HKL promotion
15 November 2008
It has passed 1 month since I started work with Hattha Kaksekar Limited(HKL) in Cambodia.
I’d like to post how HKL works, how the staffs are etc because I hope many people know more and feel something familiar with the MFI.
Firstly let me describe one day in HKL. The office hour is 7:30 a.m. To 4:30.p.m. It’s 1 hour lunch time from 12:00. I was so surprised that they start to work so early! HKL has about 60 staffs and most of them are under 30 years old except management team.
Their uniform is something unique. They wear white shirts and blue one by rotation. If they wear wrong color shirts, they should pay penalty $1! When I visited the royal palace, a guide said Khmer lady servant at the royal palace used to wear 7 different color of traditional cloths for a week in past day. They still keep traditional habit in public place now. I realized people here is well disciplined.
Most of the staffs come to office by motorcycle. Motorcycle is the most popular transportation here. Arriving the office, firstly they clock in. When they go to lunch, coming back from lunch and leave the office, they record the time as well.
Although they do extra work, their salary don’t change unfortunately. They normally leave the office around 5:00-6:00 p.m. Some of the staffs study to get their MBA after working hour. HKL staffs are well time-managed and aspiring for their future.
Furthermore, HKL’s staffs are very active and full of young power.
Especially, a kiva coordinator, ChanRy is earnest guy and often works overtime even though only he should do it in his section. He has worked for HKL for 1 year and half and has been in charge of kiva for 8 month. HKL. I made a video interview with him. But I couldn’t update on the web unfortunately. I’d like to try it another time. You can see him in the picture below with a HKL borrower.
He visit borrowers with Kiva Fellow and translate from Khmer to English, post profiles, communicate with Kiva as window person etc. He is very busy all the time. Therefore HKL now has plan to have another kiva coordinator in some branch next year.
Addition to him, there are many friendly staffs in HKL. They go to lunch together every day and talk openly. 7-8 staffs sit on round table and share dishes. Boss and junior staffs all together. Often joking, asking advise for projects, and giving advise.
We
After lunch, they go back to office directly and enjoy chatting, joking and reading newspaper. They love talking and joking. They teach me Khmer and try to learn Japanese. When I learn Khmer number, they always laugh at my poor pronunciation. When they learn Japanese, they always laugh at each other as well. Very small things become very funny here. Around 3-4 p.m. Some young staff often start humming or listen music. They need some break time before a day.
One more story about them, one day afternoon, we heard very big sound suddenly. I wondered what happened there and found a desk of one staff tumbled down due to a heavy desk top computer. But we exactly didn’t know why it happened. So everyone laughed very much. It’s so funny for us the desk suddenly got broken! And then they were joking ‘God says we don’t have to work today’. Any accident become funny story here. People here are really cheerful and jolly. Therefore I enjoy my life here very much even though I don’t understand Khmer very well.
In terms of building, there are few office building in Phnom Penh. Therefore HKL rents a big house and renovate it into office.you can see the picture below.
It means it’s hard to find a room you want to go due to complicated room layout; especially rest room! Female should knock the door and enter into accounting room to go to lady’s rest room due to big rooms with rest room for each in this house. So I feel embarrassed to use rest room every time feeling other staffs’ eyes. In addition, we go pass through a balcony to go to a operational manager’s room. In the beginning, it seemed a little strange for me. But this style is quite normal in Cambodia. There is a kitchen and a dining hall as well. Sometimes a staff makes a Khmer dessert for other staffs. This is the time we have a break for a while and enjoy chatting with sweets. In entrance hall, there is a small mausoleum for wishing success and prosperity. It shows Cambodian culture is affected by Chinese culture very much.
A few weeks ago, HKL announced new staff recruiting on a board near the entrance gate. You can see many people checking the conditions of employment in the picture.
And then HKL has received more than 3,000 applications for 120 positions so far!! Many people still bring application forms and CVs every day. HKL’s achieved to grow rapidly in recent years. It has nine branch offices and 29 sub branch offices now and has plan to set up 2-3 branches in southwest areas in Cambodia next year. HKL is aggressively expanding and strongly eager to become a bank in Cambodia. It is required to increase capital to apply bank license and it will need some years, they estimate. To achieve their goal, HKL is eager to have more lender and to increase kiva loan.
I hope lenders, MFIs and borrowers more deeply understand and communicate each other. So let me keep posting HKL news. On the other hand, I tell lenders information on Kiva to borrowers when I have interview. Borrowers are interested in lender’s job and message. And they says ‘ Thank you so much for every lenders and we wish lenders happiness and success as well!’ ‘The more understandings, the more interests each other. It will bring lenders, MFI, and the borrowers’ growth and happiness in the long term, I believe.
Beautiful Cambodia
25 July 2008
I’m regularly taken aback by the beauty that I witness all over Cambodia. However, I am hesitant to write this blog for one reason: I could never fully recount the beauty of the landscape, people, and culture, neither through words nor photographs. Life in Cambodia has been surprisingly humbling and incredibly rewarding, so I hope that I can convey at least a glimmer of my experiences of the country. I’ll do my best to highlight a few of the aspects of Cambodian life and culture which I most appreciate.
