Suzy Marinkovich, KF8 Peru & KF9 Bolivia

One of the most exciting things about being a Kiva Fellow is the opportunity to tell the untold stories of those so remote, so rural, and so ignored by the media.  When there are six billion humans sprinkled across the world, the media has the unenviable task of picking and choosing stories that deserve local, national, or even global attention.  As a result, we hear about unimaginable tragedies plaguing certain parts of the world — and often only the most painful and shocking stories are told.  Ayacucho, Peru during the 1980s was simply a red zone, a place known only for the violence between the Peruvian military and maoist-terrorist group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path).  After spending four months in Ayacucho with partner FINCA Peru, my husband and I made our way overland to Bolivia.  En route, we took a taxi in La Paz and as we chatted with the driver, he asked us where we’d been.  When I told him, the next thing he said was: “Ayacucho, oh that’s where the terrorism is, Shining Path, why would you go there?”  The reality is that the Shining Path has fragmented and exists only in the most rural parts of that region, and the estimated 70,000 people killed is a tragic echoing statistic from pre-1993.  But he made a great point; often, the way we look at certain parts of the world is through the lens of their tragedies.  As a result, we forget that there are innocent mothers, fathers, children, farmers, market vendors, beauty shop owners, cell phone vendors, and artisans that exist there, too.  Their stories fall by the wayside, and sometimes we associate the conflict with the region or country itself, and we wouldn’t dare going there.  It was so when two years ago I went to the D.R. Congo’s North Kivu region — its most volatile.  I was scared to cross over the border, having only heard about the horrible atrocities and human rights violations occurring in the very border town I was entering through.  But after walking across the border, I was surrounded by women carrying fruit in baskets on their heads, their babies on their backs, children in school uniforms, and dozens of smiling innocent faces.  My hope is that through the wonderful story by PBS Frontline World on Kiva’s borrowers at FINCA Peru in Ayacucho, we can all begin to look beyond the lens of tragedy and see the talent and remarkable entrepreneurship hiding among some of the many innocents and those left behind.

Click the photo above or follow this link to check out the iWitness story on PBS Frontline World about FINCA Peru’s rural borrowers!  Then, lend to Kiva’s entrepreneurs here.

By Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru

Taking a brief recess from borrower profiles and repayment schedules at Kiva’s MFI pilot partner Caja Rural one weekend in Ica, Peru, I escaped to visit the small town of Huacachina, the “oasis of America”, located just a few miles outside the sandy metropolitan hub of Ica. Having become famous for its natural lake enclosed by sand dunes, the tiny city of about 115 people has become an immensely popular tourist destination not only for its aesthetic appearance but also the sandboarding and dune buggies.

For those unfamiliar, sandboarding is very similar to snowboarding except, yep you guessed it, it is performed on sand. First popularized in California in the 1980s, there are now annual Sandboarding World Championships held in Hirschau, Germany. Who knew???

As is the case with many natural phenomenon in Peru (e.g. the Nazca lines), there is a legend behind the picturesque beauty. It is said that a beautiful princess was once apprehended while bathing in a pond by a young hunter. She escaped and fled, leaving behind the pool of water she had been bathing in to become the lagoon. As she retreated across the desert, the folds of her mantle flowing behind her became the surrounding sand dunes. Rumor has it that she still lives down in the lagoon as a mermaid.

Unfortunately, while the lagoon has attracted significant tourist dollars, such economic growth does not come without its downfalls. The Ica province has a very arid climate and private landowners near the oasis began to install wells to access the groundwater. In order to compensate for the reduction in the water level and maintain the lagoon as an aesthetically pleasing tourist destination, the city began a process of pumping water into the oasis from a large water tank kept just outside the oasis. Also, with the influx of wealthy tourists from around the world, the city has experienced an increase in petty theft. Those perusing the dunes alone or at night are particularly vulnerable.

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Josh Wilcox is a Kiva Fellow at Caja Rural Señor de Luren in Ica, Peru as part of the KF9 class.

Please check out Caja Rural’s LOANS or LEND to other South American entrepreneurs and JOIN the Amigos de Caja Rural Señor de Luren lending team!

By Sheethal Shobowale, KF9, Peru

In Cusco, Peru, Halloween is celebrated in full force.  It kinda feels like home (side note: home for me is Brooklyn, New York).  Back in New York, I usually put some pumpkins on my stoop and make some curried pumpkin soup. This year, Cynthia McMurry (Kiva’s Field Support Specialist in South America) and I are going to carve a zapallo and make some soup.  So it will feel like home!

Here are some photos from Halloween in Cusco -

I’ll add more over the weekend when I see people dressed up and out trick ‘o treatin’… Hopefully I’ll get to see some cute little kids dressed up like pumpkins.

Happy Halloween from Cusco, Peru!

Celebrate Halloween by lending to Kiva borrowers.

Sheethal Shobowale is currently serving as a Kiva Fellow in Cusco, Peru with Asociación Arariwa

By Suzy Marinkovich, KF 8/9

As you may have seen, over the past couple of months Kiva has seen its first loans expire on the site.  Currently, I am in my eighth week of working with a brand-new Kiva partner, CIDRE, an MFI specializing in agriculture and livestock loans in Bolivia.  I mention this because I’ve noticed a significant portion of the loans that have expired or are close to expiration are from MFIs in Bolivia. I realize my opinion is skewed by having spent only a handful of days at Kiva headquarters followed by 5 months at two Kiva partners in South America.  As a result, I don’t have really have a great vision from the top – I don’t understand all the organizational elements in place to keep Kiva sustainably rolling.  I am just going to call it like I see it now, sun-drained from a long day spent on grueling rural roads, visiting incredibly inspiring Kiva borrowers and successful social projects CIDRE has had a hand in.

My understanding of the premise behind loan expiration is that it allows for Kiva to be more of a marketplace – where instead of making decisions on the end of Kiva, they are made on the end of the MFI and the funding choice is up to the lenders.  Thus, the website itself is designed to be like an Ebay for microloans, an intermediary between funders and the funded.

Here is my reasoning for why I personally believe the expiration of loans on Kiva could be detrimental:

1(a). To make an analogy with the child-sponsorship model (please bear with me as it’s stretch): imagine a marketplace for sponsoring children’s school loans, with the exact same design as Kiva.  At this hypothetical site, lenders like us could lend to cover school fees for children that would pay for middle or high school (in many countries, attending said schools requires paying school fees).  Children’s photos and biographies are thus posted to this hypothetical site, and we treat it like a marketplace. Then, as the site expands and more loans are posted, certain kids aren’t being funded – their loans expire on this site.  Then, you pull up the pages of all the children whose loans expired, and they are all kids who aren’t cute or aren’t fitting our notion of how a needy child should look.  As you can see, this is unfairly discriminant.

