After my first placement in Ecuador, I thought I knew living and working in South America- three months in Ica, Perú proved me wrong. New (and delicious) food, a drastically different (and drier) climate, and wonderful new friends, coworkers, and chicha-vending Kiva borrowers showed me another side of South America’s many amazing countries and cultures. As I phase out of my second fellowship back into the real world, I want to share these photos, and photos from my first placement in Ecuador, with you lenders and give thanks to KFP and Perú for an amazing fellowship experience! Click the photos to see them enlarged!

Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru, follow her work here.

Fishing at the coast of Sierra Leone (by Tejal Desai)

December has long been the month of annual awards, looking back and frantic searches for presents. The Kiva fellows blog is no exception to this rule: Share the fellows’ memories by taking a photographic journey through Sierra Leone and watching a video about a typical day of a fellow conducting loan officer trainings. Learn about some incredible women in Costa Rica, who received a Woman Entrepreneur Award from Kiva’s field partner, Fundación Mujer. And to avoid the frantic searches this year, consider surprising your loved ones with the gift that keeps on giving, the Kiva Gift Card.

A Typical Day in the Life of a Kiva Fellow: Loan Officer Training (Video Blog Post)
Country: Ecuador / Fellow: Emmanuel von Arx (KF16)
Emmanuel’s video blog shows that a typical day of a Kiva fellow does not always involve meeting borrowers.

Swit Salone: A Journey in Photos
Country: Sierra Leone / Fellow: Tejal Desai (KF16)
Tejal takes her camera along to document her journey through the beautiful country of Sierra Leone and its capital city, Freetown.

Women of the Year
Country: Costa Rica / Fellow: Andrea Ramirez (KF16)
Andrea shares her experience as a member of the jury for Fundación Mujer’s 8th annual Woman Entrepreneur Awards.

The Do-Gooder’s 2011 Guide to Responsible Giving: Kiva Cards
Country: Peru / Fellow: Kate Bennett (KF16)
Kate makes a personal pitch for the Kiva Gift Card, a gift that keeps on giving.

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Updates from the past month:
Autonomy, Sierra Leone and the 2011 Kiva Love Tour
Adapting for Borrowers by Borrowers, Microinsurance +SKFL
New Products in Microfinance, Over-Indebtedness + Transparency
Earthquakes, 5Ks + The Pain of Sickness and Loss
Expanding the Reach of Microfinance, Downsizing Development + Why We Kiva
~

Plus more pictures from the past week:

Sierra Leone (Tejal Desai)

Costa Rica (by Andrea Ramirez)

Kiva Gift Card (by Kate Bennett)

In the United States, it was ushered in on Friday the 25th of November in the wee hours of the morning. Here in Ica, Perú, it is manifested in the towering polyethylene Christmas tree and tinsel-adorned telephone booths in the Plaza del Sol shopping mall. Around the world, in many forms, it’s upon us: the season of giving.

This season is one of my favorites of the year, and not only because it means warbling off carols with family and friends or immersing myself in the yuletide spirit (or spirits). It’s because every year in the Bennett family, we duke it out to see just who can give the most responsibly: we exchange goats through Heifer International, carbon credits through Carbon Fund, and donations to NPR and Wikipedia.

Sure, it comes off as a competition in self-congratulatory giving. (And yes, since you ask, we are liberals from the East Coast.) But it’s also a valuable practice in stopping to recognize that we are fortunate enough to help those that need it most this holiday season. Furthermore, it’s a practice that everyone can partake in, regardless of political leaning, denomination, or country of residence.

A recent article in GOOD Magazine pointed out that, “in fact, according to a study by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, the Americans who give away the biggest proportion of their own income [to charity] are women who make $23,509 or less a year, not ridiculously wealthy white dudes named Bill.” But this is not only because we ladyfolks with shallow pockets are good and wise and magnanimous. (Though this assuredly must play a big role.)

It’s because philanthropy doesn’t just mean a million dollar aid package, a fleet of new computers for an orphanage in Honduras, or a new well sunk in an South African village. Philanthropy can come in smaller and unconventional packages. And so it was that several years ago the Bennett family discovered the paragon of responsible giving.

Behold: the Kiva Card. It comes in red and green or blue and silver* and is the gift that keeps on giving. Benefits to you: you look like a real do-gooder, and your recipient will find you both beneficent and savvy. Benefits to them: they will get to experience the exhilaration and certain joy of picking their own entrepreneur to lend to through the Kiva website. They’ll be given an opportunity to learn about an incredible and potent organization working in a vital emerging field in development. Finally, your recipient will reap the direct monetary benefits of their borrowers’ repayments (at least, 98.93%  of the time) over the next four to thirty-six months. Benefits to the world: somewhere in the sixty-one countries where Kiva works, yet another entrepreneur will be able to realize their microenterprise, and thus bolster the local economy, create jobs, and provide their families with the income and tools to move forward.

And best yet, unlike many other responsible gifts this holiday season, Kiva charges absolutely no overhead for Kiva Cards. (Unless you choose to donate on top of your $25 Kiva Card, which we could hardly blame you for.)

So what’s the drawback? You might actually look too generous and informed. And no-one likes being handed just an envelope, so be sure to find an extra big box to place your Kiva Card in before delivering it to its lucky recipient.

*Depending on what color construction paper you print it out on and what color markers you use

To give the gift of Kiva this holiday season (wink wink nudge nudge), check out Kiva Cards here!

Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru, follow her work here.

A Warm Welcome! Manana offers the best from her garden. By DJ Forza, Georgia

This week’s Fellows Blog focuses on adaptability: Adapting microinsurance to poor households in Indonesia, an MFI in Turkey adapts to the needs of women entrepreneurs, a multifaceted borrower in Nepal adapts to market pressures, and a Kiva Fellow adapts to changing expectations. In a continuation of The Stuff Kiva Fellows Like series we hear how different fellows have adapted to their lives abroad by ‘crashing parties’ and ‘going to the Bazaar’. We hear about how practitioners are adapting finance and microinsurance products to their borrowers. Equally nimble we hear from a few borrowers and how they have expertly adapted to market pressures and changing circumstance. Microfinance is a dynamic industry by nature and like DJ or Binu or Maya Enterprise for Micro Finance, ensuring success means staying flexible and welcoming new opportunities born out of challenges.

Microinsurance in Indonesia: Current Challenges and Innovations.
Country: Indonesia / Fellow: Laurie Young, KF16

Laurie takes us to a microinsurance conference and explains the challenges of getting appropriate insurance products to poor households in Indonesia.

If It Is Tuesday It Must Be Izmit+ more of my favorite borrowers+ “buyurun agabeyi”…
Country: Turkey/ Fellow: Kim Strathearn, KF16

Kim explains the history of Maya Enterprise for Micro Finance and gives a profile on the women micro-entrepreneurs served by the organization in Turkey.

Multi-faceted Borrowers Part 2
Country: Nepal / Fellow: Abhinab Basnyat, KF16

Abhinab continues his series on multifaceted borrowers by introducing Binu, a Kiva borrower, and explaining her many business ideas.

Second Chances (Part 1)
Country: Georgia/ Fellow: DJ Forza, KF16

In this heartfelt and honest post DJ explains how she adapted her expectations and settled into her Kiva Fellowship in Georgia.

Stuff Kiva Fellows Like #10-17
Country: Nicaragua / Fellow: Jim Burke, KF16

The ‘Stuff Kiva Fellows Like’ series continues. Fellows discuss the stuff they like and how they have adapted to living abroad and working in microfinance.

* * *

Questions from the Field: Why Do We Lend, What’s a Kiva Fellowship + How does Microfinance Support Green& Agricultural Development?
Update from the Field: New Products in Microfinance, Over-Indebtedness+ Transparency
Update from the Field: Earthquakes, 5Ks+ The Pain of Sickness and Loss
Update from the Field: Expanding the Reach of Microfinance, Downsizing Development+ Why We Kiva

* * *

Plus more on-the-ground photos from the past week:

Vice Minister of Finance giving the Keynote Speech on the second day of the event. By Laurie Young, Indonesia

Binu infront of her canteen. By Abhinab Basnyat, Nepal

Spectacular Sighnaghi! By DJ Forza, Georgia

Jill in a Poofy Pink 'Filipiniana'. By Jill Hall, Philippines

The door to my Kiva office in Cusco, Peru

Should I become a Kiva Fellow? I imagine a lot of the Stories From The Field blog followers have considered applying to the Fellowship, or have wondered what the comparison is between the Kiva Fellows Program to similar volunteer or development programs abroad. This may include the Peace Corps, overseas research grants, overseas workshops on topics in development, Fulbright Fellowships, Rotary Scholarships, and possibly service-learning trips if you are currently students.  The list goes on and on.  And it can seem like a big and slightly mystifying list for anyone who just wants to make a decision and DO SOMETHING!

There are a lot of similar experiences out there, and it can be tough narrowing down the right choice for you.  Here is my perspective as a Kiva Fellow in Peru who is extremely grateful to be currently doing or have done those projects listed above. This post will compare and contrast “what it’s like” to be a Kiva Fellow to the myriad other programs out there.  If you are thinking about “doing something different,” “getting out of a work rut,” or “finally being one of those people who GOES and DOES something,” I hope this post helps you make a decision about what exactly to do.

To that end I will categorize each of the above experience based on five criterion.

1.  What it’s Like and What it was Like for Me
2. Level of Freedom or Structure
3. Was I Useful? Did I make a ‘Difference’?
4. Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all
5. Was it Worth it?

‘Nuff talk.  Enjoy!  If you have specific questions after reading, shoot me a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I get done with my next local kid pic.

Kiva Fellows are a pretty sharp crowd.  We write all kinds of interesting blog posts about poverty, financial services, and development theories. We quote authors like Yunus, Sachs, and Easterly so you know we are open to everyone’s ideas.  We insert pictures of ourselves in all kinds of crazy situations like riding camels, standing in front of slums, and hugging local children.  Man, do we love hugging local children.

A lot of us are hoping this fellowship will be a foot in the door to a career in international finance, international development, or, let’s be honest, maybe the thing that gets us a graduate scholarship.  We are all great people.  I know that first hand from getting to know all of my current fellows during our training at Kiva Headquarters, and through the months of emails in the field since then.  We all want to use our lifetimes to help.  BUT, we probably all have personal reasons for doing this too.  And there is nothing wrong with that! Just like Kiva, us Fellows are trying hard to balance helping others and helping ourselves; which is much harder than just doing one or the other.  This post is about those personal reasons, a.k.a. the incentives for us helping.

OVERSEAS SERVICE-LEARNING

College students working on clean water project in Ecuador, '11.

1) What it’s Like and What It was Like for Me

I designed community water projects in Nicaragua as a student and have directed service learning projects for students to do the same in the Dominican Republic and Ecuador(and will do the same in Peru this coming spring).

Service-learning is really close to my heart because it is how I got pulled out of the sometimes dry world of engineering and into the colorful, inspired, much more complicated world of international development..  As a fourth-year undergraduate engineering student I designed a water pumping and delivery system for a village in Nicaragua. In order to implement this project, I applied for and my proposal was granted $10,000 bucks from the Davis “Projects for Peace” Foundation.  This service learning experience showed me for the first time how useful my skills could be in the world.  I have never been as challenged on a daily basis as I was during that project, nor have I have I been as ecstatic to get up every day and work.  My work included engineering design, studying Nicaraguan history and politics, trying to communicate with NGOs overseas and in the states, and learning as much Spanish as possible.  Occasionally I would talk with people in the village itself through skype, and my heartbeat literally doubled from excitement.  That personal connection was something extremely knew and exciting.

Service learning may exist at your university, and may not.  If it does, be proactive and get involved, then make it your own.  If it doesn’t exist, make it happen!  I found like-minded students and professors, and was allowed to work on the first service-learning engineering project at my university.  My last year at college I learned more than I did in the previous three, thanks to this service-learning project.

2) Level of Freedom or Structure

Usually these are fairly structured, for good reason.  It is part of a class and you have to finish SOMETHING.  Small, bite-sized projects are typical for service-learning experiences.  So, don’t get involved in this if you want to have the freedom to do exactly what you want or possibly scrap your original idea half-way through.  That said, these projects typically are more open to creativity than standard theoretical projects and/or reports.

3) Was I Useful? Did I make a ‘Difference’?

My experience was great, and I think I did help.  My service-learning team (engineers and environmental science students) was lucky enough to successfully pair up with NGOs that had follow-through capabilities.  This was very important, as we were new to the work.  Looking back, we were a group of young students trying to change the lives of 350 Nicaraguans.  That is powerful stuff, and if we were alone on the project, I think we would have had little impact or worse, would have set them back.  Make sure you have a good mentor capable of picking up the pieces if you decide to start up a new service-learning project.

4) Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all

This stuff usually costs some dough.  I would expect it to be around $1000-$3000 extra to do one of these for a semester rather than typical coursework. It is possibly included in your course fees or can tack on an additional couple grand.  Every experience is different.  BUT the good news is that you can dip in the educational funds money-bucket.  Educational grant funds are huuuuuge.  You can probably apply for scholarships, grants, etc. and get away doing this kind of thing almost for free.  If your “project” costs money to implement, that’s another thing.  It will probably be much harder to find funds within your university to go and implement, but look!  Mission programs, international study offices, and outside foundations like the one mentioned above are a good start.

5) Was it Worth it?

As a foot in the door, DEFINITELY.

That said, service-learning is a mixed bag, because it is usually attached to an educational institution (universities) where there is a focus on the educational component for students.  That is great, but sometimes leaves the person/group you were serving a little disappointed.  As service-learning is a partnership between a student-group and clients (overseas or not), there is much time and effort invested on both sides.  The student group will be expected to do more than simply write a final report, in many cases.  Be wary of the impact you are having on the project beneficiaries, and make sure that when you leave they also think it was worth it.  But at the end of the day, if I had not done this I would probably be a much wealthier but much more depressed engineer, sitting in a cubicle somewhere, making calculations.  Therefore I am a huge fan of service learning as a tool to show young people how to engage their community and world, and try to help.  To read an article I published on service-learning click here.

OVERSEAS WORKSHOPS

The author soldering together individual solar cells in Nicaragua, '07.

1) What it’s Like and What it was Like for Me

I participated in a workshop on Appropriate Technologies in Nicaragua with the National Engineering University of Managua, which entailed some basic classes on the physics behind appropriate technologies like solar panels, solar water pumps, biodigestors, solar ovens, rope pumps, composting latrines etc.  We also built our own solar panels, solar cookers, helped construct an adobe building, and practiced our intercultural skills with a “homestay” with a humble Nicaraguan family. I have also participated in a  course on Globalization, Leadership, and Technology that culminated in an overseas conference in Vietnam and Taiwan.  The conference encompassed some very high level, involved visits with CEOs of large corporations and, in my opinion, was very much an outsiders view of a local culture.  The former was a bottom-up approach.

These experiences are similar to service-learning projects being that you are really only expected to learn.  They are also a great foot in the door or a refresher course on field work in a specific part of the world.

2) Level of Freedom or Structure

These are very structured. There will probably be a schedule for everything you do, from the time you land on the runway to the time you are swooped back up. They are usually pretty jam-packed and don’t leave much freedom to “do what you want” if it isn’t the specific goal of the workshop.

3) Was I Useful? Did I make a ‘Difference’?

