Posts filed under 'Bosnia and Herzegovina'
The Other Side of Women for Women (Bosnia), a partner MFI of Kiva.org
As time goes by in my work as a Kiva Fellow, I realize more and more how important the social mission of an MFI is. At my first placement, I was greatly impressed by Kiva’s partner in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I would like to share the story of this institution. Through Kiva, the relationship and the space for the borrower’s voice is not established solely because of technology, but because of the real person-to-person communication that an MFI has with its clients. If the MFI atmosphere and staff are personable and human, the clients truly feel that they are not just borrowing money from a bank. This is where the borrower really has a space. This is where real healing and real help happen.
“War is not a computer-generated missile striking a digital map. War is the color of earth as it explodes in our faces, the sound of child pleading, the smell of smoke and fear. Women survivors of war are not the single image portrayed on the television screen, but the glue that holds families and countries together. Perhaps by understanding women, and the other side of war…we will have more humility in our discussions of wars…perhaps it is time to listen to women’s side of history.”
—Zainab Salbi, President and CEO of Women for Women International
When I found out that Zainab Salbi was coming to Sarajevo and the regional managers of Zene za Zene were attending her talk, I decided to go on the 3-hour-long ride to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina in hopes to find an inspiration. Zainab’s talk proved to be eye-opening.
With a sensitivity and apparent interest in every person present, she talked about her story and what motivates her and asked each individual in the room, mostly women, to tell the others something about herself. The energy that ran through the colleagues as they stood up, in addition to their slight nervousness, was impressive.
The Bosnian branch of Women for Women International (WfWI) is the first one and the stepping stone of the larger organization. On June 12, 1993, with only 30 women, WfWI started because of war-time rape camps in BiH. Now the organization serves 53,000 women annually (including microcredit) and has served 207,000 women directly while mobilizing 250,000 women in 101 countries. This half a million is comprised of both people who donate and the ones who need help. All of these women are asking for justice.
Zene za Zene has sister offices in Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Sudan; all branches zealously follow the mission of WfWI. What distinguishes WfWI is that the organization stresses the holistic approach needed to help struggling women. Microcredit is far from the only solution to the difficulties of every woman in the world. In addition to financing entrepreneurs, WfWI educates women about their rights and connects them to the public and private sectors to give them an opportunity to gain politically important roles. Through organic farming programs and job placements, WfWI addresses the non-entrepreneurial women who need assistance. In job placements for their program participants, WfWI defends the need for rights awareness, fair wages, and fair labor practices. “Placing women in jobs is not unique, but placing women who know their rights and can mobilize is,” says Zainab. Through the programs of WfWI, participants acquire skills, create friendships, raise their self-confidence, and familiarize themselves with their rights. The combination of financial support, a community, and access to knowledge and resources brings a lasting change in these women’s lives.
If you feel inspired to support the mission of Women for Women International, please visitwww.womenforwomen.org. In 2009, due to the economic changes in the world, donations have dropped by 10% and WfWI has had to cut $3 million of spending and 17% of their staff. Even when sponsors ‘drop out,’ the organization cannot suddenly stop financing the women in need. Now is the most important time to donate for this cause and make sure that no branches have to be closed, so that Women for Women International can keep uplifting as women all over the world.
If donating is not a good alternative to microcredit for you, you could lend to borrowers of the MFI Zene za Zene. Kiva.org partners with microcredit institutions that have a strong social mission and allows you to give a hand to entrepreneurs all over the world. The 90% repayment rate should show you how safe it is to invest in Kiva borrowers.
This post has been written by Velizara Passajova, a Kiva Fellow working for 4 weeks at her second placement in Armenia (withNor Horizon). Check out currently fundraising loans in Eastern Europe and join Kiva Lending Team – Friends of Women for Women International or Armenia.
