Kiva HQ was electric last month as the newest class of Kiva Fellows gathered for an intensive five-day training course. Over the next several weeks, they’ll split up among 21 countries where Kiva loans are made. While there, they’ll spend the next four months working closely with our field partners and meeting with borrowers to grow and strengthen the Kiva lending experience.

Prior to arriving for training, Kiva gets to know the KF17 trainees through their bios

Kiva received 165 applicants for the class’ 21 placements, and everyone at HQ was very excited to meet these exceptional people in person.

“It’s humbling to meet this talented group of individuals who are willing to do so much to support Kiva’s mission,” says Kiva President Premal Shah.

In one whirlwind week, a total of 29 Kiva staff delivered presentations on their areas of specialty and prepared the Fellows for the challenges they will face in the field. At the same time, each of the fellows got a crash course on the Kiva partner they will be working with to make lending even easier and more rewarding for lenders and borrowers alike.

As much as the Fellows are learning, this training week always ends up being a two-way street. As Premal notes, “Even before their time in the field, the fellows inspire and challenge us while they are training to continue to innovate and deepen Kiva’s impact.”

Matt Flannery, Co-founder and CEO, and Premal Shah, President of Kiva, speaking with the trainees

Following in the footsteps of 407 past Kiva Fellows, KF17 will play a critical role in expanding Kiva’s global reach and ensuring the integrity of the Kiva lending experience. Each individual in the class will serve with one or more of Kiva’s field partners in order to strengthen relationships, build capacity and gather insights, pictures and stories from the field.

KF17 trainees (from left) Jon Hiebert, Isabel Balderrama, Nessa French, and Micaela Browning prepare for the field

The Fellows will contribute their incredible energy and diverse professional skills to Kiva as self-funded volunteers. They will travel thousands of miles, immerse themselves in unfamiliar cultures, and overcome challenges for the opportunity to further Kiva’s work.

Members of KF17 take their place on the map

We’d like to congratulate the amazing 17^th class of Kiva Fellows and wish them the best of luck in the field over the next several months. We can’t wait to learn even more from their experiences.

We proudly announce the 17th class of Kiva Fellows (KF17)!

• Adria Orr – South Pacific Business Development, Samoa
• Alex Connelly – Colfuturo, Colombia
• Ben Schelling – Arvand, Tajikistan
• Carrie Nguyen – Asociacion Arariwa, Peru
• David Gorgani – ASPIRE, Dominican Republic
• David Suk – CAURIE, Senegal
• Devon Fisher – Milango, Kenya
• Heather Sullivan – VisionFund Indonesia
• Isabel Balderrama – FODEMI, Ecuador
• Jamie Greenthal – CEVI, Philippines
• Jen Truong – MAXIMA, Cambodia
• Jon Hiebert – XacBank, Mongolia
• Kiyomi Beach – Huatusco, Mexico
• Micaela Browning – Hluvuku, Mozambique
• Mike Slattery – WAGES, Togo
• Natalie Sherman – ACEP, Cameroon
• Nessa French – KADET and Strathmore University, Kenya
• Philip Issa – Ryada, Palestine
• Rebecca Vo – SEDA. Vietnam
• Ryan Cummings – BRAC Liberia
• Santiago Cortes – Prisma, Honduras

And an extra special thanks to the following fellows who will be returning for a 2nd placement!

• Abhinab Basnyat – NUBL, Nepal
• Allison Moomey – Finadev, Benin
• Chris Paci – VisionFund AzerCredit, Azerbaijan
• Emmanuel von Arx – FRAC, Mexico
• Kim Strathearn – Maya, Turkey
• Whitney Webb – VFC, Rwanda

To learn more about the Kiva Fellows Program, please visit our information page . We are currently accepting applications for the 18th class of Kiva Fellows who will begin their fellowships in June 2012. Apply today!

Although you will find many familiar fast food restaurants in Turkey, I have never understood why they are popular.  Turkish food is just too darn good. When I first started living in Turkey in 1998, there was very little western fast food, very little packaged junk food, and very little prepared foods (i.e. bottled sauces, frozen vegetable, mixes and other packaged foods).  I used to bring back lots of food items when I visited my family once a year.  Now I only bring back chili powder for when I occasionally make tacos (don’t have to bring tortillas back anymore, Turkey now grows avocados, and I substitute fresh yogurt for sour cream).

Gigantic Lay's billboard

Fast food glore

The Turkish kitchen is based on neighborhood produce markets.  Every district in Istanbul has a weekly market.  Think local, fresh and in season.  I live in Besiktaş and ours is on Saturday and is even named the Cumartesi Pazaari (Saturday Market). Of course these weekly markets have more than just produce.  You can find olives, nuts, dried fruit, cheese, eggs, hot or sweet red pepper paste and tomato paste, clothes, shoes, kitchen wares, pretty much whatever you might need.

Shoes

Produce

Anchovies

Dried fruit

If you are not familiar with Ottoman classic dishes, rest assured they are delicious. They were developed to please the palate of the Sultans.  One dish is even named Sultan’s Delight.  At the height of the Ottoman Empire, it is said there were 1,300 kitchen staff housed in Topkapi Palace.  Hundreds of chefs cooked up 10,000 meals a day, plus meals that were sent out as royal favors to important palace officials.  The chefs specialized in different categories of dishes such as soups, pilafs, kebabs, vegetables, fish, fowl, breads, pastries, candy and helva, syrups and jams, and beverages.  Now if you are cooking 10,000 + meals a day, you need the proper equipment!

The zırh, a must have kıtchen tool!

For the last two winters I have substituted for a friend that has a small restaurant and cooking school in Sultan Ahmet.  My friend trained me on the menus and I facilitate the two and a half hour cooking class.  The chef has limited English but is amazing.  I tease him about being a kitchen magician because none of the students have never burned or otherwise ruined the meal we were preparing.  After our lesson, we sit down to eat our impressive five course meal masterpiece.  Much of what we prepare are Ottoman classics.  Some of my favorites are Imam Bayildi, Karniyarik, Sekerpare, Sultan Delight and Etli Yaprak Dolmasi.  See this post for some unusually named Turkish dishes.

Ezogelın Çorbası / Red Lentil and Bulgar Soup with Mint and Red Pepper

Imam Bayildi (The Iman Fainted) / Eggplant Braised in Olive Oil with Onions, Garlic and Herbs

Kabak Mücveri / Zucchini Pancakes with White Cheese and Herbs, served with Garlic Yogurt

Etli Yaprak Dolmasi / Vine leaves stuffed with Minced Meat, Rice, and Herbs with tomatoes

Şekerpare / Syrupy Sponge Cakes with Hazelnuts

And of course no meal is complete with out Çay (tea) or Turkish Coffee.

Gather the Ingredients

Stir, Stir and Stir!

Don't let the coffee boil over

Ready!

Once in a while I get a craving for liver so recently I tried a little restaurant in my neighborhood called Can Ciger.  It is one of the few in Istanbul that serves up Edirne style liver. Edirne, the second Ottoman Capital (first was Bursa and third was Istanbul), is famous for its style of liver and I heard that many Turks have been known to take a road trip to Edirne just for this dish. The secret to good liver is simple but requires very fresh cow liver that is sliced very thin in about bit size pieces and then coated with flour and deep-fried until crispy.  The temperature of the oil is important to the success of the dish so the fry-master (Edirne-born of course) pays a lot of attention to the flame when he is frying up a customer’s order.  The nuggets are served with raw onion and a few slices of tomato and a hot pepper that has also been deep-fried.  The thinly sliced fried liver does not resemble any of my childhood memories that are associated with livery tasting liver.  Turks really know how to prepare liver as I also once in a while seek out other places to eat small pieces of liver cooked on skewers and Albanian-style liver.

Edirne style liver and ayran

Çay

Edirne Fry-Master

In the time I have lived here, I have discovered that Turkish people do not suffer bad food lightly and a restaurant that does not serve good food only lasts in the tourists areas.  Eating out with family and friends, like in many other cultures, is important and meals can last for hours.  There is good food to be found in Istanbul and all over Turkey on just about any budget.  And no event (trips, picnics, etc.) is ever a total disaster if the food was good.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Maya has several entrepreneurs with food related businesses.  Hayriye has a cafeteria and work has been going so well that she has just recently paid of her loan early.  See Hayriye’s loan updates tab on her profile page; Sevinc is making custom cakes and cookies and delighting her customers with her artistic flair; Gulcan is catering lunch to her husband’s textile workers and wants to expand to other workshops in the area; Lutfiye took some cooking classes and now has a breakfast restaurant, is expanding her menu and looking for a bigger location; and Ozlem recently paid off her loan that enabled her to finishing her master chef’s course.  She wants to open her own bakery in the future but was delighted when her children started taking their lessons more seriously and started studying harder after they saw the time she spent on her own lessons.

I am happy to say that I will be extending to the next Kiva Fellows Class 17, continuing with Maya in Turkey,  and I am again substituting for my friend at her restaurant and cooking school this winter.  If you have not tried that Turkish restaurant around the corner or across town, I highly recommend you give it a try.  Afyet Olsun!

Visit these blog posts for more on Maya and Turkey:

Home to a New Adventure: Hoş Geldiniz Maya!

If It Is Thursday, It Must Be Sakarya + What is Bohça?

If it is Tuesday it must be Izmit +more of my favorite borrowers + buyurun agabey

Stuff Kiva Fellows Like #10-17

55 Tips from Kiva Fellows

Kimberly Strathearn is a KF 16 serving in Istanbul with Maya. Kiva’s new Field Partner in Turkey. To learn more about Maya and their clients, please visit their Partner Page, join our newly created Friends of Maya Lending Team, or make a loan to one of their amazing clients.  Looking for that prefect Forget Me Not gift?  Send your loved ones some Kiva Love with a  Kiva Card.

Enter BRAC. Four years ago, BRAC Uganda began to address some of these problems by implementing what they call the Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescence Program (ELA Program). The program is designed specifically “to improve the quality of the life of vulnerable adolescents by organizing them, creating spaces of their own and helping them develop a set of skills so that they can live and grow as confident, empowered and self reliant individuals contributing to change in their own families and communities.”

Because it is set up to achieve so many ambitious goals, the ELA program can seem fairly complex at first glance. In this blog post, I want to outline how the program is organized and talk a little bit about some of the social components of the ELA clubs. And in the next blog post, I’ll talk more about the finance components of the ELA program and about the impact of the program overall.

General Organization of ELA

Meet Barbara. She works extremely hard to train ELA staff and to develop materials for the program. She has also been with the ELA program from the beginning and has an excellent grasp on how the program functions and on how far it has come. In the video below, I asked her about what she’s currently working on and about some of the major changes she has seen in the program over the years. Check it out:

As Barbara said in the video, the ELA program has expanded significantly in the past few years and as a result, has become much more decentralized. A colleague at BRAC once joked with me: “anyone who says they understand everything that’s going on with the organization is crazy.” Yet somehow, the program functions with uncanny efficiency.

ELA Management

Each ELA girl is a member of a local club, which is organized and managed by a mentor. There are currently a total 785 clubs, which are located all across Uganda. In general, clusters of about 10-15 clubs are linked to Branch Offices based on proximity. Each branch office has a Project Assistant who is responsible for supervising all of the clubs associated with the branch and for helping the clubs to strengthen their relationships with surrounding communities. The Project Assistants report directly to the Area Coordinators, who are responsible for overseeing a handful of Branch Offices in a specific district. Area Coordinators report to Regional Coordinators, who then report to the Uganda Program Manager. The program manager is responsible for overseeing all big-picture aspects of the program and is stationed mainly at the BRAC Country Office in Kampala.

Microfinance Staff

The ELA microfinance, which is recent addition to the ELA program, requires some additional staff members. At the branch level, there are Credit Officers, who are tasked with overseeing all the financial components of the program. ELA microfinance also has its own set of Area Coordinators, who are responsible for managing microfinance at multiple branches and must be present at all loan disbursements. The microfinance Area Coordinators also report to the Regional Managers and to the Program Manager. Every month, all of the Area Coordinators meet with the Program Manager at the Country Office to review the performance of their clubs and to discuss how to improve the program.

Club Houses  

The space used for the program consists mainly of extensions of community member’s houses, or of  public buildings rented by BRAC from local governments. This is the main space where club members and mentors meet six afternoons per week. The clubs also use community sports fields for certain athletic activities.

How to Join

The requirements to join a club aren’t strict at all. Any girl between 13 and 21 years old, who is a permanent citizen of Uganda and who can pay the 2,000 UGX (~$0.80) admission fee can join. All she really has to do is approach the local club’s mentor and ask.

The Social Components of ELA Clubs

Community Participation

One thing that is emphasized over and over again when discussing the ELA program with BRAC management is community involvement. From what I was able to gather, this happens in mainly two ways. The first way is called a mothers forum. Once, every two weeks or so, the Project Assistant from the branch will get together with the mothers of club members to discuss the club programs and things that the mothers can do to help empower their daughters. Another way that the community is involved with ELA clubs is through community leaders’ workshops. These are events where prominent female figures from the community visit a club to talk to the girls about sexual health, life challenges or a host of other topics.

Life Skills Based Education

The ELA program also provides girls with resources to learn more about life challenges and how to overcome them. The clubs focus on a wide range of topics including reproductive health, menstruation, familial and community responsibility, leadership, bride price, early pregnancy, STIs, family planning and rape. Mentors will normally focus on one aspect of one of these topics every day, and occasionally guest speakers will come to the clubs to give presentations to the girls. BRAC has also published books on each of these topics consisting of general advice and collections of stories from the lives of ELA girls.

Just below is a kind of introductory story from BRAC’s book on family planning. It’s called “Tough Times,” and is mainly about a young, 20-year-old woman named Stella and her struggle through her second pregnancy. It emphasizes the importance of leaving time between births.

Last year, in 2009, I got married to Mike, a bicycle cyclist.   I’m now five months pregnant. I was forced into marriage because my parents never wanted to stay with a pregnant woman. I had long stopped studying due to lack of finances at home.   

Mike stayed in a remote village. Once in a while, when a vehicle passed, every one waited in anticipation of their relative.  City people are claimed to be rich since they always carry with them so many gifts. In the village the main source of livelihood is agriculture and most of the farming done is for consumption. 

As it was my first pregnancy, I lacked knowledge on how to care for myself. Friends, however, encouraged me to visit the health centre for checkups.  

Throughout the pregnancy, I visited the health centre only once.  The long distance discouraged me form frequenting the place. I also lacked the money to receive the medical attention I needed. As a result, a traditional birth attendant helped me to give birth to my first child. She was easily available and cheap. 

Much as Mike tried so hard to meet every need of the family, the poor man failed. To make matters worse, I conceived again after ten months. This also affected our daughter so much. She was ever sick and crying. I also stopped breast feeding her since e I was down with morning sicknesses and the general discomfort that comes with pregnancy.  Eating also became a problem since we could only afford one meal a day. 

When it reached birth, Mike was able to gather some money to transport me to the health centre. I delivered with the help of the nurse, but I faced severe complications. I almost bled to death. I was weak and anemic. My baby looked so sick that I doubted his survival.  My daughter was stunted. Having two children in a couple of years was too much for me and it also strained my husband a lot.

The nurse advised me to go back for postnatal care, with my husband. She later explained that child birth was the most risky incidence and a threat to the woman’s health and that of her baby. She emphasized the need for birth spacing if we were to take good care of our children’s health and needs.

