Posts filed under 'Ecuador'
Funky Cheese
By Zal Bilimoria, KF9, Ecuador
Ecuadorian cheese tastes a bit different if one is not accustomed to eating it. Cheese is not necessarily the most common ingredient in local fare, as the staple for most meals is rice, plantains and beans served with beef, chicken or some other type of meat. However, it’s unmistakeable when you take that first bite of pizza, pasta or ham and cheese sandwich…especially if it hasn’t been refrigerated properly due to the energy crisis sweeping the country.
Mote (Corn) with Egg and Cheese
This is typically the dry season for much of Ecuador, but for the past two years, it has rained just enough to support the energy demands of the country, which hinge on the Paute hydroelectric dam south of Cuenca. Unfortunately, the presidential administration and the energy department decided to forgo plans to build additional hydroelectric installations and bet Ecuador’s future on their belief that rain would come once again for a third year in a row. However, here in Cuenca just 100 miles north of the dam, clear blue skies and record high temperatures suggest that pending rainfall is but a dream. Paute needs to operate at roughly 70% efficiency in order to satisfy domestic demand; at the present time, the most it can muster is 35%.
4 comments 16 November 2009
Cuenca-stic Times!
By Zal Bilimoria, KF9, Ecuador
Over the past four weeks here in Ecuador, I’ve had the opportunity to see much of the country, starting out in Quito working at Fundacion ESPOIR’s administrative office, and now in Portoviejo near the coast to conduct borrower verifications and write journal updates, among other tasks. Since Ecuador is a relatively small country (roughly the size of Nevada), it’s easy to travel by plane or bus, usually within 4-6 hours to most major cities. This past weekend Kiva Fellow Kimia Raafat and I made our way to Cuenca for the long holiday weekend, where Dia de los Muertos (“Day of the Dead”) and Cuenca’s Independence Day were being observed. Day of the Dead (this past Monday, Nov 2) is a time of remembrance of loved ones who have passed away and a celebration of their lives (no connection to Halloween), while their Independence Day (Tuesday, Nov 3) marked Cuenca’s liberation from the Spanish Empire nearly 200 years ago. Easily the best weekend yet and the most beautiful city in Ecuador, in my opinion.
Enjoy this video montage of our Cuenca-stic weekend!
Zal Bilimoria is a Kiva Fellow based in Ecuador working for Fundacion ESPOIR. Consider making a loan to the working poor of this South American country.
3 comments 7 November 2009
Main Street = D-MIRO’s Main Priority
Fortin district of Guayaquil
The recession has affected most families in one form another. Personally, I was laid off from my first post-collegiate job and ushered over to the unemployment line. Post lay-off, I spent a solid week sitting in my pajamas and watching the news. I rolled my eyes as every other segment was titled “from Wall Street to Main Street”.
Upon arrival in Guayaquil, I quickly learned that the fallout of the recession looks different in Ecuador (more…)
19 comments 27 October 2009
Graduating the Cabby Test = Kiva Fellow!
By Kimia Raafat, KF9 (Ecuador)
Last night, I said goodbye to my KF9 classmates and flagged down a cab. Departing KFP9 graduation dinner, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Am I really ready to be a graduate? to be a Kiva Fellow?!”
I pushed my uncertainties to the side while greeting and directing my cab driver. He was a friendly Ethiopian man and obviously curious about what I had been doing with the rowdy crowd in Baghdad Nights. Maybe he saw all of the ridiculously good looking people inside (my KF9 classmates and/or Kiva Staff members)? perhaps he caught a glimpse of some belly dancing? Or any of the Kiva staff/fellow dancing for that matter! Regardless of the reasoning, my cab driver wanted to know more about what I was doing.
When suddenly it hit me! This was my graduation test! (more…)
10 comments 27 September 2009
Ecuador Bound!
By Zal, KF9 Ecuador
Good day, folks. My name is Zal, and this Friday, September 25, I’ll officially be anointed a Kiva Fellow for the KF9 Class bound for Ecuador working with Fundacion ESPOIR! It’s been an absolutely wonderful experience meeting all the Kiva Fellows this week at the Kiva HQ in San Francisco, CA.
