Posts filed under ‘Peru’
A Fellowship in Photos (Part 2)
By Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador / KF16 Perú
After my first placement in Ecuador, I thought I knew living and working in South America- three months in Ica, Perú proved me wrong. New (and delicious) food, a drastically different (and drier) climate, and wonderful new friends, coworkers, and chicha-vending Kiva borrowers showed me another side of South America’s many amazing countries and cultures. As I phase out of my second fellowship back into the real world, I want to share these photos, and photos from my first placement in Ecuador, with you lenders and give thanks to KFP and Perú for an amazing fellowship experience! Click the photos to see them enlarged!
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- My first week in Ica, Perú. If you thought Perú didn’t do desert, guess again.
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- With my coworkers on my last day at Kiva Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren
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- Kiva Borrower Marisela shows off her Christmas wares, including dolls, shawls and hats. She crochets all the fabrics herself and makes the dolls by hand.
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- If you find yourself locked out of your room on a Thursday during lunch hour, as I did during my first month in Ica, Perú, look to Paredes to help you get back in.
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- Isabel Paula was my favorite neighborhood chicha morada vendor (chicha morada is a delicious, traditional corn-based juice with pineapple, cloves and cinnamon) in Ica, Perú. Turns out she’s a successful Kiva borrower, too!
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- Kiva borrower Lilia runs a successful book store- but she also sells pick-me-ups like Inca Cola, Perú’s most popular beverage (though it’s possibly tied with chicha)
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- Choza houses outside of Camaná, Perú- choza, or reed, houses last up to five years in Camaná’s arid climate, but by no means are they permanent. We visited two Kiva borrowers living in homes like these.
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- A Caja Rural Señor de Luren out post in a small town in Perú. Caja Luren shares offices with one of the more traditional national financial institutions in Perú, which allows it to expand access to microfinance to many previously under-served populations
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- A Kiva borrower smiles for her photo in Parcona, Perú
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- During a trip to Cusco, a shot of some of the incredible, traditional textiles of highland Perú
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- Kiva borrower María Victoria in Ica, Perú takes a break from cooking (she’s making ceviche for a dinner party of 100!) to talk to me during a borrower verification
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- Kiva takes Machu Picchu by storm
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- My “host-grandma” Bertha in Ica, Perú. Apart from being a constant source of support, warmth and humor in a new country, Bertha taught me all kinds of important phrases in Spanish, like “picaflores” (womanizer) and “¿qué es este tono que estás empleando?” (what’s that tone you’re taking with me?!)
Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru, follow her work here.
Update from the Field: Loan Officer Training, a Photographic Journey + Kiva Gift Cards
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF16, Rwanda
December has long been the month of annual awards, looking back and frantic searches for presents. The Kiva fellows blog is no exception to this rule: Share the fellows’ memories by taking a photographic journey through Sierra Leone and watching a video about a typical day of a fellow conducting loan officer trainings. Learn about some incredible women in Costa Rica, who received a Woman Entrepreneur Award from Kiva’s field partner, Fundación Mujer. And to avoid the frantic searches this year, consider surprising your loved ones with the gift that keeps on giving, the Kiva Gift Card.
Continue Reading 12 December 2011 at 02:00 Kathrin Gerner Leave a comment
The Do-Gooder’s 2011 Guide to Responsible Giving: Kiva Cards
In the United States, it was ushered in on Friday the 25th of November in the wee hours of the morning. Here in Ica, Perú, it is manifested in the towering polyethylene Christmas tree and tinsel-adorned telephone booths in the Plaza del Sol shopping mall. Around the world, in many forms, it’s upon us: the season of giving.
And every year in the Bennett family, we duke it out to see just who can give the most responsibly: we exchange goats through Heifer International, carbon credits through Carbon Fund, and donations to NPR and Wikipedia. That is, until several years ago when we discovered the apogee of responsible giving: the Kiva Card
Continue Reading 8 December 2011 at 04:00 Kate Bennett 5 comments
Update from the Field: Adapting for Borrowers by Borrowers, Microinsurance +SKFL
Compiled by Jim Burke, KF16, Nicaragua
A Warm Welcome! Manana offers the best from her garden. By DJ Forza, Georgia
This week’s Fellows Blog focuses on adaptability: Adapting microinsurance to poor households in Indonesia, an MFI in Turkey adapts to the needs of women entrepreneurs, a multifaceted borrower in Nepal adapts to market pressures, and a Kiva Fellow adapts to changing expectations. In a continuation of The Stuff Kiva Fellows Like series we hear how different fellows have adapted to their lives abroad by ‘crashing parties’ and ‘going to the Bazaar’. We hear about how practitioners are adapting finance and microinsurance products to their borrowers. Equally nimble we hear from a few borrowers and how they have expertly adapted to market pressures and changing circumstance. Microfinance is a dynamic industry by nature and like DJ or Binu or Maya Enterprise for Micro Finance, ensuring success means staying flexible and welcoming new opportunities born out of challenges. (more…)
To Kiva Fellow or not to Kiva Fellow. Eso e’ la pregunta.