When the nurse had finished talking, it surprised me that I was so ignorant about family planning methods and birth spacing. Use of contraceptives would give me enough time to properly heal and properly take care of myself and the children before getting unexpected pregnancy. 

Since then, I have learned to use contraceptives.  I plan on waiting for my two children to properly grow before I conceive again. It is also important that I get a job so that I can supplement on Mike’s income. This will help us to properly take care of our family and keep it happy.  

Club Activities

To me, the club activities are in a big way the heart of the ELA program. They afford the ELA girls a daily opportunity to take a break from adversity, to talk about their experiences and to learn from one another.

Towards the end of my fellowship, I was lucky enough to visit the Kanyanya Club in the Zanna district in Kampala. Just before lunch one day, I hop on the back of a boda boda and speed just a few kilometers up the road to the main traffic hub in Zanna. I pick up two oily, floury pancakes called chapattis for lunch, then march off of the main road, back into the Zanna “slums” to find the Branch Office. I get a little lost on the winding backroads, but am only a few minutes late – Uganda style.

Once at the office, I am greeted warmly by the Project Assistant and an Area Manager I’ve met before. The three of us travel up about two kilometers of steep, dusty roads in the hot afternoon sun. It would have been much easier to take a boda boda, but the project assistant had recently been in an accident and really didn’t want to take any more chances. Just as I think I am running out of steam, we reach the top of a huge incline, descend down a short lane with lots of tree shade, and finally arrive at the club house.

It’s around two o’clock, and more and more girls filter in over the next hour. Many of the members aren’t around because they’ve gone to visit family in the villages for the holiday, and many of the girls that show up are also a bit drained from the intense heat of the sun. We still have a great time playing board games and dancing. Fortunately, I have my Flipcam and am able to grab some great footage of the club house and of the girls. Enjoy!

Andrew Huelsenbeck is a Kiva Fellow who worked in Kampala with BRAC Uganda. To learn more about BRAC, please visit their Kiva Partner Page. If you are interested in helping to empower one or more of BRAC’s many wonderful entrepreneurs, you can join the Friends of BRAC Uganda lending team or check out new BRAC Uganda loans on Kiva.org. Happy lending!

“To Connect People Through Lending to Entrepreneurs Across the Globe” is one of Kiva’s best tag lines. Indeed, “Connecting” is key to Kiva, to microfinance loans and to repayment, especially in this high tech world of Twitter, Facebook, Groupon and the Worldwide Web. All of the Kiva borrowers in New Orleans are online, from the youngest in her twenties to the oldsters in their 60s. A lot have smart phones to check their email and Facebook pages. Unlike the Kiva borrowers in developing nations, there is no need to explain “the internet.” When I meet with a prospective client I walk them through the Kiva website. I go to Kiva.org and explain “crowd sourcing,” i.e. that their loan will actually be funded by around 250 people from different parts the world who want to loan and connect with them after reading their Kiva profile. The response is always positive and many of the borrowers want to make a connection to the lenders. One borrower, Renee, specifically asked me to write all of her lenders a thank you note and a progress report on her loan. The Kiva site is built so that the borrowers cannot directly write to the lenders. This is what I wrote on Renee’s behalf:

Feb 1, 2012

Renee says Thanks to all of her Kiva Lenders.
Dear Lenders,
Thanks for helping me take my construction company, Dorsey Bryant, to the next level. Things have been going really well. I have a contract to install 2,500 mini blinds in Section 3 government housing that is being constructed here in New Orleans. I have hired three Section 3 employees to assist me, and I have moved my home based office to a commercial space. Thank you Kiva.
This picture was taken today at Good Work Network, where I met the founder and CEO of Kiva, Matt Flannery.
Sincerely,
Renee
If you would like to contact me my email is renee@dorseybryant.com. I would love to hear from you.

Renee specifically asked me to write in her email address so that the lenders can directly reach her. Renee is proud to be a Kiva Borrower and is very thankful for her loan.

Another Kiva NOLA borrower, Michelle, who paints murals and paints fine art, wanted to connect with her lenders. In her borrower’s profile she asked if I could insert a link to her website mondomurals.com. I could not put in a clickable link (attention Kiva product engineers), but I was able to post the following:

Michelle has been an artist her entire life. She studied art at the University of New Orleans and New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. She has done set dressing for major motion pictures, has been a stylist for Mattel Toys, has done music video styling and has been a scenic artist for all of New Orleans local theaters.

In 2008, Michelle started Mondo Murals & Design, LLC. She’s been painting specialty murals in businesses and private homes. She also has many fine art paintings for sale in several galleries in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Michelle is now branching out and printing her art on home decor and gift ware items. With her Kiva loan, Michelle will be able to reproduce her art on mugs, aprons, matted prints, coasters, trivets and other items. To view some of Michelle’s work go to www.mondomurals.com.

On Mardi Gras day, Michelle can be found winding her way from Uptown to the French Quarter with “Mondo Kayo Social & Marching Club,” a New Orleans salute to Carnival across the tropics. Revelers in colorful handmade costumes dance to Caribbean, Latin and African beats blaring from tiki floats. Michelle enjoys Mondo Kayo so much that she named her business Mondo Murals & Design after it. Mondo means “world,” and Michelle’s goal is to paint her murals all over the world.

Because of the mention of Mondomurals.com, several lenders found Michelle on Facebook and have become Michelle’s Facebook friends. One person was so impressed with what she saw on Mondomurals.com that she commissioned a painting by Michelle. This is the painting that inspired the Kiva borrower to commission a similar painting by Michelle:

When Michelle was raising funds on Kiva, I sent her the link so she could watch as new lenders from around the world were making her $25.00 loans. She wanted to connect with each of them to say, “Thanks,” but realized that she couldn’t. To remedy this, Michelle will be sent a Kiva gift card, so that she can also be a Kiva lender. Based on this, I think every Kiva borrower in New Orleans (or wherever the borrower has good internet access) should be one of their own lenders, so that they can access the lender pages and see exactly what their lenders see. Then the borrower will be able to access their repayment page, the journal entries and be able to make contact with their Kiva lenders. After all, connection is what it’s all about!

A bigger idea is to create even more connections with a KivaNOLA marketplace, so that all of the goods and services by the Kiva NOLA entrepreneurs can be offered online with the click of a few buttons. You want to buy a dress from Ampelonartist L3C or Sidity Fashion Boutique? Click here. You need an electrician in New Orleans? Try Spark Electric, Troy Rollins or RCP III. Click here. You want great food at your party? Click here: for wings from Avenue Quick Stop; African food from Golden Feather; pastries and cookies from One Smart Cookie. Instead of supporting borrowers by just lending, lenders can also support by patronizing. For the borrowers, instead of Kiva being a place to have access to capital, it will also be a place to market and stay connected to the entire Kiva community of lenders and to cross-market to each other and to the world.

Charlotte Makoff
Kiva Fellow | New Orleans

Charlotte is a Kiva Fellow in KF-16, the 16th Kiva Fellows Class, with ASI Federal Credit Union and is now living in New Orleans. Charlotte has lived in India, Japan, and has built houses with Habitat For Humanity in Ethiopia, Zambia and India.

For more information about Kiva, click here. To read about ASI Federal Credit Union, click here. You can also follow Kiva New Orleans on facebook, join the Kiva New Orleans lending team.

There was a three-part theme set to guide the educational and celebratory sessions. The theme was “Passion for God. Passion for the Philippines. Passion for the Filipino Poor”.  Every speaker or event was chosen to address one of these themes. Pastors and spiritual leaders spoke to address the spiritual health of the CCT staff as well as teach them how to cultivate spiritual transformation of their borrowers. Professors and experts on Filipino culture addressed the latter two themes in order to re-ignite the passion of the staff for their unique culture and fascinating history as a nation. Lastly, President Ruth Callanta identified the marginalized impoverished groups of the Philippines and identified the steps to begin or refine outreach efforts to make financial and support services more available. These groups include the landless agricultural workers of the Visayas, the B’laan tribe of Mindanao and a group of people known as “fisher folks”.

What follows is a pictorial presentation of the 20th anniversary celebration:

CCT received recognition for years of service in microfinance and other support services

Cultural dance and instruments from the B'laan tribe in Mindinao, one of the identified marginalized groups to receive services from CCT

Cultural Dance from the island of Palawan

Freedom Wall allowed CCT staff to write messages about their MFI and celebration

"I love CDO" refers to Cagayan de Oro, one of the cities in Mindanao that lost thousands of residents to Typhoon Sendong

This skit portrays a scenario involving CCT's insurance products that are offered to their partners

Cultural Dance from the island of Palawan

Cultural dance from the B'laan tribe of Mindinao

Palawan cultural dance

Jill Hall is part of Kiva Fellows 16th class, working with Center for Community Transformation (CCT) in the Philippines. She is enjoying all the sights, sounds and food of her new home, the Philippines.  Please support CCT borrowers by reading about their stories and making a loan today. Be a part of the movement of Kiva and join CCT’s lending team or check out CCT’s partner page. Former posts written by Jill about her experiences in Manila and Center For Community Transformation (CCT) can be found at:

The Circle of Life; Filipino Style

Work is cancelled; Typhoon Day

Girlie’s Peanut Butter: Borrower Verification in the Philippines

Study Now Pay Now: Funding Higher Education in the Philippines

And the Winner is….

Originally, King Cakes were a simple ring of pastry dough (brioche to be exact) with a small amount of colored sugar as decoration. Inside the original King Cakes was a tiny porcelain or gold baby, representing Jesus. If a person received a piece of cake with the baby they were declared King for the day. Over time, people were choking or breaking teeth on the baby, so the baby has become a little larger and plastic, and instead of being baked inside, the baby is is inserted into the cake after baking. The top of the cake is then covered with sugar icing in traditional Mardi Gras colors: Green, purple and gold. In recent years, bakeries have been improvising and making different cream cheese flavors and fruit filled King Cakes. There’s one bakery in New Orleans, Antoine’s, that makes up to 3,500 cakes per day running their bakery 24 hours and hiring additional employees, during what they term as King Cake season. .

If you go to a King Cake party and get the piece of cake with the baby, beware! You are not just the King for the day, you are now required to bring the next King Cake to the next party. Because of this tradition, some offices and schools have King Cakes every day until Mardi Gras season ends. I first heard about King Cakes at an office meeting at Kiva’s Community partner, Good Work Network. Since I first heard I have been carefully watching the bakery section at Rouse’s and Winn Dixie. I have also been eyeing the cases at the local bakeries. I couldn’t wait until after Christmas to buy my first piece of King Cake, so I went to Antoine’s on Carrollton where they sell King Cakes all year round. They actually had pieces of King Cake for sale, so I dove in head first.

Okay, it tastes and smells like a really good cinnamon roll. In fact, the whole experience reminded me of the chain restaurant, Cinnabon. Am I wrong? Would someone from N’Awlins disagree with my assessment? I googled cinnamon rolls and King Cake and got a multiplicity of hits all of which indicated that somewhere along the way, the original brioche style King Cakes have morphed into a coffee cake similar to a Cinnamon roll. In fact, some easy recipes suggest using ready made cinnamon roll dough to make a King Cake.

Finally, the Twelfth day arrives, January 6, 2012, I go to Rouse’s and “Make groceries”. (In N’Awlins you don’t go grocery shopping you make groceries, like you make dinner.) I buy a whole King Cake and plant the baby inside of it from the bottom. The day before, I learned from a man I met at a bar that January 6, is also Joan of Arc’s birthday. She turns 600 in 2012 and much of New Orleans is going to be in the French Quarter to celebrate her birthday with a parade. The parade ends at the Joan of Arc statue given to the City of New Orleans by France.

So what does all of this craziness have to do with microfinance? Not much really. Except to say that this is a very cultural place with traditions steeped in the fabric of the city. If you are a lender to Kiva Nola chances are you are making a loan to a person who is not just celebrating this amazing city, but is participating in the myriad of celebrations from parades, baking king cakes, making costumes, mixing drinks, dancing to playing jazz. They might be a janitor, an accountant, a tire repair shop owner, or small business owner by day but at night they “Laissez le bon temps rouler.”

If you are a small business owner in New Orleans and are thinking about a Kiva loan got to KivaNOLA.org and click on “to borrow” button. If you want to lend, go to the same place and click on the “to lend” button.

Charlotte Makoff
Kiva Fellow | New Orleans

Charlotte is a Kiva Fellow in KF-16, the 16th Kiva Fellows Class, with ASI Federal Credit Union and is now living in New Orleans. Charlotte has lived in India, Japan, and has built houses with Habitat For Humanity in Ethiopia, Zambia and India.

For more information about Kiva, click here. To read about ASI Federal Credit Union, click here. You can also follow Kiva New Orleans on facebook, join the Kiva New Orleans lending team.

Cookıe samples = Perks!

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk died at 9:05 a.m. on November 10, 1938 at the age of 57.  He was the founder of the Turkish Republic and its first president.  Every year on November 10, daily life and traffic stops at 9:05 a.m. for two minutes as sirens wail, traffic stops and people observe two minutes of silence out of respect to Atatürk”s memory.

Independence Monument in Taksim Square on Novemeber 10th, 2011

Getting to meet my hero.  Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank and winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace prize was in Istanbul on December 15th for the signing ceremony of the establishment of the Microfinance and Social Enterprise Center at Okan University.  Known as the “Banker to the Poor”, Dr Yunus  established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983, fueled by the belief that credit is a fundamental human right. His objective was to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms suitable to them and by teaching them a few sound financial principles so they could help themselves.  I first discovered microfinance after reading his first book, Price of a Dream, and have been a fan ever since.  Getting to meet him, even if ever so briefly, was an real treat for me.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus at Okan University

Other blogs about Maya and Turkey:

Home to a New Adventure: Hoş Geldiniz Maya!

If It Is Thursday, It Must Be Sakarya + What is Bohça?

If it is Tuesday it must be Izmit +more of my favorite borrowers + buyurun agabey

Stuff Kiva Fellows Like #10-17

55 Tips from Kiva Fellows

Kim Strathearn is a Kiva Fellow serving in Istanbul with Maya. Kiva’s newest Field Partner in Istanbul,  Turkey. To learn more about Maya and their clients, please visit  their Partner Page, join our newly created Friends of Maya Lending Team, or make a loan to one of their awesome clients. Looking for gifts that make a difference this  Holiday Season, consider the gift that changes lives, Kiva Cards. What could be better that giving the gift of helping someone?

Last week you read about about what six of the fellows from KF16 were doing once their fellowships ended.  Read on to see what adventures 2012 will bring to some more!

Jill Hall, CCT, Phillipines

My Kiva fellowship has really been a joy and I am sad to see this time come to a close. I have a desire to continue to work in development and non-profit work and so the next few steps after my Kiva fellowship is to contribute to that goal. After Kiva I will spend the next couple of months visiting friends who are working at various NGO’s and non-profits in different parts of the world. This mission will take me to London, Uganda, Haiti and hopefully Honduras before I return to the states with a few stops for “fun travel” in Argentina and Hong Kong. I can’t wait to see what work is in store for me in the future and hope to stay involved and connected with Kiva as I roam around the world.