3 comments 29 August 2009
Glad Kiva has partner MFIs like Zene za Zene (International)
Although I have seen some of the obstacles of microfinance, I am encouraged by ZzZ’s determination to continue succeeding. Despite the problematic situations, ZzZ is outstanding in terms of its work with Kiva, and the Kiva borrowers I have met are all hardworking and earnest women. I hope that my Kiva Fellowship will help ZzZ (International) gain a bigger presence on Kiva.org and that they will post more loans in the future. You could show your support by joining the Lending Team “Friends of Women for Women International”!
Continue Reading 3 comments 31 July 2009
Honored to Meet Kiva Borrowers
Tuesday, July 7 was an amazing day for me because Nela—the Kiva Coordinator of Zene za Zene (ZzZ)–and I traveled far from Gracanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina to meet the last of the 10 entrepreneurs for completing the process of Borrower Verification. I enjoy traveling outside of the small town and especially enjoy meeting all the women who have Kiva loans through ZzZ. Their stories are amazing and I am so glad that I have had a chance to hear them. One in particular was very touching for me because my presence was what brought about the conversation. It turned out that Fatima was born in Skopje, Macedonia, which borders my home-country Bulgaria…and so it went:
Fatima Manjic was born in 1959 in Skopje, Macedonia, but fell in love with a Bosnian man and moved to Kalesija, B&H 25 years ago. During two of the hardest years of the war, her family lived in Croatia and upon their return the family had to start a life from scratch–their house had been burnt to the ground. Not only did the war bring economic difficulties to Fatima, but for 7 years she was not able to go back to her birth-place and tragically both of her parents passed away during that time. She still has a brother and two sisters in Macedonia and she is sad that she rarely sees them. She does not have the means to go visit them because of her business and her two children. Her siblings-in-law died during the war and Fatima shares that living so far from close relatives is very hard. She has nobody here, only her own household.
Fatima’s husband has started working in Azerbaijan, but has not been paid in the past four months, which is worrisome. Currently, Fatima raises chickens and grows cucumbers, which she sells to a company that picks up the produce from her house every other day. She does not complain about working and would do any job to the best of her ability. Not being indebted too long is very important to Fatima and she is happy to have the Kiva credit, without which nothing could be done because of the low wages in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Fatima is thankful and optimistically claims to have all that she needs. She hopes for the best.
I feel recharged and full of energy and optimism. Seeing the hard work that women like Fatima are able to do despite the loneliness and obstacles reminds me of my own struggles as an International College student in the United States. I think I understand Mrs. Manjic on more levels than even I can comprehend.
Fatima in her Well-Kept Cucumber Field
Sve naibolje!
This post has been written by Velizara Passajova, a Kiva Fellow working for 4 weeks in Bosnia and Herzegovina for Zene za Zene International. Check out currently fundraising loans in Eastern Europe and join Kiva Lending Team – Friends of Women for Women International.
7 comments 14 July 2009
Becoming Part of the KIVA Team
By Velizara Passajova, KF8 Bosnia, Armenia
Hello, my name is Velizara and I am from Sofia, Bulgaria. I am currently enjoying KIVA Fellows Training in San Francisco. After I finish my junior spring at Dartmouth College, I will head to Sarajevo, Bosnia to work with “Zene za Zene International” from June-July 2009. In August-September 2009, I will be in Yerevan, Armenia. My job is to help establish KIVA and open up additional oportunities for lending to entrepreneurs in Eastern Europe.
KIVA is so exciting! Please, join our cause!
