Posts filed under 'Cambodia'
My first impressions in Cambodia
by James Han, KF9 Cambodia (AMK)
AMK's new home office in Phnom Penh
Sus-Dai (Hello)! My name is James Han and I recently took a 3-month leave of absence from my management consulting career to work in Cambodia with Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea (AMK), currently Kiva’s largest field partner. I’m thrilled to see first-hand how AMK operates as they are one of the most well-respected and efficiently operated MFIs in SE Asia (more to come on that topic in future blogs). I also have some big shoes to fill as past Kiva Fellows from AMK have either been hired full-time by AMK to start new initiatives (again, more to come later) or have now become famous in the Kiva world (e.g. Kieran Ball who created the Kiva video, “A Fistful of Dollars – The Story of a Kiva.org Loan”). No pressure!
My work plan over the next 10 weeks will be slightly different from the typical Kiva Fellow work plan I have been out in the Kompong Chhnang province of Cambodia for the past week, meeting with the local entrepreneurs and conducting Kiva Journal updates. I’ll continue to do this for the next 2-3 weeks and then spend the majority of my remaining time working on a couple special projects for AMK. Before my placement began, I was sent a list of two dozen projects I could potentially work on, ranging from researching the use of mobile phones in microfinance to new product development for special interest groups, such as victims of human trafficking. While it was hard to choose, I decided to stay in my consulting sweet-spot and will help AMK revise their incentive and salary compensation programs and will also devise a measurement system so AMK can compare performance between their various branches. I feel like a kid in a candy shop and will certainly do as much as I can with my limited time here! Be on the lookout for updates!
I’ll leave you with my first observations about life in Cambodia:
13 comments 18 October 2009
Upending microcredit: Cambodians use Kiva to lend to U.S. borrowers
This Wednesday marked a watershed moment for Kiva.org: borrowers from the U.S. made a well-publicized debut on the person-to-person microlending website. It left no doubt that microcredit, seen by many as the province of the poor, had arrived to serve Americans in need.
The floodgates are open, and they sluice both ways.
Kiva’s launch of lending in the U.S. has impassioned many, including a group of people in Cambodia near and dear to me — the staff of Maxima Mikroheranvatho, a Kiva partner microfinance institution where I was a Kiva Fellow from October 2008 to February 2009.
As Kiva ambassador-in-the-trenches at Maxima, one of the things I’d tried to impress upon them was the satisfaction I get out of being a Kiva lender. So when my posting at Maxima ended earlier this year, I’d settled on the perfect gift to help them understand this: a Kiva gift certificate.
Over our farewell dinner in Phnom Penh, I pulled out a printout of the Kiva gift certificate page and presented it to the senior managers at Maxima. As they’re in the business of microlending, minor disbelief ensued. Kiva!? Who would they lend to? When I told them that Kiva was considering launching in the U.S., excitement erupted.
9 comments 12 June 2009
More than micro CREDIT to the CO’s
By design, Microfinance is not sustainable without the dedication of hundreds of thousands of Credit Officers (CO’s) working for Microfinance Institutions (MFI’s) around the world. The Kiva online person-to -person (P2P) lending platform only works because CO’s employed by the 95 Kiva Field Partners in 44 countries are out visiting clients, taking pictures and writing business profiles for our website in addition to their regular loan disbursements and repayment collections. My job as a Kiva Fellow at AMK in Cambodia also relies heavily on the CO’s who bring me out to the field so that I can interview Kiva entrepreneurs and create journal updates that get sent to Kiva Lenders around the world.
AMK Credit Officer (CO) ready to ride
6 comments 8 June 2009
Breaking up the Band
Over the last three months, four Kiva Fellows (Katie, Julie, Jeff and Drew) have been working and living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We are so lucky to have spent this time together in such a wonderful place. Alas, our time has come to an end but we have put together a video to share both our time at our individual MFI’s and our time together outside of work.
It is unusual for multiple Kiva Fellows to be located in the same city, but Phnom Penh is a unique place in the development world and the Cambodian Microfinance landscape is highly active – creating a phenomenal opportunity for us to share our experiences and learn from each other as we entrenched ourselves at our respective MFI field partners: HKL, AMK, Credit and MAXIMA.
