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Check out 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.
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Seeing Kenya a Different Way
Blog: A Traveler's Library - 20 June 2011
Destination: Kenya Movie: The First Grader, A National Geographic Film (2011) PG-13 I went to see expecting to see a heart-warming feel good story about literacy. National Geographic is one of the producers, so I expected that it would be beautifully photographed and give me a scenic tour of Africa. Justin Chadwick, whom you may [...]This content is a post from: A Traveler's Library To comment on this post or search for related information, click on the link to A Traveler's Library.
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How Kenya stirred my soul
Blog: everthenomad - 9 June 2011
I returned from a trip to Kenya early Monday morning. Since the moment the plane touched down at JFK, I’ve been struggling to find the appropriate words to describe the whirlwind journey. Friends and family have been asking me about … Continue reading →
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Update from the Field: Unsung Heroes, Community Alliances + and Mission Statements Made Reality
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 30 May 2011
Compiled by Kate Bennett, KF15, Ecuador This week in the field fellows across the world explore the factors that make microfinance and its successes a reality. In Kenya, we meet the actors who reach out to borrowers everyday, at any and all degrees of their own discomfort. In Nicaragua, we discover that high aspirations can [...]
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Nathan’s Office
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 26 May 2011
By Nila Uthayakumar, KF14 Uganda and KF15 Kenya “It was my first day on the job,” Nathan says with a wide grin. “I wore a coat and tie, I looked very smart! I was going to work for a bank, sit in a swiveling chair, and swing my legs!” Nathan and I are standing on [...]
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Celtic Kenya musical connection
Blog: Music Road - 11 May 2011
Kenya, Boston, Ireland, Scotland -- there’s connection there, and a connection shown through music in the album Lullabies for Love. Many of the musicians you’ve met here along the music road, along with a few who may be new to you, have joined together to offer you a fine range of Celtic tinged lullabies, to benefit One Home Many Hopes in Kenya.
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Birds in Africa for Photo Friday
Blog: Ciao Bambino! - 6 May 2011
Of all the animals we saw on our family safari in Africa ... guess what interested our 8-year-old the most? Believe it or not, it wasn't the lions — even when we were lucky enough to see a kill in action. Birds! Surprise, surprise. Birds are extraordinary in Africa and come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. This is part of what captured his interest, but the other factor was ...
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My Heart has Taken Root
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 31 March 2011
Nila Uthayakumar, KF14, Uganda My Rough Guide to Kenya has been open face down on my desk for the past few days. My time in Uganda has been incredible. I have seen and experienced so much in such a short period. Like my life has been on fast forward. This country captured me instantly. Drew [...]
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Luxury Family Safari at Sanctuary Retreats Olonana Tented Camp
Blog: Ciao Bambino! - 30 March 2011
Although I opted to plan most of our safari in Africa through AndBeyond, I wanted to ensure that we got a taste of a different experience too. Abercrombie and Kent (A&K) is one of the world’s leading luxury travel brands. Their awards are numerous and the company has been planning trips for decades. A&K’s roots are in Africa and this is an extra special destination for them with many fabulous itineraries.
