Posts filed under ‘Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN)’
Along the road
by Jacqueline Gunn, KF13 Ghana, KF14 Ukraine
For the past 7 months I have been roaming the world as a Kiva fellow. I began in the lovely town of Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana where I spent my days in the office and my evenings and weekends on the beach. When I applied for a second fellowship, my only request was that it provided contrast to Ghana. Working in an industrial factory city in Eastern Ukraine has certainly delivered that. I arrived in Winter and it was -20 degrees Celsius outside and not much warmer inside.
Before I started on this adventure, I had expectations about what I would learn- microfinance in action, the inner workings of Kiva. I have had so many great opportunities to learn about microfinance, but for me this experience has been so much more as well. Here are just a few of the things I have learned as a fellow.
Microlending Behind the Scenes: How MFIs Judge Credit Worthiness
By Nila Uthayakumar, KF14, Uganda,
With the help of several other Fellows in the field
Borrowers of an MCDT solidarity group meet under the shade of a tree in Kampala, Uganda.
I’ve met all kinds of borrowers. From age 16 to 76; from orphans to a former beauty queen; from potato sellers to auto parts saleswomen to motorcycle transportation tycoons. I’ve met them in urban slums, in villages, in homes, on porches, in churches, in community centers, and outside in grassy fields. I’ve listened to their stories, I’ve photographed and filmed them, I’ve played with their children, and I’ve been welcomed into their homes. Two months into my Kiva fellowship, and I am more motivated and inspired than ever. My name is Nila and I live and work in Kampala, Uganda.
What I have understood from these borrowers is that poverty takes many shapes and forms. Poverty can mean desperation and destitution, and it can also mean having to make impossible choices between paying medical bills or school fees. It can mean not having enough food to eat today, or not having a secure enough future to be able to retire. The microloans I have seen in action place into the hands of borrowers the power to shape their own lives. The recipients of these loans are among the most dignified people I have ever met, and when given the chance, these individuals make tremendous improvements in their lives. (more…)
Owe Money, Pay Money
So when I met Evans, an employee of the Christian Rural Aid Network (a local microfinance institute that partners Kiva in Ghana), and he informed me that he was a Recovery Officer, I got a little nervous. (more…)
Empowering women through microfinance in Ghana
By Mei-Ing Cheok, KF 14, Ghana
Weekly meeting for these borrowers
A woman’s role is at home – mainly, in the kitchen – and her chief responsibility is to make babies. Education is not important. In fact, if a woman gets too educated, she might not be able to get a husband. How then, would she make babies?
That makes me – 35, female, tertiary-educated and single – a social pariah in Ghana. And with my dreadful cooking, I am definitely bad wife material here.
Unfortunately, this is still the general perception of women here and in many parts of the world. To make matters worse, title deeds for rural homes in Ghana are usually in the names of the husbands, which leave the wife and children vulnerable to being evicted by the husband’s family, should he pass away. Even a recent intestate succession law (PNDC 111) has not made a significant improvement to women’s inheritance rights because most are still ignorant of the law.
“Indigenous proverbs and metaphors such as ‘the palm tree does not bear fruit in a woman’s farm’ or that ‘If a woman buys a gun, it is a man who keeps it’” … “indicates that women are not supposed to be as economically productive as men are, and even if they are, men control their resources. Men are supposed to maintain, and provide, the economic support for their wives and children domestically. This explains why Ghanaian society seems to invest more inheritance rights on men than women” – Women and Property Inheritance after Intestate Succession, Law 111 in Ghana
The good news is that there are groups that are championing women’s rights and yet others, like the Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN) that are empowering them economically.
CRAN’s role in helping women
CRAN is a local microfinance institute that Kiva works with in Ghana. Through its Freedom from Hunger programme, CRAN provides micro loans to thousands of women in rural and sub-urban areas. In my interviews with borrowers, an overwhelming number of them place children’s education and building their own home as top priorities in their lives. Aside from wanting different and better lives for their children, these women are also counting on their offspring to look after them later in life. Financial empowerment is also providing women with another form of security: that they will have a roof over their heads for the rest of their lives.
Chester, the loan officer, and the Credit Association President counting the repayments at the weekly meeting
Director of Operations at CRAN, George Tokpo, explains that the Freedom from Hunger programme is primarily for women because the ‘trickle-down benefits’ of providing women with capital is a lot greater. “When we empower women, they are able to provide for their families. We acknowledge that women are a lot more responsible than men when it comes to the upbringing of their children.”
He adds, “If we empower women economically, we are also attending to the needs of the children.”
AB, Kiva Coordinator at CRAN, hard at work
Another key reason for the focus on women is CRAN’s view that women make better clients. “Women are able to find jobs much more easily than men. They’re a lot more adaptable. If one business fails, they will pick something else up very quickly. Women are able to engage in more regular, income-generating activities.”
For example, if we look at the fishing sector, which has recently had a few hiccups: fishmongers (women) can switch to another line of work, such as selling food or provisions, fairly quickly. However, the fishermen would struggle to find other forms of employment. This adaptability reduces the likelihood of defaults.
CRAN in 2010 alone provided micro loans to about 3,700 women with a cumulative of 21,378 women reached with micro loans and financial services since its inception.
CRAN team: Gifty (in charge of borrower profiles), George (Director of Operations) and Cecilia (journal updates)
Other microfinance services that CRAN provides:
Through CRAN, women also have access to savings accounts and insurance cover. For an annual premium of GHS25 – 55, women are now covered for the following:
| Own life | GHS1000 |
| Spouse’s life | GHS500 |
| Auto Accident Injuries | GHS500 |
| Fire/Flood Disaster to Business | GHS500 |
| Child Mortality | GHS500 |
(Note: USD1 = GHS1.52 as at 3 March 2011)
In the developed world, these may not seem like huge sums of money, but here, GHS500 goes a long way.
Starting young
Understanding the importance of education, CRAN’s Child Education Sponsorship Scheme (CESS) has a strong focus on providing financial support for girls. 55 per cent of the children who are receiving sponsorships through CESS are girls, more than the ratio of girls to boys in schools, especially above elementary education levels.
Baby steps
There is still a way to go before women enjoy gender equality in Ghana, but it is encouraging to see how civil society and organizations like CRAN are making a positive difference today.
Happy International Women’s Day!
(For more International Women’s Day stories by Kiva Fellows, read Celebrating Women around the World )
Mei-ing is a Kiva Fellow working with the Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN) in Cape Coast, Ghana. She finds the kitchen too hot and prefers to find a man who can cook.
Her recent posts:
Have Tro Tro, Will Travel in Ghana
Find out how you can lend to a Kiva Entrepreneur or become a Kiva Fellow
To lend to CRAN borrowers, please join the CRAN Lending Team.
Celebrating Women around the World!
Contributions from Kiva Fellows around the globe, compiled by Mei-ing Cheok.
Solidarity - A group of Ghanaian women after their weekly meeting with their loan officer
The beauty of microfinance is that it gives people at the wrong end of the income spectrum opportunities to step out of the poverty trap. It also provides women the confidence and security that comes from earning their own income, leading to greater gender equality.
Financially and economically empowering women, studies have shown, has a greater ‘trickle-down’ effect, as they tend to spend more of their earnings on the household expenses such as school fees and healthcare. Thus, it benefits not only themselves, but also their families and even their communities.