Kiva is both technology driven and food oriented. When you work at Kiva, you get 20-30 emails a day, most of which are about some delectable treat on the table of wonders. The remainder of the emails are about happy hour, microfinance cafe, microfinance pub, or a party at a Kivan’s house on an upcoming weekend. I was a Kiva Intern with the Fellows Program. I helped Jacob, Eric and Dave with vetting, selecting and training the Kiva Fellows before they left for their varied posts around the globe. (Kiva is in over 60 countries). I love traveling and living in and experiencing new cultures. Working as a Kiva intern made me want to go into the field with the Kiva Fellows Program.

So here I am, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Not exactly a foreign country, but the most colorful city in the United States. This place is amazing, it’s one big party. On any random weekend I can be found sitting in a cafe or a club listening to live music. I attended the Oak Street Po-Boy Festival with at least 50,000 other revelers. Tomorrow night I am going to have dinner at a restaurant owned by a Kiva borrower and afterward I am going on a pub crawl on Tchoupitoulas (pronounced “Chop-A-Tool-ess”) Street in Uptown. Next week is a Rock ‘n Bowl party with live jazz and bowling with my “MFI.”

For this blog post, I am going to tell you about my typical day here in New Orleans. But first a little about the “typical day” topic. Every Kiva Fellow Applicant has to write what he or she thinks a typical day as a Kiva Fellow is going to be. It’s sort of a wild guess exercise because there really is no typical day. The point of making the applicant write it is to see how creative the applicant is, how well the applicant can write, whether the applicant did his (or her) homework and what his expectations are as a Kiva Fellow. As an intern for the Fellows program, I have read dozens. Some were so good I read them out loud to my colleagues at Kiva. Some were funny and some were like reading a calendar entry — 7:30 Wake up, take shower, 8:00 am Eat breakfast, 8:30 am Take bus to MFI . . .” Needless to say, the calendar entries weren’t the most interesting ones. Some were so unrealistic that it appeared the applicant hadn’t a clue as to what a Kiva Fellow does in the field. Not every Kiva Fellow has the same experience, and my situation, being in the United States, is unusual. If you are an applicant looking for ideas, you won’t find a lot here. Here goes my real typical day in Kiva City — New Orleans.

This morning I woke up in my little rented house in Uptown. Because it’s a Thursday, I have to decide which office I am going to work in today. In New Orleans, Kiva works with ASI Federal Credit Union, ASII, a non-profit arm and organization of ASI called “A Shared Initiative,” and the Good Work Network, another non-profit organization that works within New Orleans assisting microbusinesses. I have a choice of three offices, the ASI headquarters in Harahan, the ASII office in the upper Ninth Ward, or the Good Work Network office on OC Haley Boulevard. Luckily, ASI has given me a car, a blue Toyota Corolla, to use while I am here. I usually gravitate to the Good Work Network office. It has the best internet, and prospective Kiva borrowers come into the Good Work Network office for intial intake. I even have my own, desk, cubicle and computer. I decided this morning to start at Good Work Network. I drive down St. Charles St., a tree lined boulevard with trolley cars running down the center. It’s another beautiful day. I say out loud, to myself, “I love this city.” There are yard signs up inviting me to a street fair, a pub crawl, a block party. There are old faded Mardi Gras beads hanging from the trees. I pass beautiful pristine antebellum mansions and boarded up houses with the large Katrina X’s spray painted on them. I park my car across from the Franz Building where the GoodWork Network is. I park right next to house that hasn’t been touched since Katrina. Plants grow from the roof. It’s missing walls, windows, a roof, occupants, but somehow in all of its wrecked glory, it still looks beautiful. I photograph it and my car. I hope nothing falls over from it onto the car.

At noon, a couple comes in to apply for a Kiva loan. I have to ask them a lot of personal financial questions. I hope they pass muster. My inclination is to give everyone who comes in a loan, but underwriting thinks otherwise. The Kiva Coordinator and/or the Kiva Fellow separates the improbable applicants from the probable applicants. There are guidelines: a borrower cannot have charge-offs on their credit report, and must be current on their existing debts with no 60 day past due notices within the last year. The actual credit score isn’t looked at, but it helps if it’s good and hurts if it’s really bad. If a loan applicant is denied, he or she can work with a business counselor at Good Work Network for credit counseling and business advice. If they can fix their issues they can return and reapply for a Kiva loan. This is just the initial intake for preliminary approval. Once we get to the next stage there is a mountain of paperwork involved and the borrowers need to be shepherded through the system. The Kiva Fellow works closely with the Kiva Coordinator, Leslie, the head of Good Work Network, Phyllis, and Lang, the Business Lending Program Manager at ASII, to make sure all of the paperwork is in order for each and every applicant. Once a loan is approved, a photo is taken, waivers and releases are signed and the Kiva profiles are written. So far, I have written three of them.

After meeting with the clients, I drive 20 minutes to the Lebanon Cafe on Carrollton Ave. to meet with Sarah, the Executive Director of ASII. She’s the head honcho for the Kiva program and she wants to check in on the progress of Kiva. Sarah is wonderful and looks like she could have been Miss Louisiana, but it turns out she’s really from Mississippi. (So, maybe she was Miss Mississippi.) Her goal is to get Kiva New Orleans from pilot to active. We discuss this during a delicious lunch with hummus, pita bread and eggplant sandwiches (that look suspiciously like Po’ Boys). Its a very productive lunch. I learn that ASII has some really innovative loan products — including grocery store loans and education loans. We bounce around some other ideas.

After lunch, I drive to the upper Ninth Ward to work out of the ASII office. At that office is Lang, a dynamic woman who knows her loans, borrowers, practices and procedures backward, forward and sideways. She has a very high energy level and is filled with information about New Orleans and the Vietnamese immigrant community. There’s always lots to learn form Lang. We discuss repayment reporting, underwriting, corporate best practices and loan delinquencies, if any.

I check my work plan. The internet connection is “iffy” there so I work offline on my laptop. I do whatever I can to get my work done. Afterwork, I go straight home to clean up my house. I have guests coming from out of town. When you live in New Orleans, you suddenly become popular. Everyone wants to visit. It’s a fun city, what can I say?

Charlotte is a Kiva Fellow in KF-16, the 16th Kiva Fellows Class, with ASI Federal Credit Union and is now living in New Orleans. Charlotte has lived in India, Japan, and has built houses with Habitat For Humanity in Ethiopia, Zambia and India.

For more information about Kiva, click here. Kiva.orgTo read about ASI Federal Credit Union, click here. asifcu.orgYou can also follow Kiva New Orleans on facebook, facebook.com/kivaNOLAjoin the Kiva New Orleans lending team.

All kidding aside, Kiva New Orleans is great. The “MFI” (Microfinance Institution) with which I am working is ASI Federal Credit Union and its community partner, GoodWork Network, a nonprofit microbusiness development agency that helps ASI to source microloans.

Goodwork Network assists small and start-up businesses with classes and advice helping New Orleans’ residents advance their operations to the point where, if it is determined they need a loan, they can be passed on to ASI and then to Kiva. It’s an amazing program. I have only been here a week and I have met dozens of individuals working tirelessly to make this Kiva City NOLA program work. There’s even a television ad.

From day one I fell in love with this city and its residents. I was won over immediately. Back in San Feancisco, during the Kiva Fellows Training week, the Kiva staff devoted some time to “Winning Over your MFI,” because in some placements the Kiva fellow is ignored or under appreciated. Things were easy for me in the Big Easy. Not only was I welcomed with open arms on my first day, I was given a car to use while I am here. Many apologies to my KF-16 & 17 classmates — you can think of me when you are traveling on over-crowded public buses and unpaved roads. (I feel for you — been there, done that.)

I split my time between the Goodwork Network office and ASI’s Community Center in the Bywater area of N’Awlins. There’s much work to be done as evidenced by the houses surrounding the Community Center. They still have the large X’s painted on them by the first responders after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The X’s were a code that the building was searched, who searched it, the date it was searched and whether anyone was found inside, dead or alive. It’s a bleak reminder of the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, and the fact that the X’s are still visible means that we all still have a lot of work to do.  If you are an small business owner in New Orleans and are thinking about a Kiva loan got to <a href=”http://KivaNOLA.org” target=”_blank”>KivaNOLA.org</a> and click on “to borrow” button.  If you want to lend, go to the same place and click on the “to lend” button.

Charlotte Makoff
Kiva Fellow | New Orleans

Charlotte is a Kiva Fellow in KF-16, the 16th Kiva Fellows Class, with ASI Federal Credit Union and is now living in New Orleans. Charlotte has lived in India, Japan, and has built houses with Habitat For Humanity in Ethiopia, Zambia and India.

For more information about Kiva,<a title=”Kiva” href=”http://kiva.org”> click here</a>. To read about ASI Federal Credit Union, <a title=”ASI” href=”http://asifcu.org”>click here</a>. You can also follow Kiva New Orleans on facebook, join the <a href=”http://www.kiva.org/team/nola”>Kiva New Orleans lending team</a>.

<a href=”http://charlottemakoff.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/20111111-032135.jpg”><img class=”alignnone size-full” src=”http://charlottemakoff.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/20111111-032135.jpg” alt=”20111111-032135.jpg” /></a>

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After my first placement in Ecuador, I thought I knew living and working in South America- three months in Ica, Perú proved me wrong. New (and delicious) food, a drastically different (and drier) climate, and wonderful new friends, coworkers, and chicha-vending Kiva borrowers showed me another side of South America’s many amazing countries and cultures. As I phase out of my second fellowship back into the real world, I want to share these photos, and photos from my first placement in Ecuador, with you lenders and give thanks to KFP and Perú for an amazing fellowship experience! Click the photos to see them enlarged!

Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru, follow her work here.

Ow de body! Are Sierra Leone and Rwanda still danger zones? What challenges do Ugandans most commonly face? Kiva Fellows from KF16 bring you another unique perspective from the diverse and vast continent of Africa! We patched together an overview of each of our placement countries that includes: basic socioeconomic stats, common stereotypes (and to what extent they are true or false), greatest challenges, most common loan products at our respective field partners, and the borrowers’ most common use of their profits.  Our part 2 series follows the Kiva Fellows through Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and Uganda. We hope our summaries give you a new perspective on the continent and its distinct countries that we’ve been fortunate to explore, thanks to the Kiva fellowship!

Tejal Desai, Sierra Leone

1. Basic country stats
% Living Below Poverty Line: 70.2% (CIA World Factbook)
Average Annual Income: $903 (kiva.org)
% Women in the Workforce: Adult female pop labor force participation: 65.4%, but women only earn 42% as much as men.

2. Most common stereotype about Sierra Leone
One common stereotype is that Sierra Leone is a very dangerous place to live and visit, with rebel crime and diamond smuggling being widespread occurrences.

Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war, which ended in 2002, has been brought to the attention of mainstream audiences by films like Blood Diamond, and has tainted this beautiful country’s image. Although this war is responsible for over 2,000,000 displaced Sierra Leoneans and 50,000 dead, Sierra Leone as a nation has been making strides forward to leave behind the legacy, has invested in the development of its infrastructure, and is considered one of West Africa’s safest destinations.

Gari, processed cassava, a common Sierra Leonean food product.

3. Greatest challenge
Sierra Leone’s high cost of living creates many challenges, as it is seldom adjusted for inflation, especially with the rising costs of food and fuel. For some perspective: rice, a Sierra Leone staple, runs about $25-30 for 50 kilograms, a taxi ride across town costs $1-2, and almost 70% of the population lives under $1.25 a day. BRAC borrowers cite inflation as the biggest threat to their businesses, as depreciating inventory creates holes in revenue and risk for increasing their quantity of goods. Hassan, picture above, owns a grain shop in Waterloo, Sierra Leone, and says inflation makes it difficult for him to keep up with losses in the value of gari (processed cassava, photo above) and rice.

4. Most common loan product at field partner, BRAC Sierra Leone
The microloan is the most popular ($100-$300 loans), but another loan product on the rise is the SEP loan – small enterprise loan, which is offered to business owners who want to expand their business (more info here).

5. Clients’ most common use of profits
Many BRAC borrowers utilize their profits to expand their businesses, but a majority cite paying for school fees and education this as the most common use of their profits. The cost of primary education in 2004 was 53,000 SLL (around $26) per student, and has only increased since. Parents struggle to cover the costs of additional costs that come with education: school supplies, increasing costs of transportation, and uniforms.

Whitney Webb & Kathrin Gerner, Rwanda

1. Basic country stats
Rwanda has a population of 10.6 million with 56% of the citizens living below the poverty line. The average annual income is $1000 USD and women make up 53% of the workforce.

2. Most common stereotype about Rwanda
The first things that come to most people’s minds when they hear Rwanda? Genocide. War Zone. Danger. These are some of the key words I heard from people in reaction to hearing where I was placed for my fellowship.

Yes, Rwanda suffered the worst genocides in recent African history. There is no changing the fact that roughly 20% of the Rwandan population was murdered in 1994. However, the country has since moved forward with acceptance and strength. Today, Rwanda is one of the cleanest, safest, and most organized countries in Africa to live or visit.

Beautiful Rwanda

3. Greatest challenge
One of the big issues in Rwanda right now is the lack of available land. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa and the population continues to grow at 3% a year. Roughly 90% of the population makes a living through agriculture. There is simply not enough land to go around.

Every time I visit the land of some of our agricultural borrowers, I am amazed at how small the plots actually are. The average landholder owns 0.5 hectares of farmland. It is unbelievable to see these plots stretch up the side of a hill that seems too steep to even climb.

There have been several government programs established such as land consolidation, improved seeds and fertilizers, and the irrigation of unusable land. Progress has been made, but as the population is set to double in 24 years, Rwanda will continue to fight an uphill battle.

4. Most common loan product at field partner, Urwego Opportunity Bank of Rwanda (UOB)
The most common loan product at Urwego is the group loan. These loans are usually used to grow businesses selling vegetables, clothing, kitchen goods, or textiles. The group members are accountable for each other and guarantee one another’s debt.

5. Clients’ most common use of profits
The most common intended use of profits from a loan is to create a savings account. Many borrowers state that they wish to put money away to create a better future for their families.

Andrew Huelsenbeck, Uganda

1. Basic country stats
Population: 34,612,250

Languages: English (schools, law and some newspapers and radio), Luganda, and many others

Religions: Roman Catholic (41.9%), Protestant (42%), Muslim (12.1%)

Age Structure: 0-14 (49.9%), 15-64 (48.1%), 65+ (2.1%)

Population living below the poverty line: 35%

Average Family Income: about $200 per year

Sex division in the work force: Nearly three quarters of all formal salaried positions are held by men. But if we also count the informal sector, then the numbers are much closer to being equal, with women constituting about 47% of the workforce.

Sources include the CIA world factbook, Gorilla Safari, and Taxation and gender equity: a comparative analysis of direct and indirect taxes in developing and developed countries by Caren Grown and Imraan Valodia.

2. Most common stereotypes about Uganda
1. Ugandans are short-sited and will not succeed at paying back loans because they will use the money on other side projects.

2. Ugandans are difficult to employ because they often misappropriate company funds.

Both of these are actually fairly common problems in Uganda, but the problem seems to have less to do with the Ugandan people, and more with incentive structures. Many Ugandans have a lot on pressing issues on their plates: hungry and sick family members, school fees, houses and other construction projects, expensive funerals, etc. It makes sense that they would get money any way they can and then use it to cover the costs of these things in the short term. It also makes sense for Ugandans to not work hard and to take money if they are not monitored and are not in danger of losing their jobs, or worse, in danger of facing serious legal repercussions. Without penalties, I think many people elsewhere in the world would act similarly.