The goal of these courses isn’t to ‘make a difference’ at all, or at least directly.  You pay to participate in these courses, and some of those funds may go towards the efforts of an NGO or social movement, but don’t expect to directly have a huge impact on anyone.  I didn’t leave Nicaragua thinking I had helped much, but I was more equipped to do so in the future.  I knew leaving Asia that I hadn’t done anything, but the experience might contribute to my future path in life.

4) Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all

Pricey.  I have seen these offered anywhere from $500-$1500 for a week!  That adds up.  Outside funding is probably harder because of what I said in #3. These courses are similar in price to overseas vacation tours.  The only difference is that on vacation tours you typically sit on a beach, get a tan, and enjoy relaxing.  For those short on time, this is probably a good option.

5) Was it Worth it?

In terms of professional development, for sure.  It is a very unique experience and might inspire you to do more, learn more, etc.  These are typically more serious about transferring knowledge to you than service-learning trips, so in terms of personal bang for your buck they might about the same, even though service learning experiences might be much longer.  Nevertheless, the personal connection to the experience developed over a longer period of time like a service-learning project is unlikely in these shorter trips. 

PEACE CORPS

The author's village in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.

1) What it’s Like and What it was Like for Me

I served as a “Healthy Environments” volunteer in theDominican Republic from 2007 to 2009. Peace Corps is something I can’t stop thinking about.  It is a mix of training, really independent work, and unique field research.  I lived in the mountains with 200 villagers, without ready access to clean water, adequate sanitation, electricity, you name it.  I bathed in the river every day, collected drinking water from a spring with the locals, and really SLOOOOOOOWED DOWN for a bit.

I was sent there to help my village gain access to clean, piped water.  I ended up doing that, learning a lot about what it means to be poor and not receive any attention, and working on a bunch of other projects.  The first 3-5 months I was pretty uncomfortable, lonely, even scared at times.  But in the next year and a half I built closer relationships than many of mine in the states and felt much more comfortable, happy, and alive than I have ever felt in the USA.  My time was filled with sun, pipes, wrenches, concrete, donkeys, mud, plantains, mangoes, rice, beans, grants, paperwork, and more community meetings that I can count.

Peace Corps is really an in-depth, immersive service-learning experience.  Nothing is sugar-coated for you, and that might scare you at first.  But as an insider view of a different culture and a different way of life, there is absolutely nothing like it.

2) Level of Freedom or Structure

First three months are language, culture, and technical training.  After that Peace Corps staff tell you to call X number 24-hours a day for health problems, Y number 24-hours a day for other problems, drop you off in a village where you probably only speak a little bit of the local language, and say GOOD LUCK!  They tell you that you will be receiving around $300/month with which you are supposed to live, work, pay rent, buy food, all that.

In short, the Peace Corps provides the most basic structure for survival but beyond that you are on your own.  They also try to pair you up with a community that has need for your specific skill-set.  For me it worked out great.  For others, it was a mess and they had to “make it work” on their own, demonstrating their value and getting involved where they felt they could help.  Peace Corps REQUIRES you to be extremely independent, proactive, and outgoing.

3) Was I Useful? Did I make a ‘Difference’?

Yes and yes – I brought engineering skills to a village that needed them.  I also am kinda stubborn, which helped with motivation in an area that was used to being pobre, having nada, and expecting nada.  Sometimes the match of your skills meshes perfectly with the needs of the community.  If it doesn’t, you better suck it up, find where you are needed, and make it happen.  Peace Corps is an opportunity to guide the development of a poorer area, from the inside out, and will test you in every way.

4) Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all

Peace Corps doesn’t cost you one cent.  They will fly you from you house to the host country, teach you some language skills, some technical skills, and plant you in a community with a family that will take care of you for two years. When it’s all over, they will fly you back home and give you around $6,000 to “re-adjust” to the United States. It is an amazing deal, and I really hope to do it again some day.  On the other hand there is some significant investment of time (2 years of service and three months of per-service training).  On the whole, when I was at home two years later with $6,000 in my pocket, I was financially about the same place as many of my friends who had taken more traditional paths.

5) Was it Worth it?

Yes.  I am a huge fan.  The application and interview process is very rigorous and trying, and the average time between applying and being given an overseas position is usually 6-9 months, but it is well worth it.  Even if you leave your country of service without thinking you “helped” as much as you should have (this is almost universal, by the way), you leave with a very personal relationship with your host-family and community.  That relationship will affect the way you live your life, the perspectives you can understand, and overall, your level of solidarity with people who drew the short straw in life, for whatever reason.  It is not easy or straightforward, but as is a common phrase among RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers), that this is “the toughest job you will every love”. 

FULBRIGHT GRANT

1) What it’s Like and What it was Like for Me

I am currently a Fulbright Scholar here in Peru, working with PACC-Peru on water resources issues associated with climate change in the Andes Mountains. My opinion of Fulbright is very good, though it seems to be relatively front-loaded.  The application process is very rigorous, and at the end of the day requires two very polished essays- one about who you are, and one about what you want to do as a Fulbrighter- and collaboration with a host-institution overseas, which eventually needs to write a letter of support for your work. Once in-country you are given a short (in my case, one-day) orientation by the local Fulbright staff, then are sent off to your location of study.  (Every country is different, and many include a 3-day orientation in Washington DC before departure from the United States, but mine country was not included in this event.)  Upon arrival you discuss that finely tuned research proposal with your host-institution, making modifications that range from slight variations to complete redirection, and you go on your way, exploring whatever you set out to explore.  You are not babysat, you are encouraged to get to know the country, and you are reminded that the research is only part of your experience.  Most Fulbrighters need to be reminded to chill out, not the other way around.

2) Level of Freedom or Structure

Once in country, the Fulbright experience is very open.  You receive a monthly living stipend to cover all of your expenses, and are asked to “check in” once a month just to let the Fulbright Commission know how everything is going.  In this way you really can do anything you want, as long as it is communicated with your host-institution.  I think this would be a daunting challenge if I hadn’t had significant overseas experience previously.  From another perspective, it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do and study whatever gets you going!  You are in the driver’s seat.

3) Was I Useful? Did I make a ‘Difference’?

Fulbrighters are listened to.  It is regarded as a very prestigious grant in both the United States and overseas (though I imagine this can depend on the host country).  Though  I am only a couple months into my grant, I am aware that my results will not simply be filed away.  They will be read and analyzed.  The potential for helping is very real.

4) Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all

Fulbright is a grant.  All expenses are paid for (after you are awarded the grant).  So, it is a great option if you have a good idea, connections overseas, and the time and patience necessary to get through the application process and overseas experience (about 2.5 years from the start of the application to the end of the grant period).  The application should be started probably 3-6 months before the submission date, which is typically about a year before the date of departure for Fulbrighters.  And, like all competitive things, there is much luck involved.  I would consider Peace Corps a “weed-in” program, where most applicants who sincerely want to help can make their way in.  Fulbright is a fine toothed comb, and even very brilliant people are not accepted for one reason or another.

5) Was it Worth it?

So far, so good.  I can’t help but compare this experience to that which I had in the Peace Corps.  As a Peace Corps Volunteer I was not respected very much by local government, and generally treated as another “missionary” of sorts.  I understood what poverty was, but felt incapable of fixing lots of the problems I saw.  As a Fulbrighter I know that I have access to much more influential people, and I will be listened to.  It seems to me that it is definitely worth it.  As a side note, had I not experienced the Peace Corps, I might have seen the Fulbright experience as semi “normal”.  I live in an apartment, pay bills, and work on my research.  In that way a Fulbright Grant is less of a life-changing experience for me than living in a mountain village; it is complete freedom to explore issues that are important to me, given the support and resources to do so.

ROTARY SCHOLARSHIP

The author concentrating wayyy too hard to try to take a steady photo, looking down on Cusco, Peru.

1) What it’s Like and What it was Like for Me

I am currently a Rotary Cultural Scholar inPeru. Becoming a Rotary Scholar involves an application similar to Fulbright but, in my opinion, it does not have to be nearly as polished of an idea as the Fulbright application process requires.  I am studying Quechua and water resources management with my Rotary funds.  This Rotary Scholarship provides support monetarily.  There is no orientation, no help with overseas planning, and no in-country contact for my work.  I am on my own.

2) Level of Freedom or Structure

Extremely free.  I have not communicated directly with my grantor more than once in the past two and a half months.  As a Rotary Scholar you define your own structure in the application, and you are expected to follow that plan.  But again, there is no babysitting.  Your experience is what you make of it.

3) Was I Useful? Did I make a ‘Difference’?

I am studying here, so I don’t see a direct impact to what I am doing.  Still, I know that Quechua skills will pay dividends in my Fulbright and Kiva work and will be an invaluable skill in the future.  Whereas Peace Corps was immediate gratification (seeing water come out of a pipe), Rotary is about building capacity, namely in people who they think will be able to help further down the line.  It is similar to Fulbright in this way.

4) Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all

Rotary Grants vary in the amount they provide, but they generally are very flexible as to what they can cover.  Flights, insurance, food, lodging, costs of courses and/or tutors, and cultural trips are all fair game.  The grants vary greatly in their duration, but one year seems to be common.  In my case, the funds were dispersed up-front and I am required to provide documentation of all expenses.  Whatever isn’t spent, I will have to give back.

5) Was it Worth it?

Very much so.  More than the funding, Rotary is a global network.  I hope that this experience will help me connect with like-minded people in the future as I may try to continue to “help” those in the world that need it.  As an experience by itself, I think Rotary is amazingly un-regulated.  As a first long-term overseas experience, I would not recommend it.  The structure provided by Peace Corps, Fulbright, and Kiva(discussed below)  are necessary to guide your overseas experience.  That said, if you are an experienced traveler and are looking for some funding to do something creative and open-ended, a Rotary Scholarship might be just what you are looking for.  

KIVA FELLOWSHIP

A group of Kiva borrowers just outside the city of Cusco.

1) What it’s Like and What it was Like for Me

I am currently a Kiva Fellow with Asociación  Arariwa in Cusco, Peru. If you are reading the Stories From The Field blog you probably have a good idea of what we do.  But if you don’t, I am proud to say that Kiva is one of the most organized experiences of this sort that I have participated in.  I was trained for a week in San Francisco(LONG 11-hour-days, where you learn a LOT!), paired with a microfinance organization somewhere in the world, given a desk, given specific tasks (but still the freedom to innovate and take on news tasks as they may appear), and given a lot of support from Kiva Fellows Program staff.  If I need to talk to someone in San Francisco, I can do it probably tomorrow.  If not, I can just keep showing up to my office and working with my in-country partners.

2) Level of Freedom or Structure

As I mentioned above, I was given a work-plan that I am expected to accomplish for Kiva.  They maintain long relationships with their in-country microfinance partners and can look strategically at what most needs improvement at a specific point in time.  Kiva Fellows are eyes, ears, and boots-on-the-ground implementers for all it is that Kiva does.  There is no long period of ‘figuring out what to do’ because you arrive with a very good idea of what needs to be done.  But Kiva is a very innovative startup, with an environment that breads creativity.  I have never felt stifled by any Kiva staff, and that has allowed me to enjoy each day of this Fellowship.

3) Was I Useful? Did I make a ‘Difference’?

Kiva Fellows do important work, work that keeps Kiva not only up and running, but allows them to explore new avenues of growth and innovation.  It is exciting seeing directly the improvements you make with Kiva and your partner microfinance institution.  It is also exciting to be given the chance to go meet Kiva borrowers, meet the loan officers that facilitate those loans, and hear, feel, see how these small loans are such a source of hope and improvement for people all over the world.  I studied engineering, and have not had a problem keeping up with the financial work involved with the position.  I would say if you are comfortable with mathematics and basic accounting you can expect to be utilized very well by a Kiva Fellowship.

4) Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all

The one major downfall of a Kiva Fellowship is that there is no financial support beyond basic health insurance coverage.  Fellows fundraise or directly pay for their time overseas, including the flight to San Franciscofor training, the flight overseas, rent, food, etc.  This can be a substantial burden, but I think that the experience is worth the expense.  It is an investment in your personal growth, and allows you to help in a significant capacity with a major player in the world of global investment/philanthropy.

5) Was it Worth it?

Yes.  It is not as easy to say yes because, let’s be honest, a number of other programs don’t require a financial investment up front.  But the Kiva Fellows Program gives you a look into what I consider to be one of the most promising approaches to creatively finance progress and development overseas.  Like most things, and exactly like Kiva borrowers all over the world, you have to invest something financially to reap the benefits later on.

It is a bottom-up approach, and relies on the sensibilities of millions of entrepreneurs.  Kiva provides a loan.  Borrowers decide how to use it to improve their own lives.  In this way, you can be sure that the funds are used for something truly productive.  It is a simple concept, but to keep that bridge open Kiva needs your help.  Kiva NEEDS Kiva Fellows.  Entrepreneurs NEED Kiva Fellows.  And that is why the experience is so worth it.  You can be that person, fill that need, and learn a ton in the process.

There you have it.  Those are my impressions.  I hope this was helpful but now it is up to you to decide.  To each his own!

Robert Gradoville is a Kiva Fellow (Class of KF16) working with Asociacion Arariwa in Cusco.  If you would like to learn more about Asociacion Arariwa, please visit their partner page.  You can also support them by joining the lending team for Asociacion Arariwa.  To hear more about Rob’s Peace Corps experience, take a look at his blog from that time.

My first loan officer training in June, at Fundación Alternativa in Quito, Ecuador

The most challenging part of loan officer trainings for we Kiva Fellows is not instructing loan officers to obtain signed consent forms from borrowers, or explaining how money moves from lender, to Kiva, to Caja Rural, to the client. The most difficult explanation is often how and why. That there are hundreds of thousands of lenders out there, all excited to make a $25 loan to someone else in the world- at no gain of their own- is often lost on new loan officers. But making this clarification is what enables these extremely important players in the Kiva process to understand why it all works, and why providing details that show clearly the life of the borrower is imperative to facilitating the connection between borrower and lender.

At a recent loan officer training, I tried a different approach than the usual Powerpoint and role playing. Before I even left for the training inLima, I sat down with Caja Señor de Luren’s business manager Victor Miranda, and together we searched for a loan together on the site. Victor wanted to lend to a woman in the very poorest of countries- someone who has true need, he said. After about twenty minutes on the site, we found a borrower in Cambodia, a woman who will be using her loan to buy fertilizer for her rice crops, and who hopes to use her profits to send her two children to school. Victor felt a connection to her, as he is a father of two young children, and he too wants to see them educated and hopefully, one day graduate from college.

Fast forward to Lima: I shared my and Victor’s experience on the site, and then loan officers and I fished the site for our own borrower. I asked loan officers what they liked learning about the borrowers: their families, one said. I like hearing about whether their children are in school, added another. Maykol liked hearing about why a client was successful in his business (is it his good reputation that makes him a good bus driver? Is it her good cooking that makes her a successful market stall operator?). We all liked hearing about the cultural norms of another country. And it was clear that we could gear our own profiles to include this type of content.

I also try to demonstrate that there is no ideal Kiva borrower. When loan officers ask me, ‘How do you choose,’ I give a few answers. Before I began volunteering for Kiva, I chose female borrowers in Africa who were trying to support children’s education. When I began my fellowship, I sought out female borrowers with my own partner organization in Ecuador, seeking to support my own Field Partners (and also hoping to meet them!). And as I enter my eighth month as Kiva Fellow, the next time I lend I know I’ll have a very different selection process- specifically, to lend through Field Partners that stand out to me for their social programs, are located within my own neighborhood (whether in New York or Quito, Ecuador) or alternatively to support green loans or recyclers of scrap metal. Obviously, in my time as a fellow, my selection process too has changed (and has become very specific).

