Posts filed under ‘Asociación Arariwa’
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
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
Wait, What Do You Do Again?
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, Cuzco, Peru
As a Kiva Fellow, no two days are the same. One morning I will wake up at 5am to try to visit a borrower before they head out to work, and the next I’ll be in the office uploading loans or training the Kiva team on how to take a great picture or write a journal worth reading. In fact, as a Kiva Fellow, our job is so diverse that the Kiva staff creates long lists of things for us to do called deliverables. My favorite on these “To Dos” is Borrower Verifications. Essentially, we go into the field and do a spot check to make sure that information uploaded on the Kiva website is real.
Catching the Christmas Spirit
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, Cuzco, Peru
First of all, I love Christmas. The tree, Christmas lights (you can ask my parents about what I did to our house when I was a little kid), hot cider, going over to Grandma´s house on Christmas Eve, eating tamales (everyone has their own Christmas traditions), the stockings, Eggs Benedict Christmas morning, watching my Beagle open up his gifts. The feeling of being around those who you love and those who love you. I love all of it.
Continue Reading 20 December 2010 at 08:00 Eric Burdullis 1 comment
A Look Under the Hood (Fine-tuning an MFI for 2011)
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, Cuzco, Peru
Last weekend, I had the chance to attend Asociación Arariwa´s year end planning retreat out in the Sacred Valley in Urubamba, Peru. More than just spending the weekend having fun with my co-workers at the institution, I was excited to finally see what a microfinance institution (MFI) really is about. On one hand as a Kiva Fellow, I get a very in depth look at how my MFI works, but on the other hand, Kiva is still perceived as a funding source for the MFI so they are constantly “putting their best foot forward”. Arariwa´s 2011 strategic planning retreat was a way for me to see, internally, what microfinance meant to this MFI in Cuzco.
Continue Reading 14 December 2010 at 08:00 Eric Burdullis Leave a comment
Living the Dream
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, Cuzco, Peru
Back when I was just a Kiva lender, I thought how cool it would be to meet one of the borrowers that I had lent too. I mean that is what just about every Kiva lender dreams of, right? You lend out to people halfway across the world all based off of a couple of paragraphs on a website and a 3” by 5” photo. But you never really think twice about how real the needs of the people you are lending money to are or what difference the loan will mean in the borrowers life.
Continue Reading 29 November 2010 at 07:00 Eric Burdullis 3 comments
The Kiva Community
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, Cuzco, Peru
I am always surprised by the power of online social media and networks. Facebook, Twitter, blogging sites like this Wordpress one, dating sites like eHarmony, sharing sites like Freecycle or rating ones like Yelp all command huge followings and powerful networks. The world becomes smaller thanks to sites like Facebook—it is sites like these that allow me to keep in touch with friends while I serve abroad as a Kiva Fellow. Information gathering and sharing from news, to politics, to microfinance happenings or even the latest costume that friends have caused their pets to suffer through becomes easier thanks to Twitter and the ever expanding blogging community. You can connect to date, to recycle, to rate. You make connections with old friends and new ones who share common interests.
Continue Reading 24 November 2010 at 11:00 Eric Burdullis 2 comments
Transportation, Microfinance and the Environment
Transportation has been an integral part of my travels in South America. I have been in cars, vans, buses, scooters, motorcycles, trains, boats, planes, even a bus transported by a boat and of course I have walked.
Why you should support group loans on Kiva
I met some Dutch Kiva lenders during a trip to Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca in Bolivia who don’t like to loan to groups on Kiva.
Both the MFIs I have worked with as a Kiva Fellow, Asociación Arariwa and Emprender offer both group and individual credit products, however, the majority of Arariwa’s clients and 40% of Emprender’s clients work within a banco communal (village bank). A banco communal basically acts like a mini financial institution. The MFI gives each member credit based on the amount they have requested and their ability to pay. Each member saves part of their loan and in some cases, can relend this money within the group and collect interest on this internal loan.
Here are some reasons why group loans work well in microfinance…
Continue Reading 5 March 2010 at 09:26 lethalsheethal 7 comments
Cusco on My Mind
If you haven’t heard, there have been terrible floods in Cusco, Peru in the past week. Since we are in the thick of La Epoca de la Lluvia (the rainy season), rain is expected but the level of destruction seen in the area is unimaginable.
Tourism is the main industry in Cusco, and the damage produced by the rain does substantial damage on the Cusco economy. From the February 3rd warden message from the U.S. Embassy in Peru, I read that Machu Picchu is closed and the rail line between Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes is closed due to landslides until possibly March. I also read that tourists were stranded in Aguas Calientes (the town closest to Incan archeological site Machu Picchu) and that the conditions were excruciating. Luckily, helicopters eventually evacuated all the tourists from the town.
Unfortunately, my Kiva clients in Cusco don’t have that luxury.
Financial Education and Microfinance
By Sheethal Shobowale, KF9, Peru
Doris, one of the loan officers at Asociación Arariwa, has been working with clients in Urubamba and Cusco for 17 years.
I sat in on one of the monthly loan payment meetings of one of her communal banks, Aguas Buenas. All members paid their monthly payments on time, but two of the members asked permission beforehand not to attend. Because of their absence, Doris commented on the importance of attending the monthly meetings, saying “No vamos a lograr nada” (We won’t achieve anything this way). She even called one of the absent members on her cellphone to remind them of the importance of attending monthly meetings.