This International Women’s Day, Kiva Fellows celebrate individuals and organisations around the world who have contributed to the advancement of women in their communities. We salute you.
Cambodia: From Housewife to Entrepreneur
By Stephanie Sibal
Norn, entrepreneur from Cambodia
Norn, a petite 28-year-old former housewife with two young children, used to rely solely on her husband’s US$5 per day income as a blacksmith. With her loan, Norn braved her first ever trip outside her tiny neighborhood to buy groceries and opened up a store in front of her home. She can now make up to US$15 in gross income per day. While the ins and outs of running her own business are an ongoing learning process, Norn is thankful. She now has regular customers who have also become her friends.
Ghana: Freedom from Hunger
By Mei-ing Cheok
The Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN) provides thousands of micro loans to women in rural and semi-urban areas through its Freedom from Hunger programme. George Tokpo, Director of Operations, says, “When we empower women, they are able to provide their families. We acknowledge that women are more responsible when it comes to the upbringing of their children.” Mr Tokpo added that women make better clients, “Women are able to find jobs much more easily than men. They’re a lot more adaptable. If one business fails, they will pick something else up very quickly. This lowers the likelihood of defaults.” (read more about how microfinance is empowering women in Ghana here)
CRAN team: Gifty (in charge of borrower profiles), George (Director of Operations) and Cecilia (journal updates)
Rwanda: Francoise’s Fabulous Story
By Adam Cohn
In the video blog, meet Francoise, who started selling bananas with her first loan and today, owns a provision shop, land and is on her way to starting a farm. This goal-driven woman is providing for her family of eight and doing a great job of it.
Armenia: A tale of two women
By Caree Edson
Hripsik in her hair salon
Women’s Day is also celebrated in Armenia and because the holiday falls on a Tuesday this year, the government has declared Monday a holiday as well ensuring a nice long weekend for everyone. While inquiring about women borrowers who stand out in SEF’s history of lending, I was immediately directed to Hripsik Movsisyan and Raya Martirosyan. These women lead vastly different lives -one owns a salon in the city, while the other works on her family’s farm in the countryside- but both represent the warmth and strength that I have come to appreciate in the Armenian people.
Hripsik is a hardworking widow with two children. She opened a salon in 2009 and applied for a loan from SEF for an air-conditioner to make her salon more comfortable during the hot summer months in Yerevan. This was a great move for the business and Hripsik was able to pay off the loan years before it was due in full.
Raya with her family and their cattle
Raya Martirosyan has been teaching math in a school in a tiny town named Agarak for the past 30 years. Unfortunately, her family cannot survive on her low wages and her farm is necessary for additional income and stability. She applied for a loan to buy cattle and has been paying her loan back consistently since September.
These women represent the struggles that many Armenian families face and the risks and hard work involved in making ends meet. This coming women’s day should be a celebration of all the women making sacrifices everyday to better the quality of life for themselves and their families.
Bolivia: Guadalupe Cárdenas, a Remarkable Woman
By Klaartje Vreeken
Guadalupe (in blue) and women from Comité Cívico Popular de la Ciudad de El Alto
Guadalupe Cárdenas was beaten up by a policeman and lost her child in 2002. Three years ago, she started a new institution called Comité Cívico Popular de la Ciudad de El Alto, which fights for women’s and their children’s rights in El Alto, the city above La Paz where many poor Bolivians live.
The first campaign Guadalupe started was helping poor mothers to baptize their babies and to get their legal papers. Her institution provides the dresses for the babies and has so far, baptized around 10,000 babies.
In 2010 Guadalupe also campaigned against cervical cancer. Using an ambulance, they screened around 3,500 women for cervical cancer For 400 women, the cancer had already reached an advanced stage. However, Guadalupe’s group also managed to detect early stages of cancer in around 1,000 women.
Mexico: Champion for the People
By John Farmer
Pily, she's no zombie
CrediComun’s Kiva Coordinator, Pily, is a strong young woman who took part in the UNAM (the largest university in Mexico) student demonstrations in 1999, when the university announced that tuition would rise from practically nothing to around $150 per semester. “We were a generation that protested, that mobilized; we risked our lives for something more than selfish interests, and we refused to play the role of a zombie.”
Her resume further illustrates her activism: working with street children in Chiapas, building houses for (and with) the poor on the outskirts of Mexico City, and working in the organic food industry. She has served as Kiva Coordinator for six months, and is moving to a new position within the company — she’ll be developing the social projects that CrediComun undertakes.
Kyrgyzstan: Man’s Day
And finally, we do have a tribute to men. Check out Charlie Wood’s recent blog on how to be a manly man.
Happy International Women’s Day!
The contributors to this blog are part of KF 14 (the 14th class of Kiva Fellows) scattered around the world.
Find out how you can lend to a Kiva Entrepreneur or become a Kiva Fellow.
Gone Fishing
What does the delicious piece of tuna sashimi you are about to pop in your mouth have to do with microfinance and alleviating poverty in Ghana? Perhaps more than you would expect.
At a recent staff meeting at the Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN), one of Kiva’s Field Partners, a loan officer from the Elmina branch said that the recent ban on light fishing was affecting their loan disbursements and repayments from some clients. My ears perked up.
The busy Elmina fish market
Last Week in the Field: “Christmas”, Trekking, Adversity + Good Company
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
Members of the 14th class of Kiva Fellows have officially hit their stride. While we never know where the next dispatch will come from or what interesting topics the Fellows will cover next, we always know we’ll be transported, entertained, and edified. This past week, topics included “Christmas”, trekking to a remote village (with video!), handling adversity (including a serious car accident and stolen electronics), and enjoying the company of loan officers, borrowers, and community members. Enjoy!
Continue Reading 21 February 2011 at 02:17 Alexis Ditkowsky 12 comments
Part 4: What is the industry doing to protect borrowers?
by Jacqueline Gunn
One of the biggest challenges in the microfinance industry is oversight and regulation on a macro scale. Whilst in countries like the US there are regulations to protect borrowers, this is often not the case in many of the countries where Kiva has field partners. Kiva can’t choose not to work in countries without credit agency regulations as these are often the places where the need for enabling access to credit for the poor is greatest.
So what is the industry doing to help to borrowers now and in the future?
Continue Reading 15 February 2011 at 12:00 tinkgunn 2 comments
Hey, Soul Sisters!
By Mei-ing Cheok, KF14, Ghana
Let me boldly proclaim that everyone in the developed world should experience what Kiva Fellows are fortunate enough to live and breathe. I guarantee you there will be less whining from all of us and perhaps, just perhaps, more effort to collectively improve the lives of our fellow humans…maybe. But definitely less whining, because when you see what we get to see, all our problems suddenly seem so small.
Watresa Village
Soul Sisters: AB/Adom Ara Kwa Credit Association with CRAN Loan Officer, Dominic
Have Tro Tro, Will Travel in Ghana
By Mei-ing Cheok, KF14, Ghana
With CRAN volunteer, Jonanthan, in tow, AB signals that he needs a ride for two
When I first arrived in Accra, Ghana about a week ago for my Kiva Fellowship, I had to find my way to Cape Coast, where my microfinance institute, Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN), is located. These were the instructions I got from Jacqueline, another Kiva Fellow, whom I was replacing at CRAN:
- Take a taxi across the road from the airport, not the ones right at the exit because they are more expensive
- Go to the STC bus station and get on a bus headed towards Cape Coast
- Alight at the Goil petrol station in Cape Coast.