Kiva Coordinator Karla Carlos at Caja Señor de Luren's loan officer training in Lima, Perú

Soon-to-be loan officer Dayana was most intrigued as to why borrowers lend: “how they [that’s you, the lenders] lend to someone else just because [borrowers] need the money. I think that’s what Kiva is about, right? These people that lend money-they don’t need to. They don’t get anything out of it. But they do, because it’s the right thing. To help out other people, like I would lend some eggs or a hammer to a neighbor, but on the other side of the world- and why? Because I care about her story.”

This is what struck the officers the most- just how international Kiva is. And it really is striking. Never before has a housewife in Arkansasinteracted with a rice farmer in Cambodia, an executive in Belgiumwith a market vender in Peru, or a nonprofit worker from New Jerseywith a butcher in Mongolia, with the ease that we can today. I told our new loan officers that all this would be impossible without the internet, but even more so it would be impossible with them. All substantial material on the site: the photos, the profiles, the journals, come straight from the eyes and ears of the loan officers.

So how does that translate to our borrowers? How can this inform the work of loan officers and Caja Señor de Luren, and how can I express this in my trainings? We spent twenty minutes of the training live on the Kiva website, looking at borrowers, grading their profiles, and painstakingly selecting who we wanted to lend to. And the moral of the story: we selected our borrower based on the quality of the photo and the profile. Providing an incredible photo can be difficult; Caja Señor de Luren cannot afford to provide its loan officers with digital cameras, so they instead take photos with their camera phones. But we do have control over borrower profiles and making them as content rich as possible.

So the question remains: how do you lend? How do you choose? I leave it to you, Kiva lenders, to fill in the blanks!

Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru, follow her work here.

If you have any other questions about Caja Rural Señor de Luren’s work in Ica, send Kate Bennett a message via her lender page or check out their Field Partner page. 

And better yet, to continue supporting Kiva and Caja Rural Señor de Luren in rural Perú, join Caja Rural’s lender team or check out their currently fundraising loans on Kiva!

Students from Fundación Paraguaya's financially self-sufficient San Francisco Agricultural School sell their products in Asunción's weekly farmer's market

This week’s Fellows Blog is armed with stories from the field: stories of the uncertain world borrowers live in, and how they (and we) cope with it. We’ve learned that everyone gets tired running a 5K in Paraguay, but for a good enough cause, we can will our legs to power through it. That everyone gets scared during an afternoon earthquake in Peru, but even so, borrowers, coworkers, and Field Partners will lend a hand to anyone that needs it. That everyone gets hungry, but there are no shortage of Kiva borrowers in Peru who are ready and willing to whip up some lunch. That everyone gets sick, but there are openhanded Kiva Field Partners in Ecuador trying to extend financial support to those who might not get better anytime soon. And sadly, we’ve had to learn that for all of our strengths and fortitude, no one is impervious to the sting of death. It affects everyone that plays a part of Kiva’s story, but those left behind can honored these individuals by persevering all the more.

“Fundación Paraguaya al Mundo”: 5K to Tanzania
Country: Paraguay / Fellow: Alba Castillo, KF16

Run stride by stride with Alba in Fundación Paraguaya’s 5K through financially self-sufficient and award-winning San Francisco Agricultural School all the way (figuratively, at least) to FP’s sister institution Teach a Man to Fish’s 25 rural and semi-rural schools in Tanzania.

Earthquake! (and Disaster Mitigation through Microfinance)
Country: Peru/ Fellow: Kate Bennett, KF15 & KF16

Though the earth beneath Caja Señor de Luren’s feet may be shaky, Caja’s clients are solid footing due to the services that microfinance institutions can offer in times of uncertainty.

Visiting an HIV-Clinic in Guayaquil (Part I)
Country: Ecuador / Fellow: Emmanuel M. von Arx, KF16

Emmanuel visits an HIV+ clinic with Banco D-MIRO clients, who though facing an extremely difficult future, are using microloans to take a little more control over their prospects.

Remembering Rizky: VisionFund Indonesia Loses One of Their Own
Country: Indonesia/ Fellow: Laurie Young, KF16

In this poignant post from Kiva Fellow Laurie Young in Indonesia, VisionFund and Laurie remember Loan Officer Rizky, and we’re reminded of the sacrifices that  every loan officer make daily for their work and their clients.

If It Is Thursday, It Must Be Sakarya + What is Bohça?
Country: Turkey / Fellow: Kim Strathearn, KF16

For those of you unfamiliar with both of these terms, look no further. Though, in Sakayra, Turkey the Bohça trade is much more familiar, it is by no means less engrossing to its enthusiastic participants.

Ica’s Next Top Chef
Country: Peru / Fellow: Kate Bennett, KF15 & KF16

What do two Kiva clients, family matriarchs, and the name María Victoria have in common? A tendency to make delicious food, and to repay one’s loans on time.

*      *       *

Expanding the Reach of Microfinance, Downsizing Development + Why We Kiva
Kiva-style Microfinance, Reggaeton + a Journey though the Commercial Jungle
Loan Use, Agriculture Loans + Stuff Kiva Fellows Like
Starting Capital, Development Levels + Adventurous Borrower Visits
Going Pilot to Active, Meeting Borrowers + Technology and Social Performance

*      *       *

Plus more on-the-ground photos from the past week:

By Kim Strathearn, KF16, Turkey

Rest in peace, Rizky. By Laurie Young, KF16, VisionFund Indonesia

By Kate Bennett, KF16, Peru

The challenges of rural and agricultural microfinance are many: the least of which, in the case of Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren, is living in the middle of the Sechura Desert. But Caja Rural’s clients show the same impregnable determination I witnessed during my first fellowship in Ecuador. Against all odds (and weather patterns), they’re growing their businesses, investing in their lives, and laying the foundation for a thriving future.

This week I had the pleasure of getting to know Kiva borrowers Mirian Dora and María Victoria. Mirian and María have a lot in common- they’re in the same line of work, they support generations of family members, and they represent successful Kiva borrowers in Ica, Peru.

Mirian Dora and her granddaughter María Victoria before the lunch rush

Mirian is at all times a caretaker: when I met her on Tuesday, she had the same granddaughter in her arms that she does in her borrower profile photo on Kiva (María is now 1 ½; when the photo was taken she was just a year old). Mirian says she was born in 1958, so she’s seen the growth of Ica, its destruction during the 2001 and 2007 Peruvian Earthquakes, and its slow and painful rebuilding afterwards. And all the while, as the city grows and shrinks, has its successes and setbacks, so has her family. She bounces her granddaughter María Victoria on her knee and tells me about her 20-year-old son, María Victoria’s father, is doing extremely well in high school and is planning to pursue a university degree in engineering next year. This is a higher education than Mirian or her husband, Jose Manuel, achieved, and Mirian glows with pride.

In April of 2011, Mirian received a loan of 700 Peruvian soles, or about $250, from Caja Rural Señor de Luren, Kiva’s Field Partner here in Ica, Peru. Since that date, on every 15th of the month, Mirian makes a repayment of 90-110 soles (about $37) to Caja Rural. This money then returns to you, the lenders, to reloan, donate, or withdraw.

Mirian’s loan is a complete success story: she has made each repayment on time. In fact, she is usually early with her repayments, and this month she fully paid off her loan (about four weeks early). Before disbursing a loan, Kiva field partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren ensures that their clients’ existing monthly income exceeds their monthly repayment quota, to make sure that they’ll be able to repay their loans in full without sacrificing payments in other areas of their lives, such as education, health, and nutrition. Mirian’s monthly income of about $283 enables her to pay these $37 monthly installments.

Her income breaks down like this: every day, Mirian sells about 17 plates of food for 5 soles each. That’s 85 soles per day. However, her everyday costs are high: the cost of production (food inputs) is about 3 soles per plate, or about 50 soles per day. Her operating costs, which include occasional appliance repair and gas, cost about 5.25 soles per day. Finally, her administrative costs are about 2.34 soles per day. Overall, her daily profits come to about 27.50 each work day- that is just about $10, 28 days a month.

Because Mirian has had access to capital and microloans in the past, she has been able to afford capital investments like her stove (600 soles, $220.60), refrigerator (700 soles, $257.35), and tables, chairs and dishes (1000 soles, $367.65). Making a $10 profit each day makes it difficult for Mirian to make other investments in her life and business without taking out a loan. She doesn’t keep her savings in the bank, which is common in countries in South America with a history of high inflation and a shaky financial sector. Mirian’s savings, about 150 soles, are hidden in her home somewhere.

Interestingly, Mirian is well versed in the microfinance industry. She has had a number of successful loans in her credit history with five different banks. She says she’s been happiest with Caja Rural’s service and plans to take out another loan with them in December.

Another María Victoria in her home in northern Ica

On the other side of Ica, last week I met another María Victoria (and another successful Kiva borrower). María Victoria and her twenty-six-year-old son sat and spoke with us about her home, her business, and how her loan was going. She is about 60% repaid on her loan disbursed in February, but she hopes to refinance or take out a new loan before the holidays begin this year. María used her loan to buy raw materials for her cooking business.

For years, she has been cooking out of her home, and on Sundays, out of a small restaurant she has in front of El Cemeterio Viejo (the Old Cemetery) in Ica. In fact, on the day of our visit, although she was in the middle of preparing ceviche for a one-hundred-person wedding feast, she was kind enough to take us by her restaurant and show us the space.

Once there, María and loan officer Luis began to discuss her options for refinancing her loans. María was hoping to buy new tables and chairs for her restaurant in front of El Cemeterio Viejo before el Dío de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), but will need a loan refinancing to afford it. In Peru, the Day of the Dead (on November 2nd) is a day of feasting and celebrating those that have left this world. These celebrations are sure to bring María lots of business due to her restaurant’s location.

At typical financial institutions, the challenge would be a successful refinancing in so short a time. With a traditional bank, refinancing a loan could take weeks, even months. However, with Caja Rural Señor de Luren, María was able to do in within a day. I stopped by her restaurant (regrettably without my camera!) on Día de Todos Santos, or All Saint’s Day, on November 1st and enjoyed a delicious meal of arroz y ají gallina with her swarms of other customers. For María Victoria, business was booming.

María Victoria’s first loan with Caja Rural and Kiva allowed her to gain solid footing in terms of her finances. With a keen entrepreneurial spirit, María Victoria is now eagerly hoping to expand her business so that she can keep the restaurant operating year round.

Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru, follow her work here.

If you have any other questions about Caja Rural Señor de Luren’s work in Ica, send Kate Bennett a message via her lender page or check out their Field Partner page. 

And better yet, to continue supporting Kiva and Caja Rural Señor de Luren in rural Perú, join Caja Rural’s lender team or check out their currently fundraising loans on Kiva!

Last Friday morning my Fellows Blog post mentioned the devastation of the 2007 Peruvian Earthquake in Ica, Peru and the surrounding areas. At 2 PM local time later that day, another earthquake shook the city.

Kiva Fellow David Connelly, my predecessor here at Kiva Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren, has written before about the 2007 8.0 magnitude earthquake. The statistics are chilling: 519 people dead, 1366 injured, and some 76,000 homes collapsed. “After two and a half years,” he wrote in 2010, “Ica is still very much recovering.” Last week’s comparatively modest 6.9 magnitude earthquake made it clear as day that the wounds are fresh.

Ica is still rebuilding

Moments after the quaking abated, Peuvians tore out of buildings into the streets. The roads flooded with vehicles screaming out of Ica, trying to reach homes and families on the city’s peripheries. Co-workers clutched at each other outside, waiting for tremors, which arrived dutifully shortly thereafter. While the earthquake itself had not unsettled me, the sight of a city in sheer terror was consummately unnerving.

Ica, in many ways, is a modern city. It is the capital of its department in Peru. We have several large supermarkets, wide asphalt avenues with obeyed stoplights, and our very own over-priced coffee house, where I sit now and where I sat at the time of the quake. The buildings here are solid, new, and given the events of the last decade, built to be earthquake-proof.

Though standards of construction and seismic mitigation efforts were doubled during reconstruction in Ica, time and financial constraints did not afford this kind of purposefulness beyond the borders of the city. This is where you’ll find the truly vulnerable population and Kiva’s target market. They may live in fragile and overcrowded adobe homes. They may live with instable or nonexistent access to water, electricity, and gas lines. Their transportation infrastructure is meager. Faulty ATMs spell for limited access to liquid assets. Peru’s poor, those already on unsure financial footing, are those impacted greatest by natural disasters.

Let me give you a scenario for the average micro-enterprise in the wake of a natural disaster. Say you lend $25 to Kiva borrower María, to invest in her small store, where she sells sodas, candy, and pastries. She is making repayments on time, selling goodies to her neighbors, and flourishing in the way that we hope that every Kiva borrower will. But what happens to her store in the wake of a disaster?

Within moments of the event, costs accrue. It’s possible that her physical business- the building, her cash register, her products- are damaged or destroyed in the event. María now must pay to repair or rebuild, and might be without income in the interim. Meanwhile, her neighbors, experiencing similar interruptions in income, have stopped buying her sodas and candy. Even if her store is still standing and her cash register still works, she may be without electricity, and therefore unable to open the register or to operate past dark. Not to mention, if María was stocking dairy products, they just went bad.

And even if she’s lucky enough to find that her store is fine and her neighbors still have their disposable income to buy sodas and candy, she’s still not out of harm’s way. All of the sudden, the small business or company from which María bought her soda and candy are unable to produce these goods, because the water services have been shut off and their production facilities have been damaged. And even if they could keep making candies for María to sell in her store, they’re now unable to reach her store due to damaged transportation infrastructure.

The city of Camaná is still rebuilding, five years on

The economy cannot function at normal levels in the wake of a severe natural disaster. Consider the direct economic losses, such as destroyed or severely damaged buildings, transportation infrastructure, energy and water infrastructure, environmental infrastructure (such as dams), and other private property. These result in innumerable disruptions of the business sector; production facilities, economic markets, and distribution systems are stalled or stopped altogether. And when micro-enterprises come into the picture, these private sector interruptions become a personal tragedy as well. Damages to personal items, injury, or death all bear heavily on a small business owner’s livelihood and their day-to-day lives.

So what, then, can microfinance do to alleviate the effects of a natural disaster? What role should microfinance institutions assume? In normal conditions, microfinance seeks to expand access to financial services- whether savings, credit, or insurance- to those traditionally excluded from the credit market- by poverty, geographic isolation, loan size, or other barriers from traditional banking institutions. Microcredit specifically (what we do here on Kiva) addresses two needs of borrowers. It smooths existing income and protects against fluctuations in livelihoods, a “micro-disaster insurance,” if you will. Microcredit also works to boost income by removing capital constraints and allowing for micro-enterprises to realize their potential. The point being, it serves certain needs of the poor.

However, the needs of the poor shift dramatically in the wake of a natural disaster. Affected parties are not interested in expanding their micro-enterprises. Frankly, in the case of a catastrophic disaster and a disrupted economy, this could be considered imprudent. What affected parties require is some form of speedy mitigation, direct assistance, and a return to normalcy. Their own immediate changes in behavior may include a “reduction in consumption, sale of assets, migration, withdrawal of savings and borrowing and using remittances to mitigate the effects of a disaster” (Parker and Nagarajan 2000). Their coping mechanisms, in short: access all available liquid assets, and apply prodigiously.