While this is the end of our time together each of us will be moving on to new and exciting things. Julie will be attending law school in the fall (law school TBD ), Jeff will be begin studying for his MBA at MIT, Katie will be working with Microfinance in Cambodia in a new capacity, and Drew will be going to Kiva’s partner ASKI, in the Philippines.
We would like to thank all of our great coworkers, especially our Kiva Coordinators for all of their hard work and help. Also, a special thanks to all of the Kiva Lenders who make Kiva and all of our great experiences as fellows possible. We feel privileged to have been able to serve as Kiva Fellows in Cambodia and would love to see interest in Kiva and the Kiva Fellows program continue to grow. If you have enjoyed reading Kiva Stories from the Field please help spread the word and share the link with a friend!
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7 comments 21 May 2009
Giving CREDIT where it’s due
CREDIT Microfinance Institution, Kiva’s oldest partner in Southeast Asia, and 7th oldest in its portfolio of partners celebrated its third year on Kiva May 3rd, 2009. As one of Kiva’s oldest partners, they have received over $3.1m in loans, making it the most invested MFI in Kiva’s portfolio of MFIs. Through the generosity of over 48,500 Kiva lenders, over 4150 of CREDIT’s clients have received loans ranging from $100 to $1200 helping them run businesses, fix homes, educate their children, supply daily needs, and ultimately enabling them to build a higher standard of living for themselves and their families.
To celebrate CREDIT’s third year, I have put together a retrospective video of my time with them on their work in the office and in the field.
Thank you to the tens of thousands of Kiva lenders for investing in CREDIT MFI’s clients and supporting CREDIT MFI over the years. The journey has just begun…
To invest in current Kiva CREDIT-MFI borrowers in need of loans, please click this link
Kiva Fundraising loans at Credit MFI
To learn more about CREDIT MFI please visit their website CREDIT Microfinance Institution
*Teresa Dunbar was a Kiva Fellow with CREDIT MFI from August 2008 – February 2009. During her time there she became increasingly interested in the daily struggles of Cambodia’s peoples. Her interests include; land rights, livelihood and environmental protection, government and business transparency, and the rule of law, and how each affects the viability of microfinance.
6 comments 18 May 2009
Fellow-vision
I think that most Kiva Fellows will agree that anytime we meet with Kiva Entrepreneurs we are confronted with a gauntlet of emotions from happy to sad, from inspired to depressed, from energized to drained. While for the most part, for me anyway, the experience tilts towards the positive side of things you never know who or what you are going to run into when you hop on the back of your credit officer’s moto.
I spent the beginning part of this week meeting with twenty-five Kiva Entrepreneurs and felt practically every emotion I can think of. While my first idea for this post was to tell you how I felt meeting these people I decided that each one of these experiences could mean something totally different to every person. I am going to try to introduce you to three of the individuals I visited with via a brief intro and a short video so you can meet them with as little filtering and subjectivity as possible.
In almost every video I ask them if they have any hopes or dreams for the their family’s future. Most of the answers are fairly ordinary; increase my sales, change business, fix or build a new home, but even these answers represent a desire to overcome significant obstacles to better the lives of them and their children.
Meet Ny Sokythea:
Ny Sokuthea and her husband expanded their fish selling business with their Kiva loan. With the money from the loan Ny Sokuthea went to several local fishermen and gave them money up front in return for the promise that they would sell exclusively to her and at a price they determined in advance. This brilliant piece of negotiating has helped her stabilize her costs while ensuring that she has a product to take to the market everyday. After only a few weeks she was able to earn about $5 in extra profit per day. They also farm a small plot of rice for about 6 months out of the year for extra income. Ny and her husband have three children, all daughters, ages five, thirteen and fifteen. They all attend school and Ny says that they all study both Khmer and English.
In the video you can see she is a very funny and playful person, when I asked her about how she would want to grow her business she told me that she wanted a car so she could fill it with fish to take to the market, a joke, maybe. When I asked her about her dreams about her future she told me with a mischievous smile on her face that she wanted to be a “Ms. Excellency” or a high official in the national government.
