By Rob Packer, KF9 Kyrgyzstan

Islam in Kyrgyzstan feels different; more of a personal matter compared with other countries I’ve travelled in. While it’s probably an exaggeration when the Lonely Planet for Central Asia says that the Kyrgyz “limited it to what they could fit in their saddlebags”, there is probably some truth in the matter in a culture where kymyz, fermented mare’s milk, is a key cultural pointer and a toast with vodka is often not that far away, especially amongst the more Russified population of northern Kyrgyzstan. When you remember that the Kyrgyz are a people with a nomadic heritage who were first permanently settled under the Soviet Union’s official policy of ‘militant atheism’, you might expect the relationship with religion to be a little different from the norm.

An Islamic cemetery outside Kochkor, Kyrgyzstan.

For example, in my time in Kyrgyzstan, I have only heard the azan (call to prayer) twice, both times in Kochkor in central Kyrgyzstan. And although I have not been in Kyrgyzstan during Ramadan, it’s hard to imagine the sheer electricity in Bishkek’s air that I could feel, even as a non-Muslim, during Ramadan this year, which I was lucky enough to spend part of in Marrakesh. I have heard that the south of the country with millennia of settled history is more traditionally Muslim. But even so, the very fact that Kyrgyzstan is a predominantly Islamic country comes as a surprise to some outside the country, unlike neighbouring Tajikistan, which is currently building one of the world’s largest mosques, with capacity for 150,000 people.

As Mohammed Al-Shawaf, another Kiva Fellow currently in a Muslim country (Palestine is far more obvious), wrote in an excellent post on the Fellows’ Blog earlier this week, Muslims all over the world are now celebrating Eid al-Adha, and around two million are on the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. In Kyrgyzstan, the staff of Mol Bulak Finance celebrated with a traditional feast of lamb to commemorate Ibrahim’s (Abraham’s) willingness to sacrifice his son.  Some of my colleagues, including Nozim and Melis, spent hours preparing enormous cauldrons of shorpo, lamb soup, and roasted lamb. Like the American fellows’ Thanksgiving turkey the day before, by the time the meal was over, I was absolutely stuffed by the time I left.

Eid Mubarak! Or in Kyrgyz, Ait mairik bolsun!

Melis tends an enormous cauldron of shorpo.

Nozim takes charge with the roast lamb.

Roast lamb.

The table set and covered with lepyoshki (Kyrgyz bread). For me, using your hands was the easiest way to get the all the goodness out of the lamb.

Shorpo, lamb soup, and the remains of the roast meat.

Rob Packer is a Kiva Fellow currently working with Mol Bulak Finance in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Join the Kyrgyzstan lending team. There are borrowers from Kyrgyzstan with Mol Bulak Finance who you can help by contributing to a loan today, and many other entrepreneurs from around the world on the Kiva site.

Dear family and friends,

After happily returning home from a month and a half in Tennessee, We are overjoyed to breathe the crisp fall air and catch the last of tnot unhe brilliant leaves. We’re spending the weekend tending our forest gardens and home, stoking the first fire in a nicely-cleaned stove, and wandering through the woods to gather acorns and black walnuts.

With the harvest abundance fresh in our minds, we are also turning our thoughts towards the holidays – gathering together with our families and sharing gifts and stories from our year. As my life and awareness has grown in the last few years, I realize that the human race is in a delicate time in its history — the climate is in chaos, ecosystems are devastated, consumption is at all-time high, disparity between rich and poor continues to grow, and our global economic system is trembling as the base of all production – healthy soil and healthy communities – continue to erode away.

This holiday season, our greatest wish is for the healing of our lands and communities. In order to support this, we recognize that conscious and gift-buying and gift-giving can directly increase the ecological & social health in our Hudson river valley and other communities around the world.

Therefore, we request that any gifts you give to us this year …

I also want / deeply appreciate things that are directly useful in my life. Becuase I’ve been successful in my businesss and have made good decisions about where and how I live, I have very few material needs right now — We do not need any more clothes, or sweets, or cooking supplies, or gadgets.

Following is a list of things that we believe fit these criteria — our eco-socially-conscious holiday wish list!

• Gift certificates at Kiva.org, a community-based globally-focused micro-financing network that allows us to make targeted loans to eco-social entrepreneurs around the world. Visit www.kiva.org for more.
• Gift certificates at Oikos Tree Crops, our favorite fruit & nut tree nursery. Vist www.oikostreecrops.com for more.

A few books to support our ongoing learning & connection with natural systems:

• Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada [link]
• Audobon and Bessette’s Wild Mushrooms of North America – A Field to Kitchen Guide [link]
• Making Plant Medicine, Rico Cech [link]
• Home Food Systems [link]
• Native Harvest, Kavasch [link]
• 2010 Moon Calendar [link]
• 2010 Stella Natura Calendar [link]

Thank you for your time and care, and we’re pumped to see you all and exchange our abundance of gratitude and gifts from the year.

lahmujen update:

things with the lemuhjen lady have slowed down a bit.  i think we rushed into too much, too quickly.  the honeymoon phase is over.  there was such a passion for 2 lahmujen a day 3 times a week that we both should have known it couldnt continue like that.  I’ve scaled back for other things, lunch foods that dont get so jealous and just let me do my thing.  but i went back yesterday.  right as i walked in, she read me “erkoo hat?” (2 lahmujen?) i nodded, and everything was normal again.  we’ve both moved on without letting the lahmujen get between us.

cool to hear this:

Today, I was told this in an email, which I thought was really encouraging:

“Was particularly pleased to hear how you successfully ditched the financial sector to pursue greener pastures–can’t tell you how many people I’ve heard talk about doing this, but who never follow through.”