As such, disaster relief does not call for market-driven microfinance but for well-allocated aid or subsidized credit, as controversial as that idea may seem. This may not be an appropriate task for financially self-sustainable microfinance institutions in the open market. But Kiva Field Partners are in a much better position to provide this support.

After the disastrous 2007 earthquake hit in Peru, Kiva Partner Caja Señor de Luren provided a six-month grace period to a large portion of their affected portfolio. Virtually all restructured clients repaid their loans on time and clients were able to make a full recovery. Furthermore, Caja Luren’s partnership with Kiva enables them to reach out to riskier clients, those impacted most heavily by the earthquake, in a time of extreme need.

But even when subsidized and cheaper microfinance products are unfeasible or inapplicable, microfinance institutions have other means of alleviating the effects of a disaster. Microfinance institutions can proactively offer micro-insurance and support disaster preparedness leading up to the event, and retroactively provide the invaluable service of financial liquidity of savings to their clients in case of a disaster.

Microfinance, even in normal conditions, is not without its limitations. In a time of upheaval and economic collapse, this may be doubly so. But microfinance can support clients before and after the fact. Through improved access to microfinance services, clients can build and fortify their productive assets, be they economic, human, or social. Access to financial services can restore borrowers’ livelihoods and enhance the preparedness of clients for the next possible disaster. Here in Ica, there’s no telling how far off that might be.

This blog post was invaluably informed by “Can Microfinance Meet The Poor’s Financial Needs in Times Of Natural Disaster?” by Joan Parker and Geetha Nagaraja. To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru, follow her work here.

If you have any other questions about Caja Rural Señor de Luren’s work in Ica, send Kate Bennett a message via her lender page or check out their Field Partner page. 

And better yet, to continue supporting Kiva and Caja Rural Señor de Luren in rural Perú, join Caja Rural’s lender team or check out their currently fundraising loans on Kiva!

Kiva Fellows in East Africa

This week, you have no fewer than 14 new articles to choose from on the Kiva fellows blog: Let the fellows take you along on borrower visits across the world. Learn how Kiva field partners expand the reach of microfinance in Rwanda, fill the microfinance donut hole in Sierra Leone and improve social performance in Uganda. Find out what poverty is like in urban Tajikistan and rural Burkina Faso. Get inspired by one of the creative ways to bring renewable energy to the developing world in the form of a soccer ball. And finally, watch a video of “Why We Kiva” to get a glimpse of why Kiva fellows jump at the opportunity to be thrown half way around the world to work with Kiva’s many local field partners.

Girlie’s Peanut Butter: Borrower Verification in the Philippines
Country: Philippines / Fellow: Jill Hall (KF16)
As Jill completes here borrower verifications, she meets the lady who makes peanut butter.

Going the Distance: Expanding the Reach of Microfinance in Rwanda
Country: Rwanda / Fellow: Whitney Webb (KF16)
Whitney takes a look at the creative ways Urwego Opportunity Bank uses to reach the far-flung areas of Rwanda.

The Donut Hole Conundrum + Mamoud’s Story
Country: Sierra Leone / Fellow: Tejal Desai (KF16)
Tejal learns about the small enterprise loan, a loan product that is targeted at people that are financially overqualified for microcredit but too poor to receive a bank loan.

In Sickness and in Health: An MFI’s commitment to its clients in times of need
Country: El Salvador / Fellow: Andrea Ramirez (KF16)
Andrea explains how Fundacion Campo came up with a plan to help residents in areas flooded by the recent rain falls in El Salvador.

Pride & Poverty: A Photo Essay of Kiva Borrowers in Georgia
Country: Georgia / Fellow: DJ Forza (KF16)
DJ shares impressions of her borrower visits in Georgia.

More Than a Simple Find/Replace Operation: Changing CREDIT to Kredit
Country: Cambodia / Fellow: Dave Weber (KF16)
Dave explores why CREDIT is undergoing a name and logo change.

Downsizing Development: How a Soccer Ball Could Change the World
Country: Kenya / Fellow: Lauren Barra (KF16)
Lauren comes across a soccer ball that might help bring renewable energy to the developing world.

Microfinance by Land or by Sea
Country: Peru / Fellow: Kate Bennett (KF16)
Kate spends a week at the beach, but instead of working on her tan, she visits borrowers with Kiva field partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren.

This Is Urban Poverty in Tajikistan
Country: Tajikistan / Fellow: Chris Paci (KF16)
Chris experiences first-hand what urban poverty is like in Tajikistan.

The Second Bottom Line and BRAC Uganda’s Gold
Country: Uganda / Fellow: Andrew Huelsenbeck (KF16)
Andrew takes a look at BRAC Uganda’s dedication to social performance.

Mysteries, Geoglyphs + too-good-to-be-true Kiva Borrowers
Country: Peru / Fellow: Kate Bennett (KF16)
Kate wonders if a full loan repayment on the first repayment date might be too good to be true.

La Réalité de L’Afrique
Country: Burkina Faso / Fellow: Alison Moomey (KF16)
Alison gets a wake-up call to the realities of life in rural Burkina Faso after spending a weekend in a village without electricity or running water.

Video Blog: “Why We Kiva” – Kiva Fellows Around the World
Country: Bolivia / Fellow: Mariela Cedeño (KF16)
Mariela gives you a glimpse of why Kiva fellows jump at the opportunity to be thrown half way around the world to work with Kiva’s many local field partners.

~
Updates from the past month:
Green Loans, Dark Alleys + On-the-Ground Footage of it All
Kiva-style Microfinance, Reggaeton + a Journey though the Commercial Jungle
Loan Use, Agriculture Loans + Stuff Kiva Fellows Like
Starting Capital, Development Levels + Adventurous Borrower Visits
Going Pilot to Active, Meeting Borrowers + Technology and Social Performance
~

Plus more pictures from the past week:

Philippines (by Jill Hall)

Rwanda (by Whitney Webb)

Sierra Leone (by Tejal Desai)

El Salvador (by Andrea Ramirez)

Georgia (by DJ Forza)

Kenya (by Lauren Barra)

Peru (by Kate Bennett)

Tajikistan (by Chris Paci)

Peru (by Kate Bennett)

Burkina Faso (by Allison Moomey)

Night falls on the beach in Southwestern Perú

By Kate Bennett, KF16, Peru

I spent last week at the beach. But from my resiliently pasty skin, you wouldn’t have guessed it. For better or worse, I wasn’t in Camaná, Perú to suntan and lay by the ocean, but in fact to visit borrowers with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. Camaná was founded in 1539 under the name “Villa Hermosa de Camaná,” a name that hardly does it justice. Camaná, propped on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, is an oasis in the otherwise long, dry Sechura Desert that dominates the coastline in Southwestern Perú. It has historically served wealthy Peruvians as a respite from the city and thrived as a summer beach resort. However, the last decade has seen a downturn for Camaná’s tourist industry and an upsurge in microfinance.

Southwestern Perú has a history of very large earthquakes, and the 2001 quake was no exception. In June of 2001, an 8.4 magnitude quake rocked the city of Camaná and the surrounding area. The tsunami that followed shortly thereafter was at its worst in Camaná, where heights reached up to seven meters and extended more than one kilometer inland from the coastline.

An empty beach front after repeated earthquakes and tsunamis

A beachfront formerly occupied by restaurants, bars, and top-notch hotels was devastated. After seven years of reconstruction, Camaná was struck by another earthquake and tsunami in 2007 that measured 7.9 on the Richter scale (this earthquake also decimated the nearby city of Ica, where Caja Rural Señor de Luren is headquartered). After the second catastrophe, investors pulled out of Camaná for good and left the city to fend for itself.

Which it has. When the tourism industry in Camaná dissolved, jobs vanished as well. But the one upshot of unemployment is that it creates an environment primed for microfinance. Microfinance allows a jobless entrepreneur to realize their would-be microenterprises.

This is where Caja Rural Señor de Luren and Kiva enter the picture. Caja Rural has been providing affordable microloans in rural Perú since 1994 and partnered with Kiva two years ago in order to support the extension of their services to the highest-needs areas of the country- to cities like Camaná.

Five years after the earthquake, Camaná is still rebuilding

I had the good fortune to meet one of Caja Rural and Kiva’s clients in Camaná last week to talk about his loan, his work, and the reality of sustaining a micro-enterprise in rural Perú. We visited Rulo at the home he shares with his wife, children, and mother-in-law, set in the dry, dusty hills above Camaná. Rulo, his wife, and two children were all at home for lunch, which is usually a three-course and three-hour affair in this part of Perú.

Rulo is a motorcycle taxi, or mototaxi, driver here in Camaná. Mototaxis look just like the tuk-tuks common in India (in fact, most of them are made and manufactured in India), with a motorcycle up-front and a low bench-seat in the attachment on the back. At 4,600 Peruvian soles (about US$1654), mototaxis are an inexpensive capital investment comparable to a regular vehicle. Though the demand for mototaxis is relatively dependable, as the common person in Camaná does not own their own vehicle, any routine repair can put a driver out of work until he can afford to mend it.

Rulo's mototaxi (and Caja Rural loan officer Hubert)

On the day that I visited, Rulo’s mototaxi was parked outside the home and looked like it was in terrific shape. In fact, Rulo used his loan to buy new tires, spokes, and perform some engine maintenance on the vehicle. He gave the tire a tap with his shoe to indicate their newness. Rulo said he usually has to do some routine maintenance each month- change the oil, rotate the tires, etc. But he takes as good of care of it as he can, to keep it in the best possible condition. Rulo also used his loan to buy his “soat,” which is motor vehicle insurance obligatory for taxistas, and to pay a fee to join the local association of mototaxi drivers.

His income breaks down like this: on a given day of work, Rulo makes about 60 soles. Gas costs about 13 soles per day, and his monthly routine maintenance costs break down to about 2.5 soles each day. His soat, which cost 145 soles to renew each year, costs about .5 soles/day (per working-day each year, assuming 28 work days each month). Many taxistas rent their mototaxis, which costs about 50 soles a month, but Rulo is fortunate to own the one he drives. Nevertheless, at the end of the day Rulo makes about 44 soles, which come out to US$16.18/day. This, of course, is before the costs of renting his home, covering the costs of food, education for his children, occasional health expenditures, and basic water and electricity costs in his home. As you can see, it is difficult for Rulo to accumulate savings, though he has the potential to do so.

Rulo and his mototaxi

This is income his family- his wife, 7-year-old daughter Abish, and 4-year-old son Alexander- depends upon. Being able to make capital investments in his vehicle is invaluable to Rulo. It also makes it possible for Rulo to pay 50 soles a month to send Abish and Alexander to school, and hopefully soon to install a basic telephone line in the home. Rulo told me he’s making more as a taxista than he probably would have working in the Camaná beach tourism industry- but more importantly, he feels more accomplished as a small business owner. Even better, he says, is that he is able to come home every day to have his three-course lunch with his wife and kids.

Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru, follow her work here.

If you have any other questions about Caja Rural Señor de Luren’s work in Ica, send Kate Bennett a message via her lender page or check out their Field Partner page. 

And better yet, to continue supporting Kiva and Caja Rural Señor de Luren in rural Perú, join Caja Rural’s lender team or check out their currently fundraising loans on Kiva!

Transportation is an apt topic when so many Fellows are saying goodbye (Sierra Leone pictured)

We’ve officially hit the point in the Kiva Fellows cycle where the current batch says goodbye just as the latest group is getting their bearings at Kiva HQ. Fortunately, there are a number of posts this week to help us through the transition and cheer us up. If you’re interested in a comprehensive image gallery of the hot designs for share taxis in Rwanda, we’ve got you covered. We’ve also got stories about micro-micro-businesses in Sierra Leone, visiting research fellows in West Timor, and the intersection of medicine and microfinance in Bolivia. Plus, take long trips to the field in Armenia and Peru, and catch up on the impact of microloans in South Africa.

Note: Speaking of goodbyes, this will be my last “Update from the Field”. It’s been a pleasure sharing stories by Kiva Fellows with you each week and I look forward to seeing what the 15th class does with this space once they settle in. Cheers!

Economies of scaling down
Country: Sierra Leone / Fellow: David McNeill (KF14)
Instead of buying in bulk, consumers in Sierra Leone often buy precisely what they need at the time and nothing more. Microfinance has a role in serving this market but David wonders about the additional ways we can scale down services.

Share Taxis Around The World: The How, Why & Design
Country: Rwanda / Fellow: Adam Cohn (KF14)
Adam’s comprehensive gallery of share taxis includes “That Bieber Fever” and “King of Hip Pop Officer Ricky The Boss” plus tons of fantastic paint jobs.

25 Years Working Where the Need is Greatest
Country: Peru / Fellow: Noreen Giga (KF14)
Noreen introduces us to some of the clients served by her partner microfinance institution, including a restaurateur, a women who now owns a few cows, and a shop-owner.

Unusual Roles of a Kiva Fellowship
Country: Liberia / Fellow: Carlos Cruz (KF14)
How does a Kiva Fellow get mistaken for a woman, a priest, and a diamond trader? Carlos shares the humorous back-stories plus a few more roles he’s taken on during his Fellowship.

New Beginnings
Country: Armenia / Fellow: Caree Edson (KF14)
While she finishes up her time in the field, Caree takes us to meet a new microfinance client, sheds light on why some MFIs are for-profit, and explains a few of the day-to-day loan management duties of loan officers.

Herbal tea and witch doctors
Country: Bolivia / Fellow: Clara Vreeken (KF14)
Clara devotes her final post to how her MFIs combine medicine and microfinance, including loans for health services and working with witch doctors to ensure women who follow indigenous practices receive medical attention when necessary.

West Timor Research Insights from a Boren Fellow
Country: Indonesia / Fellow: Lisa Skowron (KF14)
Lisa helps connect a graduate student in international affairs with her MFI and then interviews her about her research on financial inclusion in West Timor.

Sala Kahle: Saying Goodbye to KwaZulu-Natal
Country: South Africa / Fellow: Alexis Ditkowsky (KF14)
Many Kiva Fellows are saying farewell this week and Alexis is no exception. Read the note she shared with lenders to her MFI’s clients and check out a few final pictures from the field.

~
Updates from the past month:
Earth Day, Celebrations + Exceeding Expectations
Trash, Delicious Treats + Community Outreach
Cute Pigs, New Toilets + Everything is Relative
April Fools, Terrible Coffee + Getting Attached
Social Quirks, Justin Bieber + Lots of Carbs
~

Plus more pictures from the past week:

Indonesia (by Lisa Skowron)

Sierra Leone (by David McNeill)

Armenia (by Caree Edson)

Peru (by Noreen Giga)

Liberia (Carlos Cruz)

South Africa (by Alexis Ditkowsky)

Bolivia (by Clara Vreeken)

Founded in 1986, Prisma is celebrating 25 years of bringing “financial services and non-financial services to disadvantaged communities in order to strengthen them, and promote sustainable social and economic development.” And the credit branch of Prisma, Microfinanzas Prisma, formed in 1994 is celebrating 17 years of reaching Peru’s urban and rural poor.

Microfinanzas Prisma extends throughout Peru with a total of 15 agencies and 10 offices in the country.

Agencies of Microfinanzas Prisma - The shaded grey areas indicate the areas where Microfinanzas Prisma is working.

I have had the opportunity to visit 5 of these agencies during my fellowship and have been impressed with the extent to which Prisma really does reach the urban and rural poor. Close to 70% of Prisma’s clients in the rural and urban sectors are living below Peru’s national poverty line.