1(b). The positive idea behind Kiva-as-a-marketplace is to support the notion that only the most eligible borrowers get funded.  But, I think if we pay extra close attention to the “loans expiring soon” page, we may begin to see patterns.  For example, as I write this, the two loans closest to expiration are men and from Lebanon.  These loans are followed by several from Bolivia, which are in turn followed by a few from Peru (which could also be due to Kiva having more MFI partners in this area).  However, I don’t see any fruit sellers or women from Africa close to expiration, for example.  Now is a good time to reflect on Kiva’s core mission: “connecting people for the sake of alleviating poverty.” Does this show us that “lending for the sake of alleviating poverty” is actually, in practice, proving itself to look like “lending to certain people that fit our notion of poverty for the sake of alleviating their poverty”? And is this fair?

We can all agree that at times throughout history, capitalism has led to discrimination against certain classes and groups of people.  Minority rights cannot be left up to the voting majority; the constitution and the courts must protect them.  The clause “all men are created equal” was the premise most effectively used in the fight for civil rights, as it pointed out a gaping contradiction between the social reality and the constitution itself.  But ultimately, court cases like Brown v. Board of Education led to the expanded freedoms we now see today.  Otherwise, a simple popular vote may have found that the will of the majority (the ‘tyranny of the majority’), perhaps themselves raised with discriminatory beliefs, would’ve refused the minority group’s different interpretation of that clause.

Humans – even in mass – aren’t always right.  During Kiva Fellows training, we learned that certain stories are traditionally funded faster on Kiva than others (e.g. fruit stand vendors over taxi drivers).  If all other things are equal – meaning those two borrowers are suffering the same level of poverty and have an equal chance that the loan will vastly improve their respective businesses – is that ethical?  While fostering growth in the fruit stands is awesome, Kiva still has that mission to help the poor.  So is it okay to treat the poor like a market and only take care of some poor individuals over others because their businesses are more fashionable and appealing to us?  This is something for us to reflect upon.

2. Kiva encourages our MFIs to use the new funding to further one of Kiva’s goals: bringing financial services to areas that are traditionally left out of the financial sector.  So let’s say that in line with our goal, one of our MFIs reaches out to a new group of people, perhaps spending significant resources traveling to a rural village eight hours away from the nearest office.  Then, we don’t find these borrowers’ stories to be compelling enough to fund, and our MFI must forfeit services for the new group of people.

Now, I anticipate that one of the counterarguments to this point is that loan expiration is to reflect the will of the lenders.  This example allows us to turn away from the lender view and assume the perspective of MFIs on the ground.  We have all heard about plenty of charities who spend frivolously creating completely unsustainable projects in other countries; that is precisely why the lot of us were attracted to Kiva in the first place!  The example above could be detrimental to our relationship with our MFIs, not to mention our mission.  When we encourage an MFI to do something with our new funding, and then hold back the funding, we are looking at a waste of time and money on the part of the MFI.  Is that what we really want?

3.  Loan expiration might unintentionally incentivize our MFIs to begin embellishing their borrower profile descriptions, as more “dramatic” or “interesting” stories (e.g. woman lost her husband, makes artisan crafts, and has 8 kids) get funded over more “boring” ones (e.g. young, single man with a DVD shop and 2 kids).  Thus, if the MFIs see they are losing money to other Kiva MFIs who are posting great stories, they may begin to be less transparent with Kiva by embellishing their borrowers stories.  Transparency is the hardest to combat when there is a major stake at risk; in this case, it is much needed funding for the MFIs.  I think loan expirations could set Kiva up for transparency issues from our many field partner MFIs.  Logistically, this would be really hard to combat.

4.  My final point stems from a comment I read on a recently posted article that was critical of Kiva.  To paraphrase, the commenter was critical of the Kiva site because on the site, loan expiration appears to indicate the borrower doesn’t get funded.  In reality, all of the borrowers that we see on the site are already selected and funded beforehand by the MFIs, as it is the most efficient way for Kiva and the MFIs to work together (for a more in-depth explanation, click here).

Kiva does put a time clock in red that counts down to loan expiration.  Some of you may be thinking, “yeah, but it’s not that confusing, I understand how it works.” Let’s take a look at one of our popular lending teams, Late Loaning Lenders.  The team page says that they loan because they “hate to see loans being left unfunded on Kiva. If the Field Partners feel that the entrepreneur deserves to be funded, so do we.”  Then in the ‘About us’ section, it reads, “Loans that are nearing expiry won’t get funded if they don’t get noticed. We try to find them and get them noticed.”

Because our MFIs pre-qualify and pre-disburse each loan on the site, these borrowers do get funded even if they expire on Kiva.  Their MFI will have to front the capital itself instead of using Kiva capital, which of course is less than ideal for the MFI.  But, it does not effect the individual borrower you are looking at.

It is worthwhile to think more in depth about the biases we carry when selecting loans.  My sister and brother-in-law, for example, rightfully chose not to fund butcher shops because they are both vegetarians.  We all deserve the right to make that choice.  But, lets think about choices we make unconsciously.  For example, the lot of loans close to expiration from Bolivia: are there some internal biases we might have against Bolivia?  Or do we simply not know much about the country? We would have to wait a while in order to reliably discern whether or not such patterns are emerging, so I am fully aware that this point is very hypothetical.  Nevertheless, I think it important to examine now rather than later.

The last charity I worked for was heavily criticized for its use of “poster children,” i.e. children in wheelchairs on posters meant to ‘guilt’ people into giving; as a result, there were protests at fund-raising events and vital dollars were lost. Hindsight is 20/20.  I hope this post at least helps us get our wheels turning now so that we can ensure that we are doing the best thing for our lenders, borrowers, MFIs, and Kiva as a whole.

Suzy Marinkovich is a Kiva Fellow at new Kiva partner CIDRE in Cochabamba, Bolivia, the second of her three placements.  She has a wholehearted passion for microfinance, social justice, and poverty alleviation.  Suzy is most excited to listen to the incredible stories of Kiva borrowers in South America and let them know how much they continually inspire us all.

By Shereef Zaki, KF9, Perú

Cultural issues surrounding privacy can be one of Kiva’s biggest challenges regarding implementation in the field. Not everyone wants their photo publicized and many hold suspicions when it comes time to sign a waiver. But I think the biggest challenge for Kiva is far more prosaic. The act of getting to a borrower can be an ordeal in and of itself, and things just got more ‘adventurous’ at my MFI.

EDPYME Alternativa has created a new loan product – called Capital Semilla or Seed Capital – destined specifically for clients who will become Kiva borrowers. Loans of $300 or less at a low interest rate are now offered to rural entrepreneurs. Finding them for the interview generally involves a unique combination of collective vans, collective taxis, mototaxis and walking aimlessly through fields – for hours.

And the journeys take us through landscapes that are beautiful whether through unforgivingly desolate desert or knee high cornfields with palm and locust trees spotting the hazy windless horizons.

For your viewing pleasure I have chronicled one day’s worth of transportation that Manuel (the Kiva Assistant) and I embarked on in order to find just 4 borrowers.