Cultural Persona: Pride, cheer, concord – these elements are pervasive in Cambodian culture. Perhaps it’s a result of the past national turmoil, which forced strangers to band together as family for the purpose of survival. Perhaps it’s because the culture is rooted in Buddhist influence, and therefore traditionally devoid of consumerism, deceitfulness or cynicism. Perhaps I shouldn’t try so hard to explain why, but rather appreciate it for what it is.
Three cousins. They stick together, so don't try to mess with them!
Resourcefulness: By necessity, Cambodian people have had to develop an extremely opportunistic and enterprising way of life. It is rare to see a resource go wasted, whether that resource is food, raw material, machine, or manpower.
Driving through Phnom Penh I saw this truck loaded to the max with metal brackets AND people
Tradition: Despite the difficult modern history of Cambodia, including national devastation by the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia has maintained strong cultural traditions. Out in the countryside you can find communities living in the same manner in which they lived before the dawn of motorized transportation, electronics, and other modern comforts. Even in the urban centers, many people still live in close accordance to Buddhist, Muslim or other traditional principles.
A Family business in Kampong Chhnang - the daughters are already expert at pottery
Cuisine: An often overlooked aspect of Cambodia is the delicious Khmer cuisine. Cambodian dishes require natural ingredients and items from the surrounding landscape, and often incorporate animal parts or creatures often overlooked by Western culture. If you can overcome your preconceptions, you can enjoy the cuisine like the Khmer people do.
An array of Khmer dishes for sale at the local market
History: There is no more obvious way to illustrate the spectacular history of Cambodia, than with one of the many magnificent temples at Angkor. The complex of ancient temples at Angkor Wat is the kind of place that you have to visit to fully appreciate, but the grandeur of the temples is clear in any picture, nonetheless.
Ta Prohm Temple, near Angkor Wat
Sometimes life here feels surreal to me, as if I am on the set of a movie (the temple of Ta Prohm near Angkor Wat was, in fact, a set location for the first Tomb Raider movie). Often, It’s not until I skim through my photographs that I realize how uniquely beautiful are the people and their country.
Click here to see all loans from HKL that are currently fundraising on Kiva
America! Oh, Yeah!
10 July 2008
I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t experience it myself, but Cambodia is a great place to celebrate American Independence Day. If you don’t believe me, I have the pictures to prove it!
This weekend was jam packed with, among other things, a fireworks show on the evening of the 4th and a large celebration at the US embassy in the capital city of Phnom Penh. The event included the typical American fare of burgers, hot dogs, donuts and beer, and enough American activities to make me feel like I was at home again.
As soon as I arrived, I began stuffing my face with good old fashioned American food – a hamburger, cake, some soda – and then I found out about the hot dog eating contest! The Kiva fellows made a (strong?) showing, with two [losing] contestants. I’ve always figured that my never-ending appetite would come in handy in an eating contest, but until now I never knew that everything tastes gross in the middle of an eating contest. I guess it didn’t exactly help that I was full of food going in, and couldn’t stop cracking up during the competition.
An action shot of the competition: The contestant on the right was the winner, as you might guess from his concentration... As for the two Kiva Fellow contestants, concentration isn't our forte
After the hot dog eating contest we watched a hilarious clown show that was put on by Sopana Phom, a traditional Cambodian theater group. It was complete with a healthy dose of slapstick humor, juggling, and fart jokes – sounds American enough for me. Yes, I think I actually enjoyed this one more than the kids. No, I’m not ashamed of myself.
Clown Show by Sovanna Phum
The night came to a close as everyone rocked out to a military band. They played an impressive medley of classic and modern rock and had the whole audience dancing in no time. Everyone’s favorite member of the band was the trombone player, whose performance style could only be described as “agro.”
The Armed Forces meets Rock and Roll
All in all, it was a great weekend. I have always taken for granted my Country and all of the wonderful things that it has to offer. And although I do love living and working in Cambodia, now that I am experiencing life in a developing country, thousands of miles away from the place I call home, I finally realize how fortunate I am to be an American.
'Cause nothing says "I love my Country" like Rock Hands and flag cake
Photos from Kampong Cham
22 April 2008
Last month I had the chance to shadow a couple HKL credit officers at the Kampong Cham branch, an hour and a half northeast of Phnom Penh. Since my responsibilities here in Cambodia are mainly training and implementing the Kiva process rather than write journals, I was excited to get out and meet the people who make microfinance happen. I have nothing but the highest respect for Mr. Virak and Mr. Vo, who ride around the hot, dusty countryside four days a week helping prospective clients process loan applications. And they manage to look sharp while they’re at it, which is a challenge with a heat index around 105. Unfortunately, I lost my little notebook along the way, so all I have are the photos I took.
The first client we met. At first I thought all this was trash, but it turns out she operates a recycling business.
This man repairs and sells used motorbikes.
The proud recipient of an HKL loan for farming tools. Mr. Virak on the right.
Pulling the correct file…
Checking the name…
…and climbing the stairs.
Discussing the provisions of their loan. This process can take anywhere from 10 minutes to a half hour.