Not to demean anything I was previously doing, but this is the exact sentiment I was feeling while trying to make my escape from the industry-that-shant-be-named.  What this guy I met last night said, really hit the nail on the head, and I think I’ll use it to keep myself motivated to do something interesting and fulfilling with my life, because there definitely ARE other options, despite it often looking grim.  Anyway, maybe it can be some fuel to those others out there (you know who you are, i know who you are) who are also looking for an out and find work discouraging, or soul-crushing.  ITS POSSIBLE!  just apply for the kiva fellows program and your problems will go away!

swine watch:

the swines are coming! the swines are coming!  Well after the first case of swine flu being reported nearly a week or so ago, there now have been something like 11 confirmed cases.  I havent noticed much paranoia yet, but I did see a little boy walking around with a mask on.  But maybe he just really wants to become a doctor.  Anyway, from talking to other fellows in places like Mongolia where swine is first rearing its curly little tail, it sounds like there is a tendency to FREAK OUT.  so with that, i’m officially going on SWINE WATCH, and will post updates as they come in.

I’m not too worried myself, as i survived myself when we had a case on our 8th floor and i was working on the 13th.  Now that I think about it, I was placed IN times square and ON the 13th floor.  I think the ny gods were trying to kill me or something.

now some pics:

Here are some recent pics of Mother Armenia.  she is a statue/mother of 2′ish million that was built in 1967 and serves as the official watcher-over of Armenia.  Yerevan is shaped sort of like an ampitheatre with downtown surrounded by stadium-seating full of neighborhoods.  Mother Armenia sits at the top of the hill watching the concert downtown, making sure there is no riff-raff or excessive roughhousing.   she is situated in a park, which is pretty cool and the statue is huge, fun sight to see.  surrounding her are also a bunch of tanks and other military paraphenalia, like an old russian jet and stuff.  there always seem to be kids playing around on these tanks/jets/jeeps so hopefully the pilot didnt leave the key in the ignition.

here now look:

Mother Armenia from a distance. For those into symbolism out there, the way she is holding her sword looks like a cross. did i mention Armenia was the first nation to adopt christianity?

mother "I swear to god if you don't eat your peas I'll stab you with this sword" Armenia

I have some weird fascination with all the abandoned buildings here. so i take pictures of them and then have a nap inside them

Fire Ze Mis-iles!! I saw this boy literally launch this "supposedly-defunct" rocket off his back. I then got his autograph

There were about 79 unpaid parking tickets on his dashboard

]]> http://mgray2009.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/shopping-madness/ Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:29:45 +0000 Meg http://mgray2009.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/shopping-madness/

Starting your Christmas shopping today? I bet you can guess that I’m suggesting Kiva gift certificates for everyone! If thats not enough fun, there is also a Kiva Store with calendars and other assorted goodies!

By Ed Coambs, Philippines, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation

I have created this short video to show you what my room at Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation looks like. I have been so blessed because as I have talked with my other Kiva Fellows I learned how good I have it. I have hot water, cable (really only National Geographic and Discovery, which more then I have at home in the U.S.) , minifridge, and a flushing toilet. These things are all luxuries for a Kiva Fellow.

I hope that you have enjoyed my spin on MTV’s cribs. If you have questions about something you saw and would like to know more about it let me know by leaving a comment.

Poverty decreases diversity, suppressing creativity and a global awareness
Kiva, Yunus Centre, and Oxfam International:

Top poverty Web sites promote the importance of diversity awareness and immediate action to end poverty

By Mary Yost

Through the efforts of these three organizations, everyday people are encouraged to learn about global poverty and what actions they can take to help make this issue something that is only seen in museums.

Kiva: Loans that Change Lives
www.kiva.org

The following words catch visitor’s eyes when they enter Kiva’s Web site: “Kiva lets you lend to a specific entrepreneur, empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty.”

Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending Web site.  The site gives any person the opportunity to lend to unique, hard-working entrepreneurs around the globe.  It is an excellent example of how we all can make a difference in the world.

Kiva’s site designers make it easy for prospective lenders to learn about entrepreneurs and read their stories and business aspirations.

Visitors can search different categories in order to find the entrepreneur they want their money to support.

From lending to an aspiring baker in Ghana to a hopeful homeowner in Nicaragua, visitors are sure to find a story and entrepreneur that inspires them.

Visitors also find a vast amount of knowledge about micro financing.

This Web site should be visited by anyone interested in making a difference in the lives of hardworking entrepreneurs all over the world.  Anyone with a passion for social justice will be intrigued by this Web site and Kiva’s goals.

Yunus Centre
www.muhammadyunus.org

Muhammad Yunus created the Yunus Centre to help him achieve his dream of a world that is free of poverty.  The Web site encourages visitors to get involved in any capacity to help remove poverty from our world.

On this user-friendly Web site social justice thinkers can learn about Muhammad Yunus’ micro-finance ideas, watch videos, learn about the importance of creating socially conscious businesses and discover other ideas that help create a poverty-free world.

The most inspirational part of the Web site is the “Quotes” section.  There visitors are inspired by Yunus’ words.

Concerned global citizens interested in his ideas can learn how a micro-credit program helps create a diverse, equal world that values all people.

Visitors are encouraged to interact with the Web site.  They can submit questions, ideas, suggestions, invitations and much more to Yunus.  The site promotes getting involved in any way possible to help end the suffering of the impoverished.

“I am absolutely sure we can change the world, if we want it seriously enough, if we work for it,” Yunus said.  Help the Yunus Centre create a poverty museum.  Make poverty a mere remembrance of an inequitable past.  Get involved today at www.muhammadyunus.org.

Oxfam International
www.oxfam.org

Oxfam’s main Web site provides visitors with an array of knowledge about social issues in our world.  This information helps visitors increase their global awareness about our brothers and sisters all over the globe.

The site is easy to navigate and gives visitors the opportunity to learn about global issues that interest them.  It encourages visitors to become aware of these issues and to do something to change them.