I confess that once I got off the plane, I had no idea what I was doing; I was just winging it. In fact, I got all the above steps wrong. I took the expensive taxi and the cabbie convinced me to go to the “Ford” bus station* instead of STC and I got dropped off at the market instead of Goil.
*The bus station is really just a series of mini-buses parked in line next to a market. I was hit with a sensory overload by the throngs of people selling, shouting and jostling. The change in plans worked out well because the Ford buses left more frequently and travelled faster, so I arrived in Cape Coast earlier!
Navigating the public transport system here is an art. It’s very different from my home country, Singapore. For someone new to Ghana, it’d seem like you need a special code to make sense of what appears to be chaos, to get from Point A to Point B. It does help tremendously that Ghanaians speak English and they’re extremely friendly and helpful.
There are bus companies that provide scheduled trips and fixed fares. But the two main modes of transport that most people use for intra-city travel are informal services: share-taxis and tro tros.
Share-taxis
You can charter a cab, but it is costly: around GHC3-5 (US$1.90-$3.15). Share-taxis usually ply certain routes around town and pick up and drop off passengers at any point along the way. The fare, around 40 pesewas (US$0.25), is a fraction of what it’d cost to charter a cab. If the driver has a high turnover of passengers, he could potentially earn as much as, if not more than, if he were to have just one full-paying passenger.
But how would you know which cab or tro tro to flag down? HOW do you flag one down? Well, here’s the secret code: if you’re headed for the market in Kotokoraba (the main town and heart of Cape Coast) and you’re on a road that doesn’t lead directly to it, you point with your thumb in the direction of Kotokoraba. Also, if you’re with a friend, you indicate with two fingers that there are two passengers. If the taxi driver is headed in that direction and he has space, he would stop for you. If not, he’ll zip on by and you wait for the next taxi! (see pictures below)
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Now tros tros are vans that can accommodate more people – and are therefore, even cheaper – and they also ply longer routes, between towns. They also serve as a delivery service! If someone in Kotoboraba wanted to send her mother a sack of oranges in Takoradi, which is about 2 hours away, she can pay the tro tro driver to deliver it for her. Also, letters delivered by tro tros arrive faster than those delivered by the postal service, which usually takes three days.
In spite of the complete and utter confusion I felt when I first arrived, not to mention a strong measure of fear, I somehow managed to find my way to Cape Coast thanks to some helpful Ghanaians. The other volunteers and foreigners I have met here seem to be travelling around on their own quite comfortably. I haven’t reached that stage yet, but I’ll get there soon. I just have to jump right in… and hopefully get to the right destination!
Mei-ing has just arrived in Ghana, narrowly missing a massive Chinese New Year feast with the family back home in Singapore, but she is exploring the cuisine of Ghana with gusto. She is working with Kiva Field Partner, Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN).
Florence’s dream
by Jacqueline Gunn, KF13, Christian Rural Aid Network, Ghana
Whenever I choose a not for profit to support, I always carry out in depth research before I commit. I read through their financial accounts to see how their money is spent, I search for stories that I think have a long term benefit- I’m a natural sceptic and I want the organisation to prove to me that the money will be spent well, I dislike waste. For me, the opportunity of being a Kiva fellow would allow me to be the ultimate investigator into microfinance and hopefully prove my sceptic side totally wrong.
Continue Reading 21 December 2010 at 11:00 tinkgunn 2 comments
Food makes the world go around
by Jacqueline Gunn, KF13- Christian Rural Aid Network, Ghana
Food sustains people. Many thousands of individuals create a living through food production, distribution and on a large scale, exportation. People communicate and build communities through food- joining together to prepare a meal before sitting down together to enjoy it. In order to celebrate National Farmers Day today, I invite you read about agriculture in Ghana and join us for lunch (through the form of video!) at Christian Rural Aid Network in Cape Coast.
Continue Reading 3 December 2010 at 12:00 tinkgunn 5 comments
As my Kiva fellowship concludes…
by, Zerrin Cetin, KF12 Ghana
When I embarked on my fellowship four months ago, I was excited but nervous. As with any new experience, the unknowns can be interesting, exhilarating, challenging and overwhelming all at the same time. With these feelings, I boarded my flight to Ghana. I had two simple objectives for my fellowship – help my MFI as much as I can and learn as much as I can. As my journal entry from my flight states, I wanted to learn about microfinance, Ghanaian culture, common characteristics that make us human, and myself. Though I’ve probably only scratched the surface on these lofty goals, I am surprised at how much these objectives shaped my fellowship experience. I’d like to take this final blog to share a little bit of what I’ve learned.
Continue Reading 2 December 2010 at 04:00 zerrincetin 5 comments
The beat goes on…
by Jacqueline Gunn, KF13, Ghana
One of the first things I noticed about living in Ghana is the ebb and flow of sound. It feels like Ghana is living by a constant rhythm which is created in every household, on every street and every road.
Continue Reading 22 November 2010 at 12:00 tinkgunn 6 comments
Prescriptions are not just for medicine
By Zerrin Cetin, KF12 Ghana
Obruni (Often yelled, “Ooobrruuuniii”). A word that meant nothing to me just three short months ago. Now, it is a word that induces feelings of happiness, anger, and indifference all at the same time. In Ghana, a foreigner is called obruni. Really, it is more of a greeting than anything. Admittedly, it took me a while to get used to being called obruni.
While my fellowship is providing me with a fantastic opportunity to learn about microfinance, this obruni example illustrates a part of my fellowship that I equally cherish – Living in a country very different than my own. This is pushing me to be open-minded despite how strange circumstances might seem at times. This openness, in turn, is pushing me to think about things that I had never thought about before. I think a recent experience illustrates this nicely. A very interesting question was posed to me by a Ghanaian. “Do you think my country will ever reach your country?”
Continue Reading 25 October 2010 at 04:00 zerrincetin 9 comments
Macroeconomics Meets Microfinance
Zerrin Cetin, KF12 Ghana
In my time as a fellow, I expected to interview borrowers and hear lots of touching personal stories. I never expected to finally understand economics in a way textbooks never described it for me. Economics was not a course I chose to take. It was a mandatory credit I had to take. While I managed to memorize how supply and demand curves moved, for the life of me, I could not see the practical applications of economic theory. This was the case until a very special aha moment last week thanks to my field experiences and a fantastic discussion with CRAN’s Director of Microfinance. I finally understood the interplay of demand and supply at a very practical level. Upon reflection, I am starting to believe that a vital assumption for microfinance to be a success story is that there is continued excess demand in the marketplace. But what happens if supply exceeds demand?
Continue Reading 1 October 2010 at 04:00 zerrincetin 15 comments
Non-Financial Costs and Benefits of a Kiva Partnership to an MFI
By Zerrin Cetin, KF12 Ghana
Like any business partnership, a partnership with Kiva brings both financial and non-financial benefits and costs to a Microfinance Institution (MFI). I believe that partnerships, whether personal or business, need partners’ values to align in order to succeed. So I will analyze this topic within the context of Kiva’s values – dignity, accountability, and transparency. The question I’d like to discuss is “What are the non-financial costs and benefits to an MFI in aligning with Kiva’s values of dignity, accountability, and transparency?” Since this blog represents my observations of one MFI partner (Christian Rural Aid Network – CRAN, in Ghana where I’m currently serving), I’d like to invite others to share their observations and enrich the discussion on this topic.