Prisma provides services to clients like Rosa, who lives on the outskirts of Lima and has used her loans to switch careers from washing clothes to opening up a restaurant in her house.

Rosa, cooking up savory potatoes for her lunch customers.

And to clients like Loyda, who runs a small store in a marginalized area of Lima.

Loyda in her store.

But Prisma does not just focus on clients that live within a certain distance of a city as some microfinance organizations due to cut down on operational costs, they reach clients that live high up in the mountains or deep in the jungles of Peru.

Prisma has brought services to clients like Lilia who lives up in the mountains 4 hours outside of Huancayo. Her loan has helped her buy more young cows to increase her dairy production.

Lilia, saying goodbye after our interview.

And to clients like Freddy, a widower who is supporting his four sons. With his loan he has been able increase the quality of his coffee production with the fertilizers he bought.

Freddy at his group meeting.

These services are made possible because of the hard working loan officers that Prisma employs. Such as Rosa, who works in the jungle of Chanchamayo and spends her nights and weekends visiting clients who live deep in the central jungle of Peru.

Rosa, running a group meeting in Chanchamayo, always with a smile on her face and bringing smiles to others.

About a month ago Prisma asked me to record the office voice mail message in English (that is right, I am famous! Just dial long distance to Peru: (51)(1) 616 5500 and mark number 2 for English and you will hear me!).  I remember saying “Welcome to Prisma, 25 years working where the need is greatest.” That statement could not be more true. And Microfinanzas Prisma, working 17 years where the need is greatest, has helped turn dreams into realities for clients living in the rural and urban areas of Peru.

Congratulations Prisma! Here is to another 25 years of bringing financial and social services to clients throughout Peru!

Noreen is in her last week as a Kiva Fellow with Microfinanzas Prisma. Take a moment to join MFP’s lending team and support their hard working staff and clients.

Previous Field Updates from Noreen Giga:

Is it ever too late to follow your dream?

What does Lima look like?

“No Pasa Nada”

What was your last business trip like?

Classic trip to the field moment: a loan officer chats with a borrower (Peru pictured)

It’s hard to believe but the current batch of Kiva Fellows has been in the field for over two months and most of us have only a few weeks left to go. We’re getting swept up in completing deliverables, making the most of our final month in country, and starting to plot our lives after Kiva. (Travel plans = fun. Applying for “real” jobs = less fun.) Fortunately, starting May 7, a brand new assortment of Fellows will be coming your way and a few KF14 veterans will be sticking around to show them the ropes. So stay tuned for more trips to the field, insights into local culture, contemplations about next steps, and stories of microfinance in action.

And if you’re sitting here thinking, “Hey! I want to be a part of the action, too!”, you have until April 23 to apply for Kiva Fellowships starting in August 2011. Check out the application wiki to learn more.

The New Poor
Country: Mexico / Fellow: John Farmer (KF14)
John explores what it means to be the “new poor” in Mexico by profiling a family that previously considered themselves middle class and sharing the lifestyle changes they’ve made in order to keep their heads above water.

A day in the life of a rural loan officer
Country: Peru / Fellow: Geeta Uhl (KF14)
Regular readers of this blog know that microfinance administration often requires very long days in the field. Geeta shadows a rural loan officer in Peru during a busy yet typical day, learning about making bricks, watching a domestic violence awareness training, and appreciating cute pigs along the way.

The Bare Necessities
Country: Cambodia / Fellow: Stephanie Sibal (KF14)
Stephanie reminds us that many Kiva loans are used directly or indirectly to improve the basic living situation of borrowers and their families, many of whom lack access to sanitation, electricity, health care, and secure housing.

~
Previous updates from the field:
April Fools, Terrible Coffee + Getting Attached
Social Quirks, Justin Bieber + Lots of Carbs
Fun Facts, Field Visits + Back to Basics
Carnival, Collaboration + Cheese-Making
Man’s Day, Singing Fellows + Learning How to Count
Videos, Epic Commutes + Going Beyond Microfinance
“Christmas”, Trekking, Adversity + Good Company
~

Plus more pictures from this past week:

Peru (by Geeta Uhl)

Mexico (by John Farmer)

Cambodia (by Stephanie Sibal)

Peru (by Geeta Uhl)

I originally went out into the campo (countryside) to complete one of my borrower verifications for Kiva. One of the borrowers that I had to verify was no longer a member of FINCA Peru, so one of the rural loan officers, Norma, agreed to take me to his home if I accompanied her for the day.

6:00am: We started the day meeting at the bus stop in Ayacucho and squeezed into the last remaining spaces (not really seats) in a combi-van to Compania, an area known for its brick-making.  Norma is one of the 2 rural loan officers in the Ayacucho office of FINCA Peru and works with a whopping 23 banks (and each bank has around 10-30 members to keep track of). She mentioned that the rural banks generally have lower default rates than the urban ones. She recently had the lowest default rate at FINCA Peru.

7:00am: We arrived a bit early, so we hiked through the avocado and corn fields to find one of her borrowers who had not been to meetings or made her loan payments in a month. We found her at her house, and learned that she had been sick and had not been able to work. Her husband had also had trouble with his brick business due to excessive rain. (the ovens are open-air and cannot be fired to dry the bricks if it is raining).

7:30am: Norma began the first bank meeting with a group prayer (as all the meetings at FINCA Peru begin) and then launched into a training session on family violence. First she spurred a group discussion on what constitutes family violence, and then broke the borrowers up into groups to act out scenarios of the 4 different types of family violence- physical, psychological, sexual and economic. Each group was quite enthusiastic about the activity (especially for 7:30 am on a Monday morning) and seemed to really enjoy the exercise. The main takeaway that Norma left with them was the importance of communication and “breaking the silence”.

Norma presents the training workshop on domestic/family violence while bank members (and a friendly dog) look on

After the training, repayment collection began. Some of the members were defaulting on their loans, so Norma emphasized the importance of paying on time. Since the loan officers’ pay is linked to the performance of their banks, it makes it even more crucial that their members pay back their loans.

Bank members wait to make their loan payments

9:00am: Breakfast time! Some of the bank members usually bring some kind of food to the meeting to sell to other members. That day we had “Yu Yu” a delicious spinach and potato dish, and like all meals in the Andes, is not complete without a side of corn.

9:15am: Bank meeting #2 began. The meetings in the campo are usually held outdoors where a few benches or chairs are placed near a member’s home or store. This meeting consisted of just repayments (Norma tends to alternate the training days).

Norma records repayments at the 2nd loan meeting

Norma chats with a borrower after the meeting

10:30am: We walked through the countryside to the main road. Once we reached the nearest main road, we waited another 45 minutes or so (though it seemed like an eternity in the strong Andean sun) for a truck to pass by to hitch a 30-minute ride up the road to the main highway. Once at the main highway we walked about another 30 minutes uphill to the third bank meeting.

Walking to the third meeting

12:00pm: We arrived at the third bank meeting,  held at a borrowers home/restaurant. Waiting for the meeting to begin, Norma generally does paperwork and chats with the borrower to see how business is going.

1:00pm: The third bank meeting began on time and Norma records repayments. Each borrower has the opportunity to contribute to their savings during each repayment meeting (usually every 2 weeks). Each bank also has a directive board consisting of a President, Secretary and Treasurer, who assist the loan officers in recording amounts and counting money. It can be a long process reconciling amounts and going through new internal loan requests from the group bank account (internal loans are from the communal bank itself, external loans are from FINCA Peru).

Recording repayments at the third meeting

2:30pm: The third bank meeting finally ended and we headed back to Ayacucho in a shared taxi. Norma went home for a quick lunch and shower (it can get muddy in the campo) and then proceeded to start the second part of her day in the main FINCA office in Ayacucho, doing the remaining paperwork until 6:30pm. I was truly exhausted and don’t know how she does this 5 (sometimes 6) days a week!

Some cute piggies in Compania

Geeta Uhl is a fellow with FINCA Peru in Ayacucho, Peru. To join FINCA Peru’s lending team, click here. Click here to make a loan to a member of FINCA Peru.

Most of the photos for April Fools' Day were ready before we even hatched our plans (Cambodia pictured)

We hope you enjoyed our April Fools post on Friday! While we were entertaining ourselves pulling it all together, we also found the time to attend to some serious matters: coffee in Colombia is no joke (in a bad way), some borrowers are easier to locate than others, and oftentimes Fellows must say goodbye to people and places before they’re ready to. We also learned about the “No Pago” movement in Nicaragua, the elections in Peru, what daily life is like for a Fellow in Bolivia, and how to sensibly and respectfully collect past-due payments in Ghana. Somehow there was even time to host a previous Fellow and a documentary film student in Colombia and to visit borrowers, eat chocolate, and stop for the view in Armenia.

A Movement called No Pago / Un Movimiento se llama No Pago
Country: Nicaragua / Fellow: Karen Gray (KF14)
Karen provides helpful context for the “No Pago” (or “No Pay”) movement in Nicaragua and what her partner microfinance institution is doing to ensure that it only signs on clients who are willing and able to pay back their loans.

Why does most coffee in Colombia taste like dishwater?
Country: Colombia / Fellow: Nick Hamilton (KF14)
It’s safe to say that Nick’s high expectations for coffee in Columbia have been shattered by reality: the best coffee is exported and what’s left is pretty much unpalatable. Poor guy!

Blast from the Past: KF7 turned microfinance professor visits Colombia to do field research
Country: Colombia / Fellow: John Gwillim (KF14)
Catching up with Fellows is always a treat, particularly when they visit with a documentary film student in tow and a presentation about microfinance models to share with your MFI.

Performing meaningful work for Kiva while learning a new culture
Country: Bolivia / Fellow: Clara Vreeken (KF14)
Clara walks us through her day-to-day life as a Kiva Fellow in La Paz: giving trainings, meeting with clients at the office and at their businesses, updating lenders, and enjoying the opportunity to speak Spanish.

Owe Money, Pay Money
Country: Ghana / Fellow: Mei-ing Cheok (KF14)
Mei-ing is very relieved that her partner microfinance institution takes a much gentler and more respectful approach to collecting on delinquent loans than loan sharks back in her native Singapore.

What was your last business trip like?
Country: Peru / Fellow: Noreen Giga (KF14)
From the city to the mountains to the jungle and back again, Noreen battles altitude sickness, temperature changes, and limited transportation options in her attempts (only some of which were successful) to meet with Kiva clients.

My Heart has Taken Root
Country: Uganda / Fellow: Nila Uthayakumar (KF14)
Knowing that her time was limited, Nila tried to resist getting attached to Uganda. But the people, markets, and natural beauty of her home for the past two months pushed back and she now finds herself utterly enchanted just as she prepares to leave.

In Peru, the race for President heats up
Country: Peru / Fellow: Geeta Uhl (KF14)
Geeta provides a thorough run-down of Peru’s presidential candidates and some of their, um, colorful campaign slogans.

Special Update from the Field: Beaches, Safaris + Cambodian Glamour Shots
Countries: South Africa, Armenia, Cambodia, Mexico, Ghana, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Peru, Rwanda, Bolivia, Colombia, Nicaragua, Benin, Indonesia / Fellows: Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky (KF14) with the 14th class of Kiva Fellows
In case you missed our hard-hitting April Fools’ Day coverage of what being a Kiva Fellow is REALLY like, you can revisit examples of how to sleep through reporting, torture your coworkers with your karaoke stylings, fabricate excuses to go to the beach, and so much more.

“The Good Family”
Country: Armenia / Fellow: Caree Edson (KF14)
Caree’s been on a winning streak during her past few visits to the field: chocolate, coffee, beautiful views, adorable livestock, and meeting with friendly borrowers tends to make for a pretty great day.

~
Previous updates from the field:
Social Quirks, Justin Bieber + Lots of Carbs
Fun Facts, Field Visits + Back to Basics
Carnival, Collaboration + Cheese-Making
Man’s Day, Singing Fellows + Learning How to Count
Videos, Epic Commutes + Going Beyond Microfinance
“Christmas”, Trekking, Adversity + Good Company
~

Plus more pictures from this past week:

Ghana (by Mei-ing Cheok)

Bolivia (by Clara Vreeken)

Peru (by Noreen Giga)

Peru (by Geeta Uhl)

Colombia (by John Gwillim)

Colombia (by Nick Hamilton)

Armenia (by Caree Edson)

Uganda (by Nila Uthayakumar)

Nicaragua (by Karen Gray)

Where Kiva Fellows actually spend their time (Indonesia pictured)

Kiva Fellows are nothing if not creative. We’ve gone to elaborate lengths to convince you that it can be hard to visit borrowers and that when we’re not trekking for miles, we’re doing elaborate calculations or dealing with databases and reporting. In truth, it’s all a front for an extended holiday from our regular lives. You thought our recent Carnival coverage (here and here) represented a change of pace? Think again!

Frolicking at Foreign Monuments
Country: Armenia / Fellow: Caree Edson (KF14)
While masquerading as a Kiva Fellow in Armenia, Caree is actually spending her time decorating ancient monuments and historical sites.

Safaris in Swaziland
Country: South Africa / Fellow: Alexis Ditkowsky (KF14)
Why work on deliverables when you can be hanging out with rhinos? The alleged “border run” is a favorite work-avoidance tactic for Kiva Fellows.

Pretending to be a Princess
Country: Cambodia / Fellow: Stephanie Sibal (KF14)
Not only does Stephanie spend all day dressed up as a Khmer Princess, she also documents her transformation in professional Cambodian glamour shots.

Going out into the field but only if there’s food involved
Country: Mexico / Fellow: John Farmer (KF14)
One Kiva Fellow does actually meet with borrowers, but only if there’s food involved. John followed up his recent visit to a tamaleria with a very important stop at the ice cream shop.

Staying Hydrated
Country: Ghana / Fellow: Mei-ing Cheok (KF14)
Mei-ing takes her health and hydration very seriously. Fortunately, she has discovered the wholesome goodness of Star beer, which she claims has prevented heat strokes on many an occasion.

Jungling and Rivering
Country: Uganda / Fellow: Nila Uthayakumar (KF14)
Nila was intrigued by the similarities between her name and the infamous River Nile, which proved to be as good an excuse as any to leave the office. She’s since been investigating the coincidence by traipsing through tropical forest and lounging by the river’s source in Jinja, Uganda.

It’s getting hot in here
Country: Sierra Leone / Fellow: David McNeill (KF14)
Did you know it’s hot in Sierra Leone? Like, really hot? Fortunately, David planned ahead and packed a hammock. Good luck to anyone who tries to pry him from it in the middle of the day.

Karaoke in Chiclayo
Country: Peru / Fellow: Sherrise Pond (KF14)
Sherrise spends most of her free time entertaining the residents of Chiclayo with her tone-deaf singing at Karaoke bars all around town. As Sherrise has been heard to say, “Any time of the day or night, it’s time to pass the mic!”

Watching the Wheels
Country: Rwanda / Fellow: Adam Cohn (KF14)
Adam has chosen to indulge in the Rwandan pastime of lying by the side of the road, watching traffic go by. Adam prefers his choice spot above Lake Burera to staring at his laptop at the MFI head office, but plans to leave just in time to catch a flight to Bangkok in May.

Always Ready for Winter
Country: Bolivia / Fellow: Clara Vreeken (KF14)
Clara’s been wearing a winter hat since her first day in Bolivia and chances are pretty good that she won’t remove it until long after she leaves. (She’s discovered that Bolivia can be surprisingly cold and you never know what the weather will be like in the Netherlands.)