By Robert Gradoville, KF16, Peru
Should I become a Kiva Fellow? I imagine a lot of the Stories From The Field blog followers have considered applying to the Fellowship, or have wondered what the comparison is between the Kiva Fellows Program to similar volunteer or development programs abroad. This may include the Peace Corps, overseas research grants, overseas workshops on topics in development, Fulbright Fellowships, Rotary Scholarships, and possibly service-learning trips if you are currently students. The list goes on and on. And it can seem like a big and slightly mystifying list for anyone who just wants to make a decision and DO SOMETHING!
This post will compare and contrast “what it’s like” to be a Kiva Fellow to the myriad other programs out there.
Continue Reading 20 November 2011 at 20:06 rgradovi 4 comments
How do You Lend?
By Kate Bennett, KF16, Peru
The most challenging part of trainings for we Kiva Fellows is not instructing loan officers to obtain signed consent forms from borrowers, or explaining how money moves from lender, to Kiva, to Caja Rural, to the client. The most difficult explanation is often how and why. That there are hundreds of thousands of lenders out there, all excited to make a $25 loan to someone else in the world- at no gain of their own- is often lost on new loan officers. But making this clarification is what enables these extremely important players in the Kiva process to understand why it all works, and why providing details that show clearly the life of the borrower is imperative to facilitating the connection between borrower and lender.
Continue Reading 16 November 2011 at 04:00 Kate Bennett 2 comments
Update from the Field: Earthquakes, 5Ks + The Pain of Sickness and Loss
This week’s Fellows Blog is armed with stories from the field: stories of the uncertain world borrowers live in, and how they (and we) cope with it. We’ve learned that everyone gets tired running a 5K in Paraguay, but for a good enough cause, we can will our legs to power through it. That everyone gets scared during an afternoon earthquake in Peru, but even so, borrowers, coworkers, and Field Partners will lend a hand to anyone that needs it. That everyone gets hungry, but there are no shortage of Kiva borrowers in Peru who are ready and willing to whip up some lunch. That everyone gets sick, but there are openhanded Kiva Field Partners in Ecuador trying to extend financial support to those who might not get better anytime soon. And sadly, we’ve had to learn that for all of our strengths and fortitude, no one is impervious to the sting of death. It affects everyone that plays a part of Kiva’s story, but those left behind can honored these individuals by persevering all the more.
Continue Reading 7 November 2011 at 00:47 Kate Bennett 3 comments
Ica’s Next Top Chef
The challenges of rural and agricultural microfinance are many: the least of which, in the case of Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren, is living in the middle of the Sechura Desert. But Caja Rural’s clients show the same impregnable determination I witnessed during my first fellowship in Ecuador. Against all odds (and weather patterns), they’re growing their businesses, investing in their lives, and laying the foundation for a thriving future.
This week I had the pleasure of getting to know Kiva borrowers Mirian Dora and María Victoria. Mirian and María have a lot in common- they’re in the same line of work, they support generations of family members, and they represent successful Kiva borrowers in Ica, Peru…
Continue Reading 5 November 2011 at 02:00 Kate Bennett 2 comments
Earthquake! (and Disaster Mitigation through Microfinance)
Last Friday morning my Fellows Blog post mentioned the devastation of the 2007 Peruvian Earthquake in Ica, Peru and the surrounding areas. At 2 PM local time later that day, another earthquake shook the city.
Kiva Fellow David Connelly, my predecessor here at Kiva Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren, has written before about the 2007 8.0 magnitude earthquake. The statistics are chilling: 519 people dead, 1366 injured, and some 76,000 homes collapsed. “After two and a half years,” he wrote in 2010, “Ica is still very much recovering.” Last week’s comparatively modest 6.9 magnitude earthquake made it clear as day that the wounds are fresh…
Continue Reading 1 November 2011 at 08:42 Kate Bennett 5 comments
Update from the Field: Expanding the Reach of Microfinance, Downsizing Development + Why We Kiva
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF16, Rwanda
This week, you have no fewer than 14 new articles to choose from on the Kiva fellows blog: Let the fellows take you along on borrower visits across the world. Learn how Kiva field partners expand the reach of microfinance in Rwanda, fill the microfinance donut hole in Sierra Leone and improve social performance in Uganda. Find out what poverty is like in urban Tajikistan and rural Burkina Faso. Get inspired by one of the creative ways to bring renewable energy to the developing world in the form of a soccer ball. And finally, watch a video of “Why We Kiva” to get a glimpse of why Kiva fellows jump at the opportunity to be thrown half way around the world to work with Kiva’s many local field partners.