Meet Lia Lun:
When I went to visit Lia Lun I was greeted with extreme hospitality despite very difficult circumstances for her. The night before I came to her house her 40-year-old next-door neighbor had passed away in his sleep and she was busy making preparations for his funeral. When I offered to come back another day she flatly refused and pulled up a chair and table for us to sit at. While what I was there for was of much less importance than what was going on around me I felt it would be rude to not accept her hospitality and so we sat and spoke for a few minutes.
Both Lia and her husband have been creating decorative Khmer wood pieces since the early eighties (see video for example of their work). They have three children, two sons and one daughter. They have two grandchildren as well with three more on the way as their daughter in law is expecting triplets next month.
As I sat and spoke with Lia, her husband and other men from the neighborhood were building the coffin only a few yards away while her neighbor lay on a table under a tree just beyond them. The banging you hear in the background of the video was all of this going on.
Meet Rom Chhoeuy:
Rom Chhoeuy has been selling fish and traditional fish paste for about seven years. Her normal routine is to go to the local fishermen every morning and buy some of their catch and take her purchase to the local market to resell. She makes a good living of $7 a day and is very happy with how things are going.
Her husband has been repairing machinery for two years and makes about $5 a day. Before he had his current job he was a moto taxi driver for six years. They have two children, one son aged 6 and one daughter aged 8. Both of her children attend the local school.
The entire time I was completing the interview her kids were waving and smiling at me. See the video of my final question to see what I mean.
Meeting each one of these women and hearing about how they were using their loans was an amazing experience and I hope I was able to share that in some small way.
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Drew Loizeaux is currently serving as a Kiva Fellow with Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
4 comments 28 April 2009
Rice Accounting 101 in Rural Cambodia
Rice plants nearly ready for harvest
Sophisticated income statements and balance sheets are the standard tools used by global corporates to demonstrate their year-over-year growth and net change in assets and liabilities. I saw my fair share of SEC sanctioned 10K annual and 10Q quarterly financial reports while working in corporate banking in New York City, but from where I stand now as a Kiva Fellow in my third month in the field, these accounting instruments are of no use to Kiva entrepreneurs in rural Cambodia, many of whom cannot read or write.
When I interview Kiva borrowers in the agriculture sector (which fits the description for the majority of AMK’s clients in Cambodia), I try to get a sense of how their crops are doing and if they are satisfied with the most recent harvest. Some borrowers cultivate rice solely for personal consumption while others grow to sell. When entrepreneurs have multiple businesses (which many of them do), the decision to sell or keep the rice they grow is often a function of the success of their harvest. If a farmer lives near a good irrigation source they can harvest rice twice a year during both the rainy and the dry season, but otherwise rainy season is the only option since rice cultivation is heavily dependent on the weather.
My enthusiastic instructor
Most farmers I speak with can quickly tell me the market price they can get for one kilogram of rice: typically about 800 Riel (20 cents USD). When I ask borrowers how many kilograms of rice they recently harvested, however, I get a variety of answers, and seldom are they numerical. The general response trend is that year over year growth is described in terms of “better or worse.” While visiting Svay Village in the Kandal Province of Cambodia yesterday I encountered the most enduring and perhaps practical explanation yet of how one entrepreneur measures her yearly “profit.” Check out this video to see my rice accounting 101 tutorial:
Can a line drawn semi annually inside a giant bin marking the height of a rice harvest really provide accurate data? For a hardworking family living in the in Svay Village of rural Cambodia the answer is yes, accurate enough. If this seasons harvest exceeds last seasons harvest and last seasons harvest was enough to feed the family, then some of the excess yield can be sold to bring in additional income for the family.
It was a humbling but wonderful afternoon
Katie Davis is currently serving as a Kiva Fellow (KF7) at Angkor Microfinance Kampuchea (AMK) based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
7 comments 23 April 2009
Anatomy of “The Field” – Chacos & Cuddling Piglets
For many NGO’s and even corporate offices, “the field” refers to branch offices and client meetings held outside of company headquarters. “Going into the field” is a very commonly used phrase on the Kiva Fellows blog. This broad definition applies to the work of Kiva Fellows as well, but we get to say we are “off to the field” with extra pizazz because, well – we literally go to the fields.
Step into my office...
(You should not be expecting anything profound from this blog post…after all, cuddling piglets is in the title!)