Continue Reading 10 September 2010 at 04:00 zerrincetin 8 comments
Fueling flames with connections
by Zerrin Cetin, KF 12 Ghana
Having finished my second week on the field, I’m starting to gain a greater appreciation for the connections that Kiva facilitates and the work that MFIs do. I’m learning what it takes to introduce a borrower in a remote village in Ghana to you, surfing the net in the comfort of your living room. And not surprisingly, the flow of information is not as easy as Google makes it out to be.
It all starts with that entrepreneurial flame. Over and over in my borrower interviews, I see it burning alive and well.
Continue Reading 20 August 2010 at 04:00 zerrincetin 5 comments
What Women Want
Nkontrodo women that is…Nkontrodo is a small village by the Ghanaian coastal town, Elmina. The women in this village are on their third loan cycle with CRAN. They are proud business owners who are serious about their loans and rightfully vocal about their needs. What these women want is to build credit. A case where the ability to establish credit and have access to larger loans is a large motivating factor.
Continue Reading 10 August 2010 at 00:59 zerrincetin 3 comments
All Things Ghanaian
By Nancy Tuller, KF8, Cape Coast, Ghana
Some days as a Kiva Fellow are just about soaking up the culture, and Nyame adom (“by God’s grace”), I have my Kiva counterpart here in Ghana, Ab (
short for Abraham) to help me out with that. For example, how else would I know the difference between kenkey and kente? Some days, as we are traveling to our destination or the electricity has gone out again and all work is halted, we have 30 minutes to one hour sessions on the nuances of various types and textures of kenkey, Ab’s favorite dish made of maize and often served with fish, grasscutter (cane rat), or goat meat stew (and pepper sauce for dipping). He can speak interminably on how to make kenkey, where one can buy the best kenkey, and even what illnesses are cured by two or three (in really serious cases, it could be four) bowls of kenkey. “In fact,” Ab tells me, “Accra kenkey is the best. I cannot live without my kenkey.” (And everyone in our office knows it!) Though he may not speak as passionately about kente, the beautifully hand woven fabric that is highly valued as the cloth of a well-to-do man or woman, he can still describe in great detail the process of the weaving, as well as the symbology often woven into the fabric, that is often made on the village looms we pass on our way to visit loan clients. Ab tells me things I might never know otherwise, such as the common perception here that only tribal chiefs should wear a certain type of white shell as jewelry, and that others who wear it are looked at with a disapproving eye, or that in this part of Ghana, it is believed that if you fish on Tuesdays, you will bring tragedy upon yourself. (more…)
Connecting with Fuseina
By Nancy Tuller, KF8, Ghana
Fuseina is the kind of person that you want in your life. She is kind, gracious, friendly, confident, warm, generous in spirit and loving, all at the same time. Our short visit together reminded me of the reason I am here, and the reason I love this work (if you can call it that!), and the reason I so admire what Kiva is facilitating. This is human connection at its finest.
This connection is what drew me to microfinance 15 years ago. When Kiva came up with a way to personalize that connection even further with their online lending to specific individuals back in 2005, I knew they had hit upon a recipe for success. It is this personal, intimate connection between individuals—knowing that your loan is going to Gifty Mensah in Senegal, whose face you know, and whose need to buy a new oven for her baking business is so real—which draws increasing numbers of people who may have never considered giving to other organizations, to begin a sustained program of lending and re-lending. I told several of my mail clients (I am a letter carrier at home in California) about Kiva and several of them have loaned to clients here in Ghana. I visited two of those clients last week, and we had a wonderful connection. I”ve visited with clients and their families in their homes and just the other day made a lunch date with another client’s wife! I have friends who have emailed me wanting to lend to clients, I have started three lending groups so far, with many joiners who have expressed their desire to make that connection with a particular client. I have made many intimate connections with Kiva loan clients, which has been the most rewarding aspect of my Kiva Fellowship. My photos and memories are my own proof of that connection. Clients have, time and again, expressed their deep gratitude to their lenders, and I have even seen a woman break down in tears when expressing that gratitude and wonder that someone she doesn’t even know would give her such help through a loan. This is what connections are all about: recognizing that we are one family interconnected through our shared humanity and our shared destiny. (more…)
Time for a change
In the United States, my home country, our motto as of late has been change. I have been working at the Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN) in Ghana for almost two months now, and I am just in time to witness some monumental policy changes of its own that will redefine the way CRAN does business and may even give President-elect Obama a run for his money.
Currently, CRAN has seven different branches in three regions of Ghana. Four of its branches are located near the main office around Cape Coast and Elmina, Ghana, two fishing towns that aren’t rural but aren’t urban either. On top of loaning to people in town, CRAN also lends to many rural communities around Cape Coast. About an hour away, CRAN has two more units running in rural fishing communities. Until June of last year, one of these units didn’t have electricity or computers. The other one still doesn’t. CRAN’s last unit can be found about a six-hour drive away in the Volta Region. Due to this branch’s distance from the head unit where a Kiva Coordinator uploads all the Kiva borrower profiles, none of the clients from that unit can be found on Kiva. This is something that CRAN would like to change sometime in the near future.
At each of the units, there is a manager along with loan officers, each of which has a portfolio of clients that he or she is in charge of. The loan officer is in charge of overseeing the loan and filling out all the paperwork. Since CRAN works only with groups, the loan officer talks everything over with the group’s president, secretary, and treasurer to make sure they know what is going on. The loan officer also visits all of the people at their workplaces to take photos in order to put the borrowers on Kiva. Other employees include the cashier and field officers in charge of collecting both loans and susu savings (a small daily savings).
As CRAN moves forward and attempts to make itself a sustainable financial institution, the employees are changing the way things are currently done to a new and exciting framework. Current groups have ten members or more, but from this month forward CRAN groups will consist of five members. This change is being made because right now many groups are scattered, hard to reach for loan collection, and hard to gather together. The loan officers often only know the president, secretary, and treasurer in a group and must rely on them to find the other members. Some of these groups have multiple family members or an employer and his or her employees comprising the group as well, so from now on group members must have their businesses located in the same area, and must not have any other family members in their group. Sometimes this is the case just because people find it hard to develop a group with at least ten people in order to receive a loan. A group loan is designed so that each of the members guarantees the other members—it is a lot more to take on with ten people.
The other caveat of any group’s membership is that every member must have health insurance. A National Health Insurance Bill that was designed by the governing New Patriotic Party and passed into law in 2003 by the parliament is an insurance plan designed to ensure that Ghanaian residents would have access to basic health care services without paying money at the point of delivery of the service. It has had some criticism, mainly by the opposing party that had implemented a cash-and-carry system. This cash-and-carry system, which was used since 1985 in Ghana, was replaced for various reasons, including a fall in clinic attendance. It required every Ghanaian to pay before receiving clinical care. Since implementing the new scheme in 2004, health care is free for children, pregnant women, and Ghanaians over the age of 70. There are also various plans for everyone else, costing as little as a few dollars and lasting for one-year increments. Because health care makes such a big difference in people’s ability to work, CRAN has decided that insurance is a must. Many Ghanaians get sick with illnesses such as malaria—a disease that can keep them from the workplace for a few days if treated but can even be deadly if untreated. This is, to make it economical, bad for business. A Ghanaian who can’t work can’t make money and needs to rely on help from others to sustain a business and a family. Health insurance will ensure that all Ghanaians who work with CRAN have access to the health care they need to be healthy.