Photos after the jump…

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Shereef Zaki is serving as a Kiva Fellow working with the new field partner EDPYME Alternativa in Chiclayo, Perú

To view currently fundraising loans from EA click here

To become a member of the “Friends of EDPYME Alternativa” lending team click here

By Sheethal Shobowale, KF9, Peru

My first loan disbursement outside of the Asociación Arariwa office took place in San Sebastian, an area of Cusco about 15 minutes away from the office.

This group meeting was my ideal picture of group microfinance.  Banco Comunal de Maria Auxiliadora is a group of 11 low-income women from Cusco, engaged all all different types of businesses, from cosmetic and grocery sales to artesanía.  They had failed to make their repayments on time in their last loan cycle but this time, Valentina, their loan officer was determined for them to succeed.

The Meeting

As we entered the small shop where the meeting was held, we saluted each woman with a buenas tardes (good afternoon) and a customary kiss on the cheek. Rocio (another loan officer) and I posted the meeting agenda on the wall.  Valentina introduced me to the group and I said a few words about Kiva and myself.  The women applauded for me (it felt so good   We started with a short prayer by the group president followed by the Peruvian national anthem (Here’s a link to the Peruvian National anthem).  Then the group president spoke a few words of encouragement.

Next Valentina took the stage. She explained the importance of being responsible and careful with their funds.  Poetically she compared “nuestra capital semilla” (our seed money) that Arariwa will give them to help grow their businesses with the seeds we plant to grow food. With a ton of enthusiasm, Valentina bestowed positivity, confidence and encouragement on the women and welcomed them to the Arariwa family.  Each woman signed their loan documents and created guarantor groups (Arariwa’s loan model stipulates that the borrowers guarantee each other’s loans in groups of three).   The president and treasurer of the group verified and counted the money and disbursed the funds. Valentina dictated the monthly payment dates and the amounts they would have to pay.

Opening a new communal bank is a special event and the formal group meeting instills confidence in the group loan model for each member.

A Celebration of Women and Nuestra Capital Semilla

With the money business over, we celebrated with a toast of sweet Peruvian wine. (Imagine drinking with your loan officer?) It was also Yegenia’s (one of the members) birthday so we sang happy birthday to her in both Spanish and English and each woman gave her a hug. We then ate an enormous plate of food consisting of beef, potatoes and stuffed peppers prepared by the several of the group members.  It was an experience I will never forget.

On only my second day at Arariwa, I saw my ideal of group microfinance. Who could ask for anything more than a group of women led by women and supporting each other financially and emotionally?  I truly hope they succeed.

Watch Banco Comunal Maria Auxiliadora’s progress on the Kiva website and consider loaning to other Kiva women.

Sheethal Shobowale is currently serving as a Kiva Fellow with Asociación Arariwa in Cusco, Peru.  Follow Sheethal on Twitter to get more real-time updates from Cusco!

“Mi Mundo” courtesy of Sylvia Replay through the Creative Commons license.

By Bryan Goldfinger, KF9 Peru

After my first blog post and the various emails and comments I received in response, I felt an obligation to at least provide somewhat of an update on the “Guinea Pig Situation” here in Peru.  Ironically, after dubbing myself “the Guinea Pig” there seems to be some sort of astrological connection, an alignment of planets, which has been steering me in the direction of various guinea pig interactions (my own curiosity may also have had something to do with this).

Jesús and his "Cuy Campeón"

One week into my fellowship I randomly selected (I promise it was random) the five borrowers I would verify at my second MFI, Microfinanzas Prisma, in Huancayo.  Haphazardly reviewing the occupations of the borrowers selected, I noticed that I would be visiting Jesús, whose primary source of income is a guinea pig farm. That same night, I was chatting on the internet with Suzy, a fellow who completed her first fellowship in Ayacucho (relatively near Huancayo in the Peruvian Central Highlands). She mentioned that Huancayo was basically the “home of the authentic cuy” and that this would be as good a place as any to try it.

For those of you who have not experienced or heard of the custom in Peru, Wikipedia defines cuy as “the animal and the meat of a guinea pig in the Andean regions of South America, a traditional food of Peruvian, Colombian, and Ecuadorian Andean people. “  There are numerous preparations and presentations that one can try, and I had told myself and friends that if I were to eat cuy on this trip it would be the authentic way.

My first day with Microfinanzas Prisma in Huancayo, the topic of cuy came up, likely because of the borrower we would be visiting later that week. Katia and Roxana (employees of Prisma) were lightly poking fun at American culture, noting that the only reason we don’t eat cuy is because we have guinea pigs as pets. The conversation evolved to what kind of pets people have in Peru, and they divulged that they have hamsters (which, in my mind, are long lost siblings of the guinea pig). When I asked if they eat hamsters in Peru, the simultaneous response from both women was “no way! We have them as pets!” I thought it slightly ironic.

Knowing that I would visit a cuy farm in the coming days, I figured if I did in fact want to eat it at some point during my time in Peru, it was “go time.” I did not think I would be able to in good conscious make a meal of one of the furry critters after witnessing them in action. I got a restaurant recommendation from Katia, but couldn’t convince anyone to join me for lunch.  So I sought out on a solo mission for cuy. I won’t include the details here, but the mission was successful, and my overall assessment was that cuy, in all honesty, and at the risk of sounding taboo, tastes just like chicken.  The only difference was in the presentation of the dish, but I imagine if they served chicken with all of its extremities intact, people may think twice there as well.  I do not have aspirations of becoming a cuy connoisseur, but I would recommend that others try it, if anything, at least for the experience.

Cuy mission accomplished, I was ready to seek out Jesús, the cuy farmer. Roxana had warned me that it would be an early morning and a long haul to get to Patarcocha, where Jesús lived, and hopefully we would arrive before he left for the day to tend to his crops. We set out at 6:15 am, took a “combi” (essentially a public minivan) to another combi to a taxi, then walked to Jesús’ house and arrived at 8:15. After knocking on both his door and side gate for several minutes a neighbor came out to inform us that he had left, but would be back soon.  Patarcocha has fresh air, a beautiful view of the city below and uncannily friendly dogs, so we didn’t mind passing some time in wait for Jesús. About an hour later, someone carrying a bag of goods approached the door of Jesús’ house, knocked once, and his wife opened the door immediately. Mind you, nobody had come or gone from the house in the hour we had been waiting…maybe there is some special code knock for Patarcocha residence only? After accepting the delivery, Jesús’ wife told us with a smile that he would not be returning until the end of the day, but that if we came back early Friday, she would tell him to wait for us.   Unsuccessful, but not disappointed at the thought of returning to Patarcocha, Roxana and I began the long trek back to Huancayo.