To see my blog, please go to http://vialittlepassion.wordpress.com/&_tpg=fb
To learn more about “Zene za Zene International” (Bosnia), please go to http://www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=101&_tpg=fb
3 comments 20 May 2009
You know you’re in Bosnia when…
In honor of the brilliant Tanzanian posts: http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2008/10/10/you-know-you%E2%80%99re-in-tanzania-when%E2%80%A6vol-iii/
You know you’re in Bosnia when…
1. Any healthy foods must always be accompanied by sausage.
2. Your coworkers refer to annoying things as “liver” because “they cause the liver to feel pain.”
3. People mix their wine with coca cola.
4. The most popular musicians are over the age of 40, and are usually accompanied by accordions.
5. Pizzas are baked without tomato sauce, but you are welcome to squirt ketchup over the cheese, if you like.
6. Men wear identical black berets.
7. Graphic pornography is sold at convenience stands, next to the candy bars and gum.
8. You feel physical pain when you walk outside in the winter, as your brain contracts from the cold.
9. Cocktails cost $1.
10. US lotteries use 6 numbers. Bosnian lotteries use 19.
Also, here is a borrower update that I recently prepared on Daliborka and Nevenka Javanovic.
9 comments 28 November 2008
Thoughts on the Srebrenica Massacre in Bosnia
In 2004, the International Criminal Tribunal ruled unanimously that the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia in 1995 was genocide.
I visited Srebrenica last week. I put together a video with a little history, photographs, and an interview with a Kiva Borrower whose husband was killed in the war and whose life has never fully recovered. I hate to sound cliche, but the entire experience broke my heart.
7 comments 17 November 2008
Sassy Sheep Farmers in Bosnia
I made a video to capture a borrower visit in Bosnia. Learn about sheep reproduction AND witness an attempted dog attack!
20 comments 3 November 2008
First week in Bosnia
I am living in the attic of a blue house, which I share with fish farmers in the Bosnian countryside. I have a small kitchen (with a tea kettle and 6 espresso cups), a living room decorated with antique dolls, and a bedroom that smells like the suitcase of a grandparent. It is a musty and warm oasis. Behind the house are vegetable gardens and pools of fish and a guard dog (named Garo) who no longer pulls on his chain. There is a dirt path that I can follow for hours, past sheep and cemeteries and forgotten homes.
"Brijesnica Mala" translates roughly to "Small Place of the Fog"
I arrived in Bosnia last Thursday, so my experience at Zene Za Zene (“ZzZ”) has been an introductory one. ZzZ was set up in 1993 to provide the female victims of the war with financial assistance and job skills training. A micro-credit program was set up at ZzZ in 1997, and the organization started raising money through Kiva just 9 months ago. The women at ZzZ wear leather jackets and have aggressively highlighted hair. They are smart and talkative, and gaze at me curiously as they smoke their cigarettes. I have a hard time explaining that I am here on a volunteer mission to help capture the stories of their borrowers. I still have not met any borrowers, but I have been promised several trips into the field later this week.
These older ladies seem to run the show.
The Bosnian people are kind and insist that I eat. Constantly. At all times, I am either eating ‘burek’ (a meat pastry so greasy that its grease absorbs through my fingertips even before it reaches my lips) or sipping espressos, whose loose coffee grains stain my teeth black. I think I’m going to be happy here. Happy and fat.
Even when Sarajevo was under siege, people still came to this square to share their bread with the pigeons.
I spent the weekend with a girl my age, Emira. After hours of conversation about boys and school and our shared crush on Obama, I thought that I could ask her about the war. Wrong. She was 6 when the war began, and she says that she remembers everything. She changed the subject quickly. “I can’t let myself think about it. We live side-by-side with the Serbs today. I don’t want to think about how my neighbors tried to kill my family.” I stopped with my questions, and offered to buy her ice cream. I guess I am already learning the Bosnian way: when in doubt, offer food.
The Sarajevo Roses are concrete scars from mortar shell explosions during the war that were later filled with red resin. Each Sarajevo Rose shows a spot in which a person was killed. I found this one in front of a coffee shop.
I shall write more soon! Thanks for reading. 
6 comments 14 October 2008
KF6 Fellow in Bosnia says hello
My name is Milena Arciszewski and I will be serving as a Kiva Fellow for a full year in Bosnia, Kenya and possibly Tanzania and Cambodia. My first placement is in Zene za Zene in Sarajevo, which targets women affected by the genocide of the 1990s.