The site is interactive and informative.  Visitors can read about the issues, or they can become more involved and sign online petitions in order to encourage lawmakers to take a stand on the issues.  Go online now to sign the petition that demands health and education for everyone in the world.

At the bottom of the main page of the site, visitors can select different countries and view Oxfam’s Web site for those countries.  This increases international awareness of many different countries, helping visitors understand diversity.  It also gives visitors the opportunity to become global citizens.

On the day before the third Thursday in November, I attempted to reach my family while avoiding the heavy traffic of cars fleeing home and hurried, last-minute shoppers darting in and out of now-bustling stores.

Sound familiar?

Det här är Mary Angelo. Hon bor i södra Sudan. Hon är ungefär lika gammal som jag och har en son. Hennes man är pensionerad soldat. Hon brygger och säljer öl, men hoppas kunna utöka sin verksamhet med en bar. Därför har jag lånat ut pengar till henne så hon kan göra det.

Vems liv vill du förbättra?
Kiva.

By Eva Wu, KF9 Philippines

The world has been abuzz with Monday’s news of the election “massacre” in Maguindanao, Mindanao. About 50 lawyers, journalists and relatives of local politicians were abducted and brutally killed because of their affiliation with an opposition politician. This horrific event is being followed closely by the international media, including the New York Times and CNN, because it made Monday “the deadliest single day for journalists anywhere in the world” and was also “the worst politically motivated violence in the Philippines’ recent history.” The U.S. Embassy in Manila issued a travel alert on Wednesday as a result, because of “heightened tensions” and “significant military presence” in Maguindanao.

Ironically, while news of the Monday killings shocked the world, it hasn’t physically affected people here in Northern Mindanao quite as much as another news event which, in contrast, made just a small blip among international media outlets – tropical depression Urduja, which hit the area on Tuesday and caused flooding and landslides in Northern Mindanao. (Incidentally, no U.S. Embassy alert on the tropical storm thus far. Not one that I’ve received, anyways.)

The water had a bit abated by Wednesday morning, but across the street from the office people were wading in water up to their hips. A HSPFI colleague said the traffic island was completely flooded over when he looked outside at 3AM.

To be honest, after the initial shock and sadness of hearing about the Monday massacre, I shrugged and went about as usual. The murders happened relatively far away, and I’ve always felt pretty safe in Northern Mindanao despite the fact that there’s been a travel alert against U.S. citizens traveling to Mindanao for years. Ongoing conflict between the Philippines Government and Islamic militant groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Abu Sayyaf have resulted in sporadic clashes and kidnappings. (Having a very cursory understanding of this ongoing conflict, I was fascinated when I first learned that HSPFI, a Christian MFI, also serves Muslim clients. Unfortunately visiting those clients are largely off the table for me as a Kiva Fellow because of the safety concerns in those areas.)

The Monday killings however were NOT instigated by Islamic insurgents, but was instead (per the New York Times) “rooted in rivalries among local clans that the government had empowered as a way of combating the insurgents.” Sadly, news of violence between political clans aren’t new here. While the news was shocking, nobody seemed to be really surprised. People tell me that widespread corruption that occurs here, on all levels of society and government. Slip the cop a few hundred pesos to get out of paying a couple thousand pesos for a traffic ticket. Haggling over taxes on large businesses is an art form to be perfected. Local politicians who are in power aren’t individuals, they’re family. That’s just the way it is. It happens all the time here.

It happens all the time here. Just like natural disasters happen all the time here. Mindanao was lucky to be spared from the typhoons that hit Luzon/Manila in October, but that doesn’t mean that people here are immune to the whims of nature. I’ve met HSPFI clients who were affected by flooding this past January. Ms. Gilda Campeña stood in front of her lush garden and thanked Kiva lenders for her loan as my HSPFI colleagues told me that she had to rebuild her garden after it was destroyed by the January flood. How long did that take? Is she ok right now? Are all of the other HSPFI/Kiva borrowers ok? On the way to visit clients in certain villages I’ve passed treacherously bare sandy cliffs, that looked like they can swallow up the nearby landscape with the slightest provocation of rain. As other Kiva Fellows have shared, borrowers are vulnerable, and they’re often just one random event away from falling into additional hardships. Thoughts like this drove the election killings out of my mind and made me feel sick with worry.

With the worry came some anger as well. This was just a tropical depression. I’ve gone through many tropical storm landfalls without a thought or worry about after damage. How much could the damage from this storm have been avoided? Granted I lived out those tropical storms in developed countries, with good infrastructure that could channel storm flow and limit the damage. Maybe this is too much to expect from the government of a developing country though. Corruption, financing of political clans, power, violence. How high is providing good infrastructure on that list?

My HSPFI colleagues told me that the various branches are checking in with clients now and surveying the amount of damage that’s been caused by the storm. At least three branches were hit by Urduja. Hopefully everyone is ok, but it’s hard to say for sure right now. After this past January’s flood, HSPFI solicited food and clothing donations for affected clients; this might be done again now. Another HSPFI co-worker added that, in the worst case scenario hopefully the Hagdan’s life insurance programs would help. This is pretty dismal context for introducing HSPFI’s life insurance programs, but they’re very good and are worth mentioning here. The in-house mortuary aid fund (MAF) covers clients between the age of 18 to 60, spouses, and four beneficiaries/children (below 21 years of age, not married or employed) for natural and accidental deaths. For a one-time P50 registration fee and a P100 MAF contribution, the client’s family will receive a burial fee P10,000 if the client dies. If a spouse or one of the children dies, the client will receive P5,000 for each death. Coverage ends when the client’s loan ends.

