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Update from the Field: Translation Follies, Contemplating Kindness and Comfort and KF Cribs
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 21 May 2012
Compiled by David Gorgani | KF17 | Dominican Republic This week's stories from the field span topics ranging from ill-equipped law enforcement to the "luxurious" living places of Kiva Fellows.
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Update from the Field: Thoughts on Wealth, Religion and History, Foods from the Field, and a Day in the Life of a Fellow
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 7 May 2012
Compiled by David Gorgani | KF17 | Dominican Republic As our fellowships wind down and as the first batch of KF17 fellows packs up to head home, the time has arrived to reflect on our experiences in the field and on the realities faced on a daily basis by the people living in the countries in which we've spent t
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Sweet Deliciousness
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 4 May 2012
Compiled by Michael Slattery | KF17 | Togo Despite the often upbeat tone of fellows’ posting on the blog, I’ll be the first to admit that the position entails some universal hardships. There is the occasional social isolation that leaves you Saturday night at home with a book and bottle of the local plonk, despite apparently [...]
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Day in the Life of a Kiva Fellow
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 1 May 2012
Ever wonder what a day “in the field” actually looks like for a Kiva Fellow? I know I had so many questions before I touched down in Kenya, as did my friends and family back home. To answer these questions about where I’m working and what I’m doing all the way in Mombasa, I made [...]
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Update from the Field: Tropical Business Trips, Less Exhilarating Fellow Roles + Education Inspiration
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 26 March 2012
Compiled by Allison Moomey | KF16 & KF17 | Bénin Kiva Fellows have been busy checking items off their workplans. From borrower verifications to loan officer trainings to collecting borrower stories, each fellow's workplan is a diverse set of tasks dealing with both the glamorous and less-exciting aspects of a Kiva-partner relationship.
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Do you stop the car in Nairobi?
Blog: Kampala Days (Diary of a Mzungu) - 17 March 2012
“Stop the car,” says Jane. “Take me back to the airport.” It’s 11 pm. After an uneventful flight – save for the mother who let her (very obviously distressed) 4 year old son bawl for 20 minutes, we land in Nairobi. We’re last on the plane. (Are there many international airports where the flight attendant [...]
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Travel Inspiration -Travel is medicine for the soul
Blog: Canada's Adventure Couple - 7 March 2012
Africa changed my life. I started travelling in 2010, when at aged 23, I explored Asia backpacking around the continent. Just weeks later, I booked my next adventure; 6 weeks over-landing through 7 countries in Africa
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An Impactful Lesson About Animal Conservation in Africa
Blog: Ciao Bambino! - 21 February 2012
A year ago today a baby elephant, Kainuk, was rescued next to her dead mother on a reserve in Kenya and was brought to the The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) in Nairobi. We fostered her just a week later when we were visiting the DSWT on the last day of our family safari in Africa. I just checked in on her status and photos on the Orphan's Project website and Kainuk seems to be thriving. What a difference a year makes!
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The Muzungu’s Best of 2011!
Blog: Kampala Days (Diary of a Mzungu) - 1 January 2012
If 2011 was busy, 2012 looks set to be busier still! Here are a few of 2011′s highlights (if you don’t hate me by now …) TRAVELLING – Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Turkey – and of course, Uganda. Kenya - The Naivasha Relay (84km from Nairobi to Lake Naivasha) is one of the highlights of Nairobi [...]
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Same Continent, Different Worlds: Part 1
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 31 December 2011
By Kiva Fellows in Africa, KF16 Compiled by Tejal Desai Where might you find muzungu hunting? Where do Kenya's elite runners hail from? And what do most borrowers in Burkina Faso use their business profits for? Kiva Fellows from KF16 bring you a unique perspective from the diverse and vast continent of Africa!
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Stuff Kiva Fellows Like #10-17
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 26 November 2011
Compiled by Jim Burke, KF16, Nicaragua We are Kiva Fellows. This is the stuff we like. Here is an insider (often critical, or satirical but always true!) view of what it means to be a Kiva Fellow and promote access to financial services around the world. From party crashing to bazaars to street food, these [...]
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Update from the Field: New Products in Microfinance, Over-Indebtedness + Transparency
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 15 November 2011
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF16, Rwanda This week on the Kiva fellows blog, start out by learning about three new microfinance products - microinsurance in Indonesia, higher education loans in the Philippines and green and water loans in Kenya. Continue on to Nepal to admire the handiwork of artisan borrowers. Make your way to Ecuador to find out more about the risk of indebtedness. Share the fellows' personal experiences with the recent elections in Nicaragua and rush hour traffic in Uganda.
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Going Green? Overcoming Cultural Barriers to Promote Green Loans (Part 2)
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 14 November 2011
By Claire Markham, KF16, Kenya In Kenya, the act of going green appears to be far less of a priority than it is in more developed green economies. In the first part of this blog series, I discussed the cultural barriers that exist in Kenya. In this second part, I attempt to answer the question of how an MFI can break through the obstacles identified in Part 1 to implement a successful green and water loan program.