Now, taking out a loan from CRAN is more than just taking out a loan. It is a commitment on the part of the borrowers that they will attend a pre-loan training that involves an introduction to CRAN and the loan disbursement. After receiving the loan, the borrowers attend a monthly training. It is not just one group of borrowers that meet, but many—totaling around 75 people, making it less of a time burden on loan officers to meet with their groups. During these trainings, they will make their monthly loan payments and also receive various lectures on topics such as health, fire safety, and money management. Near the end of the loan period, one of the trainings is dedicated to Kiva journals—ensuring that almost all of CRAN’s Kiva participants from this point on will have a journal. This will not only be a wonderful thing for Kiva lenders, it will also be great in terms of social performance. CRAN will have an opportunity to keep track of the people it loans to and the social progress that the loans make in their lives, which may also help CRAN to modify loans to make them better for the borrowers.
One of the biggest problems currently facing CRAN is high loan deferment rates—incidences where borrowers don’t pay back on time or at all. This new format will attempt to address this problem and will hopefully ensure that field officers aren’t constantly chasing down the people who need to pay—a waste of time, energy, fuel, and money for the organization. This new format—where attendance is close to mandatory in order to get a second loan later on—gathers the group on a monthly basis and gives the loan officer a perfect opportunity to collect the loan repayment.
One of the greatest strengths to this new system is budgetary. CRAN believes it will help the organization cut costs, which is imperative in CRAN’s long-term plan because it is a non-profit organization that runs off of loans. Any money loaned out to borrowers that isn’t from Kiva comes from loans from larger banks. Thus CRAN has interest of its own to pay, and when the borrowers don’t pay back, it negatively affects CRAN and how many other borrowers it can help.
My one big question as I have been introduced to this new system, which has been implemented at one of the units this month, is what will it do for the borrowers? I agree that it is best for the organization as it will hopefully lead to financial stability. However, in terms of borrowers, the recipients will be poor but probably not the poorest businesses in the area. The poorest people won’t be able to pay for health insurance and a susu savings (a small daily savings that is another new requirement of CRAN’s borrowers—so if borrowers don’t pay back CRAN will already have some money to take the repayment from).Thus, poor people will be helped, but some of the poorest won’t have the opportunity to develop their businesses through CRAN.
I do believe that this new system, especially the training, gives CRAN the opportunity to make an expanded social impact in the lives of its borrowers. And then once it is financially secure, it will be able to offer services designed for even poorer borrowers to help them develop their businesses.
This new system will involve a lot of change—from the organizational structure to what is expected of the borrowers, change in policy is revolutionizing almost every aspect of CRAN. These changes are being made in order to address and combat all of CRAN’s weaknesses as an organization and to put CRAN in a position to meet all of its future goals. While I am sure new challenges will arise with the new system, CRAN is working hard and intelligently to become a stronger organization.
ELECTION UPDATE: Ghana just had its presidential elections, which were very peaceful and well-run. Every other commercial on television the day of the elections (December 7) was about peace in Ghana. The country was praised by its African neighbors for doing so well. However, there will be a run-off taking place between the top two candidates on December 28. I will post an update following that in regards to the elections and whether Ghana is able to maintain peace.
A Party and a Funeral
I take a break from my normal broadcasting about microfinance to discuss a special event. This weekend I had an invitation to attend a funeral a couple hours away in a part of the country I have never been to. I was invited by my friend and co-worker Lawrence, but I live with Lawrence’s mother’s twin sister and her family. Lawrence’s grandmother had died at the age of 86, so it was going to be a family affair.
At first I was really excited about going—I had gone to part of a funeral once but knew there was much more to it than I had first experienced in the few hours I had spent before. I did have one big worry about going—I just pulled my calf muscle and could barely walk. I was worried about going, but I was more worried about being stuck in my house in Cape Coast alone all weekend with no access to food or water—since I don’t have any food in the house and am almost out of water. I figured that I might as well go, rest my leg as much as I could, and experience something new.
Lawrence, his Aunt whom I live with, her 7-year-old son Francis, and I left Friday at the end of work to drive what was supposed to be two hours. I brought pillows to elevate my leg on and was excited to enjoy the view. About two hours in, however, we picked up a woman who I learned was Lawrence’s older sister. The car was at that point full of people and luggage. I had my bag with my laptop and my purse on the ground at my feet and was holding two pillows and a blanket on my lap. My legs were squished together, and I knew that this wasn’t going to be good for my calf. But, hey, we were close so I could do it.
Two hours later, we finally arrived at our destination: a city in the Central Region of Ghana called Breman Asikuma. It turns out that we had taken an entirely different road to pick up his sister and had gone quite a bit past our destination. We then had to turn around and go back south and quite a ways more east. Most Ghanaians are not the most explicit of people, and on top of that they don’t usually speak in English unless they are speaking to me, which makes it difficult for me to know what is going on. I have learned a lot of basics, and as I learn them I can question Ghanaians on what they are saying, but otherwise everyone just keeps speaking different languages (there are many that are spoken). By the time we arrived, I could barely walk. My calf was so swollen and cramped I literally stumbled and needed someone to hold my hand to walk.
I quickly hit the couch and elevated my leg, but everyone else wasn’t so lucky. They began getting dressed for the wake, a ceremony that involves a service and seeing the deceased one last time. It starts around midnight and goes on until daybreak—this one in particular ended up going until 3 a.m. Because of the shape of my leg, I decided not to go and rested instead.
The next morning, I woke to the sounds of voices—many voices. I went to the backyard and saw about twenty women cooking all sorts of dishes. I watched for a while and then they put me to work. I saw that some women were preparing the meat—fried fish and chicken mostly along with intestines and other meats that were meant for their soups. I also saw them making giant bowl after giant bowl of one of my favorite dishes in Ghana: Jollof Rice. Jollof Rice is a dish similar to (and thought to be the origin of) the dish called Spanish Rice in the United States. The women were pouring the sauce, which they had previously made, and then added rice and water to the mix. The giant bowls were on small outside ovens consisting of charcoal and at times rocks that they took from the backyard. My job was simple: fan the ovens. It was pretty easy, but it was much more work than we have when we use an oven in the United States. In the meantime, I got to spend time talking to all the women, which was really fun despite the language barriers (English is the official language in Ghana, but that just means that only officials speak it and only when they are at work. Anyone who has gone to school speaks it, but there are quite a few people who don’t know it.)
We made giant bowl after giant bowl of Jollof Rice, and after we finished one bowl it was dumped into a cooler and the bowl was washed so we could repeat the process. As we finished the rice, others had already started making the stew, made with fresh vegetables and lots and lots of vegetable oils, that we would serve with fufu and preparing the cassava to make fufu with. Fufu is made by boiling cassava and plantain and pounding it into a glutinous mass. It is served with a soup or stew and meat. Others boiled yam, a food similar to a potato that is served boiled and with meat and palava sauce (a sauce consisting pretty much of oils, vegetables, and sometimes meat. and still others cooked the plantain, a food very similar to a banana but less sweet that in its boiled form is eaten with the palava sauce as well.