The second HSPFI program, linked with insurance company UCPB, is even better. $300 pesos covers clients between 18 to 60 years of age, their spouses, and up to four children (below 20 years of age, again not married or employed) for a whole year, even if the client’s loan term ends or if the client leaves Hagdan. If the client dies in an accident, his or her family can receive a P100,000 claim plus a P7,500 burial fee. If a spouse dies accidentally, the client can receive 25% of P107,500; and 10% for a child. If the client dies a natural death, his or her family can receive a P50,000 claim plus the P7,500 burial fee. The same 25% and 10% of the P57,500 total applies for a spouse or a child’s natural deaths.

As the project officers survey damage from the storm, work and life continues as usual. This happens all the time here. I’m thankful that MFIs like Hagdan and microfinance can help in these situations, in whatever small ways possible. But still, it drives me crazy to think about the what-ifs. If things could somehow be different. How wonderful it could be.

Eva Wu hates asking questions that don’t have good solutions, and being angsty on Thanksgiving week despite the fact that it’s not a holiday in the Philippines! She’s trying Twitter as another way to get more up-to-date news out. Support her host MFI, Hagdan sa Pag-uswag Foundation, Inc. and Kiva borrowers in Mindanao through tough times by lending, or by joining the HSPFI lending team.

Check out my new post on the Kiva Fellow’s Blog. It is part 3 of 3 of a series about remittancse I did with two other Kiva Fellows. We all took a very different approach to the topic, so it is really interesting to read them all together (at least I thought so).

http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2009/11/24/microfinance-migration-and-a-constant-stream-of-remittances-part-3-of-3-of-the-remittance-series/

PS As you read this I will probably (hopefully) be on a bus down to Costa Rica for Thanksgiving!!! I’m meeting up with some other Kiva Fellows there.

Jag tycker det är bra med välgörenhet. Jag tror att de flesta som läser den här bloggen har allt de behöver och lite till. Men eftersom det finns en skvadiljon olika välgörenhetsorganisationer vill man ju ge pengarna till några som verkligen gör nytta. Så känner iaf jag. Och skillnaden mellan olika välgörenhetsorganisationer är inte “bara” 1-10, utan kan vara 1-10000 i fråga om effektivitet.

Hur sjutton vet man då vad man ska ge pengarna till?

Utomlands finns det organiasationer som sysslar just med att undersöka vad pengarna används till. Och det är inget lätt arbete, för många välgörenhetsorganisationer är inte särskilt villiga att visa på vad pengarna egentligen används till. I Sverige har vi ju 90-konton, men deras minimigräns är ganska hög.

I USA finns www.givewell.net. De tittar på om programmet fungerar och om det är kostnadseffektivt. De tittar dessutom på om mer pengar leder till bättre resultat. Och givetvis behöver organisationen vara så öppen att detta går att undersöka. Deras topplista finns här och två interantionella organisationer har fått tre stjärnor och det är Village reach som arbetar med vaccinering och Stop TB partnership som behandlar tuberkulos. Att skänka pengar tycker dock jag är enklast att göra med paypal direkt via givewell (organisationernas hemsidor är ganska svårnavigerade).

Giving what we can är en liknande organisation som har en “pledge” att man ska ge 10 % av sin inkomst till välgörenhet, men de pekar också på vikten av att ge till rätt organisationer. De rekommenderar utöver Stop TB partnership två andra organisationer som ni kan läsa om här. På sidan kan man dessutom läsa om myter kring välgörenhet (såsom att det inte skulle ha någon effekt).

Sen vill jag tipsa om välgörenhetsorganisationen Fistula foundation som ni säkert sett och hört om på Oprah. Det är dock inte så kostnadseffektivt men det fungerar och räddar liv. För 450 us dollar får “one woman /…/ a fistula repair operation, high-quality postoperative care, a new dress, and bus fare home”. Om ni inte vet vad fistula är finns en FAQ på hemsidan.

Slutligen vill jag tipsa om Kiva. Också människor som i allmänhet är emot bistånd och välgörenhet brukar gilla idén med Kiva. Där kan man låna ut pengar till företagare i fattigare delar av världen. Det kan vara lån för att köpa in verktyg eller reparera den bil som är nödvändig för att man ska kunna åka runt och sälja sina produkter eller att köpa en ny get. Återbetalningen ligger på 98 % så sannolikheten är hög att de 250 kr du lånar ut idag kan du låna ut igen. Och igen. Och igen. Och du förbättrar människors liv genom att ge initiativ till företagsamhet och entreprenörskap som väl är ledord i vår tid.

Och så några slutord: tycker du att den skatt du betalar är nog? Tja, eftersom vi är svenskar kan vi faktiskt känna oss stolta över att vara ett av de länder som via skattesedeln skänker mest. Men kom ihåg att statligt bistånd ofta är både ineffektivt och missriktat.

By Meg Gray, KF9 Nicaragua

This is Part 3 of 3 in a series of blogs discussing remittances that were inspired by a recent UN Human Development Report on migration. As you will see from our posts, there are many perspectives to look at and the issue is by no means simple. I encourage you to read Part 1 posted by Rob from Kyrgyzstan and Part 2 posted by Agnes from Samoa earlier today.

Aurelia is one of many CEPRODEL clients I have met who aspires to work abroad someday.

“Half of Nicaragua lives in Costa Rica,” said one of my coworkers at CEPRODEL when I asked him about remittances, “Everyone has someone sending them money.” This is an exaggeration of course, but his statement does hint at the tremendous importance remittances and migration play in Nicaragua’s economy. Roughly 10% of Nicaragua’s population abroad is living abroad with 48% of this group living in Latin America and 44% living in North America. More than 400,000 Nicaraguans live in Costa Rica alone, accounting for more than 10% of Costa Rica’s population. With a significant portion of its population abroad it is no wonder that remittances account for 12.9% of Nicaragua’s GDP. The significant number of people moving back and forth between Nicaragua and Costa Rica in particular hints at the complexity of migration and remittance flows. It isn’t just developing countries sending people to developed countries. It is much more complicated than that. As if to mirror this complexity, while working at CEPRODEL, I keep coming across clients, programs, and stories that demonstrate elements of this convoluted theme.