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Update from the Field: Expanding the Reach of Microfinance, Downsizing Development + Why We Kiva
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 31 October 2011
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF16, Rwanda This week, you have no fewer than 14 new articles to choose from on the Kiva fellows blog: Let the fellows take you along on borrower visits across the world. Learn how Kiva field partners expand the reach of microfinance in Rwanda, fill the microfinance donut hole in Sierra Leone and improve social performance in Uganda. Find out what poverty is like in urban Tajikistan and rural Burkina Faso. Get inspired by one of the creative ways to bring renewable energy to the developing world in the form of a soccer ball.
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Updates from the Field: Green Loans, Dark Alleys + On-the-Ground Footage of it All
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 24 October 2011
Compiled by Kate Bennett, KF16, Peru
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Going Green? Overcoming Cultural Barriers to Promote Green Loans (Part 1)
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 20 October 2011
By Claire Markham, KF16, Kenya In the developed world, the recent increased attention to global warming and the importance of environmental preservation and restoration efforts is something that’s hard to ignore. In Kenya, I have found this is not necessarily the case in my experiences so far. When the borrowers that we work with so often have to worry about ensuring there is enough food on the table or money for school fees, adding the responsibility of being conscious of their environmental impact can be a hard notion to sell.
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Stuff Kiva Fellows Like
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 7 October 2011
Compiled by Jim Burke, KF16, Nicaragua We are Kiva Fellows. This is the stuff we like. Here is an insider (often critical, or satirical but always true!) view of what it means to be a Kiva Fellow and promote access to financial services around the world. From alpaca fur to FSSs to ziplock bags, these [...]
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Kampala to Nairobi – 14 hours of speed bumps
Blog: Kampala Days (Diary of a Mzungu) - 30 September 2011
It was a terrible night’s sleep – a 14 hour bus journey from Kampala to Nairobi: I awoke cold, cold and achey. The speed bumps shuddered us awake every few minutes. I swear I woke a hundred times. A few glasses of Waragi (it was my birthday after all) would have knocked me out, but [...]
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Take the Long Way Home: A Loan Officer’s Journey
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 29 September 2011
By Claire Markham, KF16, Kenya Before I arrived in Nairobi, I had heard on multiple occasions about the fundamental role loan officers play in making an MFI function. Loan officers are the backbone of the organization; they are intimately familiar with their clients and the challenges they face and they go to extraordinary measures to meet client needs.
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The real ‘boda boda’ – Nagawa travels sidesaddle into Kenya
Blog: Kampala Days (Diary of a Mzungu) - 29 September 2011
There were plenty of seats on the bus – so why does the big man always have to sit next to me? Immediately, he reclined his seat and wedged two greasy paper bags between us. “Do you even have an apple to eat?” he asked me and then proceeded to eat fried chicken from one [...]
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How to be a Travel Writer
Blog: A Traveler's Library - 9 September 2011
Destination: Africa Book: One Day I Will Write About This Place (NEW August 2011) by Binyavanga Wainaina (NOTE: After I wrote and titled this review, I carefully read Binyavanga Wainaina’s sardonic instructions on “How to Write About Africa” in the magazine Granta.
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Observing Kiva’s Raison d’Etre in my First Field Visit
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 7 September 2011
By Claire Markham, KF16, Kenya Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to spend a day with a loan officer visiting three different Kiva borrower groups. Though these were fairly routine visits for the loan officer, they were far from ordinary from my perspective; they allowed me to observe real examples that confirm why Kiva does what it does.
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Hot Air Balloon Safari Over the Masai Mara for Photo Friday
Blog: Ciao Bambino! - 22 July 2011
A family safari in Africa is extraordinary in every way. I'm not a fan of flying (in airplanes or otherwise), but the offer from Bateleur Camp to organize an early morning hot air balloon ride over the Masai Mara with Skyship Company was too compelling to pass up. These photos don't lie, this adventure was absolutely phenomenal.
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Photographing Wildlife in Africa
Blog: A Traveler's Library - 11 July 2011
Destination: Africa, the Serengeti Book: by Uwe Skrzypczak WIN THIS BOOK (See below) Available in print from your bookseller or in digital form through I-Tunes. In this book, although the title is Wildlife Photography and it focuses on the Serengeti of Africa, the author means to help anyone who wants to become a professional level photographer.
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Giraffe Heaven at Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, Kenya for Photo Friday
Blog: Ciao Bambino! - 24 June 2011
My first exposure to an article about the hotel Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, Kenya was followed by a flurry of emails to friends with an all caps WOW in the subject line. There are unique hotels all over the world, but the list narrows quickly when you identify truly one-of-a-kind experiences. Unless you know of other hotels where giraffes can and do literally poke their head into open windows in the morning, Giraffe Manor qualifies.