I have to say… I am so excited to be doing this! For two years, I have worked in a cubicle coated with pictures of giraffes and elephants, daydreaming of escaping the office to pursue a career in international development. The Kiva Fellowship feels like my golden ticket.
Training has been awesome. We eat curry pizza. Shoes are optional in the office. I am learning so so much. It is the first training session I have attended where “projectile vomiting” seems to be a part of the job description.
Hopefully by mid-October I will be blogging about the amazing ladies In Sarajevo! I will try to capture the small details.. the smell of the soup cooking in their kitchens; the dynamic between the family dog and cat. More soon!
3 comments 19 September 2008
Stories you won’t read on Kiva
There is a lot of talk here and elsewhere as to whether or not microfinance (or any kind of aid for that matter) works. Is what anyone says the truth or just perceptions and opinions? It would be nice to have a definite answer, but it always seems a little more complicated than that.
In my past experience working with volunteers and in nonprofits, I noticed how this lack of certainty over results can trigger cynicism pretty quickly. Most people in this line of work want to prove that what they do leads to something good happening, and they also want to feel good all the time about what they do. It’s probably just natural, but it’s also not possible, at least not all the time. The need for instant gratification can be a hard thing to escape, and can lead many people to become bitter, quit, or just stop trying very hard.
I wanted to share this story of Safija, not a microcredit client but a woman who participated in Žene za Žene’s job skills training program, in part because it’s one that many here would not have heard otherwise. Sometimes you never know what your time, donation, or gesture will mean to someone else. It’s great that results can be shown on places like Kiva, but there will always be lots of stories we don’t see. We may just have to assume that good things are more likely to happen when we try to do something rather than nothing, whether we know the final outcome or not.
There are people in the world who need access to money and an opportunity to get somewhere. Some of their stories end happily, but some don’t. We can try to help each other out, or not. We can be hard on ourselves, but keep trying to do better. What else is there to do?
Safija’s Story
Safija is a 56 year old woman, originally from the town Srebrenica. Srebrenica was the site of the largest genocide of the war in Bosnia, where in one day over 8,000 Muslim men and boys, including Safija’s two sons, were murdered by Serbian forces. After the war Safija returned home only to find her house destroyed. She felt haunted by memories of her sons, who she felt she could see and hear everywhere she went, playing football, asking her to make them their favorite sandwich.
Life for Safija was intolerable for those first years in Srebrenica. She was planning on leaving town when she found out about the training & educational programs at Women for Women International. Joining the program gave Safija a chance to connect to other women in a way she had not been able to in years. Since the war many communities in Bosnia remain strictly divided on ethnic lines, and this is especially true of Srebrenica. During the training program Safija met many Bosnian Serb women from her town, who she thought she would never be able to speak with. But after hearing their stories she learned that they are women and mothers, just like her, who were as powerless to stop the fighting as she was.
Between her meetings with the Žene za Žene program and her new business ventures, Safija’s days were suddenly filled with activity. Through her sponsor she was given financial support to learn a new trade, and she decided to focus on breeding poultry and turned this into a profitable business. She also now makes marmalade to sell to the kids in her village.
Safija was also grateful to receive a donated cow, not just because it helps with her income, but because it gives her something to come home to. It makes her happy, she says, to have this cow, as she feels that she has someone who she can care for and talk to again, just like a child. Safija admits she still has bad days, but she has learned that while she may still suffer from all that she lost, she is not alone anymore. She knows now that there is always a way to find the will to go on.
To lend to a Bosnian women, click here (NOTE: more businesses to be posted daily. Check back!)
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Since there is a lot of Bosnia in the news these days, here is a frontline piece done that gives a pretty thorough background on Karadzic & the conflict itself. For those who want to learn more see below.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/karadzic/
3 comments 11 August 2008
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