On my first visit to CEPRODEL’s branch office in Nagarote, I handed branch manager Miguel Calderón a list of Kiva borrowers that I wanted to visit. Looking at the list, Miguel slowly shook his head and said, “You can’t meet Juana. She left. She went to Costa Rica to look for work.” I never got to speak with Juana about why she left, but after doing a little research the economic incentives for leaving Nicaragua were clear. When I ask Nicaraguans what the unemployment rate is they usually ballpark the number at about 30%.  Officially, the unemployment rate in Nicaragua was only 5.6% in 2008, but it is expected to rise considerably by the end of this year. The underemployment rate, however, was 46.5% in 2008 and this is also expected to rise dramatically in 2009 due to the worldwide economic crisis. Underemployment is defined as a worker who is employed, but not employed to their desired capacity in terms of hours, pay, or skill level. For instance, I have met many people here who make and sell bread or ice cream or nacatamales from their home. If this is their only form of income, they are likely underemployed since depending on the scale of their sales this income alone is probably not enough to live on. Despite a rise in unemployment in Costa Rica due to the economic crisis, it is still viewed as a land of opportunity for Nicaraguans. Though moving to the United States or Spain is the ultimate dream of some, Costa Rica is closer, cheaper, and easier to get into (both legally and illegally).

Despite the economic opportunity being created by microfinance organizations like CEPRODEL, every day I hear about clients, friends and family members who have left the country to look for work. Since Juana, I have come across only one other Kiva client who has actually left the country, but everyone seems to have a daughter, son, or sibling who is living abroad.  “My daughter moved away 15 years ago,” said María Nieves wistfully, “There was more opportunity there. More jobs.” The UNDP Human Development Report from October 2009 suggests that “for many people in developing countries, moving away from their home town or village can be the best—sometimes the only—option open to improve their life chances. Human mobility can be hugely effective in raising a person’s income, health and education prospects.” One concrete example of benefit the report gives is that “a family who migrates from Nicaragua to Costa Rica increases the probability that their child will be enrolled in primary school by 22 percent.” Anecdotally, I have heard of many more direct benefits received. I have talked to people who receive remittances specifically for school fees, mammograms, medicine, and more.

Though the economic benefit to leaving may be fairly clear, the overall picture is much more complicated. Miguel, the CEPRODEL branch manager, laments the effects of migration. “It is wonderful to see our loans helping businesses develop,” he said, “but the really great thing is that these people haven’t left the country to look for work.” He went on to explain that if people had enough economic opportunities in Nicaragua they wouldn’t have to leave. When people leave, families are torn apart and mothers can’t have dinner with their children he continues, a situation which he finds tragic. Besides the effects on families, many people talk about the tension migration creates between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. I’m going to Costa Rica to visit other Kiva Fellows for Thanksgiving. When I told a coworker this he said, “Don’t tell them you’re from Nicaragua. They won’t let you in.” Costa Rican immigration policies are a hot button issue and every Nicaraguan seems to have a story about an atrocity committed against a Nicaraguan while they were working in Costa Rica. They run the gamut from horrible working conditions (for which there is a lot of evidence) to Nicaraguans being killed by angry mobs (for which I have found less evidence). Despite these negative effects, the flow of workers and remittances continues, suggesting that the good outweighs the bad.

Remittances from Costa Rica are so ubiquitous that organizations like CEPRODEL are creating programs to facilitate the remittance process. CEPRODEL partners with FOLADE (Foundation for the Development of Latin America) so they can offer remittance services to CEPRODEL clients through Remesas Instantaneas (Instant Remittances). Through this program, Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica can go to various stores and businesses throughout Costa Rica and to send money to family or friends back home in Nicaragua for a small fee. The Costa Rican stores and businesses are selected as sending points because they are near large Nica communities or frequented by a large number of Nicas. The money is then sent to the CEPRODEL branch that is closest to the recipient and the family member in Nicaragua only has to go to the branch and show their ID to pick up the money. About 500 people send money back to Nicaragua every month using this service. Just a drop in the remittance bucket.

There are several things that make CEPRODEL’s program with Remesas Instantaneas more popular with clients than more widely known methods of sending remittances such as banks or Western Union. First, it is cheaper. There is a $3 commission to send a remittance with Remesas Instantaneas. CEPRODEL gets about $1 of the commission and FOLADE gets the other $2. Other methods are generally more expensive. Western Union for example charges $16 and the Banco Nacional charges over $11. Take a look at this chart for more details. Second, the person sending the remittance does not have to be in Costa Rica legally. To send a remittance from Costa Rica, the client must supply the ID information for the person who is going to receive the remittance, but they do not have to show their own papers. This is very important to a lot of people, Doña Eligia, the Director of CEPRODEL’s program said. Right now, CEPRODEL’s remittance program is only set up to accommodate remittances from Costa Rica. They think a similar program would be popular for remittances coming from the United States in the future, but would also be harder to set up since Nicaraguan immigrants are not as geographically concentrated in the United States.

Interestingly enough, the remittance program is often the first contact CEPRODEL has with both the sender and the receiver of the remittances. Occasionally, CEPRODEL has clients sending remittances directly to loan officers with instructions to use the money to pay off an outstanding loan (either their own or a family members). It is more common, however, that CEPRODEL has never met either party and can use the remittance program to spread awareness about other programs. Doña Eligia told me that it is fairly common for the remittance recipients to begin getting loans for their small businesses from CEPRODEL as well.