Field Equipment - Don't leave home without:
- Small Backpack
- Flip Video Camera
- Motorcycle Helmet
- Digital Camera
- Notebook & Pen
- Toilet Paper in Ziploc Bag (Might save your life!)
- Purell
- Water
- Sunscreen
- GPS device
Chaco tan/dirt lines - the Kiva Fellow tattoo
In Cambodia, most houses in “the field” are built on stilts to create a shady space underneath which the families go about their daily activities, often times sharing the space with their cows, pigs, and chickens who are also trying to escape the 100+ heat. Most of my interviews with Kiva entrepreneurs take place on a wooden bench in the “shade.”
Hangin' under the house
It is easy to romanticize “the field.” I’m not going to lie; I feel pretty bad-ass flying through the Cambodian countryside on a motorcycle with my Camelbak full of equipment. I believe strongly in the work that I am doing with Kiva and AMK, and the field is where all the action takes place. After spending 5 straight days in the field this week, however, I can assure there is a flip side to the romanticized version. The heat is excruciating, I sweat more than I thought is humanly possible, I get filthy dirty, riding on the back of a moto for more than 20 minutes on bumpy dirt roads leaves me more saddle sore than any horse could, and the local food, despite being delicious, can send me running for a toilet, if I am lucky enough to find one. “The Field” does not operate on a clock, and microfinance is a very social construct in Cambodia, particularly when it comes to village bank loans. This is my polite way of saying that there is a lot of “down time” in “the field,” so I am learning to check my notions of efficiency at the door each day. “The Field” is an amazing experience and well worth the uncomfortable side effects. Occasionally I see some amusing things and just happen to have a video camera in my hand. Here are a few random out-take clips from the field. Check out the spooning piglets – gotta love it!
2 comments 27 March 2009
A week in Siem Reap
HKL, the MFI that I am at for my first Kiva Fellowship, has Kiva loans all over Cambodia, which means if I want to visit with a decent number of Kiva borrowers I have to do a fair amount to traveling. Last week I did my first of several week long excursions to a branch office, this time in Siem Reap. Some of you may have heard of this town before as it is the home to Angkor Wat:
Angkor Wat!!!
Needless to say I did not complain when it was decided that this would be going there and decided to make it into a 7 day adventure. Of those 7 I spent 4 days on the back of motos and meeting with as many Kiva borrowers as possible. The last 3 were spent exploring the surrounding temples with fellow Fellow Katie Davis, who came out for the weekend. While my work as a Kiva Fellow and my time as a tourist were about as different experiences as you can get there was one thing that I was struck by every single day: there is a history and depth to Khmer society and culture that I am afraid I will never truly be able to grasp in the time I have here.
The Khmer Empire dates back to 802 AD and the culture to this day is steeped in respect and tradition. There were signs of this at every visit, around every bend in the red dirt roads and in each temple I visited. At one point we had been on a series of dirt roads and paths for about an hour going to meet a borrower when we turned a corner and I was face to face with an enormous temple, under construction and covered in hand made scaffolding. While I have no idea how old it was one thing I did know was it was built without any big modern equipment, they simply could not have gotten it there. When I asked the credit officer I was with about how this construction was paid for he said that there was probably some money being sent in but many of the local boys and young men were most likely completing most of the work. Surrounded by a village of mostly subsistence rice farmers this temple is a cornerstone of the culture and deemed important enough to renovate.
After one of my days with borrowers and I met a PHD student who lives in the area, she speaks fluent Khmer and has been interviewing local Khmers for about a year. In other words, this was someone who had many experiences to share that could be helpful for me. When I told her that sometimes I became confused when I asked about how business was doing. Many times I would get the answer, good but there are problems, problems that are sometimes never were fully explained to me. She said that in many cases this could mean that the person believes that someone has put a curse on them or there are other supernatural powers at work. It was something that she said was not shared with her until she became fluent in the language and they felt comfortable speaking with her about it. While I can not infer that because I was not able to obtain an answer from a borrower that this was why it just drove home the fact that I am just skimming the surface of the place I am living in. This was both interesting and sad to know. While it did give me a new and useful perspective I had the feeling that my three to five months in Cambodia may not give me enough time to fully break the language and culture barrier that is so critical in the work I do.
