Compiled by Isabel Balderrama | KF17 + KF18 | Bolivia
The road to fellow DIana Biggs’ job in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
This week our intrepid team of KF-18 fellows brings us an interesting mix of stories from a wide variety of countries. From taking a lesson on how to raise and care for sheep in Mexico, to learning more about little-known countries such as Burkina Faso and Albania, this week’s posts are sure to keep your interest. Read on for a...
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Emmanuel M. von Arx | KF 16+17 | Mexico
Who would have thought that my second Kiva Fellowship would teach me just as much about microfinance as about the rearing of sheep? Seriously, ask me anything you want: How do you best hold a lamb? How do you wrestle with a grown-up mutton? How do you treat sheep for worms? Where and how often do you set them a vaccine? How do you determine a sheep’s age? Why does a sheep bite normally neither hurt nor bleed? For what reason does a sheep have four stomach compartments? And how do you compel a lamb’s reluctant mother to...
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Compiled by Isabel Balderrama | KF17 + KF18 | Bolivia
KF-18: ready for training! Aaaand… GO!
On this week’s update we have a great collection of posts describing some of our Kiva Fellows’ Class 18 arrival to their new and exciting field assignments. But first, we are treated to an article from an out-going fellow who takes us on a visually-pleasing journey through Mexico’s largest artisan fair. This week’s journey also takes us to...
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Emmanuel M. von Arx | KF 16+17 | Mexico
Shortly after beginning my Kiva Fellowship with Kiva partner organization Vision Fund Mexico (also known as Fundación Realidad or FRAC), I had the joyful task of presenting two Social Performance Badges to its enthusiastic staff: one for FRAC’s strong focus on poor people, and one for its success in empowering families and communities. The description of the Family and Community Empowerment Badge on Kiva’s homepage immediately piqued my interest: it states that recipients of this badge “implement innovative business...
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Compiled by David Gorgani | KF17 | Dominican Republic
Ma, a Kiva borrower, and her business in San Felipe del Progreso, Mexico – Emmanuel von Arx
The KF17 Fellows are heading home. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, many of KF17′s Fellows have already ended their service and many more will be ending theirs within the next few days. Through retrospective contemplation on what we have and haven’t accomplished in the past four months, through appreciation for what we have...
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Emmanuel M. von Arx | KF 16+17 | Mexico
I have a confession to make: I love to browse Kiva borrower profiles – even occasionally without any actual intention to make a loan. I believe that reading the stories of borrowers from all over the world and knowing their dreams tells me more about a country and the mentality of its people than even the best of all travel guidebooks. And knowing some of the challenges they are facing in their lives and how they are surmounting them, being aware of the long hours they work every day and their dedication to their...
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Compiled by Isabel Balderrama | KF17 | Ecuador
Palestinian female borrower and FATEN customer Rima, pictured along with family
Having been in the field for a little over three months now, KF-17 fellows’ posts begin taking a retrospective look at what has been accomplished over the past few months while working with their assigned Kiva partners worldwide. From having played a role in getting a new kind of Kiva partnership up and running to working with two...
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Kiyomi Beach | KF17 | Mexico
Nursery for coffee plants. Once these plants reach a certain size they will be planted in the fields and be producing at full capacity in about three years.
La Unión Regional de Pequeños Productores de Café Huatusco (La Unión Regional) is Kiva’s first non-microfinance institution partner in Latin America. It’s a member-owned coffee cooperative dedicated to helping their largely rural, low-income members bring their coffee to...
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Emmanuel M. von Arx | KF 16+17 | Mexico
Kiva is all about stories. What draws us all in and inspires us to lend are the stories of courageous micro-entrepreneurs that speak of hard-ship and success, challenges and dreams, love and dedication. Single mothers who request a loan to provide for their children; fathers who are able to finance their kids’ education with a business that was started originally with a Kiva loan; and youths who are the first to study in their family, thanks to the generosity of Kiva lenders (such as in the loans of Kiva´s Field Partner...
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