Fufu being served with stew and meat
By the time all the other foods were finished, it was fufu-pounding time. Pounding fufu takes hours and is not for the weak at heart. It involves one person using a large thick stick with a wooden masher at the end to repeatedly pound on the cassava while another person continues to add more and more cassava, constantly putting their fingers in danger of total havoc. I have no idea how long it took them to pound as much fufu as they were making (enough for at least 100 people and probably more than that), but pounding fufu for one person usually takes about 15 minutes.
Each piece of cassava in the bowl gets pounded one at a time
I guess I should step back and say that all this food the women were making was for guests of the funeral—and it was more food than I have even seen at weddings that I have attended in the United States. In Ghana, when someone dies, people are expected to come and pay their respects—and usually they leave after having eaten and danced. In front of the house, there was a large sitting area set up where people, clad in traditional black and red African clothing to properly mourn the death of Auntie Dadzie, aged 86—people also wore black and white to celebrate her old age, something guests can do if the person who died was more than seventy. Various people were on hand to serve a variety of drinks filling two refrigerators to all the guests along with the food that we had slaved over all morning.
At about this time, we headed over to the other part of the funeral in a large outdoor area that included three large seating areas complete with canopies all facing a canopy under which the band was playing. In between all the canopies in a center area was a dance floor, at times aptly inhabited by numerous Ghanaians strutting their stuff, sometimes too much stuff for the many men who had simply had too much to drink.
When we arrived, people in t-shirts with the deceased women’s photo on the front and the words Demirefa Due (Respect is due) sprawled across the back. Some of them handed out small pieces of paper with Lawrence’s grandmother’s photo and information on it along with pins so guests could pin it on their bodies. In the center of one of the canopied seating areas was a donation table where guests could give back to those who planned the entire day and who had paid for the band, the food, the drinks, and the renting of the chairs and canopies among other things. I gave the equivalent of $5, and in exchange for my donation I received a keychain of the woman along with her information and when she died.
I couldn’t help but to thinking in the midst of all the chatting and planning that if Ghanaians could organize such a great party, they surely have what it takes to organize revolutionary change at great magnitudes—aren’t the two always related?
Despite my injury, the weekend was full of learning new words in new languages, learning to make new foods, learning to live with a family very different from my own, and learning to see a funeral as more than just goodbye. Next month, I will be going to another funeral (this time the funeral of a chief and one of my friend’s fathers—it is planned out so far in advance to allow ample time for people to prepare to come and attend the event, not to mention ample time for the family to save up enough money for the event)—and I am excited for the chance to learn more. In Ghana, funerals are more than just a funeral or a party or a gathering; it is Ghanaian culture. Ghanaians love to dance, party, and relax, they have a culture that is very hospitable and caring about others, and they strongly believe in taking care of their children. And once children are grown, they have the responsibility of taking care of their parents, even in death.
Dancing the day away
The next day was Sunday, and although I spent the day at home resting my leg some of the others had another event to man. After church, there was another celebration that lasted for many hours—the final in a weekend ode to a woman whom I’ve never met but whose family made sure I would never forget.
The Expectation of Innovation
Microcredit undoubtedly represents a creative and original response to poverty. But I think that somewhere along the way, the innovativeness of the idea seems to have translated into an expectation of novelty and ingenuity for all “small-scale entrepreneurs.” I was reminded of this recently while reading a report published by IBM that described microcredit recipients as “creative” and “entrepreneurial.” While I’m certainly no expert on the subject, my time in the field has reinforced my belief that microloans do not generally enable budding entrepreneurs to realize innovative business ideas. Although there’s always an exception to the rule, the loans seem to help ordinary individuals start or expand one-(wo)man enterprises that resemble many other businesses in the marketplace. I don’t believe that this fact diminishes the significance of the loans. Yet I do think that the common media portrayal of microfinance’s potential is out of line with the reality on the ground. I have to wonder if this gap between expectation and reality (as I see it, at least), will eventually hinder the microfinance movement.
Personally, I have to admit that the first time I looked on Kiva, I was a little disappointed. The opportunity to make a loan directly to another individual excited me, of course, but the nature of the projects seemed so provincial. Profile after profile showed conventional businesses with the loan purpose listed as “expanding her business” or “purchasing more goods for sale.” I had wanted to help someone who was doing something new and different. Something more than simply buying goods in bulk at reselling them for a small profit. Perhaps I’m all alone in this respect, but I suspect that many Kiva lenders have the same initial response. Working with CRAN this summer, however, I have had the opportunity to witness borrowers’ modest businesses firsthand, and to learn from them about the nature of work in the informal sector. It has been an eye-opening experience and has helped me to understand the importance of “purchasing more goods for sale.”
In my interviews with clients (most of whom are traders), I always ask how they got into their line of work. I hear two common choruses. Either they inherited the trade from a parent, or they observed the market, noticed a particular set of goods selling quickly, and decided to start selling it themselves. In doing the latter, they instinctively respond to market trends—which always impresses me, but there’s no apparent attempt to define a new niche for themselves or to offer creative solutions to conventional problems. Take the sale of bread, for instance. Generally speaking, there are 4 types of bread in Ghana: sugar bread, tea bread, butter bread, and brown bread (all of which are delicious). And on any given commercial street in Cape Coast, you’ll likely find one or two bread stands, two or three breakfast stands, and seven or more general stores, all selling some combination of these four breads. Why, I’ve wondered, if bread is so popular, does no one experiment with other types of bread? Perhaps a loaf with a crispier crust, a heavier dessert bread, or a good ole fashion banana bread? Why hasn’t CRAN helped a client open a banana bread stand, when all of the ingredients are so abundant?
I suspect that there are many explanations for this—and I’m interested in learning more about them—but I think that the risk involved in any entrepreneurial undertaking represents one major factor. Innovation seems to require that both the buyer and the seller have some breathing room in their expenses. Someone living at or below the poverty line can likely not afford to charter a new path in the bread market. If a poor baker invested all of her capital into an experimental batch of bread that flopped, the result could be disastrous for her and her family. With minimal savings and no official safety net, it could mean that her children go without much food or schooling indefinitely. Furthermore, if the start-up capital came from a microloan, then she’d be saddled with debt too. And from the buyer’s perspective, testing out a new kind of bread may seem risky and unnecessary. Why take a chance with the unfamiliar when a second loaf of bread cannot easily be bought, and when the conventional loaf fills her children’s stomachs just fine? Without the cushion of savings or disposable income, the price of innovation seems to increase significantly. Experimentation seems to become a luxury reserved for the well-off.
So, the risk of innovation may encourage poor individuals to open businesses whose success has already been demonstrated. Beyond the risk factor, however, I think that the nature of the informal sector also encourages the duplication—and the constant desire for a loan to “buy more goods for sale.” The informal economy in Cape Coast comes as close as I’ve ever seen to perfectly competitive market. The barriers to entry, for one, are almost non-existent. Although profits generally increase as one’s supply increases, someone can start a business with only enough inventory to fill a small basket. Such women carry the baskets on their heads and walk door to door searching for customers. With no red tape or minimum requirement of capital, hundred of sellers in the marketplace, and nearly identical products, everyone ends up a price taker. They charge the market price and not a pesewas higher; if they do, they’ll lose their business to the person half a block away selling the same thing. As a result, everyone ends up with slim profit margins. Yet expansion provides a straight-forward way of making more money. With a slim profit margin on each good sold, her profit slowly accumulates as she sells more of the same stuff. The basket carrier seeks to set up an informal stall; the stall owner wants to open a sturdy kiosk; and the kiosk saleswoman aspires to expand into a modest shop.