The view from Jesús' front door

Two days later Roxana showed up at my hotel at 6 am with a smile on her face and ready to embark (one of many testaments I witnessed to the incredible work ethic of the loan officers and Kiva Coordinators, more on this in another blog).  Trying a different route than the time before, we arrived at Jesús’ door at 7:15am.  After knocking on his door and gate for (no joke) 10 minutes, my hopes were beginning to slip away when the same neighbor from two days earlier came out of his house and informed us, “he’s there this time…just keep knocking!” Several minutes later Jesús opened the door with a smile on his face and a baby in his arms.

In the ensuing interview with Jesús (to see the video click here and scroll down), he proceeded to explain how he had begun raising cuy in order to diversify his businesses because he knew his crops could not provide year-round income. He had also recently opened a general store in the front room of his house, which his wife manages. He explained the different controls they had implemented to ensure their businesses run smoothly and safely. He had engineers come and train him on proper methods of raising cuy, and how to responsibly expand his facilities.  Jesús was extremely proud to show us the three first place awards he had won at a recent agricultural competition for the size and quality of his cuy. What struck me most about Jesús was his extraordinary drive, ambition and pure excitement for the future.  It was an inspiration to say the least, and made every minute crammed into minivans, taxis and walking on dirt roads in the heat worthwhile. Just another day in the life of a roaming borrower verification fellow…

by Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru

With a significant new source of funding comes considerable responsibility and opportunity for those who represent the funds at the local MFIs (aka the Kiva Fellows).  One of the most exciting privileges about working at a brand new pilot partner is the opportunity to influence how Kiva is best utilized and implemented.  When discussing just this topic with the credit manager of Caja Rural Señor de Luren, we brainstormed how the new “Kiva product” could benefit the community within Ica where other capital did not penetrate:

• The major benefit decided upon will be that new “Kiva clients” will be charged a 1% lower monthly interest rate than their other clients, which is quite significant on an annualized basis!  This will not only ease pressure off clients who struggle to pay the high interest payments that microfinance institutions typically charge but it will also attract additional microentrepreneurs whose access to funding has been limited due to their inability to make the monthly repayments from solely their standard business operations.
• Another aim for these loans will be to support new microenterprises in need of funding to get on their feet.  These entrepreneurs may struggle either because they do not have sufficient credit experience/collateral or because they need an injection of capital to start all over again after their previous business or home was destroyed in the severe Peru earthquake of 2007.  By promoting the “Kiva product” to these entrepreneurs who may typically be viewed as higher risk and not eligible for a normal loan, we will provide the funding necessary for many hard-working men and women to realize their business ideas.

Only time will tell how these factors may or may not impact the lives, families, and businesses of those within the Ica community.  However, I was quite grateful to be bestowed the opportunity to provide input on how microcredit will be disbursed to entrepreneurs in Peru!

The following is Chapter 2 of my video diary.  Enjoy!

Josh Wilcox is a Kiva Fellow at Caja Rural Señor de Luren in Ica, Peru as part of the KF9 class.

Don’t forget to LEND to other South American entrepreneurs and JOIN the Amigos de Caja Rural Señor de Luren lending team!

By Shereef Zaki, KF9, Perú

One of my first posts was titled ‘recession proof’’ in which I described the resilience of micro-businesses and the integrity of micro-lending. This time around, I want to detail a theme I had only painted with large brushstrokes.

Although EDPYME Alternativa’s borrowers are scattered throughout the region, I live in Chiclayo and it has become the backdrop and the context of my life. To me, one of the most fascinating parts of this small city is the dearth of big box stores. In their absence exists a constant buzz of small-scale commerce.

Let me describe this vibrant economic landscape. In the center of the city, around the main plaza, there is a mixture of restaurants and shops devoted to clothing and electronics (especially cell phones). As one ventures further from the center, the streets become organized by economic themes.

Although that string of stores on Cuglievan is far less efficient than Home Depot, it encourages competition, diversity of selection and keeps more people employed. One of the strangest paradoxes of a modern economy is the contradiction of scale: with efficiency at a large scale less people can do more. Progress becomes self-defeating if people do not have the jobs and incomes to keep on buying from the big box stores!

The hectic flow of social and economic interactions in Chiclayo keeps people interacting with one another, asking for advice and building a community. And on a personal level, it is way more fun to walk through high energy markets and themed streets asking where to find that one little thing than to navigate down the well-marked aisle 3.

*King Kong is the most rich dessert imaginable: a layer of thick caramel, a layer of candied fruit preserves (generally pineapple) and a layer of cake – cut into rectangles, circles or squares

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Shereef Zaki is serving as a Kiva Fellow working with the new field partner EDPYME Alternativa in Chiclayo, Perú

To view currently fundraising loans from EA click here

To become a member of the “Friends of EDPYME Alternativa” lending team click here

By Sheethal Shobowale, KF9, Peru

Wordreference translates the Spanish word socio as member or partner.

Yesterday, on my first day as a Kiva Fellow at Asociación Arariwa, I got to see my first group loan disbursement.  Raquel (the Kiva coordinator at Arariwa) described the borrowers as Nuestros Socios (our members).  In a group loan at Arariwa, the borrowers are Socios del banco.  A lender who joins the Kiva community can also be called a Socio de Kiva.  I translate Kiva’s partner MFIs as Socios de Kiva (Kiva partners) and I describe myself as Socio de Kiva (Kiva Fellow).   And one more: here’s a past blog post by another Kiva Fellow, Michelle, about Socios Dinámicos.

Of course we all have other names -

• Institución de Microfinanzas – Microfinance Institution: Asociación Arariwa

Institución de Microfinanzas - Microfinance Institution: Asociación Arariwa

• Prestamista – Lender: Kiva Lending Team Amigos de Asociación Arariwa

Prestamista - Lender: Kiva Lending Team Amigos de Asociación Arariwa

• Prestatario – borrower: Ayda from Asociación Arariwa, Cusco, Peru

Prestatario - borrower: Ayda from Asociación Arariwa, Cusco, Peru

• Voluntario – Volunteer: “Lethal” Sheethal Shobowale, Kiva Fellow, KF9, Peru

Voluntario - Volunteer: "Lethal" Sheethal Shobowale, Kiva Fellow, KF9, Peru

but I really like the idea that we are all socios (partners or members) of Kiva, of microfinance and in alleviating poverty.  And going back to Kiva’s mission, Connecting People through Lending to Alleviate Poverty, being connected as socios seems to make sense to me.

Please consider becoming a Socio of Asociación Arariwa by lending to Arariwa borrowers and joining our Kiva lending team – Amigos/Amigas de Arariwa!

Sheethal Shobowale is currently serving as a Kiva Fellow with Asociación Arariwa in Cusco, Peru.

By Shereef Zaki, KF9, Perú

‘Connecting people through lending,’ precedes ‘alleviating poverty,’ in Kiva’s mission statement. I have come to believe that the goal might actually be of a higher as opposed to a simple aesthetic preference. I mean, maybe we could eradicate poverty individually, but with the concerted effort of a community it can be done more effectively. In a community one can share ideas, efforts, problems, solutions and risks.