Leaving the country permanently is one method of taking advantages of Costa Rica’s relative prosperity, but there are others. When I asked Kiva borrower Aurelia Hernandez, what her goals for the future were, she said she would like a larger loan to help her get into the clothing business and to pay for her to travel to Costa Rica to sell the clothing. Aurelia, who currently works making tejadas (which are similar to banana chips, only made out of plantains), is not the only Kiva borrowers I have spoken to who has this desire. In fact, many people are already doing this. Kiva borrower, Reyna Ruiz buys clothing in Nicaragua where it is cheaper and then goes to Costa Rica for 4-5 days at a time to sell it. Many other Nicaraguans work seasonal jobs in Costa Rica helping with the coffee harvest or in the tourist industry. As you can see, the flow of immigrants, remittances, and other monies between Costa Rica and Nicaragua is by no means clear-cut. In every case, there are positives and negatives. What is clear is that people are going to continue to move in search of economic opportunity especially if they live in a country where this is lacking relative to its neighbors or the rest of the world. I, for one, think that microfinance is one way to begin creating a world where fewer people need to leave their loved ones and communities behind in order to find economic opportunity.

Meg Gray is a Kiva Fellow in Nicaragua where she works with Kiva’s Field Partner CEPRODEL. Make a loan to a CEPRODEL entrepreneur now or introduce a friend to Kiva with a gift certificate!

This is part one of a three-part post on remittances with forthcoming blogs by Meg Gray (KF9, Nicaragua) and Agnes Chu (KF9, Samoa).

In the US or Western Europe, we often think about remittances as something that people send from our home countries back to their families in Mexico, Ghana, the Philippines, Ecuador, and so on. Remittances and the hope of wealth are the one of the driving forces in all kinds of global migration, so it seems fitting that the subject of remittances is a recurring theme in the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report from October 2009, which this year focuses on migration and aims to “challenge our preconceptions”. While movement from the West to developing world is one side to the story of remittances, it is not the only side: remittances do not necessarily touch the “rich world” of North America or Western Europe, or they can linger below the radar and have an enormous impact on countries where people are barely aware that they have an emigrant community. The three Kiva Fellows contributing to this co-ordinated post are posted in the countries currently hosting a Kiva Fellow and where remittances make up the largest percentage of the country’s gross domestic product (data from the World Bank): Samoa (22.8% of GDP), Nicaragua (12.9% of GDP) and Kyrgyzstan (19.1% of GDP).

In the West, we like to think that we bear the brunt of migration and the topic of immigration crops up with frightening regularity on election manifestos around the world, and to listen to some of the more hysterical politicians you might imagine that there were hordes of people ready to swoop on our countries to steal our jobs. I’ve sometimes been struck by the parallels between such apocalyptic visions and the 1938 radio production of The War of the Worlds: the base feelings of hysteria that Orson Welles managed to play on for one pre-war Halloween night are really no different from the images of bogeymen conjured up by politicians the world over. I personally subscribe to the theory that migration is mostly beneficial as it allows opportunities which wouldn’t be available in home countries or environments. A gross generalization, but one I believe in.

I’ve always found the topic of migration interesting and during a chance research project for my MFI I stumbled across the UNDP’s 2009 Development Report. While searching through the report for mentions of Kyrgyzstan, some figures jumped out at me that sparked off wild ideas in my head. For instance, nearly 20% of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP comes from remittances and around 10% of the population works abroad. A separate project to build the Kyrgyzstan lending team brought me up against very slim pickings when looking for groups of Kyrgyz émigrés. Something here didn’t add up: where were these migrants and where we they sending money from? When I found out the answer, it seemed like it had been staring me in the face all this time. They vast majority of remittances come from Russia, Kazakhstan and the odd other country of the CIS, and interestingly have not fallen as much in ruble terms as dollars with the economic crisis. That was why I could only find a handful of Kyrgyz-interest groups in the West. As soon as I started to think about remittances in the context of Kyrgyzstan, my next question was whether a society’s semi-dependence on remittances makes microfinance more or less equitable.

Mushroom-picking is a common activity throughout the forests of the CIS, although I’ve not discovered it on this trip, and there is supposed to come a moment when you get the hang of searching for mushrooms and the forest goes from seeming like there are no mushrooms, to seeming like its full of them. Once I started watching out for stories about migration and remittances, I started to find them everywhere. I spent an enjoyable day collecting journals in Kara-Balta with a loan officer called Mayrambek, who’d worked on a construction site in Russia for a spell before the economic crisis sent him back to Kyrgyzstan. And I spent an afternoon racing through canyons south of Bishkek with Kananbek, an incredibly friendly taxi driver who’d been a policeman in Kyrgyzstan before spending two years working in a security firm in Yakutia, Russia. The fact that he spent two years sending money home without seeing his wife and two children in Bishkek is a sad fact of migration. The fact that he’d spent two years in Yakutia blows my mind: Yakutia is an India-sized republic of the Russian Federation in the middle of Siberia and probably counts as one of the most remote places on the planet, which makes it hard for me to imagine that it would be a destination for a migrant. When I asked him why, I was struck by the obvious simplicity of his answer: the money he was getting there was better than anything he could’ve found in Kyrgyzstan.

Tatiana, one of Kiva and Mol Bulak's borrowers in Kyrgyzstan whose life has been touched by remittances.