Attendance is importance especially since during each meeting, loan officers teach a short workshop on different topics such as financial literacy, business training, family well-being or health. In this meeting Doris taught a lesson on setting financial goals. Having done some financial literacy workshops for teenagers and some credit counseling for adults in my work with the Lower East Side Credit Union in New York, I was excited and honored to see Arariwa’s financial literacy training in action, especially by a loan officer as experienced as Doris.
Falso! A Musing on Fake Money in Peru
By Sheethal Shobowale, KF9, Peru
Counterfeit money is a very serious topic in Peru. There is so much false money floating around that it is extremely possible that at some point or another, you will try to buy some fruit from the woman selling fruit on the corner and she will return your bill or coin exclaiming, “falso!” (false!)
Peruvian MFI Asociación Arariwa’s 25th Anniversary Celebration
By Sheethal Shobowale, KF9, Peru
I had the pleasure of attending Asociación Arariwa’s 25th anniversary celebrations. In true Peruvian form, the celebrating lasted two weeks with lots of fanfare – a parade, music, dancing, eating and of course, Cusqueña (Peruvian beer) and sweet Peruvian wine.
Halloween in Cusco
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
“Nuestra Capital Semilla” (Our Seed Money)
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.
(more…)
We are all Kiva partners (Somos Todos Socios de Kiva)
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.
Be the Change…Mahatma Gandhi
Sheethal Shobowale, KF9, Peru“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.
10 Fellowship Gems
By Cynthia McMurry, KF8 Ecuador
Over the past year, I have learned valuable lessons about life, gotten to know myself better, greatly enriched my understanding of microfinance, observed the workings of the informal economy in Latin America, been touched by many clients’ stories and experiences, and been proud to represent Kiva at four different MFIs in three South American countries.
Some of my favorite moments, though, have absolutely nothing to do with microfinance. They’re little cultural quirks, lifestyle adaptations, or just silly everyday things that make me smile, remember that I am not from here, and cherish the experience that much more.
Some of my favorites:
Best heckle: Anyone who’s as white as me and who has tried to run in public in Latin America knows what it’s like to be heckled. You usually get whistles, catcalls, and hear things like, “Faster!” “Run!” and “ONE two three ONE two three.” After a while you learn not to pay too much attention and to instead focus your energy on watching out for dogs and traffic.
Out running in Trujillo at 7am one morning, a driver stuck his head out the window and yelled “Yuquitas peladas!” (“Little peeled yuccas!”), a metaphorical reference to the whiteness of my legs. By far the most creative heckle ever, plus I’m impressed that he was able to think of it so quickly (especially that early in the morning) and stick his head out of the car window while driving and avoiding traffic mishaps. Kudos. (more…)
¡Feliz Inti Raymi!
Posted by Lee Bruner KF8
In Cusco, Perú, there are numerous holidays during the winter months of June and July. Most recently the town celebrated Inti Raymi (the Sun Festival), an Incan tradition marking the beginning of a new year with the winter soltice. Many companies make up their own traditional outfits and march through the main square in a parade that lasts for around 12 hours.
I am currently working with Asociación Arariwa, Kiva’s field partner in the Sacred Valley of Perú. When I arrived last month, preparations for Inti Raymi were already underway: signs were posted around the office detailing the dress code (dark pants and red pocho) and practice times for the dancers who would lead our group through the plaza.
Mobile banking: what’s the price?
This past week I heard from a friend in the US who got the new iPhone. It looks pretty cool – smaller, faster, and even has the long-awaited cut/copy/paste feature. All for just USD $199…
But what if you used your phone to make a living? What if it had nothing to do with apps, downloading music or texting your friends?
(more…)
¡Adios, Arariwa!
In a desperate last-minute attempt to get my name off the top of the “least-blogging fellows” list and fulfill my grandma’s request for more blogs, I’d like to share some of my favorite photos from my 10-week placement at Asociacion Arariwa in Cusco, Peru.
Arariwa is an amazing organization with an extremely dedicated group of loan officers. I was consistently impressed with loan officers’ dedication to their clients—not just putting in long hours for little pay and running risks by carrying cash, but in some cases even relocating to remote villages in order to serve clients without previous access to financial services. For example, Tula Barazorda and Armando Cabrera live and work in Pilcopata, a remote jungle town that’s 8+ hours from Cusco on rough, narrow dirt roads. Pilcopata is a sleepy little town where there’s little to do but shoot the breeze and swat the mosquitoes. One morning – over breakfast, no less – Tula and Armando had a long, nonchalant conversation about all the different kinds of bugs that can burrow under your skin, how to tell the difference, and the pros and cons of each one (never before have I been so grateful to my parents for raising me in Minnesota, where all we have is ticks).
All in all, my time at Arariwa was an incredible experience, and I’m already itching to go back and visit. I’m also looking forward to reading much more frequent blogs from my Arariwa successor, Lee Bruner!
To see all currently fundraising loans from Asociación Arariwa, click here.
Cynthia McMurry is a fourth-time Kiva fellow working with brand new Kiva field partner Fundación Espoir in Quito, Ecuador. Previously she worked with Fundación AgroCapital in Bolivia and FINCA Peru and Asociación Arariwa in Peru.