So that’s what I’ve seem in the field so far. Individuals don’t take out loans to start new, creative businesses. They access credit in order to enlarge their inventory. The traders want to buy more goods for sale; the fishmongers want to buy more fish; the bakers want to purchase more ingredients. It’s not glamorous but it seems to be the pragmatic reality of microfinance. Expecting more from the financial service may be dangerously wishful thinking.
First weeks in Cape Coast, Ghana
I have been in the country for two weeks now and I love it. Ghana is known for its warmth—both physical and relational—and thus far, it has lived up to its reputation. The Ghanaian handshake, with its snap upon release, seems to epitomize the general tone of life here. Friendly and laid-back. In the town of Cape Coast where I’m living, taxi drivers remember your name and children invite you to games of make-shift pool (using long sticks and marbles). Religion is also a very prominent part of life here. 70-80% of the population is Christian, and those of the faith display it proudly. Most vehicles boast bumper stickers that remind us to “Love Jesus!” or of “Jesus Christ: Someone You’ve Got to Meet!” The names of shops often contain biblical allusions as well. My favorites thus far are, “Man! Know Thyself Enterprises” and “In Christ’s Blood Beauty Salon.” Although it could easily be overwhelming for Non-Christians, I think there’s something refreshing about such an unabashed commitment to one’s faith.
I am here in Ghana for 11 weeks this summer working with an NGO called Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN). CRAN’s mission is to improve the livelihood of the rural and semi-urban poor, particularly women and children. CRAN started its microloan scheme in 1998. Since then its microfinance program has grown to encompass approximately 70% of its operations, and in the past two years, the organization has increased its number of active borrowers from one thousand to five thousand. In addition to extending microloans to small-scale entrepreneurs, CRAN also offers a nontraditional “susu” savings option. With this type of savings, participants in the voluntary program pledge to set aside a certain amount of their income per day, generally somewhere between one and five cedis (roughly one to five dollars). For a small monthly fee equal to a day’s worth of savings (such that clients pay in accordance with their means), a CRAN representative collects the money daily from the client’s residence. CRAN then stores the money safely in a bank account where it can be withdrawn upon the client’s request. Such a program helps clients build a personal safety net for rough times and, for those with loans, helps ensure that they can make repayments in a timely fashion.
Working with the Kiva coordinator, my main responsibility this summer will be to interview clients for the purpose of writing journal updates. Because of CRAN’s small size, however, I’ll have the opportunity to take part in several other projects, which I’m really excited about. At the end of July, CRAN will undergo a social impact assessment of its lending program. In preparation for this, we’re trying to conduct our own mini evaluation. I have been able to help with both the development and execution of this assessment, which has been really exciting. I believe that the extension of reliable and affordable credit to the poor undeniably meets a critical need that was long overlooked. The question, however, of whether it actually contains the potential to help alleviate poverty and empower women is still fiercely debated within the sector. The issue fascinates me, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to explore it with CRAN.
I want to end with a quote from a book I just finished reading. (I’d recommend it to all travelers in Africa, and particularly females.) It’s a quote that put into prose so perfectly what I have felt since I arrived in Ghana:
“In Africa, the boat leaves when it’s full. You might wait an hour; you might wait two weeks. If you spend that time tipping forward into the future, you sink. The best think to do is just to sit on the boat and look around at the other humans who are sitting there with you. You might discover that you like the view.”
- Somebody’s Heart is Burning, by Tanya Shaffer
To see all currently fundraising loans from CRAN on Kiva.org, please click here.
CRAN Social Development Projects
Along with its microfinance unit, CRAN also sponsors social development projects. CRAN has built 5 schools in Ghana and has provided a community with clean running water. I recently got an opportunity to visit a CRAN sponsored school in the Abaenu community. To get to the village a 4×4 vehicle is a must. Once you turn off the nicely paved road headed to Accra, you embark on what is only comparable to a roller-coaster ride. For about 3 miles the truck bounced up-and-down, sided-to-side and every other way imaginable. After we arrived at the existing school it was apparent how badly another school building was needed, not because the current school was outdated or needed structural improvements, but because of how incredibly overcrowded the classrooms were. A leader from the village came to the CRAN offices and spoke with Teye, the director of social development projects, about the need for a separate school building for the nursery and kindergarten. The kindergarten consists of 109 children and the nursery has 50 children. In total, 159 total children were sharing 2 small rooms.
That’s when CRAN stepped in and built a separate building for the 2 kindergarten classes and the nursery. However, CRAN didn’t do all the work. CRAN provided the materials and specialized labor needed to build a school house, but engaged the community in the building of it. By actively helping in the building of the school, the community members feel more attached to the project and also provide a cost effective labor force. CRAN was able to build the 4 classroom school house with a bathroom for about $18,000.
When I arrived at the school house in the Abaenu village, I was immediately greeted with a loud cheer by the kindergarten class. They quickly left the overcrowded classroom and swarmed me. Kids absolutely love having their picture taken and looking at the picture even more. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to do anything till I took their picture, I pulled my camera out to take the picture and the kids immediately organized themselves in neat rows. After I took the picture, I showed the kids their picture and they all went nuts. Soon afterward, I got the opportunity to talk to the teacher of the class, Rebecca Aidoo. Mrs. Aidoo is an extremely sweet woman and should be a certified saint for being able to teach her kindergarten class of 61 children. On top of keeping 61 kids in order, she also has to share a room with 50 other children in the nursery. Thankfully, the new kindergarten and nursery building is near completion and should be in use within a couple weeks.
Random experiences in Ghana
I’ve been in Ghana now for one month and I realized I’ve been slacking in keeping up my journal, so I’m posting several random experiences I’ve had so far.
On most days I go out with a loan officer to take pictures of clients who are requesting loans for their businesses or have already taken a loan and we go to follow-up on their progress. The first problem you encounter when trying to find someone is there are no street names or addresses whatsoever. We had to find 11 borrowers who were all located within one small segment of Cape Coast, but to find each person you have to go up to random people and ask if they know of the person you are asking for. Sometimes finding the borrowers is fast, but other times it feels like you are walking in circles. However, this experience has had a huge impact on me. When I’m by myself, I usually walk on the paved roads and rarely venture deep into the residential villages of Cape Coast. There’s a whole different side of poverty within these villages that most visitors never see. The conditions are absolutely terrible. No electricity, no running water, a make-shift open sewer system, and chickens and goats literally eating out of the sewers. Small houses holding entire families are little more than mud walls with tin roofs. Little kids are just walking around during the day and clearly not going to school, nor will they probably ever get the opportunity to do so. Most adults in these villages don’t speak English because they’ve never attended school and never had parents who spoke English to teach them, so the cycle continues. My hope is that these loans can enable parents to have sufficient income to send their children to school. It’s truly the only way to improve their child’s life.