And last week that is exactly what Kiva’s partner institutions in Latin America did. For the second year in a row, nearly all the MFIs who work with us in South America sent a representative to our Cumbre (summit, or in this context conference). For a full day we talked about new site features, challenges to the microfinance industry, new organizational efforts and new collective ideas.

Kiva connects people - on many levels

A couple of weeks ago Suzy posted an entry about how devoted her host MFI, CIDRE, is to its clients. After having spent time with CIDRE representatives (she’s right they are totally inspirational) and the extended Kiva family, I want to add that nearly all of our partners adopt broader causes beyond the immediate scope of meeting client needs. And they demonstrate a staggering commitment to those causes. They really are the unsung heroes of Kiva’s model and mission, carrying the most arduous tasks on their shoulders. By loaning through Kiva, lenders are supporting their tremendously life-changing initiatives.

And speaking of unsung heroes, last week I also had the fortune of spending time with the Kiva staff that seek out and nurture those partnerships. Michelle who oversees partnerships in South America, Giovanna who oversees partnerships in Central and North America and Cynthia who is the field support specialist for South America are the three women responsible for planning the Cumbre and are the keepers of Kiva’s relationships in the field. Their intelligence, energy and conviction have ballasted Kiva’s success in Latin America — especially as they guide the fellows to complete their goals. So on behalf of the fellows in field who really appreciate your kindness and patience, thanks!

Shereef, Cynthia, Michelle and Giovanna solving the problems of the universe (one loan at a time)

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Shereef Zaki is serving as a Kiva Fellow working with the new field partner EDPYME Alternativa in Chiclayo, Perú

To view currently fundraising loans from EA click here

To become a member of the “Friends of EDPYME Alternativa” lending team click here

By Suzy Marinkovich, KF9

“Gender-based violence … is ubiquitous in much of the developing world, inflicting far more casualties than any war. Surveys suggest that about one third of all women world-wide face beatings in the home. Women aged fifteen through forty-four are more likely to be maimed or die from male violence than from cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war combined. A major study by the World Health Organization has found that in most countries, between 30 and 60 percent of women experience physical or sexual violence by a husband or boyfriend.” – Nicholas Kristof

When my husband and I were making our way overland to Bolivia, we took a ferry across a small part of Lake Titicaca.  On the other side, we stood around some market stalls waiting for our bus to come off the ferry, and all of a sudden we heard yelling behind us escalate to screaming.  We spun around to see two female market vendors arguing about one encroaching on the other’s selling space.  The words quickly turned to blows, and in a matter of seconds the women were in the dirt, punching each other and ripping each other’s hair out.  People just stood around, even smiling as if being entertained.  Before long, I screamed for someone to break them up.  A foreign traveler next to me whispered in English one of those sentences that rings in your ears for a long time because, at the time, you are so stunned you can’t think of a genius rebuttal fast enough.  He said, “let them fight, that’s just how it is down here.”

I was appalled by the man’s words, because violence is everywhere – and how dare he make an evaluation on a diverse and hard-working nation’s people only minutes after he’d crossed the border.  In Ayacucho while at FINCA Peru, I learned that domestic violence is just another part of life for many of our borrowers.  In one instance during my time there, a police officer was beaten by a woman while responding to a neighbor’s report of domestic violence.  The woman beat the police officer because she wanted him to let her husband continue beating her; she said she “deserved it.”  I disagree with “that’s just how it is down here”; instead I’m convicted that poverty has a lot more to do with these patterns globally than individual cultures themselves.

On Friday, during a 12-hour day in the field meeting with CIDRE’s many rural borrowers, I met one of those couples I could have just stayed with for the rest of my fellowship.  They have an absolutely incredible story – entirely nurtured by microfinance.   Nicanor, the husband, showed me papers produced by some ancient typewriter; it was his loan paperwork from his first loan from CIDRE, taken out in 1981.  The way he treasured it, I felt like I was looking at something that should be in a museum.  This man started with two cows and now runs a giant farm with a large cement stable for his cows.  He even has one of the few mechanical milking machines in the area, which have helped put an end to the years that his aging wife Evangelina has spent milking the cows from dawn til dusk – by hand.

Nicanor and Evangelina have three wonderful children, all studying in private trade schools.  But what struck me most about the couple was their love for each other.  After our loan meeting, Nicanor insisted we all go out for drinks – which of course meant two rounds of 40-ounce cervezas for each one of us.  We talked about how CIDRE has brought him from a tough chapter, having only two cows and no home, to the present situation where he can end his work day in time to enjoy a few beers at the local restaurant.  As we drank, Nicanor shared some Quechua spiritual beliefs and local legends that had us all laughing, then he got to talking about Hotel Mil Estrellas (Hotel of One Thousand Stars).

Nicanor said that Hotel Mil Estrellas was when a Quechua couple who lives out on a rural farm slept together out in the fields and under the stars.  A phrase borne of both humor and the beautiful pastoral scenery, he began sharing stories about his friends and their stays at Hotel Mil Estrellas.  Then, his elderly, traditionally dressed wife Evangelina smirked and held her right index finger to her lips – while blushing, as if to silence him.  With a wink, her husband said, “don’t worry, I won’t tell them OUR stories.”

It was precious seeing them look at one another, able to look fondly at their past and reflect on it in the present with a smirk.  I realized in that moment that it’s something I haven’t seen nearly enough down here.

Friday, after work, my husband and I were cooking in the kitchen and making up dance moves to Feist’s “I feel it all,” which was playing on our crappy travel speakers connected to his iPod.  We were laughing and in that moment – it hit me.  We have the time to have moments like this.

Poverty forces many to transition from one job to the next, or awake at dawn to labor 12 straight hours only to crash on a bed and do it all over again the next day.  They literally toil until they can make ends meet.  Money is so strapped that every financial decision is so well-critiqued it becomes an argument, an argument that can get so serious so quickly that it evolves into violence.  The powerlessness of poverty is so defeating that the blame game is inevitable.  The husband begins by blaming his wife for forgetting something small, and years later it’s her fault he didn’t have a son, it’s her fault that the house has nearly no furniture, and it’s her fault that they are poor.

In some conversations, we talk about how microfinance is empowering, and in others we talk about how poverty is powerlessness.  What is extraordinary is watching the two come together in one once-powerless family, now able to stop work in time for a beer and a look in each other’s eyes.  That is not a gift we are capable of giving, but it is one often borne of the financial gift that we do give through Kiva.  We can be enablers, enabling a family to climb out of poverty enough to stop work at 7pm, turn on the radio, and dance around together in the kitchen.

Click here to support fundraising borrowers at CIDRE!

Suzy Marinkovich is a Kiva Fellow at new Kiva partner CIDRE in Cochabamba, Bolivia, the second of her three placements.  She has a wholehearted passion for microfinance, social justice, and poverty alleviation.  Suzy is most excited to listen to the incredible stories of Kiva borrowers in South America and let them know how much they continually inspire us all.

By Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru

Three flights, one bus, and two taxi rides behind me, I arrived safely in the southern Peruvian city of Ica.  Surrounded by a desert and thousands of miles from Monday Night Football with too much luggage and guitar in hand, I was a bit shocked when I found out the hotel I was hoping to temporarily stay at had collapsed in the formidable Peru earthquake in 2007.  Thanks a lot Lonely Planet!

Fortunately I just asked a taxi driver to take me to an affordable hotel he would recommend.  After chatting it up a bit with him in the car and telling him I was going to be working with the microfinance institution Caja Rural here in Ica, he snatched a piece of mail out of his glove box that read “Caja Rural” on the letterhead.  He proceeded to tell me he is a current borrower from Caja Rural and is hoping to purchase a second taxi with his third loan.  He then pulled out a picture of a 1936 Opel that he hopes to use as his second taxi.  I have been a volunteer Kiva translator since February and have seen numerous stories such as his, but I was pleasantly caught off guard to finally hear an amazing story of a Kiva borrower first hand in such an unexpected setting!

Before I forget to introduce myself, my name is Josh Wilcox and I am part of the most recent Kiva Fellows class (KF9) to hit the field across the globe.  I will be helping set up a recently approved new partner in Ica, Peru, officially named Caja Rural Señor de Luren.  They have yet to start Day 1 of their pilot stage so I am in the fortunate position to experience the beginning stages of the Kiva process.

Below is the first chapter of a video diary I hope to maintain throughout the duration of my fellowship.  Enjoy!

Loans to Caja Rural will be available soon, but in the meantime check out our other loans from South America here.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” -Mahatma Gandhi

That’s why I wanted to be a Kiva Fellow.  In honor of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday today (Oct 2nd), I am glad to say that my Kiva Fellow colleagues and I are living the change we wish to see by helping people much less fortunate than us.

Kiva Fellows Training

My name is Sheethal Shobowale.  I am a New Yorker and the daughter of Indian immigrants.  Through my recently founded company, Leap Work, I help non-profits with online communications – development, social media, audience research and analytics online.  In my free time, I facilitate discussions about financial literacy for youth and conduct credit counseling for adults as well as coordinate my local block association.  I also love rock climbing and cooking.

I am excited to work as a Kiva Fellow with Asociación Arariwa in Cusco, Peru starting next week.  I look forward to sharing stories of positive change with you!  You can also follow @LethalSheethal on Twitter to get (more) real-time updates from Cusco.

Please consider lending to Asociación Arariwa borrowers on Kiva or join Kiva Lending Team Amigos/as de Asociación Arariwa in your future loans.

Thanks for supporting Kiva!

Sheethal

Sheethal Shobowale is currently serving as a Kiva Fellow with Asociación Arariwa in Cusco, Peru.

By Bryan Goldfinger, KF9 (Peru)

At the KF9 graduation ceremony, each newly appointed Fellow received a Thank You card signed by most of the Kiva staff.  Many staff members included a simple message and their signature (keep in mind, each one had to write on 49 separate cards), several included a witty remark and one or two left longer messages possibly containing some parting advice for the field. Although I appreciated each message and signature equally, there was one that stuck out from the rest, not necessarily because of who wrote it, or because it was written in green ink and in all capital letters, or because it was near the top of the card directly in the center, but because it read simply, “GOOD LUCK, GUINEA PIG!!”

With the KF9 class, Kiva is piloting a new “roaming borrower verification fellow.” Those selected for this fellowship (myself and Adam Kemmis-Betty) will be roaming Peru and Bolivia, respectively, spending time with various microfinance institutions, visiting borrowers and verifying that what is posted on the website matches what is actually taking place in the field. We have been fairly warned that the process of borrower verification, although an interesting and often fun part of the job, can also be quite frustrating and tiring. I personally am ecstatic about the opportunity to meet many borrowers, see their businesses and get an informal tour of a large portion of Peru.  I am certain I will spend much of my time in the field quite literally lost and I hope to be able to report back at the very least with some funny stories to keep everyone entertained.

I will be working with Microfinazas Prisma, EDAPROSPO, Manuela Ramos and FINCA Peru, click on any one of the institution names to learn more and lend!

By Suzy Marinkovich, KF9 Bolivia

We can’t get enough of them.  We love them so much that they even have their own lending team of fans and a discussion on KivaFriends.  Whether they are made of straw or soft fabric, bowler, flat-brimmed, or a tiny saucer looking thing on our borrower’s heads – we just love them.

There is an old English adage that says, “If you want to get ahead in life, you should get yourself a hat.”

I like hats, and I’ll wear one every now and again – maybe for Opening Day in Del Mar or during a long hike to beat the heat (and, of course, during San Diego Padres baseball games).  But down here, it’s an essential part of your everyday cholita’s wardrobe – it’s her piece of flair, her fashion statement, and it’s also almost always a statement about where she comes from.  Her hat may very well give away her hometown – and whether others see her as a Cochabambina or an Ayacuchana, for example.

When I saw our “Women in Hats” lending team, I was in love!  I promise not to get all deep on you, but I thought it was such a cute, simple way that cultures across the world can come together through Kiva – by celebrating even the simplest of accessories.  It also conveys why loaning on Kiva is so fun (and addictive) for us!

So, I decided to do a little light research into this hat phenomenon.  Since I arrived in Bolivia from Peru, the hat styles have definitely changed.  These ones are usually small bowler hats and I cannot for the life of me figure out how they seem to defy physics by not flying off their owner’s heads. Sometimes they are tilted off to the side, sometimes they add a solid 10 inches to a woman’s height – which I guess lends itself to the aforementioned English adage.

I began by Googling “bowler hats Bolivia” and soon found out that they’re called a “bombin” down here.  When I Googled that however, all I got were a bunch of articles on bombings (since Google was certain I made a typo) and some Wu Tang Clan lyrics about “bombin’ buildings.” I take it that bombin hats aren’t a typical Google search.  Regardless, I dug a little deeper and here’s a synopsis of what I found:

The bowler hat – or bombin – has been worn by Quechua and Aymara women in Peru and Bolivia since the 1920s, when it was introduced to Bolivia by British railway workers.  Rumor has it that the hats were found to be too small for their intended recipients, so they were then distributed to the locals.  For many years a factory in Italy manufactured the hats for the Bolivian market.  Now, however, they are produced internationally.  This seems to be the most popular theory of bombin origination.  (Main source: Wikipedia.org)

Another rumored and uncorroborated bombin hat theory involves an over-order of bowler hats by an enterprising salesman, who supposedly convinced the Bolivian locals that the wearing of hats would increase their fertility.  Whether that was once the belief or not, you may be relieved to know that this rumor certainly isn’t prevalent today.