Continue Reading 31 October 2011 at 02:49 Kathrin Gerner 5 comments
Microfinance by Land or by Sea
By Kate Bennett, KF16, Peru
I spent last week at the beach. But from my resiliently pasty skin, you wouldn’t have guessed it. For better or worse, I wasn’t in Camaná, Perú to suntan and lay by the ocean, but in fact to visit borrowers with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren….
Continue Reading 27 October 2011 at 06:00 Kate Bennett 4 comments
Update from the Field: Farewells, Mistaken Identities + Micro-Microfinance
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
We’ve officially hit the point in the Kiva Fellows cycle where the current batch says goodbye just as the latest group is getting their bearings at Kiva HQ. Fortunately, there are a number of posts this week to help us through the transition and cheer us up. If you’re interested in a comprehensive image gallery of the hot designs for share taxis in Rwanda, we’ve got you covered. We’ve also got stories about micro-micro-businesses in Sierra Leone, visiting research fellows in West Timor, and the intersection of medicine and microfinance in Bolivia. Plus, take long trips to the field in Armenia and Peru, and catch up on the impact of microloans in South Africa.
Continue Reading 2 May 2011 at 00:38 Alexis Ditkowsky 4 comments
25 Years Working Where the Need is Greatest
By Noreen Giga, KF 14, Peru
Founded in 1986, Prisma is celebrating 25 years of bringing “financial services and non-financial services to disadvantaged communities in order to strengthen them, and promote sustainable social and economic development.” And the credit branch of Prisma, Microfinanzas Prisma, formed in 1994 is celebrating 17 years of reaching Peru’s urban and rural poor.
Continue Reading 26 April 2011 at 15:02 Noreen Giga 1 comment
Update from the Field: Cute Pigs, New Toilets + Everything is Relative
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
It’s hard to believe but the current batch of Kiva Fellows has been in the field for over two months and most of us have only a few weeks left to go. We’re getting swept up in completing deliverables, making the most of our final month in country, and starting to plot our lives after Kiva. (Travel plans = fun. Applying for “real” jobs = less fun.) Fortunately, starting May 7, a brand new assortment of Fellows will be coming your way and a few KF14 veterans will be sticking around to show them the ropes. So stay tuned for more trips to the field, insights into local culture, contemplations about next steps, and stories of microfinance in action.
Continue Reading 11 April 2011 at 00:45 Alexis Ditkowsky 6 comments
A day in the life of a rural loan officer
By Geeta Uhl, KF 15, Peru
I accompanied Norma, one of FINCA Peru’s rural loan officers, on one of her typical days in the campo outside of Ayacucho. Rural Loan officers have the toughest job at FINCA Peru and their banks usually have the lowest default rates.
Update from the Field: April Fools, Terrible Coffee + Getting Attached
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
We hope you enjoyed our April Fools post on Friday! While we were entertaining ourselves pulling it all together, we also found the time to attend to some serious matters: coffee in Colombia is no joke (in a bad way), some borrowers are easier to locate than others, and oftentimes Fellows must say goodbye to people and places before they’re ready to. We also learned about the “No Pago” movement in Nicaragua, the elections in Peru, what daily life is like for a Fellow in Bolivia, and how to sensibly and respectfully collect past-due payments in Ghana. Somehow there was even time to host a previous Fellow and a documentary film student in Colombia and to visit borrowers, eat chocolate, and stop for the view in Armenia.
Continue Reading 4 April 2011 at 00:46 Alexis Ditkowsky 8 comments
Special Update from the Field: Beaches, Safaris + Cambodian Glamour Shots
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
Kiva Fellows are nothing if not creative. We’ve gone to elaborate lengths to convince you that it can be hard to visit borrowers and that when we’re not trekking for miles, we’re doing elaborate calculations or dealing with databases and reporting. In truth, it’s all a front for an extended holiday from our regular lives. You thought our recent Carnival coverage represented a change of pace? Think again!
Continue Reading 1 April 2011 at 00:13 Alexis Ditkowsky 7 comments
In Peru, the race for President heats up
Geeta Uhl, KF14, Peru
On April 10, Peruvians go to the polls to choose their next President. Elections are taken very seriously here, as voting is mandatory and there is a 3-day national dry period before and on Election Day. Five candidates are running for President, and recent polls suggest that the race is still wide open.
