Posts filed under 'Mongolia'
Journals and Journeys
By Jane Lim, KF9 Mongolia
I am convinced that my borrower videos have been lost in the abyss which is the Kiva journal tab (it currently has 5224 unsearchable pages), so I had to find another platform for their airing. I.e., here!
Posting a video journal entry takes a considerable amount of work, and I thought I would lay the process out here so they will be more appreciated 
(I have also inserted one of my video journals here rather than below to pique your interest, so please click the “read more” button after you’re done watching!)
9 comments 1 December 2009
The people who borrow
By Jane Lim, KF9 Mongolia
Today my envy of other Kiva fellows faded because I finally, finally got to meet Kiva borrowers.
There is a certain sadness that most of these borrowers have. For some it’s buried deep beneath stoicism and the victories of subsequent success, but for others it’s brimming at the surface, and you get the feeling that one more slight push would send them into the chasm. When I take their photos, they never smile – and I’ve thought of asking them to, but I don’t want to if there’s nothing to smile about. The truth is, life has been hard for them.
where i went today: the Chingeltey ger district
16 comments 4 November 2009
excerpts pertaining to M
by Jane Lim, KF9 Mongolia
notable quotes from recent reads…
“Ulaanbaatar is possibly the coldest capital city in the world.“
- Michael Kohn, Lonely Planet Mongolia, p14
as a testament to the point above, it snowed on wednesday for the first time since summer… and it’s only early october.
“The Mongols loved competitions of all sorts, and they organized debates among rival religions the same way they organized wrestling matches… Their debate ranged back and forth… No side seemed to convince the other of anything. Finally, as the effects of the alcohol became stronger, the Christians gave up trying to persuade anyone with logical arguments, and resorted to singing. The Muslims, who did not sing, responded by loudly reciting the Koran in an effort to drown out the Christians, and the Buddhists retreated into silent meditation. At the end of the debate, unable to convert or kill one another, they concluded the way most Mongol celebrations concluded, with everyone simply too drunk to continue.”
– Jack Weatherford, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, p172-173
absolutely hilarious stuff.
7 comments 17 October 2009
The place between Russia and China
by Jane Lim, KF9, Mongolia
here’s where i’m at:
i wanted to write a before and after just so you can hear my drawn breath of anticipation / trepidation in between…
before: 9:30am EST on Friday, Oct 9th
i realize no one knows a lot about Mongolia… therefore i can make up absolutely anything and people will believe me. haha
case in point. (some of the following are actually true)
- there is a mongolian mythical creature called the Mongolian Death Worm which is purportedly found in the Gobi Desert, grows up to 5 ft long, and spews sulfuric acid which makes it deadly to men
- Genghis Khan’s father wasn’t his mother’s first husband
- mongolians historically have been nomads, and hence do not farm; therefore amongst many other things their vegetables are made-in-china
- there is another mongolian mythical creature in the Kharyagas lake which is roughly equivalent to the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland
- there is a Louis Vuitton store in the capital
- there still exists barter trade in Mongolia. I am for instance, trying to use xx units of xxx as currency. (am not revealing exactly what because i don’t want it to devalue. j/k)
turning to more mundane matters, in the next 35 hours starting at 4:30pm EST i will take 3 flights, have 2 layovers, be in 4 airports (Boston>LA>Seoul>Mongolia), before arriving in Ulaanbataar.
hopefully it’ll go like clockwork.
after: roughly 3pm on Sunday, October 11th (Mongolian time is exactly 12 hours ahead of EST)
Landing in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
time to be a Kiva fellow.
8 comments 12 October 2009
What Happens When an MFI Grows Up?
Tamara Sanderson, KF8, Mongolia
Once upon a time, two NGOs named “the Golden Fund for Development” and “Gobi Start” came together to form their own commercial bank with a social mission. They decided to name themselves “the right bank,” with the hope that Mongolians could repay. Although all odds were against this new bank, it prospered at a time of economic uncertainty in Mongolia after the collapse of the Socialist system and overarching bankruptcy in the financial sector. Eight years later, this initiative has resulted in the largest microfinance bank in Mongolia and a role model for other MFIs (microfinance institutions) throughout the world.
When I first heard this story about XacBank, it seemed a bit like a fairy tale. Based on analysis from the MicroBanking Bulletin (MBB), it takes about 7 years, on average, for an MFI to become financially sustainable. Sustainable means that the MFI collects its loans and covers all its costs well enough to serve poor clients even after it does not get grants or soft loans from donors or government.