To rewind and broaden our subject a little, it’s worth noting that in the aftermath of the 1781 pan-Andean rebellion against Spanish rule, colonial officials forbade the use of indigenous dress, hoping to suppress any identification with an autonomous Indian culture (Source: Lesley Gill, “Proper Women and City Pleasure: Gender, Class, and Contested Meanings in La Paz”).  I learned in Cuzco that all of the styles we see today, from women in hats, skirts, and blouses to men’s pants, came originally from the Spanish.  They saw the Andean people wearing what they considered to be odd attire: long, floor-length, and simple gowns.  It was decided that the Andeans should dress more like the peasantry attire prevalent in feudal Europe.  As a result, Andean people embraced the new styles while paying homage to their own cultures by using bright, woven colors and uniquely styled hats.  Those are what we see today and classify as uniquely South American; which they are, but it’s interesting to know where it all began.

Although detailed historical information on changes in dress throughout the 19th century is not available, we do know that during the early 20th century, urban Aymara women wore the so-called Panama hats, which were actually produced in Ecuador. These hats were subsequently replaced by the contemporary derbies sometime after World War II. The most fashionable brand—Borsaline—was produced in Italy, and even after the firm closed its Italian factory, it opened one in La Paz exclusively for the Bolivian market. (Source: Caiiavesi de Sahonero 1987)

I tip my hat to the various sources from which I drew upon to write the paragraphs above.  Please feel free to comment on this post with your own hat facts (and rumors)!

Lastly, if you find yourself drawn to lovely women in stylish hats, we can help you.  Just click here.

Sonrisas y abrazos desde Bolivia (smiles and hugs from Bolivia)!

Suzy Marinkovich is a Kiva Fellow at new Kiva partner CIDRE in Cochabamba, Bolivia, the second of her three placements.  She has a wholehearted passion for microfinance, social justice, and poverty alleviation.  Suzy is most excited to listen to the incredible stories of Kiva borrowers in South America and let them know how much they continually inspire us all. Click here to support fundraising borrowers at CIDRE!

By Shereef Zaki, KF9, Perú

What do you want to be when you grow up? What are your hopes? What are your dreams?

Throughout my childhood, these questions constantly attached themselves to the most prosaic daily interactions. In a sense I, and most of my peers, were conditioned to be ambitious dreamers, convinced of the limitless possibilities our futures held (and still hold).

When speaking with borrowers one of our unstated goals as Kiva Fellows is to uncover their latent sense of possibility and excitement at the prospect of success. During interviews I attempt to understand what aspiring entrepreneurs want for themselves and for their children. But one of the harshest realities that I confront concerns the occasional and precise absence of aspiration.

In no way am I implying laziness or even a lack of imagination; rather, survival tends to distract many Kiva clients from the potential realities that accompany success. And then I had an a-ha moment. While interviewing Yesenia Esmeralda Bances Morales (click to contribute to her loan), who seemed bemused when she heard the question ‘what are your hopes or dreams in life’ it dawned on me that it might have been the first time anyone had ever asked her that question.

Yesenia Selling at the Market

Imagine that no teachers, no mentors, no leaders ever asked a child to dream big (Perú has yet to find its Obama). Adults here are in no way cynics but many times they are realists. Even linguistically speaking, Spanish comes designed with an icy grammatical irony. ‘Tener ilusiones’ translates literally into English as to have illusions and translates figuratively as to have hopes or dreams.

After a few minutes of talking to Yesenia about the ilusiones she holds most dear she efficiently described her plans to expand her business, and then the educational opportunities she hopes to make available to her daughter. Incidentally, the same young daughter organized fish and prepared for the day’s sales feverishly in the background.

One of the most important contributions we make as members of the Kiva community – lenders, fellows, administrators, etc – can be romantically understood as giving people the opportunity to dream big and then explicitly asking them to do so.

If I could do the interview again, I would only have changed one thing – I would have asked Yesenia’s daughter what she wants to be when she grows up.

Yesenia's Daughter's Fast Moving Hand

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Shereef Zaki is serving as a Kiva Fellow working with the new field partner EDPYME Alternativa in Chiclayo, Perú

To view currently fundraising loans from EA click here

To become a member of the “Friends of EDPYME Alternativa” lending team click here

By Suzy Marinkovich, KF8

I remember when I was a teenager, I’d awaken in the middle of the night and meander to the kitchen for a glass of water and my dad would be perched there in his chair with a yellow notepad, writing madly about some scientific revelation.  He was always so quiet, and his presence would catch me by surprise.  The way his hair was completely messed up and his eyes scarily determined, I could swear in these moments he was a mad scientist.  He was coming up with a new theory, some new protein to test for in his lab.  I always felt that surely, by the aura of madness accompanying him, he was writing down information that would lead to finding a cure for something that I was incapable of understanding due to his annoying inability to use layman’s terms in explanations.

Writing this post was the first time I felt a little of my Dad’s madness, because I wrote this post quickly with just a pen and notebook in hand and a bad case of writer’s cramp.  As I wrote it, one of the loan officers asked to borrow my pen four times before I noticed she was speaking to me.  I am sure I looked insane to her.  I just feel very occupied by this issue, as I am sure a lot of the other Fellows, Kiva staff, lenders, and borrowers themselves feel.

When your heart is invested in someone, it feels instinctive to look for dangers in their path to warn them.  I do the same thing for microfinance; I am always pining around our borrower’s stories to unearth obstacles to its success.  I’ve come to believe microfinance’s first and most formidable threat is living without ever having had instruction in economics.

By removing certain variables we can make sense of at least a part of this problem.

When small loans don’t work, let’s assume that means one of two things:

A)     It didn’t help the borrower financially and they are about the same.

B)      It financially hurt the borrower.

Let’s go ahead and remove all extraneous factors – e.g. political strife, health, personal problems, weather, etc.  I am aware that presently, it’s virtually impossible to bar these factors in the developing world as we know it.  However, for all intents and purposes, let’s work with variables we might be able to control.

As I write this blog post in my notebook, I am seated in the back of a sea of white plastic chairs that hold the many socias (borrowers) at FINCA.  We are all watching a Power Point presentation on the subject: “How to know if you are winning or losing in small business.”

FINCA organized this talk because of the following statistic:

The average life span of small businesses in Ayacucho is 18 months.

FINCA Peru lecture on fostering successful business

This is a huge, viable beast microfinance has to fight – as well as something many of you entrepreneurs many be familiar with yourselves.  With an average life span of 18 months, and no formalized economic training except trial and error, our borrowers could face a continuous, depressing cycle of failed business after failed business.

In the US and most other ‘Western’ countries, getting a loan for a brand-new business involves more than saying that your family has worked for generations in, for example, the art of farming strawberries.  You typically also need a business plan to raise the capital needed.  You need to demonstrate to the lenders that your strawberry farming business has a solid chance of ‘winning’.

This variable demonstrates well the reason I always hated the quote, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”  I much prefer, “if at first you don’t succeed, you’re doing it wrong.”

Our borrowers are often so happy to finally be offered a low-interest loan that they lack the courage needed to tell their MFIs about their educational needs.

That is why it is our responsibility to lend to MFIs who are teaching their borrowers economics, or to use a more trendy word: sustainable business.

