Fellows Blog

Stories from the field

Stories tagged with Uncategorized

Jul 7, 2012 KE Kenya

I lived the life of a Kiva Zip borrower for a day as I rafted down the Nile in Uganda. It all started last weekend when the brave expats of Nairobi and Kampala decided to meet in Jinja. Jinja is a quaint city in Uganda serving the best Rolex, and is also the place where the Nile originates. With every natural wonder of the world comes some adventure – a full day Grade 5 rafting trip at the Source.

As a first-timer to extreme action sports in the water, I decided to tune in to every emotion – the anticipation of a class 5 rapid, the heightened fear every...

Continue Reading >>
Jul 7, 2012 GO Global Update

Micaela’s shot of downtown Kenema, Sierra Leone.

Another week, another helping of great posts brought to you by our intrepid Kiva Fellows. In this edition of Update from the Field we have a few very different posts competing for our interest. As one Fellow deals with the complexities of setting up and overseeing a new type of Kiva product, Kiva Zip, another continues learning more about the unique ways her MFI’s partnership with Kiva helps those...

Continue Reading >>
Jul 7, 2012 AM Armenia

By Ward Lassoe / KF-18 / Armenia

Recently, I had the chance to experience micro-finance at its very earliest stages. It started with a visit to some Kiva borrowers in the one of the poorer regions of Armenia. We were in the northeastern corner of the country, near the border with Azerbaijan.

This farmer and others got loans through Nor Horizon, one of Kiva’s partners in Armenia, but there are many other local farmers who are not financially stable enough to qualify for a Kiva loan. That may change soon thanks to a new initiative where local farmers...

Continue Reading >>
Jul 7, 2012 PE Peru

By Icaro Rebolledo| KF18 | Peru

Meet my new friend Piero and our new castle! We randomly met whilst I was running by the beach and he was just hanging out; yet we immediately identified a fundamental issue uniting us on that Saturday morning… WE WERE ON A MISSION TO HAVE FUN! After a failed attempt to find a football, I asked…“Do you know how to build sand castles!?”; his eyes brightened and I interpreted that as a clear sign that he was an expert at it! So, excited he replied…“No! But you must know!?!?”. Well…I really could...

Continue Reading >>
Jul 7, 2012

By Olivia Hanrahan-Soar | KF18 |  Zambia and South Africa

Borrower Annes with her baby Ebby in Chirundu, Zambia

Right now, I’m in the middle of a Zambian road trip. I’m working with one of Kiva’s newest non-traditional partners, Mobile Transactions Zambia (MTZ): a business which provides funds to entrepreneurs who want to own mobile money kiosks all over Zambia. This is Kiva’s first foray into mobile money, and it’s proving to be...

Continue Reading >>
Jul 7, 2012

By Anya Raza | KF18 | Pakistan

Secretly, every fellow really just wants to be in the field.

The thrill-seekers in us wish to go to obscure far-flung places, desperate and desolate, yet magical in our minds.

In my case, not even our car breaking down could hold me back. So off we went, three women on a dusty road. Sometimes we need life to slow down around us, to match the pace of our surroundings. As we moseyed our way through the village, we passed a local mela (fair), complete with food stands, game stalls and a theme park.

... Continue Reading >>
Jul 7, 2012 KE Kenya

By Patrick Seeton | KF18 | Kenya

I’ve been in Nairobi for just over two weeks (and more importantly three weekends!) and what has struck me most, beyond the friendliness of the people and the ever-present dust and diesel fumes, is the social scene and its social enterprise scenesters.

Kenya has undergone a transformation in recent years – the removal of long time president Daniel Moi in 2002 and subsequent democratic election of current president Mwai Kibaki was the start in a chain of events that has led to a resurgence in Kenya’s standing in the region...

Continue Reading >>
Jul 7, 2012

Diana Biggs | KF 18 | Burkina Faso

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to take part in «la Journée du Volontariat Français», an event at the French Institute of Ouagadougou which aims to promote the actions of French volunteers in Burkina Faso.  As I commended my French colleague for the generosity of his fellow French citizens, he explained to me that although the best translation I seem to be able to find for «Volontariat » is «Volunteer », it is not the same as volunteers who actually work for free, for whom the term « bénévoles » is used (Hello, Kiva Fellows!).

...

Continue Reading >>
Jul 7, 2012 GH Ghana

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...

Continue Reading >>
Jul 7, 2012

In my last blog post, I discussed the geopolitical barriers to a united Africa-namely its size. However, sheer size is not the only impediment to African unity. I came across another issue when I attempted to call my friend Emily in Niger on my MTN (South African telecom company) cell phone. Since I arrived in Ghana I have been both impressed and thankful for the low cost of calling friends and family in The United States. For $5 worth of phone credit I can spend about three hours on the phone to the US. That works out to 3 cents a minute (compared...

Continue Reading >>

Pages

LendingOnKiva