use social performance metrics – simple tools to help them to define exactly what they are as an organization and whom they are serving. They are basically proxies, which, when examined in aggregate, give the MFIs a profile of the poverty level of their clients.
The View From Here
By Kelly McKinnon, KF9 Leon, Nicaragua
In my time as a Kiva Fellow I’ve written more than 100 borrower profiles and 40 or so journal updates. When writing profiles one tends to fall into a rhythm, there are words that come up repeatedly, expressions that are almost invariably used, translations that don’t quite work. Often my days are spent trying to deciphering the handwriting of a loan officer with little knowledge of the borrower beyond what is scrawled. Most of the time I look at the back of a computer. It wasn’t exactly the vision I had when I dreamed of joining the ranks of Kiva Fellows.
The less romantic side of being a Kiva Fellow
Senegal’s Answer to the Golden Arches?
By Ilmari Soininen, KF9 Thies, Senegal
Of the forty-eight countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, how many would you guess have a Mcdonald’s? Why would one care?
Thomas Friedman, the columnist and author, posited “No two countries that both had McDonald’s had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald’s”. If one had missed the lesson on causation versus correlation back in statistics class, the answer to ending conflict in Africa would be simple. Step one:open a Mcdonalds in every country on the continent. Step two: award Ronald Mcdonald the Nobel Peace Prize (“I’d like to thank God, the Hamburgler…”).
Friedman’s point was that globalization ties countries closer economically, increasing the opportunity cost of waging war. A dubious theory on conflict prevention, especially as much of the residual conflict is internal, not countries fighting other countries. But perhaps the lack of Mcdonald’s in Africa can tell us something. Oh, and the answer to the initial question: as of 2009, only three of forty-eight countries in SSA have Mcdonald’s. – one of them being (a bit cryptically) Zimbabwe.
The idea of chains and franchises popped into my head a couple of weeks back, when I visited a client, Fatou Binetou Dieng. According to the profile, she had used her loan to purchase traditional West African fabrics to sell in her neighborhood. Indeed she had. But this was a year ago. (more…)
Bad Roads, Interest Rates, and MFI Sustainability
By Meg Gray, KF9 Nicaragua
One example of a bad road I have faced.
I’ve driven over some pretty terrible roads over the last three months. It doesn’t seem to matter if they’re gravel, paved, dirt, or a mixture of the three. In Nicaragua every road has character and usually this “character” makes it harder to get to CEPRODEL’s clients. Now besides being an inconvenience, why does this matter? It matters because bad roads are just one of many factors that contribute to high operating costs for a microfinance institution (MFI). High operating costs mean higher interest rates are necessary in order for the MFI to be sustainable.
I feel like the conversation about interest rates usually starts and stops with the word “usurious” or “unfair,” when in reality it is much more complex than that. CEPRODEL charges 36% interest on loans to small businesses (rates are lower for some other types of loans) and yet I’ve talked to numerous clients who comment that they like working with CEPRODEL because their interest rates are so low. How could this be? (more…)
Behind the Scenes: How Kiva REALLY Works
By Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru
As many Kiva supporters submitted entries to the Kiva Video Contest, I unfortunately was not able to upload my own version of “How Kiva Works” due to Internet issues in Peru. In order to not let the precious hours I spent go to waste, I have included below my attempt at describing how Kiva maintains their innovative model, particularly highlighting the role of the Field Partners, who perform an incredibly vital role in the Kiva cycle. Enjoy!
Josh Wilcox recently finished his KF9 placement with Caja Rural Señor de Luren in Ica, Peru and is beginning with Cooperativa San José in Chimbo, Ecuador as part of KF10. Become a part of the Kiva cycle by lending here and join the Caja Luren lending team!
More Green Loans Please
By Meg Gray, KF9 Nicaragua
Yarlin proudly shows me the solar panel she purchased with her Kiva loan.
As a Kiva lender, I wistfully search the “green loans” category every time I go to relend my funds on Kiva.org.
Sadly, I feel like I almost always get the “no loans found” response. This is too bad for many reasons. Green loans, such as solar panels, fruit trees, or water filtration systems, have such a profound (and sustainable) impact on the borrower’s life while also helping the environment at-large. CEPRODEL, my MFI, for instance, has a reforestation program where clients receive a loan to buy a mixture of trees to plant along riverbeds on their property.This protects the river from erosion caused be deforestation in the area and in the long term, the fruit trees will also provide food for the borrower’s families.
CEPRODEL client, Yarlin Moreno, is another example of a green loan. She used her Kiva loan to buy a solar panel for her house. Before the solar panel, her family did not have electricity. Her family lives so remotely that their whole community is off the power grid and her daughter, literally, walks almost 4 miles to school each day. (more…)
How much does it cost to reach the poorest?
by Thomas Gold, KF9, Dominican Republic
One of the aspects of microfinance that is often overlooked when arguing about the interest rates charged to borrowers, or sustainability of microfinance institutions, is the actual cost of giving a financial service to the most isolated communities. I thought I would tell about my latest visit to a group of borrowers, so you would be able to picture it. (more…)
When the Road Ends…
By Taylor Akin, KF9, Togo
Picture yourself on a bike riding along a beach. Nice image, isn’t it?
A typical main street in Lome
Now, swap the bike for a motorcycle fishtailing in the sand and replace the crashing waves with revving engines and honking cars. Add dust in your eyes, the smell of exhaust in your nose, and about 30 degrees of heat and you’ve come close to the daily journey of a loan officer in Lomé, Togo.
