Compiled by David Gorgani | KF17 + KF18 | Guatemala

It’s official – the Fellows have taken to the field!  This week’s update touches on many different Fellows’ experiences visiting Kiva borrowers in the field and traces the similarities and differences we face in our borrower visits, all with a strong undertone of inspiration.  Let’s face it folks, this is why...

By Muskan Chopra | KF18 | Kenya

During our week of training in San Francisco, we were warned about the ‘trough of disillusionment’, where all will not be smooth in the field. Whether we were going to Kenya, Cambodia, Armenia or Peru, we will wake up to tough days where hot water decides to take a holiday or mosquitos find a way through the bed nets.

I often thought to myself – shouldn’t we instead be worrying about our borrowers’ ‘trough of disillusionment’? What’s a day of cold water baths and mosquito bites when thousands of people in the...

by Luan Nio | KF18 | Nicaragua

We think we are all well-travelled, educated and smart, with great interpersonal skills and able to handle difficult situations. But what does actually happen at a Kiva Fellow’s first day in the office?
Most of us have not worked in microfinance before, have never visited their destination country and sometimes don’t speak the local language as well as they might think.

Here are impressions from around the globe during our first day with our assigned Kiva field partner.

By Muskan Chopra | KF18 | Kenya

Last week I stood at the Equator in Kenya’s Rift Valley, one foot in each hemisphere, and thought to myself – is it really possible that water can circle clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere, just 20 meters apart? Can two such opposing forces of nature occur side by side?

Perhaps the Coriolis Effect is a myth, but I am convinced that opposing traits of human nature coexist beautifully in this country. Known to be one of the most unsafe regions in the world, Kenya...