And then there was Tatiana. Tatiana runs an old-people’s shelter in Kemin, a small town in the north of Kyrgyzstan. Like many women in the region, her husband left for Rostov region, Russia in 2008 but, unlike most others, had second thoughts and came back after a month. And her residents have a similar story: she explained that the reason why she runs the shelter is that a lot of her elderly residents have children who have all emigrated to Russia and can’t take their parents with them. She’s also a Kiva borrower and recently took out a loan to buy livestock to support her shelter. It’s not normal to think of an old people’s shelter as a business or as its owner as an entrepreneur, but in rural Kyrgyzstan’s landscape of limited chances it’s hard for her to be otherwise. As you can see in the video, when we met her Tatiana kept saying how happy she was with the loan and that without it she wouldn’t know what she would have done. She’s received funds from local charities to buy a fridge or do renovations. However, for the day-to-day running of the shelter, hers is a story depressingly typical and continually repeated across rural Kyrgyzstan. People buy a milk cow and sell the milk for profit, or in her case, she supplements the state pensions that around half of her 12 residents receive. As she explains herself in the video, of her residents who do receive their state pensions every month, these range from anything from 400 som (USD 9) to 700 som (USD 16). Even if they’re lucky enough to get a state pension, she ends up spending around 1,500 som (USD 35) on food every month. It simply doesn’t add up. Tatiana didn’t specify if her residents received remittances, but it seemed that the elderly people wouldn’t need her care if they did. Remittances are not a one-size-fits-all solution, especially if the money doesn’t arrive. For Tatiana, this is where Kiva and its field partner, Mol Bulak Finance, come in.

Last week, Ilmari Soininen asked the question whether microfinance is cutting up the proverbial pie into more pieces or whether it’s making a bigger pie. Weighing everything, my gut feeling is that in the case of Kyrgyzstan, it’s cutting up the pie into more pieces, but it is remittances which are cooking the bigger pie. The first question I had when I looked at Mol Bulak Finance’s client base on Kiva was “And who buys all the milk?” I suspect that the buyers are women who’ve received some cash from their husband working in construction, security or mining in Novosibirsk, Moscow or St Petersburg. It’s a slow process to spread the wealth around and one that will probably take generations and countless pails of milk to complete. Microfinance is part of that process in that allows people to build out their businesses and economic capacity; for the time being, remittances are the part of the process that ensures that the milk continues to be sold. I hope that this almost symbiotic development process continues as long and as much as is necessary for the development process.

One thing is certain: no-one said it would be easy.

Here is a video of Tatiana showing us around her home and her journey to bring her project to fruition.

Rob Packer is a Kiva Fellow currently working with Mol Bulak Finance in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Join the Kyrgyzstan lending team. There are borrowers from Kyrgyzstan with Mol Bulak Finance who you can help by contributing to a loan today, and many other entrepreneurs from around the world on the Kiva site.

By Rob Packer, KF9 Kyrgyzstan

This is a repost from the Kiva Fellows’ Blog and is part one of a three-part post on remittances with other posts by Meg Gray (KF9, Nicaragua) and Agnes Chu (KF9, Samoa).

In the US or Western Europe, we often think about remittances as something that people send from our home countries back to their families in Mexico, Ghana, the Philippines, Ecuador, and so on. Remittances and the hope of wealth are the one of the driving forces in all kinds of global migration, so it seems fitting that the subject of remittances is a recurring theme in the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report from October 2009, which this year focuses on migration and aims to “challenge our preconceptions”. While movement from the West to developing world is one side to the story of remittances, it is not the only side: remittances do not necessarily touch the “rich world” of North America or Western Europe, or they can linger below the radar and have an enormous impact on countries where people are barely aware that they have an emigrant community. The three Kiva Fellows contributing to this co-ordinated post are posted in the countries currently hosting a Kiva Fellow and where remittances make up the largest percentage of the country’s gross domestic product (data from the World Bank): Samoa (22.8% of GDP), Nicaragua (12.9% of GDP) and Kyrgyzstan (19.1% of GDP). (read more…)

Forgot to publish a photo from this unforgettable moment visiting clients in El Sauce about a week ago. Remember I said I was going to try and see some solar panels paid for with Kiva loans. That was a success. Getting back to the office was less successful as evidenced by this picture of our faithful “camioneta” (the small truck).

Stuck in the mud cerca de El Sauce

Eventually we got the truck out, but it took over an hour of digging, pushing, and moving rocks around not to mention the help of at least 3 people who lived near by.

A borrower making handicrafts while waiting for her loan.

By Julia Kastner, KF9 Mexico

Often while out interviewing borrowers for a new Kiva profile, the first question is “WILL THIS SLOW DOWN MY LOAN??”

Fortunately, my answer is “No, don’t worry!  Kiva will repay your MFI, not make you wait!”   This is only true, however, because of Kiva’s controversial policy of allowing its MFI partners, like my partner, Fundacion Realidad (FRAC) to make loans before receiving Kiva funding.  So, why are borrowers so afraid of delays?

By the time FRAC’s loan officers can take a picture for Kiva, a group needs to have been officially formed and the loan contract needs to be finalized and signed. This can take weeks if the group hasn’t organized itself yet. Then FRAC requires a minimum of 10 days to process the paperwork, perform reference checks, etc. before disbursing the loan. Other MFIs and loan sharks will give same-day loans, but at much higher interest rates. Waiting for Kiva funding, though, could take over a month.   Profiles have to be written, translated, and THEN wait for funding.

Why is timing so important to a borrower? Well, how would you feel if you had to wait a month every time you wanted to use your credit card?

Borrowers have all kinds of time pressures – bills to pay (for their business and/or their household), crops to plant in the right season, food to cook before market day, handicrafts to sell before the Day of the Dead or Christmas, and sometimes (unfortunately) other loans to pay off. They’ve applied for a microloan because they don’t have access to cash all the time, and the longer they wait, the more interest they’re going to have to pay someone. So they’re thrilled that Kiva isn’t going to slow them down!

As we begin the holiday giving season, it seemed a perfect time to do my first ever repeat. This post was one I did originally on March 13, 2009. Today, it seems more relevant than ever so I’m indulging in a repeat about my favorite non profits that I think might appeal to alpaca breeders everywhere.