Mud Man
Country: Colombia / Fellow: John Gwillim (KF14)
For centuries, locals near the Cartagena/Barranquilla mud volcano have warned tourists about the the mud’s transformative properties but John just wouldn’t listen. They fear that he’s become the latest incarnation of “Mud Man”, destined to aimlessly roam the countryside until the mud finally washes off.

Life of Leisure
Country: Nicaragua / Fellow: Karen Gray (KF14)
Karen is taking her Kiva Vacation, er, Fellowship very seriously. From eating cheese to smoking cigars to just being a vaquera on horseback, she’s loving the opportunity to kick back, relax, and practice her español.

Let’s go fly a kite
Country: Benin / Fellow: Gareth Davies (KF14)
Aside from trying to keep his head above water while running the Kiva operations at his MFI, Gareth is testing out new eco-friendly travel methods which he hopes will “take-off” in Benin.

Playing on the Playa in Peru
Country: Peru / Fellows: Geeta Uhl (KF14) & Noreen Giga (KF14)
Geeta was sick of the torrential rains in Ayacucho and Noreen couldn’t stand the crowds in Lima, so they decided to stay put at the Playa San Bartolo. These super Fellows are making great progress on their Peruvian tans!

And an epic update from Lisa in West Timor:

What’s the point of being on an island if you can’t go surfing all the time?
Country: Indonesia / Fellow: Lisa Skowron (KF14)
Lisa writes, “Sorry to break the news to you, but there has been some fallacy in my past blog posts about my ‘experiences in the field.’ I arrived in Kupang, West Timor, Indonesia in late January bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to make a difference in the world working with TLM. However, I found that Edwin Au-Young (KF13) had already done all the work and TLM was running like an all-star, well-oiled machine. So what is a girl to do in that scenario after trekking 9,519 miles from Chicago? Surf!

The next morning I took the ferry out to Rote, an island 2 hours off the coast of West Timor, and began practicing my surfing skills. Now that I’ve spent 99.9% of my time in Indonesia surfing (sorry Kiva!), I’ll be competing in the Oakley Pro 11 in Bali. I hope to make the highlights reel with my wicked backhand re-entry!! Win or lose, at least I’ll get to spend the week partying it up!”

Plus more pictures from “the field”:

Indonesia (by Lisa Skowron)

Mexico (by John Farmer)

Cambodia (by Stephanie Sibal)

Sierra Leone (by David McNeill)

Ghana (by Mei-ing Cheok)

Uganda (by Nila Uthayakumar)

Swaziland (by Alexis Ditkowsky)

Colombia (by John Gwillim)

Nicaragua (by Karen Gray)

Bolivia (by Clara Vreeken)

Armenia (by Caree Edson)

Rwanda (by Adam Cohn)

Peru (by Sherrise Pond)

Benin (by Gareth Davies)

Peru (by Geeta Uhl and Noreen Giga)

Elections take place on April 10 in Peru. Voting is mandatory and enforced for everyone aged 18-75 years (in the last election voter turnout in Peru was 88%, compared to 57% in the U.S. in 2008), and there is even a 3-day national dry period before elections and on Election Day. The presidential seat is up for grabs (President Alan Garcia cannot run again due to a ban on consecutive terms) as are 130 congressional seats and 5 Parliament seats. For the last month there have been large billboards and banners all over Lima and Ayacucho, where I am currently living, highlighting a variety of election claims and promises, from eradicating corruption in Congress, re-installing the death penalty, reforming education, to promoting physical fitness.

Billboard for Castaneda in Lima- "Promise and Fulfill"

There are 5 main candidates vying for the Presidency. The two right wing parties are Solidaridad Nacional (National Solidarity) led by Luis Castaneda, 65, the former mayor of Lima, and Fuerza 2011 (Force 2011) led by jailed ex-President Fujimori’s daughter and current congresswoman Keiko Fujimori, 35. Her father is currently serving 25 years for human rights abuses and if elected she has vowed to grant him a presidential pardon.

Peru Posible (Possible Peru) is led by former president Alejandro Toledo, 64, an academic who received his doctorate from Stanford University and was President of Peru from 2001-2006. The left wing party is Gana Peru (Win Peru), led by Ollanta Humala, 48, a former army officer who narrowly lost the 2006 Presidential election. Pedro Kuczynski entered the race in December last year, and is part of the Alliance for Change Party, considered center-right. He is the most unusual and atypical of all of the candidates, a former World Bank official and Wall Street banker with dual Peruvian-American citizenship. There is nobody running from current President Garcia’s party, who currently has an approval rating of 26%.

Pablo Kuczynski campaigning, left, in a Reuters photo, and a Ollanta Humala billboard in Ayacucho

More billboards in Lima. On the right, Congressman Lucho Galarreta, who was born without hands, incorporates this into his campaign, saying that "nobody will break my hand" in the fight against corruption

A 5-way tie?
In 2010, Fujimori and Castaneda were leading the polls; earlier in March, Toledo was in the lead with Fujimori and Castaneda following close behind and Humala and Kuczynski were trailing; and as of Monday, a major poll had Humala in the lead with 21.2 percent, with early frontrunner Alejandro Toledo trailing with 20 percent, Keiko Fujimori with 19 percent, and Pedro Kuzynski and Luis Castañeda logging 15 and 14 percent, respectively. Upon hearing this news the Peruvian sol dropped to its lowest value in 21 months. Humala seeks to increase state control over the economy, including Peru’s ports and natural gas reserves and was strongly linked to President Chavez in the 2006 elections. As a result, his rise in polls caused investors to sell Peruvian bonds.

Kenji Fujimori, Keiko's younger brother (with his father, the jailed former President, pictured behind him), is also running for office. His campaign slogan says he works as hard as "el chino", most likely referring the former nickname of his father

Campaign billboards around Ayacucho. Wallpasua means "chicken thief" in Quechua, the local language

Dirty Politics

Mario Vargas Llosa, the recent Peruvian Nobel Prize winner (and Presidential candidate against Fujimori in 1990) has likened the race to a “variety show” and a “tournament of clownish like behaviors” in a recent Wall Street Journal article. Scanning the front page of Peru’s most popular newspapers during the month of March, it has not been uncommon to see allegations of candidates using cash from druglords to finance their campaigns; accusations that one candidate was too old to run and had Alzheimer’s (Kuczynski, at 72 years old); accusations that Toledo is a heavy drinker and uses cocaine; and even claims from the current President Garcia that Toledo has a “psychosexual obsession” with him. Lately, other candidates have accused Humala, who is leading the polls, of being a communist in disguise, a potential dictator, and a soldier of Venezuela’s President Chavez.

Typical news headlines of candidates making accusations. In this one, Keiko Fujimori accuses Humala of not changing since the last campaign in 2006 when he was portrayed as a radical leftist

Main areas of contention?

Unfortunately most of what is reported here in the news reflects the random allegations between contenders so it is a bit difficult to ascertain where the candidates actually stand on the main issues of concern (and to even know what issues Peruvians care about). Regarding the economy, Humala has stated that he wants to nationalize industries and re-negotiate Peru’s trade agreements. Toledo and Humala also want to increase mining taxes (Peru is the second-leading copper producer, the largest silver producer and the fifth-largest gold producer), whereas the others don’t want to change tax laws.
On civil unions, Toledo “supports civil unions but does not promote gay marriage”. Fujimori supports civil unions whereas Humala is against them. Kuczynski has expressed a ambitious desire to eliminate extreme poverty in ten years, increase education spending while also cutting taxes.

Given that 50 percent of the votes are needed on April 10 to avoid a run-off (scheduled for June 5 if necessary), the race for the presidency is still wide open. And considering Peru’s history of elections (in 1990 the original Fujimori had only 5% of the vote 2 weeks before election day and ended up winning in the run-off), at this point, any of the top five candidates could enter into a second round run-off and win.

Geeta Uhl is currently serving as a Kiva fellow at FINCA Peru in Ayacucho, Peru.

Mine entailed traveling around Central Peru for a week and a half. Part of a fellow’s duty is to complete a Borrower Verification. Kiva selects a random sample of ten clients that represents an organization’s portfolio and sends it to us fellows. We, in turn, visit each and every client on the list to verify that they are who they say they are, that they indeed received a loan for the amount posted on Kiva’s website, and to talk to them about their business and loan use. You can think of it as a mini-audit process.

I am serving as a fellow with Microfinanzas Prisma, a large micro-finance organization that is based in Lima, Peru, but has branch offices throughout the country. Before I received my list I was told I would get to do some traveling, I had no idea what that meant until now.

The Borrower Verification

Part One – Into the Andes

A week and a half ago I packed my bag and left for Tarma, the “Pearl of the Andes,” located 232 kilometers east of Lima, or about an 8 hour bus ride. My Lima wardrobe was not conducive to the Andean weather, but I found that layering about half of what I brought with me to Peru was sufficient to keep me warm. The next morning I set out on a two hour motorcycle ride to visit the first client, Aquelina. It was my first time on a bike and I enjoyed the trek immensely! However, I got to the woman’s house only to find out from her husband that she is currently in Lima recovering from an operation. She might return in a month or two. I was in shock. I traveled a total of 10 hours to see this woman (8 hour bus from Lima plus the 2 hour bike ride) only to find that she is currently an hour away from where I live in Lima. I have 4 weeks left as a Kiva Fellow and cannot wait a month or two for her possible return. I gathered the information about where she is in Lima and am keeping my fingers crossed that I find her.

Aquelina's neighborhood

View walking away from Aquelina's house

Part Two – The Jungle

I spent the weekend exploring Tarma and first thing Monday morning I traveled two hours by bus to Chanchamayo to visit my next three clients in the central jungle of Peru.  The climate change was incredible. I went from cold, cloudy, rainy weather to sunny, hot, humid weather in just two hours. The first woman lived close to where the bus dropped us off. In a short twenty minute walk I was at her convenience store. Piece of cake.

Antonieta in her store. Great place to stop for food on your way to see the famous waterfalls of Chanchamayo!

The next client, I was told, lived a little farther. That was an understatement. We took a mototaxi from Antonieta’s house to a bus stop over the river. Then we got in a combi (small bus) and rode for another 20 minutes to La Merced, the main city in Chanchamayo. From La Merced we took a shared taxi another 20 minutes up a hill. Then we got in our second shared taxi with 8 other people, not including the driver (two in the front, 4 in the back and two in the trunk). We drove around mountains and through small towns and slowly the passengers piled out until it was just myself and the Kiva assistant.

After our four hour journey into the jungle we finally arrived at the client’s house, only to learn that he was working on another mountain, another two hours away. It was about 3pm by this time. Our driver was not going to take us there. It was too far and getting too late. We piled back in the car and proceeded to drive through the same isolated jungle towns we passed earlier. Our driver passed through 4 towns honking his horn to gather passengers, but no one came out. He stopped the car and said to us, “well ladies, there are no passengers.” His look and tone said it all. It was not financially viable for him to drive just us two another 3 hours back to La Merced. We looked at each other and stayed put in the car. “Un ratito, por favor señor” we pleaded. Please wait just a little bit longer. Minutes passed. No one showed. Then, after 30 minutes (yes, that still counts as “un ratito”), we saw a family walking down a hill. Passengers! We returned to La Merced and then chased one of the last buses of the night back to Tarma. I have never been so happy to return to cold, rainy weather!

What about the clients I didn’t visit? I was told that there will be a group meeting next month and the two clients I need to see in Chanchamayo will be there to make their next loan payments. Perfect.

Part Three – Back in the Andes

Early the next morning I packed my bags and headed to Huancayo, the cultural and commercial center of the Andes region, and another three hour bus ride from Tarma. I arrived at the office and discovered that I had to visit the two clients in the most remote areas of Huancayo. Not again! Early the next morning I set out on another long trek with the Kiva assistant from Huancayo. We took a combi about thirty minutes to the outskirts of Huancayo and then piled into a taxi with 3 other people. We drove along for a couple of hours into the countryside and slowly people piled out when they arrived at their respective towns. After three hours we were in Usibamba. The town was bustling. Every Thursday there is a fair in the main field. We found Lilia at the fair. I enjoyed speaking with her. She was a bright woman with a lot of energy and a great laugh.

Lilia greeted us with smiles and laughter, well worth the trek out to Usibamba!

Now a more serious (but still happy) shot for my Borrower Verification.

But while standing and talking to her I started feeling hot and a little nauseous. I did not understand why I felt so awful, I knew I had not eaten anything strange since I tried cau-cau, or cow guts, last week in Tarma. I whispered to the Kiva assistant that I needed to sit down. She explained to me that it must be the altitude. Huancayo is situated at 3271 meters and Usibamba is at an even higher elevation. For comparison Cusco is located at 3300 meters.  She was right. After arriving back in Huancayo I felt normal again.

After 11 days of traveling, a motorcyle ride, several buses, combis and taxis, a mild bout of altitude sickness and layering the same clothes for warmth, I returned back to my home in Lima, Peru. Next up on my borrower verification list? Finding the client in Lima, heading back to the central jungle and trekking out to San Francisco, (no not the  one in California) the town that borders Cusco. All in a fellow’s work to ensure that all lenders are lending to reliable and trustworthy institutions.

Ciao! Zooming off to see another client with Jorge, one of the 3 loan officers in the Tarma branch office.

Noreen Giga is a Kiva Fellow (KF14) working with Microfinanzas Prisma in Peru. Join Friends of Microfinanzas Prisma’s lending team today and lend to clients deep in the mountains and jungle of Peru or closer to the cities.

Previous Field Updates from Noreen:

“No Pasa Nada”

What does Lima look like?

Is it ever too late to follow your dream?

This week, take a trip to the field with Kiva Fellows (Mexico pictured)

For many Fellows, this week was about getting back to basics: the borrowers. In between fun facts about Kiva Fellowships, doing database detective work, and reflecting on the internal dynamics of Kiva’s partner microfinance institutions, Fellows found themselves in the field again and again, much to their delight and often to the delight of borrowers. From Latin America to Africa to the Caucasus to Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe, meet Kiva clients, learn about their businesses, and check out all of the great photos.

Kiva Fellows by the Numbers
Countries: Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Mexico, Ghana, Uganda, Mongolia, Ukraine, Nepal, Peru, Cambodia, Indonesia, Liberia, Guatemala, South Africa, Colombia, Bolivia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan / Fellows: By David McNeill (KF14) & Adam Cohn (KF14) but featuring the entire 14th class
Ever wonder how far Fellows travel for their placements or how slow the Internet really is in Liberia? And did you know that you can buy Coca-Cola in a plastic bag for $.15 in Cambodia? Discover more fun facts about Kiva Fellowships in this post and the accompanying spreadsheet.

Death By Fire
Country: Mexico / Fellow: John Farmer (KF14)
John considers the tension between business and family after meeting a borrower who successfully used microloans to set up a tamale shop but hesitates to make an expensive investment even though it would improve her family’s health.

Database Detective: South Africa Edition
Country: South Africa / Fellow: Alexis Ditkowsky (KF14)
For those of you who like reading about databases and reporting, Alexis has you covered. For everyone else who wants to visit a borrower, learn about her business, and look at lots of pictures, you’re taken care of, too.

Get into the groove
Country: Ukraine / Fellow: Jacqueline Gunn (KF14)
Jacqueline finally finds a cure for the shock of moving from Ghana to Ukraine in the middle of winter: visiting borrowers! Get to know Sergei, Yana, and Irina and learn about the philosophies behind their businesses.