I’ve been working as a Product Manager at YouTube for the past two years and will be taking a three-month leave for my fellowship. Previously, I spent three years at Microsoft in Seattle working on Windows anti-piracy in China and Brazil. So, I’m very excited to be returning to South America! After volunteering on and off for Kiva.org over the past year, the day is fast approaching for my departure to Quito, and I couldn’t be more excited.
You can find me on Facebook and YouTube, and of course, right here on the Kiva Fellows blog with more updates, videos, thoughts and experiences from my time at ESPOIR’s offices in Quito, Cuenca and Portoviejo (in Manabi). Look forward to more ESPOIR loans, journal updates and blogs from me starting the second week of October!
4 comments 23 September 2009
“Please, take me home in your backpack…”
By Cynthia McMurry, KF8, Ecuador
Everyday conversations with people in Cuenca provide countless anecdotes of people whose families have been separated by emigration. Everyone seems to have family in the US or Spain, if not a spouse then a brother, sister, cousin or child. At a group meeting last week, a borrower joked that she’d like me to sneak her into the US in my backpack. I asked her and the rest of the group if they had family members in the States, and all ten women nodded their heads in unison. Recently, I was chatting with a friend whose father is living in New York—she’s my age, and hasn’t seen her father in more than a decade. One of Espoir’s first Kiva clients, Nancy, has a four-year-old daughter who has never met her father, since Nancy’s husband left for Brooklyn when she was still pregnant. Another Espoir client I spoke with has been raising her four young children alone since her husband left for New York two years ago. Now, thanks to the economic crisis, he has lost both of his jobs and remains heavily in debt to a coyote. With no hope of financial support from her husband coming anytime soon, this client has been left to provide for her four children on her own.
Somewhere between 10% and 15% of Ecuadorians live abroad, most in the New York metro area, where they are one of the largest immigrant groups, and in Spain, where they are the second largest immigrant group. As of 2006, nearly 8% of Ecuador’s GDP was comprised of remittances, compared with about 3% for Mexico (International Fund for Agricultural Development).
The high rate of migration has troubling implications for Ecuadorian families. On top of the obvious consequences of emigration, like separated couples and absent fathers, many of the men who leave start new families in the US or Europe and eventually stop sending remittances to their families in Ecuador, leaving their wives to fend for themselves as single mothers. In other cases, men emigrate with their wives or send for their wives later, and children are left with their grandparents or with neighbors. Because many Ecuadorians in the US are there illegally, they have no possibilities to return to visit, and sending for their families would mean paying more exorbitant coyote fees for the dangerous 2500-mile trip. Coyotes typically charge between $12,000 and $14,000 per person. This is about three times the average annual income in Ecuador, the equivalent of $135,000 for a US citizen. And paying this fee doesn’t guarantee that you’ll actually make it into the country: somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 Ecuadorians are apprehended each year trying to enter the US illegally (Migration Information Source). Many of these people have already sold off their houses, livestock, and any other valuables they may have in their hometowns, just to be sent back home with a new mountain of debt and even fewer possibilities than before.
Pedro, one of Espoir's loan officers, playing with his son
I haven’t asked borrowers whether it’s worth it, but I’m curious. Do the economic opportunities available abroad justify the separation of their families? How are their children affected? If they could go back in time, would they make the same choices?
I’m interested in hearing other fellows’ experiences with emigration and its effects on borrowers’ lives, both positive and negative. Where does microfinance fit into the picture? Are clients using remittances to pay off their loan installments? Or are their small businesses the only means of support they have for their families ever since the remittance payments stopped? For those of you working in the US, have you met any Ecuadorian immigrants looking to take out Kiva loans? If so, is their ultimate goal to save money and return home, or have they established themselves in the US?
To search for currently fundraising Espoir loans on Kiva, click here. No currently fundraising clients? Please check back soon! In the meantime, you can join Espoir’s Kiva Lending Team here.
Cynthia McMurry is a fourth-time Kiva fellow working with brand new Kiva field partner Fundación Espoir in Cuenca, Ecuador. Previously she worked with Fundación AgroCapital in Bolivia and FINCA Peru and Asociación Arariwa in Peru.