BRAC Uganda has done a fantastic job of creating incentive structures to prevent this kind of behavior. They train their borrowers in financial management and make them sign formal promissory notes before receiving any money. In addition, BRAC has many program managers and an entire department devoted to constantly monitoring borrowers and employees. When, for example, there is any evidence that an employee has misappropriated funds, managers in the Country Office will launch a full-scale investigation and will terminate the employee if necessary. These measures help immensely in navigating around stereotypically Ugandan tendencies.

3. Greatest challenges
Power outages: At the BRAC Uganda Country Office, the power is out about 50% of the time. This is because the hydroelectric dam on the Nile is not producing enough energy to power all of Kampala all the time. At BRAC, we are lucky in that we have a back up generator, which kicks on every time the power goes out. But for other business owners who don’t have the luxury of owning a generator, these outages can substantially reduce productivity. This is especially true for business owners just outside of Kampala, who sometimes see only a few hours of power each week.

Inflation: Inflation has been a huge problem in Uganda recently. Hovering at around 30%, it has reduced real incomes and has substantially increased the costs of living and doing business. This, in conjunction with regional droughts, has caused the prices of staples like matooke, sweet potatoes and charcoal to skyrocket.

4. Most common loan product at field partner, BRAC Uganda
Standard group microloans, which range anywhere from 100-800 USD. They are given to more than 125,000 women who are members of around 6,000 community-based microfinance groups throughout Uganda. BRAC also provides these women with training, technical assistance and helps them find ways to save. The women that receive the loans are often between 20 and 50 years old with little or no education. Virtually none of them have access to the formal financial sector or even to other microfinance products.

5. Clients’ most common use of profits
There are a number of ways that Ugandans are using the profits they are gaining from microfinancing. These mainly include sending their children to school, reinvesting in their businesses, and buying plots of land to build houses for their families.
Tejal Desai is a Kiva Fellow completing her fellowship with BRAC Sierra Leone. Interested in becoming a Kiva fellow? Click here to learn more about the program and apply!

I know! We can’t believe it either! Our Kiva Fellowships, as the 16th class, have come to an end.  So what’s in store for us once we return to our homes? Or perhaps, stay in the field for another fellowship?  Read on for the next chapter in the lives of some of the 16th Class of Kiva Fellows Alumni.

I am returning to San Francisco after working around Latin America for the past year. Apparently,  it’s time to go home and get ‘a real job’. I will be looking for work  in social enterprise or impact investing. I will miss the ‘tranquilo’ pace of life here in Nicaragua. Its not often you get the privilege of calculating an operational cost analysis from the comfort of a hammock. I will also miss catching my coworkers at AFODENIC singing along to Spanish versions of classics like ‘Dust in the Wind’ and ‘Total Eclipse of The Heart’ on Radio Amor. I am really glad I participated in the Kiva Fellows program. It was a  real good time.

Kiva Fellows from KF16 take on Africa!

Where might you find muzungu hunting? Where do Kenya’s elite runners hail from? And what do most borrowers in Burkina Faso use their business profits for? Kiva Fellows from KF16 bring you a unique perspective from the diverse and vast continent of Africa! We patched together an overview of each of our placement countries that includes: basic socioeconomic stats, common stereotypes (and to what extent they are true or false), greatest challenges, most common loan products at our respective field partners, and the  borrowers’ most common use of their profits.  This first post of a two-part series focuses on Kenya, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso. We hope our summaries give you a new perspective on the continent and its distinct countries that we’ve been fortunate to explore during the Kiva fellowship!

Claire Markham & Daniel Jung, Kenya

A SMEP borrower in Maua, Kenya selling beans and rice.

1. Basic country stats

% Living Below Poverty Line: 45.9% as of 2005 according to the World Bank

GDP per capita: GNI per capita as of 2010: US$790 according to the World Bank

% Women in the Workforce: Data unavailable.

% Labour participation rate for females aged 15+: 76% according to the World Bank

% Labour participation rate for males aged 15+: 88% according to the World Bank

2. Most common stereotype about Kenya?
A common stereotype is that Kenyans are excellent runners. To some extent, this is true. Of the 75 medals Kenya has won in the Olympics over time, 68 of these medals have been from athletics events.  Additionally, Kenyans have won over 70 marathon races worldwide this year. That being said, it would be inaccurate to stereotype all Kenyans as fast runners – in fact, 75% of Kenya’s elite runners come from one tribe, the Kalenjins. Some of the best runners also come from higher altitude areas of the country which contributes to their running performance.

3. Greatest challenge
The most significant recent challenge in Kenya has been “the worst drought in 60 years” resulting in enormous food shortages. Compounding the devastation caused by the most recent drought was another major challenge in Kenya, “corruption among the authorities meant to be helping the people.”

Despite these difficulties, microfinance institutions and its customers are making efforts to alleviate some of the damage of future droughts through the use of loans for water tanks and irrigation equipment. This will help to ensure that in future dry periods, there is more water to use for agricultural purposes to reduce the degree of food shortages.

4. Most common loan product at field partner, SMEP
Though SMEP offers a variety of loan products, including loans to finance businesses, green products, water products, and school fees, the most popular loan product by far is individual business loans.

5. Clients’ most common use of profits
At SMEP, there are an exceedingly large number of customers who use their loan to add stock to their retail shop where they sell cereal, fruit, flour, sugar, maize, among other items.

Lauren Barra, Tanzania

 1. Basic country stats
% Living Below Poverty Line: 36% (CIA World Factbook)

Average Annual Income: $723 (kiva.org)
% Women in the Workforce: 89% - the highest in the world! 

2. Most common stereotype about Tanzania
Before I left Mombasa, my Kenyan co-workers gave me the low-down. “Tanzanians are lazy and they speak terrible English.” Yes, the East African work ethic in general is very different from the maniac “money never sleeps” energy in NYC. Does work get accomplished at the same pace I’m used to back home? No. But I find my Tanzanian co-workers to be just as hard-working as any in Kenya and even more dedicated than many in the States. Tujijenge employees take pride in their work and will stay as late as needed to get the job done right.

As for the English? Let’s just say my Swahili is rapidly improving…

3. Greatest challenge
Muzungu hunting.

My first week in Tanzania, my FSS and I had an unfortunate run in with immigration. Three immigration officers came to my MFI, claiming they were performing security checks for Al-Shabaab. Instead, they made a B line for the two muzungus, demanded to see our passports and questioned the validity of our visas. They refused to believe I was here as a volunteer, insisting I needed to pay $200 for a Tanzania work visa. Same with my FSS – although he’s based in Nairobi and marked “business trip” on his Tanzania entry form, they threatened to take us downtown.

We considered calling the embassy – our visas were 100% legit and these guys were just looking for a bribe. Management took them into a separate room and I hear the conversation went something like this, “Maybe their visas are in order, maybe not. But it’s Friday afternoon and we can detain them over the weekend until the embassy sorts this out on Monday.” Spend the weekend in a Tanzanian jail? No thanks, rafiki.

Immigration left shortly thereafter and we haven’t heard from them since. Supposedly $400 greased their dirty palms on the way out the door. I’ll never know for sure, but that’s one welcome party I’ll never forget.

4. Most common loan product at field partner, Tujijenge Tanzania, Ltd.

Group business loans. These small businesses range from food vendors and hair salons to selling chickens and charcoal.

5. Clients’ most common use of profits
School fees. Although children attend primary school for free, families still have to pay for uniforms, testing fees and school supplies. There are also reports of children not attending school because of poorly paid teachers demanding enrollment money from them.

Allison Mooney, Burkina Faso

1. Basic country stats

% of population living below the poverty line 46.4%
GDP per capita: $1,200
% Women in the Workforce: 80%

2. Most common stereotype about Burkina Faso
That it doesn’t exist. This is false If you know enough about it to have a stereotype, you’ve probably done some real research. As far as Sahel area, most people assume the whole area is brown and dead. Although Ouaga itself doesn’t have much to offer nature-wise, the west of the country is beautiful and green!

3. Greatest challenge

Although perspectives differ on the greatest challenges facing Burkina, one that is really holding the country back is lack of education and unemployment. Only 21% of the population is literate (CIA Factbook), so there is no incentive for international corporations to come and utilize the capable workforce here. As a result, official unemployment is 77%. Although people find something to fill their time and make enough money to feed their children, moving above subsistence will require some changes to the Burkinabe education.

4. Most common loan product at field partner, Micro Start/AFD
Small business loans- selling fruit, pagnes (African cloth), etc… Most are group loans but some individual.

5. Clients’ most common use of profits
Education and health of children. Often families need to take their children out of school here because they need them to work to help feed the family. With the loans, often the parents can make enough money to support the family so children can stay in school.

Do: A Kiva Fellowship. It'll change your life. (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

The sixteenth class of Kiva Fellows has all but left the field- but we’re by no means done talking about our experiences. We’ve collectively spent 422 weeks in the field (just over 8 years!) and worked an estimated 16,650 hours at Kiva field partners around the world.  Needless to say, we’ve got a lot of opinions about how to use this time wisely.

Now, we’re no experts in living or working abroad (though we sure do like it), but we have some nuggets of wisdom to offer up for those of you transitioning into a life abroad or beginning your next Kiva Fellowship. Stick by these tips, and you can’t go wrong. (And for more hints and tips, check out 33 Tips from Kiva Fellows (written November 2009) or 45 More Tips from Kiva Fellows in South America.) Enjoy!

Best Way to a Kiva Fellow’s Heart is through…

1. People love to share food in El Salvador. If you’re having lunch with someone or with co-workers, offer up some of what you have for them to try. (Andrea Ramirez, KF16 Costa Rica & El Salvador)

2. Though most of the USA fast food places are here, don’t bother with them, Turkish food is wonderful. (Kim Strathearn, KF16 Turkey)

3. If you take a trip(s) during your fellowship, remember that in some cultures it’s customary to bring back (small) gifts to friends and coworkers from your travels! I found that a box of chocolates to share in the office of my MFI was always much appreciated and disappeared within hours. (Laurie Young, KF16 Indonesia)

They may not look good. They may not taste that good, either. But do it: eat the fried cow intestines.

4. Make sure you try the different casados(rice and black beans paired with some sort of salad, and meat). It’s delicious, affordable, and the closest thing to home-made. (Andrea Ramirez, KF16 Costa Rica & El Salvador)

5. Try everything. Ok, yes, you could get sick, but worse, you could live the rest of your life without knowing what guinea pig, cow tongue, fermented maize, cow heart, llama, friend random thing with more random things in it, magical juice in a bag, etc., etc., tastes like. If these things don’t seem appealing, remember: even worse, you could miss out on a big chance to share in a local cultural experience that will stay stayed with you forever. (Mariela Cedeno, KF16 Bolivia)

6. Befriending office mates is easy as pie, especially if you bake one. Any baked treat will do the trick: cookies, cupcakes, 7-layer bars – anything tasty and homemade will suffice. Walk around and offer your treats during the afternoon coffee break. (Sandra Pina, KF16, Honduras)

How do you say…

7. No amount of “city” Spanish will prepare you for the linguistic richness and diversity of Spanish spoken in rural Costa Rica. That said, bring a notebook for ALL field visits, and let the loan officers be your best professors and guides. Even Costa Rican urbanites find themselves lost among the colloquialisms of Tico country Spanish. (Julie Kerr, KF16 Costa Rica)

8. Learning common words and phrases in an indigenous language is the quickest way to break the ice. Guaraní is Paraguay’s other official language and is spoken by the majority of the population. Purete means cool, haso means not cool, kaigue is lazy, nde ha’e kuña guapa means “You are a hard working woman!,” chevare’a means “I am hungry,” and amokose means “I want a drink!” (Alba Castillo, KF15 Paraguay)

9. Get rid of “uhm” in your vocabulary- it mean a female private part in Turkish. (Kim Strathearn, KF16, Turkey)

10. When a farmer says he brings his harvest to market using his “salchichón” (commonly known as “sausage”), blush not my friends, he means “horse”. (Julie Kerr, KF16 Costa Rica)

11. If you lose the thread of a conversation don’t just say ‘sí‘ or intermittently laugh. Get them to repeat things and when that get boring pick out a word or phrase that you Do know and make a comment or nonsequitor. They might be saying “fijate, las olas son bravas en la playa” and your response might be an unrelated, “¿Te gusta la playa?”  This gets the conversation back on your own terms. Think about how often you respond like this in English! (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

12. Because they will ask: Kiva means “unity” or “agreement” in Swahili. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

What to Bring

Do: bring a tuperwear container. Sporks can also come in handy, for that mid-morning mountain climb.

13. My three smartest investments for my fellowships? A SteriPen, a tuperwear container, and a pocket knife with a corkscrew. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16 Peru)

14. Always carry a small, sturdy umbrella. It will get you through unexpected showers; as well as hot, sunny days. (Alba Castillo, KF16 Paraguay)

15. Rain is as plentiful is the air we breathe. Bring an umbrella if you prefer to shower before getting dressed. (Julie Kerr, KF16 Costa Rica)

16. Bug spray, bug spray and MORE bug spray!! For those of you who like more natural alternatives, anything with menthol or eucalyptus helps repel the mightiest of mammoth mosquitoes, sand flies, ticks and chiggers. Slather it on THICK! (Julie Kerr, KF16 Costa Rica)

17. Bring clothes or shoes that need to be fixed, mended, or altered. It is cheap and the work is top quality. The sasterías and zapateros are EVERYWHERE. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

There’s no place like home (in a new country!)

18. If you can, try to find accommodation near the central market building: there’s nothing like eating shrimp ceviche with avocado at 7 o’clock in the morning. Besides, this may be your only chance for the entire day to get your hands on food that’s neither triple-fried nor made out of pure pork fat. (Emmanuel von Arx, KF16 Ecuador)

19. If it’s possible, go with a homestay! Local food, local language, and a solid support group in-country are just a few of the obvious perks of living with a family. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador and KF16 Peru)

20. For Kiva Fellows in the former Soviet republics: If you’re looking for apartments in older Soviet buildings, check to make sure that the utilities actually work. Gas outages can be frequent (sometimes in the dead of winter), and running water tends to be spotty on higher floors. As a rule of thumb, try not to live above the fifth floor – after all, the elevator might also not work! (Chris Paci, KF16 Tajikistan & Azerbaijan)

Getting from point A to B

21. When moving around by taxi in Cuzco, do everything possible to seem local to get cheaper prices (there are lots of local gringos, so you can pull it off). How to go about it?

• Say hi to your taxista like this “Buenas, maestro.” Saying hola is touristy, saying chofer is touristy, and asking anything about anything is touristy. You don’t care. You are local.
• Tell him where you are going by saying “I will get off at such and such location”. If you are going to a restaurant, know its name, what street it is on, the nearest cross street, and a reference point nearby BEFORE you get in. Otherwise you won’t be able to pull off the “trabajo aquí.”(Miss any of those four, you are officially a tourist.) (Rob Gradoville, KF16 Peru)

If you're feeling the need for speed, do: hop on your loan officer's motorcycle.