I know I’m not the first to blog about the difficult trails a loan officer must travel every day. However, many of the blog posts that have come before have been set in rural areas. Lomé, on the other hand, is the capital city of Togo, and home to over 700,000 people. It is an industrial center, a trade center, a travel center, and pretty much the central city in this small country. (more…)
Swahili Lesson 1: The Habari Family and Learning English in Kenya
By Hanna Azemati, KF9 Kenya
Our first Swahili class in the early morning tranquility of the still shuttered Prestige Plaza cafeteria in Kilimani was interjected with a myriad of embarrassing anecdotes of faux pas called forth by each new lesson that Lucy taught us. As Anne, Rachel and I, the three Nairobi Kiva Fellows, can attest, it behooves anyone new to Kenya to learn Swahili as promptly as possible and not because Kenyans don’t speak English. In fact, most Kenyans speak both official languages, English and Swahili, in addition to one of the sixty regional Bantu, Nilotic or Cushitic tribal languages. But as Lucy put it, “You can’t teach Swahili without teaching culture. And you might even find yourself learning some more English.” As we reviewed in our minds every interaction so far had to gauge the damage, we realized that the inverse is true also: without the linguistic investment, much of the inextricably linked Kenyan culture had escaped us.
Dancing like we just don’t care – Happy New Years from KF9
Mary Riedel, KF9, Philippines
It’s that day of the year when we look forward with hope as we let go of last year’s demons and angels; as they say, “let go or get dragged!” So we put on those funny hats, blow those horns, and dance like we just don’t care!
To inspire you this New Years I’ve collected some dance footage of Kiva Fellows bustin’ a move in the field at their respective Kiva Field Partners (Microfinance Institutes). Each fellow recalls feeling a little trepidatious at getting out on the dance floor, but all seem to recount the story with a smile. If the US Post Office unofficial motto pledges that “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Then the Kiva Fellow unofficial motto might be something like, “neither typhoon, nor malaria, nor diarrhea, nor subzero temperatures, nor mouthfuls of exhaust, nor embarrassing dance exhibitions stays these fellows from tenaciously completing their appointed deliverables.
So when your out celebrating tonight if you feel like you’ve got lead in your feet or you catch a glimpse of yourself dancing in a reflection just remember the following 5 clips and keep on movin! If the Kiva fellows can do it…so can you! (more…)
You Know You Are In Tanzania When… (Vol IV)
By Jennifer Gong, KF9 Tanzania
As my fellowship draws to a close, I would like to contribute my last post to a tradition set by past Tanzanian Kiva Fellows. There is something unique about the country that fellows have been compelled to share. Alec Lovett (a KF4 and my interviewer!) first started the series “You know you are in Tanzania when…” back in 2008 and later added a Vol 2. Jara Small (KF5) brilliantly added her observations and wrote Vol 3. In my 90 days here, I’ve been privy to witness some of the unique characteristics of Tanzania and its inhabitants. So here goes Vol 4… Enjoy! (more…)
The “Wiggle” and Other Observations
By Alex Duong, KF9, Vietnam
Vietnam has received consistent coverage on this blog since the Kiva Fellows 5th class (KF5). Often there are snippets or video discussing the dangerous, lawless traffic of the streets. And until now, there have been no solutions for navigating the madness. Below is video of what I’m coining as the ‘wiggle.’ Watch how this man avoids cars, pedestrians, and other motorbikes. Each little twist is a subtle yet intentional twist that finds the next opening. Click to read about this fellow’s thoughts on Vietnam culture.
Reading the Economic Chicken Bones
By Ilmari Soininen, KF9 in Thies, Senegal
Christmas kicks off a serious week of celebration for Senegal’s Christian minority. Dispersed families unite, meaning a series of sept-place, clando and bus rides from the capital. Like in many parts of the world, roasted chicken (or turkey) is an important part of the Christmas menu here. The bird is carefully prepared, and cooked to tender perfection. Chicken is not an everyday treat for most of Senegal. Indeed, it is quite a luxury item. But why is this so? And can this tell us something about the country’s future?
A Holiday luxury - but hopefully not forever
Getting by with a little help from your friends
By Nicki Goh, KF9 Senegal
Last week, I took my first field visit to the southern Casamance region of Senegal. Separated from the north of the country by the Gambia, the large Diola population of the Casamance region is primarily involved in fishing, rice cultivation and tourism. However, many SEM borrowers have other types of business: they sell vegetables, make clothing, rent bikes and bake bread. They make their livings providing new goods and services to their communities all thanks to loans that they have had from SEM and Kiva lenders.
Borrower visits: it's a hard life...
I went to meet some of these borrowers last week on the idyllic island of Carabane a 30-minute boat ride from the Casamance mainland. (It’s a beautiful place, I really did luck out on this Fellows Placement 
) During my interviews I asked them to tell me about any difficulties they have been having repaying their loans in the last few months. And from many of the groups, I got the same response: “Winter is a hard time to try to run a business!”
Now, anyone who has seen the way that businesses in the UK and other parts of Europe and the US have come to a stand-still this Christmas could be forgiven for thinking that it’s maybe a problem of climate or a slow-down caused by the festive season. However, in this predominantly Muslim country Christmas is celebrated by just a minority of the population and the winter sun is still bringing us temperatures of at least 27 degrees C (80F) so snow storms certainly aren’t the problem here. (more…)
29 December 2009 at 01:00 nickigoh, KF9, Senegal 10 comments
A Kiva Christmas Party
By Jeremy Lapedis, KF9, Guatemala
At the office of FAPE, we had our Christmas party. Tents we set up outside, presents were put on the table. All in all, when looking at it, it reminded me of a graduation party. The weather was 60 and sunny, and spirits were high. And to put the icing on the cake (literally and figuratively) we had Bertha Carmelina– a Kiva entrepreneur who runs a restaurant–cooking our food for us. But before the food came out, there were all sorts of activities that reminded me a of a talent show. (more…)