Piece by Piece: The Garment Worker’s Loan
Country: Cambodia / Fellow: Stephanie Sibal (KF14)
Stephanie introduces us to the challenges of working in the garment industry through Sok, a Kiva client. Thanks to a recent loan, Sok purchased a cow which she hopes will increase her family’s income stream so she can send her sons to university one day.

Realities Of Microfinance In Benin. (Part 1, The White Man)
Country: Benin / Fellow: Gareth Davies (KF14)
In case you thought that picking up and moving to another part of the world was easy, Gareth explains some of the new realities he’s encountered as a white man in Benin.

Women Working for Women: Staff + Client Collaboration in Nepal
Country: Nepal / Fellow: Claudine Emeott (KF14)
BPW Nepal not only serves women through its loan products and personable customer service, it also provides a warm and supportive environment for its staff, management, and board members, the vast majority of whom are female.

New Horizons- A Fellow’s First Field Visit
Country: Armenia / Fellow: Caree Edson (KF14)
Caree’s first trip into the field was definitely worth the wait. In addition to being welcomed with cake and chocolate at the New Horizons office, she learns more about their loan products and partnerships, meets several borrowers with very distinct businesses, and eats lunch at “indisputably the most beautiful place in Armenia”.

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Previous updates from the field:
Carnival, Collaboration + Cheese-Making
Man’s Day, Singing Fellows + Learning How to Count
Videos, Epic Commutes + Going Beyond Microfinance
“Christmas”, Trekking, Adversity + Good Company
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Plus more pictures from this past week:

Armenia (by Caree Edson)

Mexico (by John Farmer)

Ukraine (by Jacqueline Gunn)

Nepal (by Claudine Emeott)

South Africa (by Alexis Ditkowsky)

Cambodia (by Stephanie Sibal)

Fellows, tourists, and locals celebrated Carnival all over Latin America (Colombia pictured)

This past week was all about collaboration: Fellows coordinating across continents to profile entrepreneurs and organizations who believe International Women’s Day should be every day and community members coming together to celebrate Carnival in all of its elaborate glory. We learned about public health in Peru, making cheese and cigars in Nicaragua, the impact of climate change in Bolivia, and the challenges faced by a microcredit saleswoman in Guatemala. Life as a Kiva Fellow is busy as always!

Carnival de Barranquilla
Country: Colombia / Fellows: Nick Hamilton (KF14) & John Gwillim (KF14)
Celebrate Carnival de Barranquilla vicariously through Nick’s words and John’s stunning photos. You’ll feel like you’re right in the middle of the action.

Celebrating Women around the World!
Countries: Cambodia, Ghana, Rwanda, Armenia, Bolivia, Mexico, Kyrgyzstan / Fellows: Stephanie Sibal (KF14), Mei-ing Cheok (KF14), Adam Cohn (KF14), Caree Edson (KF14), Klaartje Vreeken (KF14), John Farmer (KF14), Charlie Wood (KF14)
Supporting a family entails enormous personal and financial sacrifices for many women but economic empowerment can help alleviate some of the burden. This group post highlights the successes and challenges faced by select women from around the world and organizations and people who are committed to making fundamental improvements in their lives.

Empowering women through microfinance in Ghana
Country: Ghana / Fellow: Mei-ing Cheok (KF14)
Mei-ing lays out the legal and cultural roadblocks to female financial empowerment in Ghana and the many ways her partner microfinance institution (MFI) is dedicated to its clients, from loans to savings to academic scholarships for clients’ children.

Celebrating Carnival in the Andes
Countries: Peru, Bolivia / Fellows: Geeta Uhl (KF14), Noreen Giga (KF14), Sherrise Pond (KF14), Clara Visser (KF14)
After your trip to Colombia for Carnival, head down to Peru and Bolivia to see how they celebrate it in the Andes. Check out the traditional costumes, paint-covered Fellows, multitude of parades, and so much more in the photos.

Mud torrent, climate change and food crisis in Bolivia
Country: Bolivia / Fellow: Clara Visser (KF14)
Clara’s partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) are working hard to assist clients who are suffering from the impact of rising food prices and climate change, including recent mudslides in La Paz that destroyed at least 1500 homes.

“No Pasa Nada”
Country: Peru / Fellow: Noreen Giga (KF14)
“No Pasa Nada” is a ubiquitous phrase in Peru and it’s now the cornerstone of a recent public health campaign targeting HIV/AIDS discrimination. It’s catchy, it’s clear, and it sends the message that “Nothing is going to happen, discrimination is ridiculous.”

The Microcredit Saleswoman
Country: Guatemala / Fellow: Gustavo Visalli (KF14)
Gustavo shadows a loan officer in the highlands of Guatemala and discovers a very different dynamic between door-to-door saleswoman and potential clients than he’s used to in the United States.

Say Cheese For Kiva Student Loans
Country: Nicaragua / Fellow: Karen Gray (KF14)
Karen conducts important taste-testing at a local university where students have invested small loans from Kiva’s partner microfinance institution (MFI) into making cheese and selling it on campus.

What are they smoking in Nicaragua?
Country: Nicaragua / Fellow: Karen Gray (KF14)
A double-header from Karen. After learning about making cheese, she visits a tobacco-grower (and Kiva borrower) who makes cigars in Esteli, Nicaragua.

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Previous updates from the field:
Man’s Day, Singing Fellows + Learning How to Count
Videos, Epic Commutes + Going Beyond Microfinance
“Christmas”, Trekking, Adversity + Good Company
~

Plus more pictures from this past week:

Colombia (by John Gwillim)

Peru (by Geeta Uhl)

Guatemala (by Gustavo Visalli)

Nicaragua (by Karen Gray)

Bolivia (by Klaartje Vreeken)

Ghana (by Mei-ing Cheok)

Peru (by Noreen Giga)

I first heard this phrase while studying abroad in Spain my junior year of college. My friends and I said “no pasa nada” every other sentence when we realized there was really no limit as to when this phrase could be used. Walk in on someone in the bathroom? “No pasa nada” would be the response. Bedridden with a cold? “No pasa nada.” Walk in late to class because you overslept? “No pasa nada.”

“No pasa nada” has taken on a new meaning to me now, preventing HIV discrimination in Peru. I was heading to Cajamarca, Peru to celebrate Carnival; and on the 17 hour bus ride I noticed an ad running on the TV about HIV/AIDS. It explained how HIV/AIDS is transmitted, dispelling the common myths that it can be caught by holding hands, kissing, from sharing utensils, or from using the same bathrooms, pools, gyms and other myths that still exist. The end of the ad directs you to the website, www.nopasanada.pe. My ears perked up. “No pasa nada,” the popular phrase that I have grown to love was now being used to stop HIV/AIDS discrimination in Peru, brilliant!

I am a public health nut and seeing this ad campaign launched by Peru’s Ministry of Health reinforced my passion for public health and health communication.  The full campaign is called “No pasa nada, discriminar es absurdo.” Watch a short news clip about the campaign in Spanish. A woman talks about how parents pull their children out of school out of fear that they could “catch” HIV from other students.

“No pasa nada” has a wide array of meanings, “nothing happened,” “don’t worry about it,” “no problem,” “no big deal,” “it’s ok,” etc. I think you see where I am going with this, never ending, which explains why it is used so much in conversation. But in this case, I would consider the English translation of the campaign to be “Nothing is going to happen, discrimination is ridiculous.”

The goal of this campaign is to promote tolerance for people living with HIV/AIDS by eliminating common myths of HIV transmission. The campaign is four-fold – running advertisements in print, on the radio, on TV and on the internet. Through education the Ministry of Health hopes to reduce discrimination facing people with HIV/AIDS at work, school, in the health field, and in family and other personal settings.

Peru has experienced an increase in the number of people diagnosed with HIV over the past eight years. One of the possible explanations for this increase is the same as it is for countries like the United States; that from lack of education or improvement in medical treatment, people no longer see HIV/AIDS as a threat. But regardless of the reasons, Peru recognizes there is an increase in HIV/AIDS diagnoses and is actively addressing its citizens to promote tolerance for those living with the virus. Peru is working to end discrimination for people living with HIV/AIDS, “no pasa nada.”

Noreen is a Kiva Fellow working with Microfinanzas Prisma in Lima, Peru. Join Kiva’s brand new lending team, Friends of Microfinanzas Prisma, today and connect with the wonderful staff of Prisma and all of us who support their work!

Previous Posts by Noreen Giga:
Is it ever too late to follow your dream?
What does Lima look like?

Carnival in Ayacucho, Peru

Geeta Uhl, KF14, Peru

Carnaval is probably the second most popular holiday in Ayacucho, after Semana Santa, and you can certainly tell by the crowds of people that flock to the city. Peru’s National Cultural Institute even declared the Ayacuchan Carnival as an event of national heritage.

However, it is nothing like what goes on during Mardi Gras in New Orleans or what everyone thinks of the typical Carnival celebrations in Brazil. Carnival in Ayacucho is much more traditional, though it still brings lots of activity, color, music, costumes, dancing, and musicians to the town’s center, and parties go on in the streets well into the night. The main celebrations last for 4 days and just ended last night (well, some finished their partying this morning). The locals even say that many birthdays in Ayacucho are in October, exactly nine months after Carnival…

Carnival celebrations in Ayacucho. All dancing groups end up in the Plaza de Armas

Usually the locals from Ayacucho and the surrounding area dance with their neighborhood, office, school, or other social group. Each group dresses up in traditional costume, and then parades around town, eventually ending up in the main Plaza de Armas, where crowds greet them. The women dance and sing in the front and the men follow in the back, providing the music on guitars, flutes, accordions, drums, and other instruments.

FINCA Peru staff and borrowers get ready to parade through Ayacucho

I had the opportunity to dance (in costume) with my MFI, FINCA Peru. Many of the songs are sung in Quechua so it was a little challenging to learn the words. Most groups have similar songs, dances, and costumes but then add their own personal humor or irony to the lyrics, many times including social and political commentary- unfortunately most of it was a little too subtle for my foreign ear to pick up.

FINCA Peru's Kiva Coordinator dances in the Carnival parade

FINCA Peru staff at Carnival in Ayacucho

FINCA Peru "socias" or borrowers, really get into the celebrations

FINCA Peru staff plays music throughout the streets of Ayacucho

I am trying to fit in amongst the locals...

Carnival in Cajamarca, Peru

Noreen Giga, KF14, made the 17 hour bus ride from Lima to Cajamarca where she met with Kiva Fellow Sherrise Pond, KF14, who traveled six hours from Chiclayo. Cajamarca, dubbed the Capital of Carnival in Peru, sits 2750 meters above sea level and is surrounded by an expansive vision of beautiful, mist-covered mountains. Noreen and Sherrise also met with former Kiva Fellow, Casey Unrein, KF13, who traveled from Trujillo to join in the festivities.

Sherrise, Casey and Noreen in Cajamarca

Sherrise Pond, KF14, Chiclayo, Peru

Carnival events in Cajamarca actually began in mid-February, but the high point kicked off last weekend from March 4^th through 8^th.  The first thing I noticed about Cajarmarcans is that they were ready to party…anywhere! Large crowds gathered in the streets singing traditional Peruvian songs, while playing (some more talented than others) specially-made carnival drums also known as “tumba” and the pinkullo, a wooden flute native to Peru. People formed tons of small circles while their friends jumped into the middle and danced to the music. Since Cajamarca is in the mountains it tended to rain off and on throughout the weekend. But that didn´t stop us from enjoying the music, dancing in front of the stage and making new friends.

Friday night was also the crowning of the Carnaval Queen of Cajamarca 2011. Fifteen young women from different barrios in Cajamarca competed for the title in a pageant similar to Miss America. The women showed off their beauty and brains through various question and answer sessions and catwalks where they modeled elaborate evening gowns and swimwear. The stadium was packed with Cajamarcans who clearly loved their neighborhood and supported their potential Queen.

Noreen Giga, KF 14, Lima, Peru

As soon as I stepped off the bus in Cajamarca, Peru for Carnival I was in the middle of Water/Paint Fest 2011. Kids throwing water balloons at cars, kids and adults. Adults dumping buckets of water and paint from their balconies on unsuspecting pedestrians. Bands of kids covered in paint roamed the street with buckets of paint and water guns looking for their next victim. Unarmed and wearing the only pair of jeans I brought with me to Peru, I quickly sought refuge in a convenience store. Not more than 15 minutes later I saw fellow Kiva Fellow Sherrise Pond walking down the street. Quite calmly I might add, as if she was not terrified of getting doused with paint at any moment. She planned to stay on the part of town where paint fighting was not allowed, while my friends and I had other plans…An hour later I left my hostel armed with a water gun and became an insta-target. I didn’t get very far from my hostel when I saw three six year olds huddled together on the corner of the next block, dipping their hands into a full bucket of blue paint. They saw me. I’m pretty sure they could smell my fear. I’ve never been so terrified of little kids before. I had a lame water gun that was more like a spray bottle than the super soaker I wished I had. I looked at the kids, I looked at my friends, and on the count of three we charged. The kids won. It wasn’t a fair fight. I didn’t last long in the water/paint fest and about 30 minutes in we ducked into a restaurant.

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Water and paint fights in Cajamarca

Defeated with paint in Cajamarca

During the 4 hour parade of elaborate costumes ranging from typical Peruvian dishes to astrological signs, to marching bands, massive water fights would break out. I stood behind two brave soldiers who tried to take on a group of girls across the street. Everyone was wet by the end of parade and dancing in the streets. I had never been to a parade where everyone interacted with each other. People from the streets just walked up to whoever they wanted and got their pictures taken,  danced with the performers, or started a water fight. I felt like I was a part of the Cajamarcan community. Everyone was so welcoming and proud of what I really do believe is the best Carnival celebration in Peru!

Kids preparing to strut their stuff in Cajamarca

Parade of Astrological Signs

Carnival in Oruro, Bolivia

Clara Visser, KF 14, Bolivia, is serving as a Kiva Fellow at IMPRO Bolivia. Here are her photos from the Carnival celebrations there:

Don’t forget to check out photos from the Carnival celebrations in Baranquilla from Kiva Fellow John Gwillim here

Last week, Kiva Fellows took you to places you may not have known existed (West Timor, Indonesia, pictured)

The Fellows will be covering International Women’s Day later this week but let’s take a moment to acknowledge its lesser-known cousin in Kyrgyzstan, “Man’s Day”. And while you’re appreciating culture and history in far-off places, take a trip to Peru and West Timor through photos, visit borrowers in Uganda and Rwanda through video, learn a little something about communicating in South Africa, and catch up on the latest from Liberia, Ghana, and Mexico (home to the “Singing Fellow”).

What does Lima look like?
Country: Peru / Fellow: Noreen Giga (KF14)
Find out why Lima is nicknamed “El Pulpo” (“The Octopus”) and learn about an unusual local business: transporting a washing machine around the neighborhood and renting it by the hour.

The Meaning of “Now” in South Africa
Country: South Africa / Fellow: Alexis Ditkowsky (KF14)
“Just now” and “now” are much fuzzier concepts than a type-A American was prepared for. Plus pick up a few more South African-isms in the post and in the comments.

Knowing and Understanding, Saber y Entender
Country: Liberia / Fellow: Carlos Cruz Montano (KF14)
Carlos explores some of the barriers to understanding between borrowers and microfinance institutions (MFIs) through examples from Liberia, Paraguay, and Guatemala.