22. If you’re taking the bus and you don’t know where you need to get off, just ask the bus diver. Costa Rica has the nicest bus drivers around! (Andrea Ramirez, KF16 Costa Rica & El Salvador)

23. Note the taxi number (on side of doors when you get in) can help you retrieve forgotten item. Also can help if the taxi driver sees you note the number, he might be less likely to take the long way. It is common for taxis to stop and ask other for directions if they don’t know the place your going. Always make sure they turn the meter on. In the tourist area, always flag down a moving taxi–the ones that are just waiting around are just waiting to rip you off. Beware of the money switcheroo (ie you give them a 50 lira note that is the same color as a 5 lira note and they do the switcheroo and try to convince you that you only gave them the 5. Females always sit in the back and not in the front. I have have some excellent taxi driver and some dinks as well. Rider beware (Kim Strathearn, KF16 Turkey)

Get to work!

24. If you have any freedom to do borrower visits, have no shame in visiting anyone who owns a panatería, heladería, or pisco vineyard. Peruvian hospitality and pride in their business translate to homemade treats for you. Microtenterprise never tasted so good. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

25. Make people laugh, even when it’s awkward. Visiting clients who are on a spectrum from extreme introvert, to slightly less extreme introvert, can be daunting, but like everything else in life, there is nothing better than a laugh. You’d be amazed how many times my laughing at people and saying “por favor, sonria porque se me va a romper la camera si sigue asi,” actually made them smile. Don’t rush, don’t pull out your pen and BV template, and don’t start dangerously pointing your camera right way. Chill out, smile, shake hands, take in the scenery, interact! (Mariela Cedeno, KF16 Bolivia)

Do: hang out with coworkers after work. Don't: let them win.

26. Make sure to hang out with MFI staff outside of work. Don’t worry so much about about keeping it strictly ‘professional.’ I built trust, learned office hierarchy, gossip, and got a lot of technical questions answered after a few beers with loan officers. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

27. Fake it ’til you make it. You will be considered an expert in all things Kiva, even if you’re not. Embrace the challenge. You will have multiple resources at your disposal: use them. Learn along the way and don’t be afraid to tell your field partner, “Can I get back to you on that? I want to confirm with Kiva.” (Sandra Pina, KF16, Honduras)

28. Invest in your coworkers. From the service staff to the reception staff to the MIS, they not only help you with your job but they can be great friends and connectors to your life in a new country. (Jill Hall, KF16 Philippines)

29. They tell you this at training, but really, do it: spend your first week only asking questions. Lots and lots of questions (and start on your Loan Product Survey or Social Impact Assessment first- asking pointed questions while completing items on your workplan is a double whammy!). Being extremely informed about every aspect of your MFI will only make your work easier moving forward. (And teach you more about microfinance, which is the whole point of the Fellowship, right?) (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

30. If it should take a day or two, it’ll take three or four. If it’s your Borrower Verification, it’ll take a month. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

31. Figure out how your MFI communicates. They are probably using chat or skype. Get your coworkers chat/skype info early on. Sometimes you can formulate better questions, get better responses and be less annoying chatting rather than visiting their office for every little thing. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

32. Email coworkers when you leave! – Even if they weren’t helpful with that one thing you were working on…they still care and want to hear from you when you’re gone. (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

33. Participate! Don’t be shy (or obnoxious) and get involved with after work sports or after work drinks. This is your new community. (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

Gringo Pricing

34. Don’t be afraid to bargain for transportation and goods! In many developing countries, it’s expected of everyone. You’ll probably be quoted a much higher price at the start than you should be paying, and it’s not because the vendor’s trying to “cheat” you as a foreigner. It just makes economic sense – it would be foolish for the entrepreneur not to sell for as high a price as he/she can get. (Chris Paci, KF16 Tajikistan & Azerbaijan)

35. Never take the first price- haggling is expected. On the other side of the coin (jaja), though, don’t haggle some old woman trying to sell you a scarf in the Sunday market into oblivion- that extra dollar probably means an awful lot more than her than it does to you. Lay aside your hubris and indignation from time to time and accept the gringo tax. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

Safety

36. Should you ever attract negative attention from the police in the former Soviet world, an effective tactic is to pretend (or demonstrate) that you speak barely any Russian – enough to understand their questions, but not enough to maintain a conversation. As long as your documents are in order, they will likely decide you’re too awkward to be worth it and let you leave. Hurray! Oh, and always carry your passport and registration with you. Always always always always always. (Chris Paci, KF16 Tajikistan & Azerbaijan)

37. Remember, guys: It’s better to appear like a total sissy than to get robbed or killed. If you feel that you are getting into a dangerous situation or a dead-end street in a bad neighborhood, don’t hesitate: simply turn around and run! Don’t worry: nobody will ever know about this – your reputation as a fearless globetrotter stays alive, and so will you… (Emmanuel von Arx, KF16 Ecuador)

38. It’s natural to burn with curiosity about your host country. But if you’re not living in a democracy, be cautious about the sorts of political questions you ask, unless you know your conversational partners well. For instance, my first placement was in Khujand, Tajikistan, in a region surrounded on three sides by the hostile country of Uzbekistan, and the authorities were always wary of Uzbek spies. My current placement of Azerbaijan is a country that considers itself at war and has suffered terrorist attacks in the past, so as the police see it, there’s a lot to be suspicious about. Be hyper-aware of these sorts of issues. And if you feel tempted to criticize the political system there and/or extol the virtues of your own, stop and reconsider. It’s not why Kiva sent you there, and in the worst-case scenario, you might get both yourself and your conversational partners in genuine trouble. (Chris Paci, KF16 Tajikistan & Azerbaijan)

39. Never carry your credit card unless you are making a withdrawal. I prefer to carry large sums of money in my shoe rather than bringing my card out of hiding. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

40. Make and carry a photocopy of your passport. Carrying it around for real is a real bad idea, and having no record makes it hard to check into hostels/hotels. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

41. If you’re in a country with a heavy police presence, be careful what you photograph! Sometimes the most unexpected subjects – bridges, factories, metro stations, gorgeous government buildings – can be deemed security risks, and photographing them can attract negative attention from the police. (Chris Paci, KF16 Tajikistan & Azerbaijan)

Hugs and Handshakes

42. If you are an unmarried woman and living in a country where the locals aren’t used to seeing women wandering around alone and are often inquisitive of where you are going and why you aren’t married, bring and wear a fake wedding band. Also, make sure you figure out which hand is the hand that the locals wear it on! It’ll do wonders for (sometimes) avoiding uncomfortable conversations if you don’t want to have them. (Laurie Young, KF16 Indonesia)

43. Outside of San Salvador the people are pretty conservative. Men won’t shake a woman’s hand unless she extends her hand first. (Andrea Ramirez, KF16 Costa Rica & El Salvador)

44. In Paraguay, you greet and say goodbye to friends with not one, but two kisses – one on each cheek. (Alba Castillo, KF16 Paraguay)

45. In Turkey, among friends the greeting is a kiss on both checks (Kim Strathearn, KF16 Turkey)

Living and Looking Local:

Do: try to dance like the locals. Don't: fool yourself into thinking you're really, really good at it.

46. Although Turkey is fairly well connected, don’t rely on google. (Kim Strathearn, KF16 Turkey)

47. If you want to look like a local, wear jeans. Even if it’s 100 degrees outside. Tourists are associated with shorts. (Andrea Ramirez, KF16 Costa Rica & El Salvador)

48. One of the best ways to learn about a culture is to people watch– what are they doing and not doing in public. (Kim Strathearn, KF16 Turkey)

49. When in Rome…always pour some out for Pachamama. If you find yourself sitting around a big bucket of Chicha with nothing but a full gourd in hand, don’t be stingy, pour some out for Mother Earth, she’s thirsty too. (Mariela Cedeno, KF16 Bolivia)

50. Walk, walk everywhere, all the time. Yes you need to be at the office at 8 a.m. and you get up at 7:40, but maybe during your two hour lunch break and on weekends you can make sure to take the time to pace yourself. Remember to absorb everything around you: the sounds, the streets, the people, the street vendors, the conversations, the protests, the smells. For some reason, those were also my most peaceful times. (Mariela Cedeno, KF16 Bolivia)

51. Getting haircuts is cheap and always a great experience. Getting a straight razor shave sounds bad ass but is just bad and hurts a lot. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

52. Get into the rhythm of your location. If the locals take time to smell the roses or take a tea break –you should too. This is a great video (in English) on what a glass of tea means (Kim Strathearn, KF16 Turkey)

53. Sit in a park/plaza by yourself…someone will sit next to you. (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

54. Be a guest (and a friend) – allow people in your host country to take you around…you don’t always have to pretend like you’re not a tourist…let’s be real, this is not your native country (if it is, still go on some trips!). (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

55. Get off the internet! Your friends at home really don’t need to hear from you every day (although your mother/father probably does). It’s way cooler to say, “I was out of internet range…” (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

Mind your manners:

56. You are going to be thoroughly stared at. Get used to it, as it is not rude here. (Kim Strathearn, KF16 Turkey)

57. Don’t be offended when asked how much money you make, how much is your apartment, are you married, have kids, no to either question is followed by why not? Good way to deflect is nicely reply why do you want to know? Turks are very curious and have a different sense of what is private information. (Kim Strathearn, KF16 Turkey)

58. Turkish people are very hospitable and gracious to guests–learn what it means to be a good guest. (Kim Strathearn, KF16 Turkey)

59. Most people in the former Soviet republics love to be photographed! Once you do, though, they might surprise you by asking when they can expect to receive a printed copy of their photo. There are plenty of little shops here where you can get a picture printed, so always take down the person’s address and try to bring or mail them a copy. With an inexpensive little gesture like this, you can absolutely make someone’s day. (Chris Paci, KF16 Tajikistan & Azerbaijan)

60. Follow through on promises (or obligations)– go to dinner with coworker’s families, take a day trip with coworkers or friends, etc. (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru or Ecuador, follow her work here.

Before I volunteered as a Kiva Fellow in Sierra Leone (May of 2011) and Bolivia (September 2011), I was living in Santa Barbara, California. Imagine: Santa Barbara beaches saturated with color, mansions with the smell of jasmine twisting through the air, and a pace of life only to be set by the sun. While there, I was working for a de jure artist and took up the ranks as a de facto artist myself. Life was pretty easy, and moving to a developing country and working with microfinance seemed a million miles away. Leaving it all made me wonder why I would forfeit the comfort and normalcy of home for places where it feels like I have to relearn basic parts of life (i.e. restroom, showers, and food).

While volunteering, I was often asked , “Why would you come volunteer in my country?” Each time, I rambled about a desire to foster opportunities in the development of people around the world. But that is just it, how concise can pre-volunteers really be?

Well, the life of a volunteer goes with the wind. Four weeks ago I was living in Sierra Leone and today I am sitting in an office in Bolivia. Obviously, volunteering is not the most advantageous financial move one can make; in fact, while in the States, I qualified for free immunizations before coming to Bolivia because I was “low income”. In all honesty, most volunteers are a footnote to an organization’s real employees, and the “We couldn’t do it without you” speech only gets volunteers high for a split second. So why endure the bucket showers in Sierra Leone and language barriers in South America? Why volunteer?

For me, it has to do with something I encountered as a child while hiking around my home in Washington State. I saw the diverse beauty of nature: cedars, Douglas firs, ferns, and myriad wildflowers. I then thought about the diverse beauty of humanity (although those weren’t my exact thoughts as a child…). What it came down to was that I knew people (and the world) had to be different beyond my hometown population of ninety-something.

I didn’t leave and volunteer to “save the world.” (Do people still do that?) Rather, I had this desire to cease to be dichotomized from the developing world. Volunteering was a means to share life with people and hope to understand why populations live at different standards of living. This, hopefully, is joining in the process of lifting people out of poverty –the more minds and hearts that are included in the “process” (any process or cause you are volunteering for), the more potential there is to yield results and answers.

The wonder in volunteering, I have found, is simply in the interaction between me and a Kiva Borrower (those who recieve loans). In most cases, we each have something to add to the life of the other. With Kiva, microfinance volunteer work is geared to sustainably enable entrepreneurs in developing countries by facilitating capital for their business through loans.

My greatest interest in life was to see this “process,” and I have been so encouraged by what Kiva Borrowers are doing with their loans to better their lives. In reality, when any volunteers collaborate with people in development, we begin to answer for ourselves the questions we could not articulate beforehand. Within it all, volunteers are fortunate to take the time and witness the diverse beauty of humanity.

***

Eric Rindal has had the privilege to be a Kiva Fellow based in La Paz, Bolivia working with Emprender and IMPRO. He is a big proponent of Kiva Lenders lending to people in countries they have not lent to. If you have not lent to a wonderful borrower in Bolivia, click here to find a smiling face. Eric was a Kiva Fellow in Sierra Leone during the 15th class — if you have not lent to someone in Sierra Leone, click here to find a wonderful person! 

My first placement in Ecuador was my first time in the country. Turns out that Ecuador is every bit as incredible as the guide books say, and more. I was continously struck by the warmth and openness of the Ecuadorian people (and their passion for politics!), the beauty of the mountains, jungle, and countryside, the richness of Ecuadorian food, the strength of the Kiva borrowers I met there, and my persisting inability to salsa as well as my coworkers. These are a few of my favorite photos of my time there. Stay tuned for my next post, of my favorite photos from my placement in Perú!

Above the town of Chunchi, Ecuador. Kiva Field Partner Fundación Alternativa's program directed at families of immigrants is supporting a group loan to building a restaurant, at the site- where the borrowers' big dream is to one day build a hotel and spa as well!

Kiva Borrower Orlen Rafael (http://www.kiva.org/lend/321388) shows us the fruits of his recent loan from Fundación Alternativa, which he used to buy oil paints, fabric, and general supplies to be able to make his works of art.

Helping Fundación ESPOIR borrower Ana make tamales outside of Cuenca, Ecuador (http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2011/08/10/how-to-make-a-tamale-or-a-hundred/)

Dolls in Ecuador's famous Otavalo weekend market

A view of Ibarra, Ecuador, where Kiva Field Partner FODEMI is located

A FODEMI borrower's microentreprise: dragon-boat tours! (Definitely worth the $2)

A celebration outside of Ibarra, Ecuador. None of the Ecuadorians I talked to could actually explain why the men were dressed as women.

Fundación ESPOIR borrower Gladys used her loan to buy ingredients for her ice cream, which she was kind enough to share with my fellow loan officer and me. Yum!

Cuenca: Ecuador's colonial jewel, and an incredible blend of strong indigenous presence, enduring Spanish influences, and true Ecuadorian culture

The daughter of a Kiva borrower at her mother's market stall in Quito, Ecuador

A Kiva borrower spins wool, which she will eventually dye and use to knit hats and gloves to be sold to tourists in Cuenca, Ecuador

A Fundación ESPOIR group loan meeting takes place outside of Cuenca, Ecuador (inside this small structure are 15 mothers and grandmothers, most of whom have been ESPOIR borrowers for over ten years)

Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru or Ecuador, follow her work here.

Institutional birthdays in the US can be fairly stuffy affairs. Seating is often arranged to maximize contact with those in the institution with whom one has never spoken (perhaps for good reason, argue some guests) and they tend to be remembered more for inappropriate comments inserted into otherwise boring speeches rather than for the celebrations that they hope to be but rarely are.

