Posts tagged ‘Transcapital’
Nomads: How Much Longer?
Jon Hiebert | KF 17 | Mongolia
This family was surprisingly connected. They showed me that the solar panel could charge their cell phones, and yes, they have reception here!
As we drove hundreds of kilometers on this “Mongolian highway” (dirt road), the only thing that broke the vast nothingness was animals and the occasional ger (Mongolian nomadic tent). We were headed to a city called Kherlen in the Eastern Mongolian province of Dornod, where I was scheduled to check in with five borrowers to verify some information.
While bumping along in the middle of nowhere, we saw a man on a motorbike coming from a different middle of nowhere, and our driver stopped to have a chat. After we got going again, I asked my coworker/translator, Tsolmon what that was about. He told me our driver wanted to stop at a ger where I could ride a horse! I was happy to hear this news, as I needed to stretch my legs. So, we drove and drove off the “main” road to find this horse. After a lot of confusion and bickering between the two Mongolians I was with, we came across a ger – who knows if it was the ger – but I don’t think it matters all that much.
My mid-fellowship crisis: What am I doing here?
Jon Hiebert | KF 17 | Mongolia
I woke up on Friday morning just like every other morning. Slightly pleased with the late start of 9:00 a.m., I still felt awkward getting dressed in my business suit. Then I enjoyed my Choco Chips cereal with milk in bed while getting mentally prepared for another day of laptop projects.
Lookin’ good but a little anxious in my suit.
To get to the office, I walked the tiled sidewalks only recently freed from a four-month coat of ice. I went upstairs, set up my Macbook in Transcapital‘s clean, newly-renovated office in the city center, and continued with my work. I was excited to be working on a report that will help transition another microfinance institution (MFI) from pilot program to full-fledged field partner. It’s still being assessed by Kiva Headquarters. This is just one of a number of projects I’m working on for Kiva, in addition to projects I’ve been asked to complete by the MFIs here. Today will be a productive day, I thought to myself.
But other thoughts started crowding my head. I really need a haircut, I haven’t shined my shoes in four days, I should really get another winter hat so I don’t have to wear my old blond fox one every single day. I also found myself being more and more affected — and even disillusioned — by the city’s office culture. Of course, I work with wonderful people here — but I found myself losing track of why I’m in Mongolia in the first place. (more…)