After all the work was done for the week it was time to take off my Kiva hat and put on my wide brimmed hat, clip on my fanny pack, break out my 10 cameras and see some sights (mostly figuratively). I think it would be impossible to walk away from Angkor Wat and the countless temples around it and not be just completely bowled over by the sheer magnitude of what was constructed so long ago. The city in its prime was the largest pre-industrial city in the world, bigger than New York City!!!
I think the following description of a procession of the Khmer King in 1296 by Zhou Daguan, a Chinese diplomat is a powerful example of the strength the empire possessed in its hay day:
“When the king goes out, troops are at the head of the escort; then come flags, banners and music. Palace women, numbering from three to five hundred, wearing flowered cloth, with flowers in their hair, hold candles in their hands, and form a troupe. Even in broad daylight, the candles are lighted. Then come other palace women, carrying lances and shields, the king’s private guards, and carts drawn by goats and horses, all in gold, come next. Ministers and princes are mounted on elephants, and in front of them one can see, from afar, their innumerable red umbrellas. After them come the wives and concubines of the king, in palanquins, carriages, on horseback and on elephants. They have more than one hundred parasols, flecked with gold. Behind them comes the sovereign, standing on an elephant, holding his sacred sword in his hand. The elephant’s tusks are encased in gold.”
Anyway, it was a truly amazing week; I learned a lot, had a lot of fun and will never forget it. I have put together a little video, using the phrase of legendary New York Mets announcer Bob Murphy, as a little “happy recap” of my week there . Hope you enjoy.
Add comment 24 March 2009
Tarantula, Dog, or Duck Fetus, srey Teresa (sister Teresa in Cambodian)?
Being a Kiva Fellow in Southeast Asia you meet many small business owners. Some of these business owners sell what I like to call “culinary adventures”. So as not to offend people, you get a chance to try many of the dishes. Over the course of my seven months, I’ve discovered after a while to stop asking what it is, and just try it. Some have left their impressions on me though, and I thought I’d share them with you.
Let’s see, in Cambodia you have fried tarantula and various bugs such as beetle, cricket, and bee larva. The most delicious and famous ones come from the Kampong Cham region, northeast of Phnom Penh. You can get them on the side of the road as you motorbike by, or at any local street market.
"love, love, love me some good tarantula!"
You also have dog. This dish was bought for me by Rong, a Cambodian friend. He told me, “You have to try it since you don’t have it in the US, and after you try it, you must text me what you think.” I was told that dog is a meat that makes you warm. It is eaten mainly by men and coupled with beer. The best dog restaurant in Phnom Penh is just east of the Boung Keng Kong Market.
And I did have a beer or two with it. It just went down better with a beer. My stomach is still upset just thinking about it.
You also have boiled duck fetus eggs called “pong tea koun”. Fortunately, I only had one opportunity to eat it, and my Cambodian friends at CREDIT-MFI let me slide on that one as I watched them chow-down. As they pulled the fetus from its shell, I could see the partially formed baby duck complete with head, neck, beak, and wings. It was explained to me that you can buy “pong tea koun” at different fetus stages, a few days old to 2-weeks old. It all depends on your taste. It was the nastiest looking thing I had ever seen someone eat. It is said that they give you strength and energy.
Now, Khmer and Filipino cuisines do not have much in common, but they do seem to share the same love for boiled duck fetus eggs. In Tagalog, it is called “balut”, and unfortunately, this time my Filipino friends at ASKI-MFI would not take, “No” for an answer.
Now, if you eat “balut” like a lady, you don’t pull the embryo out of the shell, you eat it bit by bit with a little spoon so you don’t have to actually see what you are eating. Lucky for me, the ladies at ASKI-MFI eat “balut” like men which is what they required of me. To eat “balut” like a man, you pull the entire fetus out of its shell in order to see the almost formed fetus duck body . It usually takes about 2-3 bites to completely eat.
Balut, see the fetus duck head on the right?
Needless to say my “culinary adventures” continue. I will be in Cabanatuan City, Philippines with ASKI-MFI for the next three months bringing you Kiva client stories and blogs. Hope you enjoy them, I am off to lunch now.
Hmmmmm, should I have goat or more balut?
4 comments 15 March 2009
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