Not so at the Cooperativa San Jose de Chimbo (CSJ). Instead of standing around awkwardly, everyone secretly wishing they were somewhere else, the 47th birthday of CSJ (conveniently combined with the office Xmas party) was a chaotic and energetic no-holds-barred inter-office Karaoke war. There wasn’t a bored face in the crowd.

Upon arrival, I found myself quickly ushered to the judges table across the large open dance hall from the stage, which had an impressive array of microphones and speakers as well as three unidentifiable steel objects evenly spaced across the front. They looked like iron champagne glasses. I was told, along with my fellow judges (the general manager of the credit union and the three directors of the members’ association, one of whom also happens to be the booming “ladies and gentlemen” voice of the local radio station) that I would be judging contestants on vocal quality, presentation, and the ‘use of the stage’.

I quickly discovered what the mysterious objects were (and what ‘use of the stage’ meant) when the third singer stepped up. It was the janitor from CSJ headquarters, Don Vinicio, who as it turns out is an impressive baritone with a mean stage presence and a penchant for ballads. As he began to sing, someone walked in front of the stage with a match in hand. Sparks and flames began shooting up from two of the metal objects in front of Don Vini to a height of at least 15 feet. (Please excuse the quality of the following clips… they’re fun, but they aren’t nearly as awesome in terms either content or video skills as Laurie’s video from yesterday)

That was only the beginning. As the next group began their set, a little boy of no more than 7, wearing a bright yellow shirt and what appeared to be a two foot by two foot papier-mache buffalo or mule head, came stumbling on unsteady little legs through the doorway and onto the open dance floor. In place of horns, the buffalo had the same metal champagne glasses shooting sparks and flames precariously close to the thin cloth hung from the ceiling, until they slowly fizzled out into smoke. The lack of flames didn’t stop him from continuing to dance around the floor, still wearing the smoking buffalo head.

Just after the set had ended, he and his giant mask collapsed onto the floor. The little boy then proceeded to leave the smoking buffalo head in the middle of the floor and promptly run for the exit laughing wildly, arms flailing.

Ever make a Kiva loan to CSJ that said the borrower lived in Chillanes? The flaming buffalo- headed child is the son of the Loan Officer responsible for distributing that loan! The two women clapping (around the 43rd second of the video) on the left at the far end of the table (one in blue, the other in white) are “the Karinas”, CSJ’s two Kiva Coordinators who happen to have the same first name.

There was a brief interlude during which we all got up and danced to a DJ, after which we went back to our seats to listen to the remaining performances. These included CSJ’s lawyer and assistant director singing a folksy local favorite, and a very pregnant loan officer belting out cheesy love songs; she ended up winning handily after a sub-par performance from Don Vini during the second round head-to-head Karaoke-off.

After the awards presentations, the announcers unexpectedly invited myself, CSJ’s general manager, and three directors of the member’s association to sing “El Rey”, an awesomely absurd classic Mexican ranchera song that is popular all over Latin America for its not-so-subtle allusions to the King of Spain (and to a more general tendency to exaggerate one’s own importance). Sadly, there is no video of this; I think the cameraman was on stage singing with us!

The rest of the night jumped around between dancing, speeches and eating, until a live band (of professionals) came out. After that, nobody dared interrupt the dancing; and when the band finally packed it in, we all went out for more.

CSJ is not always like this. Four social performance badges and a four-star risk rating on Kiva don’t earn themselves; the good folks of the Cooperativa San Jose work hard. But as it turns out, when given the chance, they play hard too. Tomorrow is my last day here, and I already miss them for both, among other things. Happy 47^th to the Cooperativa San Jose!

Marcus Berkowitz is a first-time fellow with Cooperativa San José (CSJ) in the western Andes of Ecuador’s Bolívar province. Show support for CSJ´s hardworking rural borrowers by making a loan. Or get even more involved by joining CSJ’s lending team!

Awhile ago I attended a Kiva loan disbursement for VisionFund Indonesia with my Kiva Coordinator, Valentine.  She and I were both intrigued by a product called Mr. Cool that Layla, the leader of the group, has a business turning into ice cream pops.  Often times the borrowers we met during field visits were quiet and reserved.  However, Layla was extremely excited to have us in her home and show us all about her business making Mr. Cool pops.  She was the most outgoing and charismatic borrower I met during my time in Jakarta and, because of this, I wanted to share our visit with you.

_____________

Laurie Young recently completed her Kiva Fellowship (KF16) working with VisionFund Indonesia in Jakarta.  If you would like to learn more about VisionFund Indonesia, please visit their partner page.  You can also support them by joining the lending team for VisionFund Indonesia. Former posts written by Laurie about her experiences in Jakarta and with VisionFund Indonesia can be found at:

New City, New Field Partner: Settling into the “Big Durian” (Part 1 of 2)
New City, New Field Partner: Getting to know VisionFund Indonesia (Part 2 of 2)
Meeting Karsinah: Maximizing my Social Return on Investment
Remembering Rizky: VisionFund Indonesia Loses One of Their Own
Microinsurance in Indonesia: What are the Options for Kiva Borrowers?
Microinsurance in Indonesia: Current Challenges and Innovations

My host and Kiva´s partner organization Banco D-MIRO provides over ten different types of microloans to borrowers in and around Guayaquil: among them loans to finance housing improvements, school expenses, medication, and loans awarded specifically to employees, young people with a great idea but no experience, and – as Ecuador´s only microfinance institution – discount loans for HIV-positive micro-entrepreneurs.

I am the first to attest, that all these loans have found enthusiastic and committed takers. Yet, one borrower group beats them all: the well over 400 disabled borrowers of Banco D-MIRO, whose deep commitment and payment discipline has turned “their” loan type – called Producto Creer (“Product Believe”) – into the most successful and inspirational product of D-MIRO´s extensive spectrum. The delinquency rate of Producto Creer is by far lower than that of any other major micro-loan type of Banco D-MIRO, which means that borrowers of Producto Creer are better at paying back their monthly rates than any other client group!

Specifically, by the end of October 2011, Banco D-MIRO´s entire loan portfolio had a delinquency rate (here defined as PAR1, or the total outstanding amount of loans with repayment delays beyond 1 day) of 2.67%, whereas Producto Creer shows a PAR1 of 1.91% – a number that´s extremely hard to beat! People at this bank certainly didn´t expect such an impressive outcome when, in April 2010, they first introduced a special discount loan product for physically disabled clients. The bank may have been encouraged by the success of another pioneering discount loan product that had been  introduced in September 2007: the Producto Vida (“Product Life”) – a discount loan for HIV-positive entrepreneurs about which I wrote in this blog post.

In September 2011, the headquarters of Banco D-MIRO finally became accessible to clients in a wheelchair, thanks to a newly built ramp.

So much for the numbers, but how is the reality in the field? Why are D-MIRO´s borrowers with a physical disability such incredibly good payers and clients? How and in what do they work? What are their main successes and challenges in life? No loan officer within D-MIRO is better suited to answer me these questions than Nahin Alvarado: his focus is on HIV positive and disabled clients and he was already my guide during an earlier visit to an HIV-clinic in one of Guayaquil´s largest public hospitals. When I ask him to join him in the field, he immediately agrees to take me to “Asoplejica” – an organization for the disabled that Nahin visits every month to educate its members on their financial options and specifically on Producto Creer.

After a ten-minute car ride to Los Esteros, a rough neighborhood west of downtown Guayaquil, we stand outside the headquarter of Asoplejica where I ask Nahin for his personal take on the low delinquency rate of borrowers with Producto Creer. Spanish-speakers please jump right ahead to the video – for all others, Nahin´s response to my question was: “Our experience has been very positive.  Other financial institutions in Ecuador marginalize these disabled clients who are aware that only we [Banco D-MIRO] give them an opportunity to obtain a loan; so they are very faithful to us. To that extent, the delinquency rate is extremely low.” I follow up, asking: “Lower than for regular loans, right?” “Yes, we have a delinquency rate that is much lower than that of regular loans.” Here´s all this in Guayaquileño-colored Spanish:

As we walk into the building, we are immediately greeted by the organization´s receptionist, who introduced herself as Mariuxi. She has just wrapped up a discussion on the day´s schedule with Emilio, the President of Asoplejica.  Emilio immediately comes towards us in his wheelchair, inviting Nahin and me to sit down with him for a talk: he is amazed to hear about my Kiva Fellowship and is even more surprised when I tell him how Kiva connects over 640,000 idealistic Kiva lenders with over 668,000 micro-entrepreneurs around the world. He spontaneously exclaims: “I hope that one of my past loans with Banco D-MIRO has been funded through Kiva!” [Back at the office I double-check: while none of Emilio´s past loans was listed on Kiva, chances are good that future loans of his will appear on Kiva.org.]

Emilio recounts for me his loan history: “I have been a client of Banco D-MIRO for the last four years. Every year I take a higher loan which I then invest in my one-man taxi business, paying it off during the following twelve months. My first loan was on $1,500, followed a year later by one of $2,000. I hope my next loan will be on $5,000.” I ask him about his taxi business and how exactly he invested his first loan. He answers: “The first thing I bought were the papers for my taxi to make it legal. This was not cheap and cost me about $300. But it was a good investment: if you have a taxi that´s not legalized, the police can stop you anytime. And as a paraplegic driver I feel that I am more vulnerable to police harassment than otherwise. I also use my loans to pay for gasoline and repairs that cost me between $4 and $6 a day. My daily fare income with my little taxi is about $20, so I have a daily surplus of $15 which easily pays for D-MIRO´s low interest rate.” [The yearly interest rate for Producto Creer is about 16%, as opposed to 26% for regular loans.]

Javier´s picture features prominently in Banco D-MIRO´s publicity materials, including here on this life-size banner (Javier´s picture is the forth from the top).

Our talk is interrupted by Javier, a white-haired elegant man with joyful eyes who rolls into the room on his wheel-chair. He looks strangely familiar to me and it´s not until the next day that I connect the dots: Javier´s photo features prominently on many of D-MIRO´s promotional materials, including the bank´s homepage. Apart from being one of D-MIRO´s favorite role models, he is also Asaplejica´s Secretary. Furthermore, he works two jobs: from his home he sells homeopathic health products which are popular in Ecuador as a way to fight just about anything, from obesity and hair loss to cancer and bad luck; and in the building of Asoplejica he also has a workshop space where he works as a serigrapher, creating beautifully elaborate stencils to screen-print T-shirts and paper. His current loan with Banco D-MIRO is $1,000 which he pays back with his monthly income of $450 to $900 from the sale of his prints and health products. When asked whether he has ever had any trouble paying back his loan, Javier emphasizes to me the importance of credibility when doing business: “Your credibility is key when it comes to doing good business. And I believe we disabled entrepreneurs have more to lose, simply because we don´t have that many options – so we always give our very best and work as hard as possible to provide excellent customer service. The same is true with my bank loans. I don´t know of any other bank but D-MIRO who would give me a loan, so I am extra careful to pay it back on time and reward their trust.”

Clockwise from top left: the author, Mariuxi, Emilio, and Javier in front of a collection of basketball trophies that the team of Asoplejica has won over the years.

I ask Emilio and Javier to tell me more about their organization: Asoplejica. Its name stands for “Hemiplegics´, Paraplegics´, and Quadriplegics´ Association of Guayas Province” and has over 200 associates, all of them physically disabled. It also has its own Facebook profile. Asoplejica was founded almost 30 years ago by a group of disabled men and women who used to get together after their rehabilitation therapy at a public hospital in Guayaquil.  All their activities and operations – including the salary of two paid employees (one of them Mariuxi) – are being paid for through public fund-raisers, such as raffles and bingo. Among the services the association provides to associates are physical therapy, homework assistance to children, and – most importantly – pure and simple companionship.  To explain what he means by companionship, Javier invites Mariuxi, Emilio, Nahin, and me to gather around the office computer where he shows us photos of Asoplejica´s last Christmas celebration. It was definitely a very merry Christmas among the members and their families… Walking back to Nahin´s car a quarter hour later, I feel as if I am leaving behind a group of friends.

In these times of economic and social turmoil, Banco D-MIRO´s Producto Creer may be a much needed reminder that it may pay off for banks to do the morally right thing. Please consider making a loan to one of D-MIRO´s clients on Kiva.

Emmanuel M. von Arx is a Kiva Fellow working with Banco D-MIRO in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Banco D-MIRO focuses on clients who have long been excluded from the traditional financial system for reasons that include culture, sex, race, poverty, disability, and illness. To learn more, please visit Banco D-MIRO´s partner page on Kiva or become a member of the lending team of Banco D-MIRO, the only provider of special financial services for disabled and HIV-positive clients in Ecuador.

Part of my Fellowship here in Bolivia is to complete two Borrower Verifications (BVs) for two Kiva partner microfinance intuitions: Emprender and IMPRO. During the BV, I ask four questions to verify that the borrower is the real borrower, and I ask one question to understand the Kiva borrower better. This one question: What is your dream for you life or your business, is the most moving part of my Fellowship. I am so inspired by Kiva borrowers. Some of their dreams are simple, some are grand, and others take hold of my heart with profound sincerity. I would like to introduce you to my friends and their dreams.

Gregoria

Dreams to…Own sewing machines to make and sell clothing

Gregoria is a mother of seven, four of which live at home, and she sells shoes in the local markets around Santa Cruz, Bolivia. I visited her in a half-constructed small home in the outskirts of town; her sons built the home using their mom’s profits. Her three sons adore their mother and are all a part of the business decisions and the loan process. With a huge smile Gregoria said her dream was to purchase sewing machines and make clothing. This will allow her to employ her sons with a steady job. Clearly the bond of the family would be a driving force in her business.

Irene

Dreams to…Purchase a car to help her traveling business

Irene sells cleaning towels, cleaning products, and small household items out of a small cardboard box. Her business is, well, a traveling business. She walks twelve hours per day along the streets between towns selling these small items. I met Irene in the mid-morning after she had been walking for a few hours; she was already tired. “I am getting old,” she said, and she isn’t able to walk as far or as long as she used to do. With great strength she does not complain about walking, but her dream is to purchase a car so she does not need to walk everywhere and wear herself out to make a living.

Teodocio

Dreams to…Buy a fabric cutting machine to increase efficiency

Teodocio lives with his wife and two daughters in El Alto, Bolivia. He works at home three days a week making large brimmed hats for field workers and he sells the hats in the marketplace the rest of the week. He previously had one sewing machine to complete his work, but then purchased a second sewing machine with his loan. Since taking out his loan Teodocio has been able to employ both his daughters to sew the hats. Teodocio’s dream is to buy a fabric cutter to create custom designs and produce the fabric cuts at the pace and moment he needs them.

Julia

Dreams to… 1) Purchase a larger bus, and 2) Travel to Europe

Julia is the owner of a bus for public transportation in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. I expected her to be a bus driver, but she hires a driver and simply is responsible for all the maintenance. She is a woman of great business savvy, and is also is an active distributor of Herbalife products. As a responsible borrower and businesswoman, she is always seeking to grow her business and uses microloans as a means to expand and actualize her goals. After using a loan to purchase the bus, her new dream is to purchase a bus big enough to fit 40 or 50 people. I asked if she had other goals; her eyes became distant and she laughed as if it was utterly ridiculous, but Julia’s other dream is to make enough money to travel to Europe. She would “love to see Europe.”