Mr. Virak tells a joke in Khmer.
Loan documents are always signed using the client’s right thumbprint.
Credit officers like Mr. Virak use motos to visit clients because roads in rural Cambodia are usually little more than rutted dirt paths.
A barang with a camera is a strange sight in these villages.
Sometimes the loan documentation process can be a little tedious, especially in the stifling heat.
This entrepreneur was proud of the bicycle she purchased with her HKL loan. She uses it to collect cans, bottles and other recyclables around her village. She said the investment has noticeably increased her income.
She was in such a friendly mood that she wanted me to take a photo of her whole family.
The last clients of the long day.
Many thanks to Mr. Virak and Mr. Vo for showing me what they do.
General Assembly
26 March 2008
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending Hattha Kaksekar’s annual General Assembly, held at Sihanoukville, Cambodia’s resort town. When general manager Mr. Tong invited me I initially thought it was going to just a board meeting with a day at the beach thrown in for fun. Turns out I was very wrong. HKL is a large MFI. Everyone in the organization was invited, from the top managers and directors to security guards and janitors. Over 280 people attended, descending on Sihanoukville from nine HKL branches all over Cambodia. I hitched a ride on the bus chartered by the head office. Spirits were high as we left Phnom Penh, despite temperatures hovering around 100 in the packed bus. Everyone was excited for General Assembly, which is a highly anticipated event among HKL staff. It’s a chance to reconnect with friends and co-workers from other branches, some of whom they get to see only once a year. It was a festive five-hour drive down National Route 4 to the coast. Nonstop karaoke, drums, clapping, jokes, laughter. There were several leisurely rest stops along the way where we got out to stretch and sample questionable street vendor fare. As we passed through the Elephant Mountains, half the bus emptied at a roadside Buddhist shrine to light incense and make offerings for a safe journey. This is a must on Cambodian highways, where traffic laws are non-existent and safety consists of honking your horn as you pass on blind turns. Fortunately, we had a veteran driver.
HKL had practically rented out the entire Golden Sea Hotel for the occasion. The next day, everyone dressed in their finest business outfits. Most staff wore starched blue shirts with pressed pants or skirts, while management wore dark suits. I was hopelessly underdressed, but a tucked-in collared shirt goes a long way and they seemed to cut me some slack. Things started promptly at 7:30 with seven hours of power point presentations and speeches in Khmer. I sat up front with the management team trying to follow along, but could only comprehend numbers and whatever limited translations my seatmates whispered to me. 2007 had been the “year of valentine” for HKL, which I gathered meant that everyone was supposed to treat each other with love and respect. Mr. Tong declared 2008 to be the “year of happiness and prosperity.” Seven hours of business presentations in a foreign language was a bit of a challenge, but it was interesting to get a feel for the overall structure of HKL and its goals for the future.
The most anticipated event of the weekend was the banquet. Steaming mounds of rice topped with seasoned fish, mysterious crustaceans and mollusks caught that morning from the Gulf of Thailand and fresh fruit for dessert. And, of course, endless pitchers of Angkor beer. Cambodians love Angkor, which they drink with huge chunks of ice. Being unaccustomed to this practice, I politely declined because the beer was already ice cold. This turned out to be a mistake as the night wore on. Cambodians also love toasting, clinking glasses every minute or so. Having watered-down beer enables you to endure many toasts, which is essential because this banquet was especially large and long. Just about every credit officer from all nine branches wandered over to my table that night to introduce themselves and offer a toast. Trying to remember a single Cambodian name is hard enough for me, let alone over 250, but it was great to meet the faces behind the business profiles I’ve been editing.
After dinner various speeches and pronouncements were made. The Kampong Cham branch performed a skit called “Six Ways to Make People Like You” which included cross-dressing and riotous laughter. Then a DJ played HKL’s official song (yes, they have a song), a distressingly catchy piece of Cambodian pop written, composed, and sung by members of the internal auditing team. I had this song stuck in my head the rest of the trip. Once the music started everyone got up for traditional Khmer dancing. To me, this appeared to consist of walking counter-clockwise around a table with undulating hands and arms. Didn’t look too tough. I gave it a shot, much to everyone’s delight. I soon discovered that the moves were actually very specific and complex. Trying to save me from further embarrassment, a few guys asked me to show them some “hip-hop moves.” I don’t have anything remotely resembling hip-hop moves, but I indulged them with something vague and mostly awkward. The party ended around midnight, which is late a country where most people are in bed by 9:30.
The next day was a free day. The Banteay Meanchey branch challenged the Phnom Penh branch to a soccer match and won decisively 11-3. I couldn’t play because of a smashed toe, and my moral support evidently didn’t count for much. The rest of the day I hung out with the guys from the Stoung branch, playing beach games and swimming in the warm water. Mostly they sat in the shade playing cards and drinking Angkor. Vendors hawked all sorts of stuff, from swim trunks and sea-shell trinkets to raw peanuts and grilled squid.
Lunch and dinner was banquet-style with more seafood, but nowhere near as festive as last night. Everyone was up by 5:30 the next morning for the ride back to Phnom Penh. Back to work.