The Rookie (El Novato)
Country: Mexico / Fellow: John Farmer (KF14)
The most important thing you need to know about this post is that there’s a video of John singing his own song about microfinance, a highlight from his 45 hours of loan officer training.

Video Blog: The Kiva Story
Country: Uganda / Fellow: Nila Uthayakumar (KF14)
This week, Nila introduces us Adella, Deborah, and Florence, three borrowers who discuss their loans, their businesses, and how they’ve used their profits.

Video Blog: Francoise, A Kiva Borrower’s Story
Country: Rwanda / Fellow: Adam Cohn (KF14)
Bright colors, catchy music, and the story of Francoise, a smiling borrower who started with a $25 World Relief grant and is now her family’s breadwinner.

Gone Fishing
Country: Ghana / Fellow: Mei-Ing Cheok (KF14)
Mei-Ing gives a detailed overview of the fishing industry in Ghana and how recent government regulations are impacting lending decisions at her microfinance institution.

Huh, There’s a West Timor?
Country: Indonesia / Fellow: Lisa Skowron (KF14)
In case you weren’t familiar with West Timor, Lisa shares a gorgeous slideshow from her first month plus some startling statistics about Indonesia’s poorest province.

Ensuring a manly man’s day
Country: Kyrgyzstan / Fellow: Charlie Wood (KF14)
Kiva Fellows learn about and participate in a wide range of local holidays. Charlie appropriately celebrates Man’s Day in Kyrgyzstan with a trip to an entrepreneurial eagle hunter.

The next generation of microentrepreneurs
Country: Peru / Fellow: Geeta Uhl (KF14)
Jumping off of last week’s post “Kiva Field Partners: More than just microfinance“, Geeta describes how her partner offers classes and activities for children of borrowers.

Five things you may not know about Rwanda
Country: Rwanda / Fellow: Michelle Curtis (KF13)
Before saying goodbye to Rwanda, Michelle shares some of the important things she’s learned, including how to count with her fingers. (FYI, five is a fist and seven is a fist with two fingers poking over the top like rabbit ears.)

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Previous updates from the field:
Videos, Epic Commutes + Going Beyond Microfinance
“Christmas”, Trekking, Adversity + Good Company
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Plus more pictures from this past week:

Peru (by Noreen Giga)

Ghana (by Mei-Ing Cheok)

Indonesia (by Lisa Skowron)

Guatemala (by Carlos Cruz Montano)

South Africa (by Alexis Ditkowsky)

At FINCA Peru, there is a lot more than just microfinance happening. In addition to women’s empowerment and business development workshops, FINCA Peru offers the children of borrowers  financial and global education training with the goal to educate the next generation of entrepreneurs in Ayacucho, Peru.

Aflatoun students at FINCA Peru

FINCA Peru uses the Aflatoun Program, a 6-month course for children ages 6-12 to develop their awareness of savings and planning for the future, personal development, the environment, and the world. Aflatoun is actually a global network of social and financial education based in the Netherlands. According to their website, the program reaches 500,000 children in 31 countries. FINCA Peru is one of Aflatoun’s four partners in Peru.

Does Aflatoun stand for anything? At first I thought it was just another long acronym but apparently it was chosen by the children in the Indian program, and is a character in a Bollywood film. It has an Arabic origin and refers to “the explorer”

FINCA Peru first implemented the Aflatoun program in May 2009 in their Ayacucho office. The program targets the children of the women who are members of the village banks. The program is offered during the school year, and consists of 24 one-hour after school sessions from March until July, and is currently taught by two  FINCA Peru volunteers.

Aflatoun students present their end of class presentations

The 6-month curriculum covers personal development, teaching the students about children’s rights, working in teams, and their roles in their family and community. The program also delves into environmental education- teaching about conservation, recycling, and keeping public areas free of litter.

Every student saves money each week and develops a micro-enterprise project. In the past, the children made Christmas cards to be sold in Canada. This year they are thinking about making piggy banks or another craft using recycled plastic bottles. The profit is all returned to the children. In the last class, 150 kids saved 3,000 PEN in total (~$1079) and earned profits of 264 PEN (~$95) for selling the Christmas cards.

The program does have some challenges. Sporadic attendance is common since it’s an optional after-school program held in a non-academic setting. The wide age range of 6-12 can also make it difficult to tailor the lesson plans.

For more information on the Aflatoun program visit their website here: http://www.aflatoun.org/

For more information on FINCA Peru visit their Kiva page here: http://www.kiva.org/partners/70

Geeta Uhl is a Kiva Fellow currently serving with FINCA Peru in Ayacucho, Peru

I visited the center of the city and saw the Plaza de Armas.

And went back to take in the view at night.

I visited Miraflores, a district of Lima that is located on the water.

And I of course found some time to visit Barranco, another district of Lima, to go to the beach!

But is this what Lima looks like? Partly. This is what Central Lima looks like.

Lima, the capital of Peru, is nicknamed “El Pulpo” (The Octopus) by some, referring to the sprawling metropolis that is about the size of Rhode Island, has a population rising close to 9 million people, and is home to around a quarter of Peru’s total population. Where do they all live? The city of Lima is further divided into 43 districts. The majority of the districts pertain to Central Lima, but the rest spread into what are the Northern and Southern Cones of Peru. And this, to me, is what Lima also looks like.

Southern Cone of Peru

Northern Cone of Peru

Neighborhoods in the Northern and Southern Cones of Lima have sprung up in the sand and on the sides of mountains. In these new neighborhoods that continue expanding with the arrival of Peruvians moving inward from the outer provinces of Peru, microfinance work is abundant.

A number of services are lacking in these neighborhoods and it is a real opportunity for Prisma clients to get creative with their businesses. Today, I met with a woman who rents washing machines to her neighbors. Maria, started her business two and a half years ago. The laundry service that she used was the only laundry service in her neighborhood, and was extremely far away. Not a practical option for most families, including Maria’s. I couldn’t help but think of basic economics 101 terms my father once went over with me as Maria told her story, such as: supply and demand, market share, and new market opportunities. But Maria doesn’t have an MBA and I doubt she thought of these terms as she planned her business strategy, but she clearly had a handle on the concepts.

Shortly after she had her second child she embarked on this business of renting washing machines by the hour. And she personally transports the machines to her neighbors houses. It’s difficult, she says, but worth the money and stability it provides for her family.

To learn more about other Microfinanzas Prisma clients like Maria, or to receive regular updates from the field like these join “Friends of Microfinanzas Prisma” today!

Kiva's microfinance partners often provide services beyond finance, including housing (pictured above in Colombia), education, energy, agriculture, hospitality, business, women's rights, community, and culture.

Another week, another incredible range of dispatches from around the world. Several Fellows told their stories with video and pictures while others took time to reflect on the state of microfinance as a global industry and in their respective countries. And what would a week in the field be without getting to know a few borrowers? Plus, scroll to the end of the post for pictures you may have missed the first time around.

Video Blog – The Life Of A Kiva Fellow
Country: Dominican Republic, Haiti, Colombia / Fellow: Nick Hamilton (KF13, KF14)
Need a break from reading about what Kiva Fellows do? Then watch Nick’s video for a fun yet informative overview. (Don’t let the opening scenes on the beach fool you – being a Kiva Fellow is a lot of work.)

Video Blog: The Story of Lini Nanyonga
Country: Uganda / Fellow: Nila Uthayakumar (KF14)
Nila introduces us to Lini Nanyonga, a microfinance client in Uganda. Learn more about her business, how she used her loan, and her hopes for the future in this short video.

A Kiva Fellow’s Photo Album: Six Months Along The Equator
Country: Ecuador, Kenya / Fellow: Tara Capsuto (KF12, KF13)
Tara tries to find the words to describe her Kiva Fellowships but ends up letting photos of local foods, finding borrowers, hanging with Kiva Coordinators, and much more speak for themselves.

Ten interviews with Mongolian entrepreneurs
Country: Mongolia / Fellow: Amber Barger (KF14)
Be sure to click on each picture in Amber’s post for business updates from a meat saleswoman, a painter, a cook, a car repairman/builder of low-income housing, and five other borrowers.

Participating in the Dialogue: The Role of Microfinance Critics (Part 2)
Country: Bolivia / Fellow: Julie Shea (KF13)
Julie responds to some of the controversial statements being made about microfinance with the story of CIDRE, the microfinance institution she’s been working with in Bolivia, and a round-up of related links.

Kiva Field Partners: More than just microfinance
Country: Colombia / Fellow: John Gwillim (KF14)
As John details in his post, Kiva’s partners often provide services well outside the scope of traditional microfinance. In addition to examples from Colombia, read more about programs in Ghana, Paraguay, and Peru.

Money, Money, Everywhere
Country: Benin / Fellow: Gareth Davies (KF14)
Gareth makes thoughtful and stirring connections between Samuel Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and economic activity in Benin.

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Landscape of Microfinance in Nepal
Country: Nepal / Fellow: Claudine Emeott (KF14)
Access to finance and microfinance in Nepal is directly related to geography – the higher you climb, the fewer the options. Claudine lays out the current situation while pointing to some promising developments.

The Highland Commute
Country: Guatemala / Fellow: Gustavo Visalli (KF14)
Gustavo gives us a taste of his daily commute in Guatemala. Find out how he survives “The Sardine Act”, “The Highway Shoulder Hike”, and “El Carnicero” (aka “The Butcher”).

Cindy’s Baptism by Onions
Country: Nicaragua / Fellow: Karen Gray (KF14)
The first visit to the field is just as exciting for new microfinance staff as it is for Kiva Fellows. While there are always challenges (often related to transportation), there can be unexpected surprises, too.

Microfinance Marketing 101: The Loan Officer
Country: Cambodia / Fellow: Stephanie Sibal (KF14)
As Stephanie writes, loan officers not only tackle on-the-ground PR for a microfinance organization, they also play an essential role in marketing, customer service, product feedback, and, of course, loan administration.

~
Previous updates from the field:
“Christmas”, Trekking, Adversity + Good Company
~

Plus more pictures from this past week:

Nicaragua (by Karen Gray)

Guatemala (by Gustavo Visalli)

Kenya (by Tara Capsuto)

Bolivia (by Julie Shea)

Mongolia (by Amber Barger)

Nepal (by Claudine Emeott)

We run into Antonia at her weekly communal bank meeting and she greets us with a high pitched “GRINGITAS!”- which many of the older FINCA members like to use to address myself and the other foreign volunteers – hugs, and many kisses. We visited Antonia a few days ago at her home a few blocks from FINCA’s office, in Santa Ana, the oldest neighborhood in Ayacucho. She lives in a simple house, with a small garden on a winding, cobblestone road at the top of one of Ayacucho’s many hills (at over 9,000 feet above sea level, the altitude does not help with climbing hills here).  She was born in Ayacucho and has lived here all of her life.

View of Ayacucho and FINCA Peru from above

FINCA Peru’s Ayacucho office, where clients come for weekly or bi-weekly meetings to make payments, collect new loans, and/or attend trainings offered

Antonia in front of her home in Ayacucho

Antonia has been a “socia” (member) of FINCA for over 13 years, and was proud to say that she has never once defaulted on a loan. She told us that her first loan was for $5, and she recently took out a loan for $2,500 to make improvements on her house. She was such pleasure to talk with and is so far the only client I have met that actually enjoyed being filmed and photographed and was not uncomfortable at all having four of us “gringitas” invade her home!

FINCA volunteers filming Antonia in her home

Antonia and her husband ran a business buying livestock- such as sheep and pigs- in neighboring rural towns and selling them in Ayacucho. Though she enjoyed traveling, she is taking it easy for now, since she is 78 years old (“más o menos”- she was not too sure). She has one daughter, Marina, who is also a FINCA socia, and 8 grandchildren (with 13 great-grandchildren!) some of who have carried on her amazing spirit of entrepreneurship, and continue to run her business. Antonia is not yet listed on Kiva, but I am hoping to get her next loan on the site!

Click here to join FINCA Peru’s Lending Team or to make a loan to one of the other members of FINCA Peru.

Geeta Uhl is a Kiva Fellow working with FINCA Peru in Peru. Want to be a part of the Kiva Fellows program? Learn more and apply to be a Kiva Fellow.

My two Kiva fellowships have allowed me to work with four separate institutions: FAPE and ASDIR in Guatemala and Arariwa and Manuela Ramos in Peru.  I have been able to meet and talk with hundreds of borrowers posting new loans and doing loan updates.  Meeting borrowers like Luz del Solar in Urubamba who owns a restaurant and has twice made my day a little brighter with typical dishes from Urubamba like pear soup or potatoes, lima beans, and goat cheese in a cream sauce.

I have worked to improve transparency on the Kiva site by performing three borrower verifications (checking data in the field: loan terms, occupations, photos etc. to make sure that the information on Kiva is the same) and completing two CERISE surveys (social performance questionnaires designed to help microfinance institutions benchmark how well they are meeting up to their own social goals).

On the flip side, I have had a chance to surf in four new countries, to climb four volcanoes (including Concepción in Nicaragua with some other Kiva Fellows!), and hike the Inca Trail.  On the down side, I have been robbed once and assaulted another time, but I wouldn´t trade my two Kiva fellowships in Guatemala City and Cusco for the world.

And as I see my second (and final) Kiva fellowship come to a close, I have been asking myself what I have learned from the last eight months in the field. For one, I learned what having Kiva as a funding source means to microfinance institutions.  The interest free capital they receive from Kiva means that they are able to more quickly achieve operational sustainability, and are able to concentrate more of their time and resources on additional programs to benefit their borrowers (or alternatively are able to lower interest rates).  My second reflection on microfinance is that the most effective microcredit programs that I have witnessed combine education and training programs with the loans that they offer.  I personally perceive education programs highlighting business management, budgeting, family, nutrition, or health allow the borrowers to develop not only economically, but in all aspects of their life.  Which is the positive impact that all of us wish to see.

Eric Burdullis is a Kiva Fellow who has served in both Guatemala and Peru.  Although his Kiva fellowship draws to a close, he looks forward to continuing to support Kiva borrowers by lending on Kiva. Lend to Asociación Arariwa here!

Rosa is 56 years old and preparing to open her own restaurant in her house in the next year or so. How many of you would embark on a new business in your 50′s? I don’t know that I would. But as Rosa explains, before she had been washing clothes for neighbors. The job was physically demanding on her and not very profitable. And she believed she had great recipes to share with everyone, “recetas muy ricas” as she describes. So she did what anyone wanting to start her own business would do. She asked around about where she could get some start up money. And she got connected with PRISMA.

Six years later I am standing and talking to Rosa in the kitchen of another building because her house is under construction. The walls are being painted and she hopes to put in tiling and tables and chairs for her customers to sit and enjoy their meal. She invites us back to he kitchen as we continue to talk. And I snap a few shots and show her the photos I took. She laughs and grabs my arm as she covers her mouth with her hand. Her happiness is a little overwhelming for me.

Rosa as she prepares her savory potatoes for lunch.

I am still thinking about Rosa after we leave and Ángela asks me what I think about all of this. I get choked up and say “es increible, es increible.” Part of what drew me to Kiva was the idea of female empowerment that Rosa embodies. That women, with the help of MFIs like PRISMA, can realize their dreams of owning their own business at any stage in their life and attain the financial independence to care for themselves and their families.

Thank you, Rosa, for an amazing first week as a Kiva Fellow and for showing me that it is really never too late to follow your dream!

Click here to loan to other PRISMA clients like Rosa today!