One thing I still haven’t been able to adjust to is the driving. Cars and pedestrians are all packed together onto semi-paved and unpaved roads. I’ve walked miles and miles through Cape Coast and surrounding villages and towns and have yet see anything that resembles a side-walk. This situation is intensified as both cars and pedestrians always feel they have the right-of-way. An employee at CRAN drives me and others to various destinations across the city and I’m always bracing myself, thinking a huge collision is only a turn away. I haven’t decided what’s worse, driving and thinking your going to clip a group of girls walking to school or actually walking and thinking your about to be hit by the next speeding taxi. No one else seems to even notice the cars missing them by mere inches. Girls and women carry various goods on their head don’t even blink an eye as a car will wail it’s horn and swerve at the last second to avoid clipping the person. Besides being the only white man for miles, I feel a little out of place because I’m constantly looking over my shoulder and stopping for cars and people to pass, so I’m not hit by the taxi that’s driving 30 miles per hour on a small dirt road.
My favorite experience in Ghana so far has been all the little kids and babies shouting “Obroni, Obroni” when I walk by. Obroni means white person or foreigner but has a positive connotation to it (at least that’s what I’m told). When walking up and down the streets little kids run up with huge smiles, touch your hand and sing “Obroni, Obroni…how are you? I am fine!!”. It’s inspiring to see these little kids living in such horrible conditions still being so upbeat about life and enjoying even the small events. When I first got to Ghana only the little kids would acknowledge me and I’d get blank stares from adults, but after a few days I realized I’m the stranger and should be the one to initiate the acknowledgement. So, now I just smile and wave at people working in their small shops and they break-out in enormous smiles, wave back and sometimes strike up a conversation.
The only talk in Ghana from late January to early February was the Africa Cup of Nations being hosted by Ghana. It’s basically the World Cup for Africa. If religion is what Ghanaians are most passionate about, soccer is a very close 2nd. I watched the games at my old hotel with either people from work, other Western visitors, or a few people I’ve met locally. The entire country was electric everyday that Ghana played a match. After a Ghanaian goal, every single person in the city would flood out into the streets, dance music would start blaring and there’d be a mini-party for about 5 minutes then everybody would return and continue watching the game. After a big victory, people would be out celebrating till 1-2 in the morning. After Ghana beat Nigeria to advance to the semi-finals, my friend came to my hotel and asked if I wanted to go to the middle of town and see the real party. I couldn’t imagine it would be any different than what was going on in front of the hotel but I went with anyway. When we got the center of Cape Coast, there were thousands of people jammed into the streets with reggae music blaring at every street corner. It was really a sight to see. The next day my co-worker, Eddie, asked if people were this passionate about sports in the US. I thought for awhile and told him the only way I could see this excitement and passion being matched would be if the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in game 7 with a walk-off homerun (I’m from Chicago).
I did a lot of research and talked to many many people before traveling to Ghana, but by far the best piece of advice I received before going to Ghana came from a former Kiva Fellow and current Kiva staff member. He said, in many parts of Africa, it’s not uncommon for a male to hold hands for an extended period of time (15-30 seconds) with another male after a handshake if he views you as a friend. THANK GOD I knew this beforehand. 15-30 seconds may not sound like a long time, but try holding hands with another male while walking through a crowded market for 20 seconds…it feels like an eternity.
Planet Rating
Things at CRAN have been pretty hectic the past couple weeks. At the end of February, CRAN is having an international rating done. This basically announces to the entire microfinance world how well CRAN is run as a MFI. A good rating could mean new sources of capital as well as world-wide acknowledgement of CRAN as well as one of the top MFIs in Ghana. However, a bad rating would be a set back for the organization and would dampen spirits within the organization. All CRAN employees have been working extra hard the past several weeks to ensure they do get a positive rating. We recently had a staff meeting to go over what exactly the rating will cover. Some of the areas of emphasis are one’s you’d never even think of, but this rating will help to tie-down any loose ends and make CRAN really focus on every minute detail within the organization. How is money transferred to borrowers in the safest and most reliable manner? If a branch unit is in a remote area, how can it send information back to the main office on a daily basis if there is no internet connection and no cost effective means to drive it to the office? Without taking collateral from borrowers, what’s the best way to minimize loan defaults and late payments? These are just a few of the questions, in addition to everyday business; CRAN is taking on to ensure they achieve a high rating.
1st week in Ghana
My name is Dan Strack and for the next 2 months I will be living in Cape Coast, Ghana and working with the Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN).
CRAN has 7 branches located throughout the central region of Ghana with its main office in Cape Coast. Cape Coast is a very poor area with some of the kindest people I’ve ever encountered. The first thing you notice in Ghana and especially Cape Coast, is how extremely religious everyone is. Many road-side businesses have names such as “God is Great: Hair Salon” or “Jesus is the Savior: Food Stand”. Cars, buses, telephone poles, you name it, have similar signs.
The staff at CRAN is extremely grateful for Kiva and is doing everything they can to run a smooth partnership. Every time I get a free moment at the office to sit down and do some writing, someone will come up and ask if I would like to go see some aspect of CRAN. I went with Abraham, who’s in charge of posting profiles and journals on Kiva, to the 4 branch offices located in Cape Coast. Each branch is strategically located so it can maximize its client base. One office is located directly across from a large auto repair yard, so the dozens of individual entrepreneurs who work there can get access to the capital they need. Two more offices are located right by fishing markets so all the fishermen can easily take out loans and repay them. The last office is in the middle of town and primarily serves those who run small road-side businesses.
Yesterday I was taken to a training session for 1st time borrowers. CRAN makes all new borrowers go through a 5 week training period, where they attend 1 class a week for one hour and go over basic finance principles and discuss individually how much they should take out for a loan. Many times after going through this training, the loan officer will determine that the entrepreneur does not need the amount of money they are requesting so the amount loaned out will be reduced to cut out excessive capital which would increase the burden on the borrower. After being introduced to the 7 borrowers in the group, I got to ask a few questions. After a few basic questions I asked the group, “What would you change about microfinance as a whole?” This caused everyone in the group to laugh and caused a bit of uneasiness because they didn’t want to upset the loan officer. One lady raised her hand and said she thought the groups should be smaller, instead of having to have 10 borrowers apply for the loan together, it should be smaller, around 5-7. CRAN (as most MFIs) require borrowers to apply for loans in groups so each member is responsible for everyone else in the group to improve repayment rates. After this one lady broke the ice, a whole flood of suggestions came forward from the borrowers about how to improve the overall microfinance process. I don’t know if the loan officer was as happy about this as I was, but I was absolutely thrilled to receive this kind of advice. Microfinance is still very new and isn’t a perfect system, so who better to get advice from than the people who depend on it.
This morning as I stopped at a road-side shop to buy a couple bananas for breakfast, an older gentleman introduced himself to me and asked what I was doing in Cape Coast. I told him I was working with the Christian Rural Aid Network just up the street. He wasn’t familiar with the organization, so he asked what kind of business they were. I responded that it’s a microfinance institution and that I will be working there for the next 2 months. His eyes opened in curiosity and asked if I was with Kiva. I was completely shocked he knew of Kiva and not the MFI just up the road. I replied that I was and he said, “Oh my!! I thought they were only working in East Africa!!” I told him that Kiva has recently experience tremendous growth and have expanded to new areas and actually have 2 MFIs in Ghana. He then thanked me for my time and walked down the street to his work. I didn’t have time to ask him where he heard of Kiva, but if an ordinary local man in Cape Coast, Ghana has heard of Kiva; they have to be doing something right.