With all the worse news on top of bad about the economy, it’s easy to get pessimistic. But amidst the stories of unemployment, foreclosures, and crumbling industries, it’s easy to forget one thing. This is still a country of incredible opportunities that people in many other parts of the world can only dream of. And that’s why I tend to focus my charitable donations outside the country and with a decided bias toward those that focus on enabling a sustainable living. Or as I like to think about it: open the door to opportunity for those willing to make something of it. For the like-minded alpaca lover, there are a few charities that I really love and speak to me as a livestock owner.

Heifer International

In the recent decade , it seems that Heifer has become a bit of a celebrity darling, but that doesn’t negate the sound reasons why I’ve loved it since way back when. Besides a very acceptable cost ratio (77% of donations go toward programs last time I looked), Heifer is the model for enabling a sustainable living where it is needed most. Basically your dollars go toward providing a recipient with an animal e.g a goat, bees, heifer, alpaca etc. That enables the recipient to earn a bit of income or eat better, in some cases free up the kids to go to school instead of working. Heifer provides training on how to care for the gift and when there are offspring, the recipient “passes on the gift”. – they give offspring to another member in the community. That member is now obligated to do the same and so on and so on. As someone who likes efficiency, I love how my one gift could start a chain of events that could enrich an entire community of hard workers hungry for a better way of life.

Quechua Benefit

What alpaca breeder hasn’t heard of the Quechua Benefit? Founded by Dr. Mario and Barrie Pedroza (Morning Sun Alpacas), Mike and Julie Safley (Northwest Alpacas), and Don Julio Barreda (Accoyo Ranch), this started as a way to bring basic dental care to the impoverished Quechuas (especially the childern) in the unforgiving highlands of Peru. In many ways, these are our Peruvian counterparts – people trying to make a living from their alpacas. But where that can be quite lucrative in the U.S., these people eke out a subsistence living with no assistance from their government. The scope of the Quechua Benefit has grown to include the provision of equipment, food, and supplies and they are now embarking on the building of an orphanage, Casi Chapi, to not only shelter children, but train them to be self reliant and emotionally sound. The more I hear about the Quechua Benefit, the more impressed and humbled I am by the efforts of these members of our alpaca community.

Kiva

Kiva appeals to the free market capitalist in me. It’s a microlending website where entrepreneurs around the world can apply for a loan. You can lend as much or as little as you want. When the combined loans reach their targeted need, the loan is fulfilled. It’s fascinating to read about the businesses people apply for. Some of them are so humble in nature they make me feel rather decadent and bloated in my consumerist lifestyle. Many of the entrepreneurs are women and many of the businesses around fiber arts or livestock. If you really want to get real, cruise through the hopes and dreams of the applicants and see how much a few dollars can do in other countries. Many of these people don’t have enough money to even open an account at a bank and therefore can’t apply for a loan. Or they are illiterate and can’t even do the paperwork. Even more amazing, 97% of loans are paid on time and the default rate is less than 1%. Huh – looks like we could learn a think or two from the Kiva entrepreneurs.

Kiva has had a lot of good press, most notably it was featured on Oprah and that resulted in all loans being fulfilled with lenders actually being turned away from the website. But now that that exposure has died down, there are plenty of applicants waiting to see if their business ideas tickle anyone’s fancy.

Did you know? In 185 countries there are Kiva lenders: Join the Gardeners! http://j.mp/TeamG

Wie schon angekündigt, habe ich bei Kiva angefragt, ob man sehen kann, wie hoch der Zins ist, zu dem das Kapital, das man vergibt, durch die lokale Organisation dem Kreditnehmer vergeben wird. Die Antwort kam ca. 14 Stunden später, also recht schnell:

Hello eyeIT,

Thanks so much for your email. We cannot comment on Swiss law as we are not lawyers in Switzerland but, Kiva does not charge any interest rate to its partners and you will not receive any interest on your loan so you are therefore making a loan with a 0% interest rate since your money technically goes through Kiva and Kiva makes the loan to the MFI.
Our Field Partners, however, do charge interest to their individual borrowers and you can find the average interest rates that our Field Partners charge on our Field Partner pages: http://www.kiva.org/about/partners .

Simply click through to the partner that you’re interested in, and then navigate to the bottom of the resulting page. You will find find the average interest rate for that partner under Borrowing Cost Comparison.

Best wishes,
Lisa Kant
Customer Service Volunteer

Kiva.org
Loans That Change Lives

Nun, ich bin kein Jurist, aber ich weiss, dass es in der Schweiz ein Kreditgesetz gibt, das Wucherzinsen unter Strafe stellt. Als Wucherzins gilt, wenn dieser eine Rate von 15% übersteigt. Das ist in meinen Augen vernünftig, stellt doch die Überschuldung keine unerhebliche Gefahr dar.

Zinsraten von Kiva

Ich habe erschrocken feststellen müssen, dass die durchschnittliche Zinsrate von über 35% bei der Kreditvergabe aller Partner von Kiva sogar mehr als das Doppelte der zulässigen Rate übersteigt. Unter diesen Umständen frage ich mich, ob man den Kreditnehmern nicht eher mehr schadet als hilft, denn die Abhängigkeit der Kreditnehmer steigt damit wesentlich und das verfügbare Kapital wird auf längere Zeit risikobehaftet gebunden. So sehr mich das Konzept fasziniert hat, so sehr bin ich nun enttäuscht. Es gibt zwar einige Projekte, bei denen die Zinsrate unter 15% liegen, aber sie werden nur im Durchschnitt angegeben. Mit anderen Worten heisst das, dass man nicht weiss, zu welchem Zins der betreffende Kreditnehmer das Geld erhält, denn ein Durchschnitt kann beides heissen: höhere und tiefere Zinsen, es ist halt der Durchschnitt.

Ich werde daher kein Geld vergeben, mich überzeugt das Ganze nicht mehr.