I write this post contented as I hear our borrowers asking the speaker questions about their respective businesses.  The fact that these typically shy Quechua women grab a microphone in front of their peers and unload their business’s challenges tells me something – our borrowers not only deserve, they want the education.  And we must agree to hold our MFIs to that higher standard.  They absolutely must provide it.

We’re attracted to microfinance, and thus Kiva, because of its sustainability.  But in order to be sustainable, there are at least two prerequisites: adequate education and health services accessible to borrowers.  While health services are a stretch to ask from our MFIs, we can ask them to teach business.   They know business.  They know their own community’s version of small business better than we ever will.  They owe us lenders the assurance that they are teaching their borrowers how to sustain their businesses.

I encourage you to take a moment to check out the biographies and websites of our microfinance partners before your next loan.  Support the MFIs going the extra mile.

This is Suzy Marinkovich’s last post from FINCA Peru.  She is currently in route to Cochabamba, Bolivia, to work with a new Kiva partner, CIDRE, during her second of three placements.  She has a wholehearted passion for microfinance, social justice, and poverty alleviation.  Suzy is most excited to listen to the incredible stories of Kiva borrowers in South America and let them know how much they continually inspire us all.

Click here to make a loan to a borrower at FINCA Peru.

By Shereef Zaki, KF9, Perú

On August 22^nd the New York Times published the article On to Plan B: Starting a Business describing the unexpected spike of new entrepreneurs emerging from the wreckage of the crisis. They quote the Kauffman foundation and bring the term ‘necessity entrepreneurship’ into the mainstream. And in so doing they articulate one of the misperceptions that surrounds the incentives behind starting a business.

Sometimes I really get the feeling that the talking heads, professors, text-books and pols just don’t get it. And by ‘it’ I mean anything remotely human. To think that greed gets elevated as some sort of miraculously innovative force in the ‘opportunity entrepreneurship’ model, where interest rates adjustments can fix anything, still boggles my mind. As far as I am concerned, nearly all entrepreneurship is ‘necessity entrepreneurship,’ whether in the US, Egypt, Armenia or in Chiclayo, Peru.

Walking to Angelita's Shack

The will to live and make a better life for one’s children are the driving economic forces in most places. People’s businesses are too small to fail — their families depend on them. The phrase ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ contains a truth lost on contemporary economic thought. Luckily it is not lost on Kiva Lenders, whose generosity grows when ‘opportunities’ dry up.

In the end, I cannot help but laugh out of frustration when I read statements like this: “But research on what is known as post-traumatic growth has found that some people become more resilient when faced with adversity, says Shawn Achor, a Harvard researcher. Creativity surges, he says, as they adapt to a new situation.” I read this during the evening, while during the same day I had been out to visit Angelita Loconi De Teque who is 47 and perseveres through ‘adversity’ to make a better life for the 4 children still in her care.

Angelita's Showing Us Her World

Weaving in and out of the beachside tinderboxes used to prep and clean fresh catches of fish, thoughts of resilience and tenacity overwhelmed me. In spite of being so close to the ocean, the landscape felt somehow forbidding and desolate like all the odds were against Angelita and her fellow fish sellers. And yet, there she was working and smiling with determination. Out of her necessity, and with a couple of micro-credits to help, Angelita creates her opportunities.

I think Mr. Achor needs a historical reality check to realize that most of the world is in a state of post-traumatic (political, historical, or economic) adjustment. The process through which adversity begets creativity includes desperation, fear, anguish and defiance. I think America might finally be learning that lesson and the view from outside the bell-jar has never been clearer.

Angelita and her Grandaughter Against All Odds

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Shereef Zaki is serving as a Kiva Fellow working with the new field partner EDPYME Alternativa in Chiclayo, Perú

To view currently fundraising loans from EA click here

To become a member of the “Friends of EDPYME Alternativa” lending team click here

By Shereef Zaki, KF9, Perú

As my first week working with EDPYME Alternativa, one of Kiva’s newest partners, draws to a close I can think of only one phrase to describe the world of micro-finance: recession-proof. Having just come out of the economic and political turmoil caused by the so-called, “Great Recession,” in the US, the vitality and celerity of micro-businesses is cast into even greater relief.

I want to begin by introducing you, the Kiva community, to EDPYME Alternativa. Born of an effort in the Peruvian Chamber of Commerce, EDPYME Alternativa is a highly effective and organized MFI whose mission is to improve the living condition of its clients by supporting their entrepreneurial activities, generating employment in the small and micro enterprise sectors, and strengthening the financing for sustainable and profitable businesses in the region.

In addition to issuing financial products like loans EDPYME Alternativa also provides the following services for its clients: bi-yearly medical checkups, agricultural capacitation workshops, technology training workshops, and sales workshops.

And to maintain their presence in the community EA also holds an annual “Chocolatá” where they give out chocolate and presents to the children of their least fortunate clients and clothing to the adults. Additionally, they collect clothing and supplies for clients who are the victims of natural disasters such as the cold snaps, heat waves and earthquakes common to this region.

In the Mercado Modelo, where many Kiva borrowers have setup stands, competition can be fierce but it stokes the fires of their ambition

In spite of having been here only a brief amount of time, EDPYME Alternativa has already demonstrated to me the the recession-resistant nature of microfinance. They lend regardless of crisis and focus on the well being of their clients. This is a world that lacks Best Buy, Wal Mart, Staples and Barnes and Noble. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and the other institutions that line that gilded casino known as Wall Street have peripheral influence here.

In their place envision hundreds of small businesses and stalls that are owned by individuals so that if you walk ten steps in any direction you can always find exactly what you are looking for. For your food shopping and hardware you go to small informal vendors in the main market, El Mercado Modelo, or scattered around town. Welcome to the urban economic landscape of Northern Perú.

Teenage appetites are recession proof and provide secure business for Kiva Borrower Vanessa Lizeth

Businesses here have no shareholders and no stock options. Some people would call them undercapitalized, and yet the presence of institutions like EDPYME Alternativa gives them enough capital to turn a profit. When there is a recession in Northern Perú, people still need to eat bread, buy corn, recharge cell phones, repair their cars and buy schoolbooks. And because so many are self-employed a tangible series of economically interdependent links materializes.

And greasing the wheels of this sustainable micro-economy and the community it supports are lenders like you. One could make the argument this area is in a state of permanent recession, but the grit that coats the developing world belies the resilience of its entrepreneurs. Northern Peru’s communities rise slowly with dignity and intention, supported by responsible institutions and compassionate individuals who have shown themselves to be recession-proof; impervious to the fear caused by a worldwide economic crisis you still lend to those who need it most. And the gratitude I have witnessed for your contributions defies measurement.

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Shereef Zaki is serving as a Kiva Fellow working with the new field partner EDPYME Alternativa in Chiclayo, Perú

To view currently fundraising loans from EA click here

To become a member of the “Friends of EDPYME Alternativa” lending team click here