Valentine

Dreams to…Plant more fields and increase his herd of cows

Valentine is a farmer and raises cattle in the quiet warm agriculture area outside of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. He has 30 cows and a few fields where he plants corn, yucca, and peanuts. Valentine lives in a house on the hillside with his wife and young son who loves to sing (he is about 6 years old and sang a few songs while strumming his guitar). I asked Vincent why he took out loans, “if I didn’t have a loan I couldn’t buy more seeds. If I do buy more seeds then I can plant and harvest more fields.” It’s that simple. Valentine’s dream is to buy more cows for his farm and more seeds to plant – both of which allow him to supply the local cooperative market.

Elvira

Dreams to…Construct her own house

(Elvira is the second from the left, in the back)

Elvira is member of the nine-woman-strong “New Hope” group working in a street market of Cochabamba, Bolivia. She sells noodles, rice, and beans in her market stall and is the dedicated leader of the solidarity group. With the few profits Elvira makes each month, her dream is to construct and complete a home. “That is all I want…to construct a home,” she said.

Martina

Dreams to…Pay for her two children to graduate from university

Martina lives in the rural town of Achacachi, Bolivia near the shores of Lake Titicaca. She owns four dairy cows and sells the milk to a local cooperative in her area. She has two sons in their early twenties who are attending university in La Paz. Her dream is to pay for her two sons to graduate from university. She has been using all her profits from milk sales to pay for their education. She purchased her fourth dairy cow with her loan, but it has since become pregnant and currently produces little milk. Despite slow milk production and sales, Martina is determined to pay for their schooling. Even while things are uncertain until the cow’s birth in January, she is frugal and knows she will see them both complete their education.

Gabriel

Dreams to…Own a reliable dump truck

Gabriel drives a dump truck for hire in La Paz, Bolivia. He used his Kiva loan to buy a new motor for his truck; his other motor up and died a few months ago. As an older man it is difficult to get steady work, so he relies solely on his skill of driving large trucks. He is the only worker in his family, and his financial situation is delicate, so if his motor goes out he has no income. Gabriel’s dream is to purchase a new, reliable dump truck to ensure his employment and steady income. He then would not need to worry if his “business” could break down at any moment.

Lilian

Dreams to…Travel to Europe and attend hairdressing workshops

Lilian owns a two-chair hair salon in Cochabamba, Bolivia. She is extremely kind, welcoming, and a great hairdresser. During my whole interview she had a huge smile and described how her loan allowed her to buy more hair products to sell to her customers. When asked about her dream, Lilian exhaled, rolled her lips inward, and closed her eyes, “I want to take hairdressing classes and workshops in Europe or the United States. I have heard of these classes and want to learn new styles and see Europe.” She knows it would be expensive, but she still has hope that one day her dream will come true.

Hugo

Dreams to…Purchase another skill saw and hire an employee

Hugo is a puzzle maker in El Alto, Bolivia. With his Kiva loan he purchased a skill saw to cut the intricate shapes of children’s puzzles. Previously he was cutting all the shapes by hand using a small tricky saw. Hugo’s dream is to purchase another skill saw and hire an employee (who would become his apprentice). He says there are plenty of people who want to work in his area and there is also high demand for his puzzles. Hugo loves puzzle making, and expanding his business is his ultimate goal.

Cesar

Dreams to…Re-open a restaurant with internet and a book store

Cesar owns two restaurants in La Paz, Bolivia, one is directly across from a local high school and the other is in a small neighborhood. With his wife, they have taken out a loan to expand and remodel the restaurants. “There are internet cafés, restaurants, and book stores,” he said, “but no one in his areas has combined all of them.” A true entrepreneur, Cesar’s dream is to remodel his restaurant, connect wi-fi, and offer bookstore items for the nearby high school students.

Eric

Dreams to…Start his own printing and copy shop

Eric studied at a local university in La Paz, Bolivia. He has been working at his father’s printing and copy shop making money to pay for his classes. However, he has had to take some time off from school to save up enough to continue his classes later. In the mean time he has decided to pursue owning his own print and copy shop. Learning from his father how to run a print and copy business, Eric’s dream is to use a loan and purchase his own copy machine and printers…thus moving out on his own and starting his own business.

Juana

Dreams to…Maintain steady sales and be equipped to do business

Juana owns a small storefront on a main street in La Paz, Bolivia. She has run the small store for years and taken out loans since 1995 to keep her business competitive and innovative. Always trying to differentiate herself, Juana has purchased phones for customers to use for local and international calling; no one in Juana’s neighborhood has these phones. When asked about her dream, Juana simply smiled and said, “I would like to equip my store and make it of the highest quality. I would like to continue on as I currently am…and, well, in the future make a little more in profits than I am now.”

Miguel

Dreams to…Start his own dairy

Miguel has taken out two loans so far. He lives in a rural farming community hours away from La Paz, Bolivia. His uncle owns a farm with dairy cows, and Miguel wanted to try his hand at owning a dairy. With his first loan he purchased a cow, and he did the same with his second loan. His dream is to be a dairy farmer and little by little he is reaching his dream.

Ben

Dreams to…Send his two young daughters to school through university level

Ben is a painter who specializes in the restoration of 17^th-19^th century colonial art works living in La Paz, Bolivia. With his loan he was able to purchase more works of art in antique shops and more supplies to continue his restoration business. Ben sells his renovated pieces to private collectors as well as in the markets of La Paz. He lives with his wife and two daughters in a beautiful little home with paintings (most are his own) from floor to ceiling. His dream is to make enough money to send his two young daughters to school through university level.

***

I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to share with you the dreams of some Kiva borrowers I met here in Bolivia. Dreams are a wonderful thing to share and are a part of people’s lives regardless of economic standing. It may be expected that people living in developing countries might only have dreams for cleaner water or better healthcare, however most have very concrete dreams for one more cow or traveling to Europe or owning a car. There is kind of a glass ceiling above people in developing countries in the perception that poorer people might only want potable water or medicine. This idea really limits their dreams and desires to a perception of what I (we) feel they are asking for. Their dreams are greater and go further than I can imagine. The dreamers are creating their futures..! How awesome that Kiva is able to play a small part in assisting these borrowers on the path to their dreams!? So Kiva Lenders, thank you for believing in and promoting the dreams of the borrowers. Seriously, though, thank you.

***

Eric Rindal is a part of the Kiva Fellows 16th class in La Paz, Bolivia. He is currently working with Emprender and IMPRO. He was previously in KF15 based in Sierra Leone. If you would like to contact Eric, just visit his lender page. 

I love double rainbows, too.

I love hot water.

I also love designated bus stops, and having lunch with co-workers..not at my desk.

I love the noise that the leaves of plantain trees make when the wind hits them.

I love having a garbage removal service..instead of having to burn the garbage to get rid of it.

I love the smile on a borrower´s face when they´re told their loan will be disbursed in a couple of days, or when I show them what their profile on Kiva.org looked like.

I love how the face of a borrower lights up when I ask about their business.

I love being trapped in a vehicle with a loan officer for hours, and learning why they took on the job in the first place – and why are they still at it.

I love talking to the head of a microfinance institution and poke at what the future looks like for their organization, what are their challenges, and trying to understand why things are the way they are.

It took me four months, probably 100 hrs on a bus, many dead bugs, and two countries to realize how much I love these and many other things.

In the process I´ve had to let go of many other things I also love. Little things like a dryer for my clothes, and big things like people and relationships.  I am shocked by how quickly these last few months have gone by.  More than anything, I am in owe of the people I´ve met and what I´ve leared from them. I am humbled and thankful for the experience I´ve had as a Kiva Fellow, and without a doubt this is the best thing I could have ever done. I know my work in El Salvador and Costa Rica is far from over, and that the relationships I´ve made in the region will last beyond my fellowship. I also thank you, the people who have supported the MFIs I´ve worked with (Fundacion Campo and Fundacion Mujer) by making loans to their clients on Kiva.

I love El Salvador!

..And the open skies in Costa Rica!

If there is anything that will always remain with me after this experience is the fact that we can all do something to help make the world a better place for those who have been less fortunate (and future generations).  I don´t mean it in a paternalistic way, but really thinking about how we can do a little something to bridge the gap between what government and capitalism have accomplished so far, and what still needs to be done. I believe in paying it forward with more than good intentions. You don´t need to leave your home and your loved ones to volunteer abroad to do so (although if you can, and you find the right fit for you, do it!). You can, from the comfort of your home, make a $25 loan to a microentrepreneur anywhere in the world through Kiva, or give a Kiva giftcard to someone you love for the holidays.  The impact of microloans and microfinance overall continues to be a controversial topic.  And although I´ve confirmed that microfinance is not the panacea for inequality and poverty, I´ve also confirmed it can be a very efficient tool when paired with other mechanisms. Particularly, when paired with people with the undying desire to innovate for a better future. A future when the little things are available and enjoyable for most of the world.

Andrea was part of the awesome 16th class of Kiva Fellows working in El Salvador and Costa Rica. She is sad to leave Central America, and thankful to those who helped make her fellowship possible. Please support Kiva´s mission by making a loan on Kiva.org – it´s super easy!

“We built a little house” she replied happily, when I asked how she had used the loan. I looked down at my sheet. Oops. This loan, according to its Kiva description, was for corn seeds and fertilizers.

"A little house". Typical rural house made of wood, with a part-thatched, part-aluminum roof. Chillanes Canton.

Of course, we have no right to insist on any particular loan use. That’s not the point. But of the first three borrowers with whom I had spoken as part of Kiva’s Borrower Verification process, not a single one had used the loan for the purpose listed on Kiva. And two of three had built houses with their loans. What gives?

As I continued with other projects such as redesigning the way that the Cooperativa San Jose in Ecuador gathers information for Kiva profiles and follow-up journals, I found a clear common thread. Often (though not always) families’ ultimate goal is to build or upgrade their house, whether directly by putting some of the loan money into home improvement, or indirectly by using the loan to grow their business, and then funneling the increased profits into their housing plans. Their other most common long-term goal is the education of their children, to which a similar dynamic of direct and indirect funding applies.

Upon discovering this, my first thought was a critique; well, obviously CSJ isn’t adequately meeting all of its borrowers’ needs. They should offer housing and student loans, I concluded, and we should fund them through Kiva. I was going to find out why they didn’t.

The truth, as always, turned out to be much more complicated. For poor folks in Ecuador, building or adding to a house usually means upgrading from a somewhat rickety wooden structure (see image above) to a stronger cement-walled building (see images below), as well as purchasing furniture and the interior decorations that make it nice to live in. It is expensive, so people tend to do it in stages instead of all at once. (For an excellent discussion of an innovative solution to the same problem in Mexico, check out Part II, Section I, starting on pg. 147 of this book)

And CSJ does offer housing loans for this purpose, but the law requires that the potential house be posted as collateral. Easy, right? Anything but.

In order to post the house as collateral, one needs an architect’s official evaluation of the property that the borrower owns. Aside from the absurdity of expecting low-income borrowers to hire an architect, the concept of property value presents tricky challenges of its own.

Many of Kiva’s borrowers here belong to Ecuador’s large indigenous community, composed primarily of the Quechua (and Spanish) speaking modern day descendents of the Incas. By Ecuadorian law, they are allowed to own land collectively rather than individually, and most do. This means that they are unable to get the individual property deeds that underpin the official evaluations of land needed to get housing loans.

Those who are not indigenous are often living on land that is either rented or to which they have no specific deed or claim. This too makes evaluation impossible.

Student loans have curveballs of their own. They are exclusively for higher education, but most of Ecuador’s low-income borrowers’ kids could use the financial help just to get through high school.

So it makes sense that micro-loans end up in practice being used for both of these purposes because, though small, they conveniently skirt these obstacles. But what should our reaction be as lenders?

The answer is; a big thumbs up (Or perhaps one that inverts itself for just a second to hit Kiva’s “Lend” button, before returning to its upright and locked position).

Housing upgrades can make life a lot less precarious for borrowers. Cement is of course a lot less likely to burn, flood, or rot than wood. This can be an enormous benefit in the face of unpredictable events that seem to happen much more frequently in the precarious environments to which poorer members of Ecuadorian society are often relegated.

A cement house under construction in Ventanas Canton. A Kiva borrower with a contracting and soldering business works on this site.

And spending on schooling can have obvious benefits on the earning power of the children on which it is spent. But in a society where children are often expected to take much closer care of their parents in old age, the benefits of an educated daughter or son can often accrue directly (although, of course, with a lag) to the patient parent and borrower who funded the education in the first place. If the goal is give borrowers the tools to improve their quality of life, in addition to expanding their businesses, these expenditures have the potential to be overwhelmingly successful.

There are many roads that lead to the improved welfare of borrowers. So take the loan labels with a grain of salt, but trust borrowers to use your loaned funds to improve their lives in whatever way they choose.

Marcus Berkowitz is a first-time fellow with Cooperativa San José (CSJ) in the western Andes of Ecuador’s Bolívar province. Show support for CSJ´s hardworking rural borrowers by making a loan. Or get even more involved by joining CSJ’s lending team!

So, what does it take to be named the “Microentrepeneur of the Year” (MOTY) by Citi Bank? Citi Philippines, in collaboration with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and Microfinance Council of Philippines (MCPI) just hosted their 9th year of this award. The collaborators said that they “recognize outstanding entrepreneurs with assets less than PHP 1 million, who have achieved remarkable growth as indicated by employment generation, profits, sales turnover and other enterprise performance measures.“

The field of microfinance has garnered criticisms in the recent years that have questioned the lack of employment creation and high interest rates.  Although transparency is a key component of keeping microfinance acountable, it is important to recognize the success stories created as a result of microfinance loans. With this said, it is amazing to stand back and see people being honored for the gains they have as a result of their collaboration with a microfinance organization. CCT is also very proud of Ms. Javines and her accomplishments. CCT has submitted borrowers stories for the last eight years and Ms. Javines is their first borrower to win this prestigious prize.

Citi provided awards to individuals for different categories and within the categories, to the different island regions of the Philippines (Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao).  The two categories of awards to honor different types of advancements in the industry. The award categories include the Masikap Awards and Maunlad awards. The Masikap award recognizes individuals who have set up businesses that are now providing a reliable source of income for their families. The Maunlad Awards recognize one person from each region who has grown their business and is now providing employment to others beyond their family circle. The prize that each person receives includes 100,000 Pisos, three-year health and life insurance coverage for all the winners, as well as a grant to attend an entrepreneurship management course in Bayan Academy, to ensure the sustainability of their businesses.

Nanay Javines got to travel outside of her province for the first time to visit Luzon for the Citi awards ceremony and for a reception at the CCT head office. Her eldest daughter and local branch staff loan officers also accompanied her. The CCT head office provided a lunch reception and gave Nanay Javines the opportunity to share her story of growth and success with her business of tuna packing.  Her business caters to two clients who send sashimi grade tuna to Japan, Canada and the US. She also makes a gel ice concoction to place inside of the fish to preserve its freshness for travel.

Nanay Andresa shared her personal remarks with the CCT staff. “I started doing business as a young woman. I got married at 15. My husband and I rented a house until we found a residential lot that we could pay for by installment.

I started out running a sari-sari store from my house. A friend told me about CCT’s programs. I became a CCT partner in the year 2000. I started out with a loan of P4,000. I completed payments on this loan, earning the trust of the loan officer and manager. In 2003, I built my house and started my tuna packing material business. In 2005, I bought two motorcycles, four low-cost subdivision lots and built a boarding house with eight rooms. The Lord’s goodness [to me] does not end there. Two of my children have graduated from college and have found jobs. I have two other children who are still in school. One of them is hearing-impaired.”