XacBank broke this norm. It was profitable from the very start.
Although this is great for XacBank, it logically leads to another question. If it is financially self-sufficient, why does it need Kiva? Shouldn’t the 0% interest capital go to other MFIs that need it more? (more…)
6 comments 28 July 2009
A Shout Out to the Super Lenders
By Tamara Sanderson, KF8, Mongolia
You know you are a Super Lender if:
A) You mark the 15th on your calendar and know the order that repayments will be made based on MFI. You also have difficulty sleeping on the 14th from the anticipation.
B) Your Facebook wall is filled with “[Insert Your Name] supported [Insert Foreign Name] with Kiva.org”
C) It requires multiple scrolls and next page clicks to see all the loans on your Kiva Profile
D) KivaFriends.org is your second favorite website after Kiva.org
E) Your friends and family have been recruited to Kiva in every form possible. Recruitment methods may include dinner table conversations, sending emails at check-out, lending team invitations, sending gift certificates, and even pouting until they get on their laptops to register
F) 50% of the emails in your inbox are from Kiva
G) You are reading this blog, even though you are not related to me
H) All of the above
7 comments 14 July 2009
You are in Mongolia… really?
Tamara Sanderson is a Kiva Fellow with Xacbank in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Continue Reading 6 comments 1 July 2009
Breaking the ice at XacBank
Why is it that when you’re just starting a job, you always introduce yourself to the CEO with spinach in your teeth, or rip your pants pocket, or spill toner on your shirt?
My finest hour was when I was starting on the copy desk at a newspaper, trying to make a good impression as a head-down, able worker, and the copy chief gave me a big story. I had my take-out dinner on my desk. As I stared intently at the screen, trying to be the model of a journalist who’s so totally engrossed in the task at hand he can’t even be bothered to look at his food, I gave my Orangina a vigorous shake, as instructed on the bottle. Forgetting about the cap. Which was off.
The guy sitting next to me said he couldn’t believe his eyes: me just shaking this bottle, the bright-yellow fizzy drink flying everywhere. And it took me a second to catch on, too: even as I felt myself getting I drenched I think I was in disbelief at the sheer stupidity of what I was doing, so I kept right on shaking the bottle for another second, soaking my clothes, dinner, and workstation in sugary goodness.
Yeah, I’m awesome.
So I’m on Day 2 as a Kiva Fellow at XacBank, here in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. XacBank is the first microfinance institution Kiva has partnered with in this country, and I have been given specific instructions to make a good first impression as a Kiva representative because Kiva is super-excited about the partnership. And I am, too: I’ve been pumped to get to Mongolia ever since I heard Kiva would be starting operations here.
In Azerbaijan, where I spent about two months as a Fellow before coming here, each of the MFIs I worked with rents a few rooms and has a few employees in their main office. I got to know the CEOs personally. We all wore sweaters to work most days. The employees were tight, like families.
XacBank (pronounced haas-bank) is like — well, a bank. It’s a microfinance bank, but it’s definitely a bank. Gleaming marble floors. ATMs. Currency exchange. An HR department. Fatigue-wearing security guards with guns. Suits and ties. A conference room with snazzy rolling chairs.
So, of course, Day 2, I break a mug right in the hallway by the stairs, the most high-traffic part of the office. I’m actually thinking, as I put the mug down on the blatantly-neither-flat-nor-level Hyundai water cooler (see photo): “This sure seems likely to fall, as this is not a flat surface.” I’m actually thinking that.
This is not a flat surface.
And this is not a new experience. I’ve been down this road before, either thinking “if I back up any more, I’ll put my tail light out on that fire hydrant,” or “if I flick this cigarette butt that way, it’ll hit that dude’s Harley,” and then proceeding to do it anyway.
So now I’m picking up broken ceramic shards and apologizing to whoever walks by. And I’m having a lousy day — I’m new to this country, it’s freezing cold, there’s bad news coming by e-mail from home and I’m too far away to be of help, I feel lonely and jet-lagged — and I’m experiencing wave after wave of let’s-call-the-new-guy-’butterfingers’ shame.
“In Mongolia,” he says, “it’s good luck if you break something. We say that if you break a glass, all conflicts will go away. So now, any conflicts people were having with each other on this floor will be solved.”
I’m not sure if this is true, or if he was just feeling sorry for me and decided to make something up. It made me feel better, though.
10 comments 4 January 2009