What was your last business trip like?
By Noreen Giga, KF 14, Peru
Mine entailed traveling around Central Peru for a week and a half. Part of a fellow’s duty is to complete a Borrower Verification. Kiva selects a random sample of ten clients that represents an organization’s portfolio and sends it to us fellows. We, in turn, visit each and every client on the list to verify that they are who they say they are, that they indeed received a loan for the amount posted on Kiva’s website, and to talk to them about their business and loan use. You can think of it as a mini-audit process.
I am serving as a fellow with Microfinanzas Prisma, a large micro-finance organization that is based in Lima, Peru, but has branch offices throughout the country. Before I received my list I was told I would get to do some traveling for work, I had no idea what that meant until now.
Continue Reading 30 March 2011 at 08:40 Noreen Giga 6 comments
Update from the Field: Fun Facts, Field Visits + Back to Basics
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
For many Fellows, this week was about getting back to basics: the borrowers. In between fun facts about Kiva Fellowships, doing database detective work, and reflecting on the internal dynamics of Kiva’s partner microfinance institutions, Fellows found themselves in the field again and again, much to their delight and often to the delight of borrowers. From Latin America to Africa to the Caucasus to Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe, meet Kiva clients, learn about their businesses, and check out all of the great photos.
Continue Reading 21 March 2011 at 01:53 Alexis Ditkowsky 9 comments
Update from the Field: Carnival, Collaboration + Cheese-Making
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
This past week was all about collaboration: Fellows coordinating across continents to profile entrepreneurs and organizations who believe International Women’s Day should be every day and community members coming together to celebrate Carnival in all of its elaborate glory. We learned about public health in Peru, making cheese and cigars in Nicaragua, the impact of climate change in Bolivia, and the challenges faced by a microcredit saleswoman in Guatemala. Life as a Kiva Fellow is busy as always!
Continue Reading 14 March 2011 at 00:45 Alexis Ditkowsky 8 comments
“No Pasa Nada”
By Noreen Giga, KF 14, Peru
I first heard this phrase while studying abroad in Spain my junior year of college. My friends and I said “no pasa nada” every other sentence when we realized there was really no limit as to when this phrase could be used. Walk in on someone in the bathroom? “No pasa nada” would be the response. Bedridden with a cold? “No pasa nada.” Walk in late to class because you overslept? “No pasa nada.”
“No pasa nada” has taken on a new meaning to me now, preventing HIV discrimination in Peru.
Continue Reading 10 March 2011 at 13:00 Noreen Giga 3 comments
Celebrating Carnival in the Andes
Compiled by Geeta Uhl, KF14, Peru
Kiva Fellows celebrate Carnival in the Andes- in Ayacucho and Cajamarca, Peru and Oruro, Bolivia. Check out photos and descriptions of the various celebrations and traditions in South America.
Update from the Field: Man’s Day, Singing Fellows + Learning How to Count
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
The Fellows will be covering International Women’s Day later this week but let’s take a moment to acknowledge its lesser-known cousin in Kyrgyzstan, “Man’s Day”. And while you’re appreciating culture and history in far-off places, take a trip to Peru and West Timor through photos, visit borrowers in Uganda and Rwanda through video, learn a little something about communicating in South Africa, and catch up on the latest from Liberia, Ghana, and Mexico (home to the “Singing Fellow”).
Continue Reading 7 March 2011 at 00:16 Alexis Ditkowsky 7 comments
The next generation of microentrepreneurs
Geeta Uhl, KF14, Ayacucho, Peru
At FINCA Peru, there is a lot more than just microfinance going on. In addition to women’s empowerment and business development workshops, they offer the children of borrowers a financial and global education training program to educate the next generation of entrepreneurs in Peru.
What does Lima look like?
I found myself asking that very question shortly after I started working with Microfinanzas Prisma. I arrived in Lima, Peru the end of January for my three month Kiva Fellowship and headed to my hostel in San Isidro, the financial district of Lima. I spent the few days before my fellowship touring the city.
I visited the center of the city and saw the Plaza de Armas.
And went back to take in the view at night.
I visited Miraflores, a district of Lima that is located on the water.
And I of course found some time to visit Barranco, another district of Lima, to go to the beach!
But is this what Lima looks like? Partly. This is what Central Lima looks like.
Lima, the capital of Peru, is nicknamed “El Pulpo” (The Octopus) by some, referring to the sprawling metropolis that is about the size of Rhode Island, has a population rising close to 9 million people, and is home to around a quarter of Peru’s total population. Where do they all live? The city of Lima is further divided into 43 districts. The majority of the districts pertain to Central Lima, but the rest spread into what are the Northern and Southern Cones of Peru. And this, to me, is what Lima also looks like.