2 comments 14 July 2009
Micro-Universal Health Care
By Cynthia McMurry, KF8 Ecuador
Time and cost are enormous disincentives for the working poor when it comes to getting medical treatment. Time spent visiting the doctor is time you’re not at work generating income, and money spent on these visits is money that could otherwise be spent on your children’s education or reinvested in your business. These disincentives are strong enough that relatively minor, treatable ailments often go untreated and eventually develop into much more complicated, serious conditions that require more intensive treatments and can even be incapacitating.
To mitigate this problem, medical care must be made cheaper and more convenient, and this is exactly what’s being done at the Cuenca branch office of Fundación Espoir. The office has an on-site doctor’s office. Each client pays $4.50 per 6-month loan cycle, for which she is entitled to unlimited free doctor’s visits for herself, her husband and her children. Women can get Pap tests, pre- and post-natal care and birth control counseling, in addition to a wide variety of treatments for common ailments. The clinic, which is always staffed by one of two doctors, serves 250-280 women and their family members each month. Dr. Maria Eulalia Robles says that most clients, whether women, men or children, come in for three reasons: dermatological problems, respiratory ailments, and diarrhea. Treatment is key, especially for children: left untreated, respiratory ailments and diarrheal diseases are responsible for almost 40% of mortality in Ecuadorian children ages 1-4 (as of 1999).
4 comments 30 June 2009
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Greetings from Ecuador! My name is Elizabeth Li and I am here as a Kiva Fellow working with MFI Mifex. Hard to believe I’ve been here for 2months already with just over 2weeks to go. Due to access difficulties I have not been able to blog until recently. Reading all the other blogs here I’m reminded of one thread that ties us fellows together despite being in distinctly different cultures across the world: living abroad in the developing world is a true challenge!
Mifex operates out of two offices located in the marginalized urban sectors of Guayaquil. Millions of people live here in cane houses on dirt roads with no access to running water or many of the conveniences we take for granted today. As I accompany loan officers on their visits in the field I am reminded daily of how luxurious my life back home is each time I am confronted with the sights, smells, and the blistering heat of this area. This is a shout out to the loan officers at Mifex. Every morning they set out early with a list of old and potentially new clients to visit. However, it’s not as simple as a car ride over — they stand by the side of the main road often for up to 30minutes waiting for the bus that will take them into the sector where their clients live. Standing there with the dust and dirt blowing in your face, breathing the diesel-laden air that makes your lungs want to give out, all the while trying to not let the heat and humidity get to you is hard work. The days I have gone out on visits with them we sit in the bus, talking and having good conversation, but it’s hard not to notice and gawk at the conditions on the streets: the ubiquitous flea-infested stray dogs, uncontained trash, young children who have to peddle instead of going to school. Often I wonder how these meetings with clients actually take place; it’s usually a verbal agreement made to meet on such and such corner across from the church after 9am. The lack of cell phone signal or a street sign to help us out certainly complicates matters, but add in the Latin sense of time and we’re talking about more waiting by the side of the road desperately wishing for shelter from the sun! Often we don’t know who we’re looking for, especially if it’s a new client, so it’s a good thing they can easily pick out “la chinta” and the uniformed very professional looking person. The other day we were standing across from the church waiting, and starting to wonder after 30minutes if this church was the same one the client was referring to. We were then surprised when a crickety old red pick-up truck pulled up alongside us and told us to jump in. Now, having seen and experienced how people drive I honestly was loathe to get in the back of this truck, but I convinced myself it was part of the experience of being here. So, in we went and I tried to contain myself as we bounced along the dirt road that seemed to have more potholes than smooth stretches. It amazes me when you have a certain picture in your mind of how large an area is and when reality blows that image away. Rows and rows after rows of cane-houses, some barely standing upright, some with hardly a roof. First I was shocked by how people live, now I was struck by just how many people live in these dire circumstances.
After completing the initial loan evaluation the loan officer did not believe the client met the criteria required for a loan. We climbed back into the pickup for the ride which was graciously offered to us. I knew I just wanted to get back to the office to cool off and get out from under the sun because I was hot, sweaty, tired, and disappointed that we could not be of assistance to this person. I certainly hope I find the persistence to keep up with this! But more so I have a great admiration for the loan officers who stretch themselves to the limit day after day to reach out to those who are really in need.
5 comments 4 December 2007
RSS - Posts