I pray God will keep blessing CCT, making it grow even more so that it will be able to help many other poor people like me. Our Lord is so good. One day is not long enough to speak of His goodness in my life.” (Original speech given in Tagalog, translation provided by CCT’s communications staff member, Myra Gaculais Del Rosario).

Nanay Javines stands in the company of other innovative microentrepreneurs in the Philippines. Other microentrepreneurs have businesses in industries that include the export of chicken lumpia (a traditional filipino dish), ready-to-wear clothing, herbal medicines and deep seas fishing. Some of those business gross between 2 and 4 million pisos a year now and employ up to 50 employees.

Microfinance has its criticisms, but stories like Nanay Javines show that access to capital via microfinance loans for small businesses can come together and work as they were intended. It can enable individuals to create income to help their families, take care of their necessities and begin to grow to a point where it creates jobs for other. A celebration is in order to honor those who are working hard to do things right to help themselves and others. Congrats Nanay Andresa on a job well done and an inspiring and ongoing life story.

Jill Hall is part of Kiva Fellows 16th class, working with Center for Community Transformation (CCT) in the Philippines. She is enjoying all the sights, sounds and food of her new home, the Philippines.  Please support CCT borrowers by reading about their stories and making a loan today. Be a part of the movement of Kiva and join CCT’s lending team or check out CCT’s partner page. Former posts written by Jill about her experiences in Manila and Center For Community Transformation (CCT) can be found at:

The Circle of Life; Filipino Style

Work is cancelled; Typhoon Day

Girlie’s Peanut Butter: Borrower Verification in the Philippines

Study Now Pay Now: Funding Higher Education in the Philippines

In the first part of this blog series, I shared pictures of Malian borrowers. But even on my way to those borrowers, I was not able to put down my camera. Here are my favorite shots from the road.

If you are as mesmerized by Mali as I was, also check out Mali in Color (Part 1): Impressions of Kiva Borrowers.

Family on a donkey cart

Three women

Moving truck

Group of children

Bicycle transport

Women and children

Mother and daughter

Fire wood

Children

Young girls

Morning commute

Overloaded bus

Three women with babies

Man on bicycle

Woman with fruit

~~~

Kathrin Gerner took a little detour from her fellowship with Amasezerano Community Banking (ACB) and Vision Finance Company (VFC) in Kigali, Rwanda, to conduct a borrower verification for Soro Yiriwaso in Mali. Support borrowers in Mali by lending to one of Soro Yiriwaso’s clients.

Previous posts by Kathrin Gerner:
Paving the Way to the Future (Part 1): Bad Roads, Transportation Costs and Microfinance in Togo
Paving the Way to the Future (Part 2): Road Construction and Its Effects on Microfinance in Togo
Isabukuru Nziza, ACB! A Kiva Field Partner in Rwanda Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary
Say a Little Prayer for the Portfolio: 5 Questions about Christian Microfinance in Rwanda

When I boarded a plane to Mali last week, I was not exactly enthusiastic. One reason may have been the unpleasant 2 AM take-off from Kigali, another the recent Al-Qaida kidnappings in the North, which meant that all relevant tourist spots were off limits. And six months into my career as a Kiva fellow, a routine task such as a borrower visit was not enough to get me excited.

I was in for a surprise.

The borrowers of Kiva’s Malian field partner Soro Yiriwaso and their incredible hospitality, made my trip unforgettable. I came to check borrowers’ identities and look at loan papers. I left with a mountain of presents, a full stomach and a serious caffeine high after the countless cups of sweat tea offered to me everywhere I went.

But I was most excited about finally being in a country where people love to be photographed. Below are my favorite shots from my meetings with Malian borrowers.

If you are as mesmerized by Mali as I was, also check out Mali in Color (Part 2): Impressions from the Road.

Dikel and one of the fish she purchased with her loan

Benkan Group with the smoked and fresh fish they bought to sell

Benkadi Group in front of one of the women's homes

Yaya in his pharmacy where he offers traditional Chinese medicine and treatments

Mariam, the president of Benkadi Association, a group of rice and peanut farmers

Some other members of Benkadi Association, a group of rice and peanut farmers

Assitan bought a sack of rice to use in her restaurant

Yeh, a member of Benkola Association, another group of rice and peanut farmers

Guests are welcomed with song and dance

The members of Benkola Association, a group of rice and peanut farmers, posing in the village square

Rokia and the other members of Tiessiri Group, who bought jewelry to sell

~~~

Kathrin Gerner took a little detour from her fellowship with Amasezerano Community Banking (ACB) and Vision Finance Company (VFC) in Kigali, Rwanda, to conduct a borrower verification for Soro Yiriwaso in Mali. Support borrowers in Mali by lending to one of Soro Yiriwaso’s clients.

Previous posts by Kathrin Gerner:
Paving the Way to the Future (Part 1): Bad Roads, Transportation Costs and Microfinance in Togo
Paving the Way to the Future (Part 2): Road Construction and Its Effects on Microfinance in Togo
Isabukuru Nziza, ACB! A Kiva Field Partner in Rwanda Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary
Say a Little Prayer for the Portfolio: 5 Questions about Christian Microfinance in Rwanda

Fishing at the coast of Sierra Leone (by Tejal Desai)

December has long been the month of annual awards, looking back and frantic searches for presents. The Kiva fellows blog is no exception to this rule: Share the fellows’ memories by taking a photographic journey through Sierra Leone and watching a video about a typical day of a fellow conducting loan officer trainings. Learn about some incredible women in Costa Rica, who received a Woman Entrepreneur Award from Kiva’s field partner, Fundación Mujer. And to avoid the frantic searches this year, consider surprising your loved ones with the gift that keeps on giving, the Kiva Gift Card.

A Typical Day in the Life of a Kiva Fellow: Loan Officer Training (Video Blog Post)
Country: Ecuador / Fellow: Emmanuel von Arx (KF16)
Emmanuel’s video blog shows that a typical day of a Kiva fellow does not always involve meeting borrowers.

Swit Salone: A Journey in Photos
Country: Sierra Leone / Fellow: Tejal Desai (KF16)
Tejal takes her camera along to document her journey through the beautiful country of Sierra Leone and its capital city, Freetown.

Women of the Year
Country: Costa Rica / Fellow: Andrea Ramirez (KF16)
Andrea shares her experience as a member of the jury for Fundación Mujer’s 8th annual Woman Entrepreneur Awards.

The Do-Gooder’s 2011 Guide to Responsible Giving: Kiva Cards
Country: Peru / Fellow: Kate Bennett (KF16)
Kate makes a personal pitch for the Kiva Gift Card, a gift that keeps on giving.

~
Updates from the past month:
Autonomy, Sierra Leone and the 2011 Kiva Love Tour
Adapting for Borrowers by Borrowers, Microinsurance +SKFL
New Products in Microfinance, Over-Indebtedness + Transparency
Earthquakes, 5Ks + The Pain of Sickness and Loss
Expanding the Reach of Microfinance, Downsizing Development + Why We Kiva
~

Plus more pictures from the past week:

Sierra Leone (Tejal Desai)

Costa Rica (by Andrea Ramirez)

Kiva Gift Card (by Kate Bennett)

In the United States, it was ushered in on Friday the 25th of November in the wee hours of the morning. Here in Ica, Perú, it is manifested in the towering polyethylene Christmas tree and tinsel-adorned telephone booths in the Plaza del Sol shopping mall. Around the world, in many forms, it’s upon us: the season of giving.

This season is one of my favorites of the year, and not only because it means warbling off carols with family and friends or immersing myself in the yuletide spirit (or spirits). It’s because every year in the Bennett family, we duke it out to see just who can give the most responsibly: we exchange goats through Heifer International, carbon credits through Carbon Fund, and donations to NPR and Wikipedia.

Sure, it comes off as a competition in self-congratulatory giving. (And yes, since you ask, we are liberals from the East Coast.) But it’s also a valuable practice in stopping to recognize that we are fortunate enough to help those that need it most this holiday season. Furthermore, it’s a practice that everyone can partake in, regardless of political leaning, denomination, or country of residence.

A recent article in GOOD Magazine pointed out that, “in fact, according to a study by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, the Americans who give away the biggest proportion of their own income [to charity] are women who make $23,509 or less a year, not ridiculously wealthy white dudes named Bill.” But this is not only because we ladyfolks with shallow pockets are good and wise and magnanimous. (Though this assuredly must play a big role.)

It’s because philanthropy doesn’t just mean a million dollar aid package, a fleet of new computers for an orphanage in Honduras, or a new well sunk in an South African village. Philanthropy can come in smaller and unconventional packages. And so it was that several years ago the Bennett family discovered the paragon of responsible giving.

Behold: the Kiva Card. It comes in red and green or blue and silver* and is the gift that keeps on giving. Benefits to you: you look like a real do-gooder, and your recipient will find you both beneficent and savvy. Benefits to them: they will get to experience the exhilaration and certain joy of picking their own entrepreneur to lend to through the Kiva website. They’ll be given an opportunity to learn about an incredible and potent organization working in a vital emerging field in development. Finally, your recipient will reap the direct monetary benefits of their borrowers’ repayments (at least, 98.93%  of the time) over the next four to thirty-six months. Benefits to the world: somewhere in the sixty-one countries where Kiva works, yet another entrepreneur will be able to realize their microenterprise, and thus bolster the local economy, create jobs, and provide their families with the income and tools to move forward.

And best yet, unlike many other responsible gifts this holiday season, Kiva charges absolutely no overhead for Kiva Cards. (Unless you choose to donate on top of your $25 Kiva Card, which we could hardly blame you for.)

So what’s the drawback? You might actually look too generous and informed. And no-one likes being handed just an envelope, so be sure to find an extra big box to place your Kiva Card in before delivering it to its lucky recipient.

*Depending on what color construction paper you print it out on and what color markers you use

To give the gift of Kiva this holiday season (wink wink nudge nudge), check out Kiva Cards here!

Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru, follow her work here.

The Women of the Year!

Today I was a judge for the first time.  I had the honor of being invited to represent Kiva as part of the jury for Fundación Mujer’s 8^th annual Woman Entrepreneur Awards for 2011. Today was a day full of stories of strength and success, told by some of the bravest women I have ever met.  I knew these women had to be pretty amazing, but my imagination wasn’t wild enough to have predicted the struggles that these women have and continue to face.  If you’re looking for inspiration to start a new project, face a difficult situation, or just to get off the couch – keep reading.

Patricia after the awards ceremony.

Patricia is in her late 50s, and she owns a catering business. She owns two cars, and caters events for large banks, government, and private companies here in Costa Rica. Not too shabby, right? Well, it’s been an uphill battle to get to where she is today. About 15 years ago Patricia lost it all, including her house. She used to be a housewife, her husband was rather successful and the family was well off. Patricia painted Chinese pottery as a hobby. Her kids all attended private school.  Unfortunately Patricia’s marriage ended, and at the same time her husband’s businesses started go down.  This is how she became head of her household, and also facing the mortgage payments that her husband left her with when he refinanced the house before leaving.  Not long after the bank knocked on her door with the police, and gave her two days to find a place to live. She first started selling her painted pottery, but competition was stiff, so Patricia decided she needed to do something else based on the demands of the market. It was Christmas time, so Patricia made Christmas cakes (popular during the season in Costa Rica). After Christmas came and went, she found herself struggling again. Then, Valentine’s day came, so she made chocolates for sale. She sold them in gift boxes, and sold 150 of them.  At the time she would also cook lunch for her daughter to take to work with her. Her daughter’s boss saw what she was having for lunch, and since it looked so delicious asked her to have Patricia send her two meals for her and her husband. Another co-worker of Patricia’s daughter bought meals to take home and not have to cook dinner. The husband of that co-worker worked at another private company, and they hired Patricia to cater an event. Little by little, by word of mouth Patricia established a reputation. She also was not afraid to knock on any door, offering her food products at office buildings near her home and calling everyone she knew to sell her creations.  She sometimes even sold products she didn’t know how to cook! She would go online, look up a recipe, give it a try, and improve it up to her standards.  Almost 15 years later she caters events for some of the largest organizations in San Jose,Costa Rica. Today at Fundación Mujer’s offices, she was granted the “Superacion y Esfuerzo Award.”

The judges at work!

Fundación Mujer not only works with the individual lending methodology, but also with solidarity groups.  In a solidarity group, women are each-other’s co-signers.  This methodology also enables them to have a support system to voice their concerns about their business, and also requires them to save together in case one of them has an emergency. A representative from one of these groups spoke up during the ceremony, explaining that thanks to the training programs given by Fundación Mujer she was able to realize that she needed to stop blaming everyone else when things didn’t work out for her. She realized that she was often times the obstacle for herself and for others.  She said working with Fundacion Mujer has helped her to continue to work and improve her self-esteem.

There were so many other inspiring stories, and it was so hard to choose the winners. However, today I had the opportunity to measure the impact that microfinance had on these clients.  All the women I met today expressed that having access to credit, and being able to repay their loans, has given them the confidence to take on any challenges, and to face the world beyond their communities. Some of them expressed that they would not leave their homes or travel to the capital before they started working with Fundación Mujer Today they see themselves as micro-entrepreneurs who are equal to their husbands, and who have an opportunity to grow beyond the opportunities they were born into.

Andrea is thankful to Fundacion Mujer for inviting her to be part of this important event. Please join her and support Fundacion Mujer by making a loan to one of their clients on Kiva!

Sierra Leone boasts lush, tumultuous landscapes, postcard-worthy beaches, delectable home cooking, inspiring stories, and some of the friendliest people you’ll meet. I was fortunate to have been placed in Freetown, Sierra Leone for my Kiva Fellowship at BRAC Sierra Leone. Follow my journey through this beautiful country and its capital city, Freetown. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Fish is one of Sierra Leone's abundant resources, with main catches including snapper, lobster, barracuda, and mackerel.

Sierra Leone’s beaches are a piece of paradise outside of the city

Arriving from the office just in time to catch the sun set on the West African coast: priceless.

Fresh fruit on the side of the road sold by a friendly Sierra Leonean man named Joe. So swit.

The Kiva coordinator, Mbalu, and I at the BRAC Sierra Leone country office in Freetown.

A hometown hero and Kiva borrower, Ethleem opened a stationary and school supply shop after recognizing how deprived local schools were in basic supplies. She is one of the main suppliers of textbooks and stationary to schools in downtown Freetown!

Spicy! Mbalu gave me a lesson in Sierra Leonean cooking.

Mbalu taught me how to prepare a traditional Sierra Leonean meal: fried stew with fish. Delicious!

On a boat departing from Banana Island to Freetown.

With the BRAC Tengebeh Town SEP staff: the folks who help make it happen in the field!

A BRAC credit officer, Reginald, took me to watch a local football match at the Freetown National Stadium scrimmage field: Team Krootown Obama vs. Red Devils.

Tejal Desai has served as a Kiva Fellow in Freetown, Sierra Leone with BRAC Sierra Leone from August to December 2011. Want to support microfinance in Sierra Leone? Joining BRAC Sierra Leone’s lending team joining BRAC Sierra Leone’s lending team and lend to a BRAC borrower today!

Read more Kiva Fellows blog posts by Tejal here.