Southern Cone of Peru
Northern Cone of Peru
Neighborhoods in the Northern and Southern Cones of Lima have sprung up in the sand and on the sides of mountains. In these new neighborhoods that continue expanding with the arrival of Peruvians moving inward from the outer provinces of Peru, microfinance work is abundant.
A number of services are lacking in these neighborhoods and it is a real opportunity for Prisma clients to get creative with their businesses. Today, I met with a woman who rents washing machines to her neighbors. Maria, started her business two and a half years ago. The laundry service that she used was the only laundry service in her neighborhood, and was extremely far away. Not a practical option for most families, including Maria’s. I couldn’t help but think of basic economics 101 terms my father once went over with me as Maria told her story, such as: supply and demand, market share, and new market opportunities. But Maria doesn’t have an MBA and I doubt she thought of these terms as she planned her business strategy, but she clearly had a handle on the concepts.
Shortly after she had her second child she embarked on this business of renting washing machines by the hour. And she personally transports the machines to her neighbors houses. It’s difficult, she says, but worth the money and stability it provides for her family.
To learn more about other Microfinanzas Prisma clients like Maria, or to receive regular updates from the field like these join “Friends of Microfinanzas Prisma” today!
Update from the Field: Videos, Epic Commutes + Going Beyond Microfinance
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
Another week, another incredible range of dispatches from around the world. Several Fellows told their stories with video and pictures while others took time to reflect on the state of microfinance as a global industry and in their respective countries. And what would a week in the field be without getting to know a few borrowers? Plus, scroll to the end of the post for pictures you may have missed the first time around.
Continue Reading 28 February 2011 at 00:38 Alexis Ditkowsky 10 comments
Gringita in Peru
It is my second week as a Kiva Fellow at FINCA Peru and though there are many exciting events to come here in Ayacucho (Carnival, Semana Santa) for now it is still the rainy season and the town has a sleepy, lethargic feel. Since I am still getting acclimated and easing into my role at FINCA, I figured that a first blog post about a loyal and lively FINCA client that I was fortunate to visit would be a good start.
Reflections from Eight Months in the Field
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, Cusco, Peru
Last July, I sat in Kiva headquarters listening to speaker after speaker desperately trying to get a grasp on what life as a Kiva fellow would be like. Despite all my “international” experience, I don´t think anything could have prepared me for the adventure that was to come. Personally, I set out to discover how microfinance worked, IF it worked, and how it impacted the lives of the people it touched, but I really had no idea what lay ahead of me.
Continue Reading 8 February 2011 at 08:00 Eric Burdullis 2 comments
Is it ever too late to follow your dream?
After my first week as a Kiva Fellow my short answer is no, and I guess the slightly longer answer, definitely not! That is what the clients of Microfinanzas PRISMA have shown me, especially Rosa of San Juan de Miraflores in Lima, Peru. Rosa is preparing the lunch she will serve to customers in the back kitchen when Ángela, the Kiva Assistant in the Lima Sur office of PRISMA, and I arrive. She comes outside immediately to talk to us, bringing a savory smell of potatoes with her.
Rosa is 56 years old and preparing to open her own restaurant in her house in the next year or so. How many of you would embark on a new business in your 50′s? I don’t know that I would. But as Rosa explains, before she had been washing clothes for neighbors. The job was physically demanding on her and not very profitable. And she believed she had great recipes to share with everyone, “recetas muy ricas” as she describes. So she did what anyone wanting to start her own business would do. She asked around about where she could get some start up money. And she got connected with PRISMA.
Six years later I am standing and talking to Rosa in the kitchen of another building because her house is under construction. The walls are being painted and she hopes to put in tiling and tables and chairs for her customers to sit and enjoy their meal. She invites us back to he kitchen as we continue to talk. And I snap a few shots and show her the photos I took. She laughs and grabs my arm as she covers her mouth with her hand. Her happiness is a little overwhelming for me.
Rosa as she prepares her savory potatoes for lunch.
I am still thinking about Rosa after we leave and Ángela asks me what I think about all of this. I get choked up and say “es increible, es increible.” Part of what drew me to Kiva was the idea of female empowerment that Rosa embodies. That women, with the help of MFIs like PRISMA, can realize their dreams of owning their own business at any stage in their life and attain the financial independence to care for themselves and their families.
Thank you, Rosa, for an amazing first week as a Kiva Fellow and for showing me that it is really never too late to follow your dream!
