The Savings behind the Interest

Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog.

Having followed the recent debate over Kiva’s transparency and the P2P model, the main critique that stuck with me was that there should be more transparency on Kiva’s partner MFIs. This resonated with me because I believe that Kiva has, on the whole, picked out partner MFIs that do amazing work and have really compelling stories to tell about their organization. So in that spirit, I’ve decided to share more details here about some of the products and services that my host MFI, Hagdan sa Pag-uswag Foundation, Inc. offers. In addition to lending, Hagdan also offers a mandatory savings program, insurance programs, and leadership/business trainings. Hagdan also runs community development programs out of a different part of the organization.

Hagdan sa Pag-uswag Foundation, Inc. (HSPFI)

Before I dive into those services though, I want to devote this post to HSPFI’s interest repayment policy. Over the last six weeks I’ve realized that my understanding of the details is sadly lacking. So one weekend when I was in the office, I grabbed Sir Melchie Badion, HSPFI Internal Auditor, and asked him for a detailed rundown. Knowing that interest payments cover much of an MFI’s operational costs, I wanted to make sure I had everything straight in my head from start to end.

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2009
11/13
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The Most Bizarre Client Interview (Part 2 of 2)

Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog.

Bizarre is probably not the best word to describe this client interview, but without a doubt we were intrigued and utterly fascinated by the alien-looking blob we saw sitting pretty before us. Corroi, HSPFI‘s Kiva Coordinator and I found ourselves staring at a live (or semi-live) sea cucumber during a visit to HSPFI client and Kiva borrower Ann Lagrada on Camiguin Island.

Ann Lagrada, Camiguin - Sea Cucumber

(This is the second part of my “most memorable client interviews on Camiguin” series – check out “The Most Beautiful Client Interview (Part 1 of 2)” if you haven’t already!)

(If you have a soft spot in your heart, an ongoing and lasting fondness for sea cucumbers like the one above, and the thought of chopping/prepping a sea cucumber for consumption would cause you much undue stress, do NOT click on the “more” link.)

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2009
11/07
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The Most Beautiful Client Interview (Part 1 of 2)

Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog.

I experienced a lot of firsts during my week in the field visiting HSPFI‘s Camiguin Branch. Some good, some intense, all of it exciting. Amongst all these firsts, I’m convinced that I witnessed on Camiguin Island both the most beautiful and the most bizarre client interviews that I’ll get to conduct while here in the Philippines. This post is about the former – check out the latter at “The Most Bizarre Client Interview (Part 2 of 2)“! :)

A bit of background on Camiguin – I had been excited about this outing for quite a while, because all of my HSPFI co-workers kept telling me about this “island of paradise” that has hot and cold springs; a walkway through an old inactive volcano with stations of the cross that Filipinos from all over visit during Lent; the sweetest lanzones in the Philippines; a sunken cemetery.

Camiguin - A View of the Volcanoes

Camiguin - A View of the Volcanoes

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2009
11/04
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At War with the Ants

One of the hazards of leaving for the field for a week is that the ants take over. Before I left, the ants had a fairly well-delineated chunk of territory in my room and I had mine. We mutually respected each other’s space for the most part, plus or minus a few straggling explorer ants here and there. If I drop some scrumptious crumbs of food on the floor and, five minutes later, found ants crawling all over said crumb in “my” territory, I acknowledge that my accident equals fair game for them.

However, I came back after a week in Camiguin to find that the ants had greatly expanded their territory. They tried taking over my bed and that was a battle I had to win. They also took over a big patch of floor between my bed, the table and the sink. Which I probably wouldn’t have minded so much if I wasn’t constantly trekking in that area and resting my feet and shoes there. As I wasn’t particularly thrilled about having the little buggers crawl all over me as I read/ate/brushed teeth/etc., I spent about 10 minutes last night reasserting my space with the help of a broom. When I got frustrated I stamped and smushed, until I felt guilty and resorted back to the slightly more humanitarian method of sweeping away the ants trail. I felt a bit baffled at the lack of visible food or other attractions that might have prompted them to expand so aggressively while I was out. I concluded that these ants are sneaky little suckers.

As a second sweeping appeared to have kept the ants (and whatever they might’ve been interested in picking up) near the wall and back in their original territory, I’m hoping that’s the end of my war with the ants. For this week, anyways.

2009
11/03
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Some Candids from the Field

Manila Airport at 3AMHere are some additional photos from my first week in the Philippines -

I pulled an overnight at the Manila Airport on my way to Cagayan de Oro. I landed at midnight, but was surprised to see how many people were still out and about! Philippine Airlines apparently runs lots of early morning flights. I had to wait for the Philippine Airlines ticket office to open at 2AM before I can get into the domestic terminal; the office had just closed at 10PM. There were loads of people waiting/sleeping outside the terminal though, as well as scores of policemen patrolling around. With a bit of help from my Nintendo DS, I found the wait quite manageable.

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2009
10/14
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Bayanihan from Cagayan de Oro, Philippines

Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog.

Two days ago I learned that bayanihan means a community coming together as one, with lots of love and support – this is the way of Filipino culture. I feel like this is a perfect word to describe everything that I’ve experienced since becoming a Kiva Fellow. With all the news about how recent typhoons have ravaged the Philippines, I’ve received an outpouring of emails inquiring about how the situation here. I’m happy to report that Cagayan de Oro City, located in the southern region of Mindanao in the Philippines, has largely been spared from the recent storms. Our thoughts however go out to the folks living in the affected areas in the north, particularly Manila and the greater Luzon region.

Cagayan de Oro City - Dusk

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2009
10/08
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Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

We watched this video during Kiva Fellows training – I had seen this and its predecessor before, but this time I teared up. Because we spent quite a good deal of the past week talking about how Kiva is all about connections, and, well… Matt’s video connects people in a powerful way.

P.S. We also filmed a short clip of all the KF9 fellows dancing crazily in front of Kiva headquarters, which will supposedly be in Matt’s next video! I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for that one :D

2009
09/29
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Kiva Fellow, Pre-Trip Thoughts

As most close friends and family know by now, I’m excited to be traveling to Cagayan de Oro, Philippines as a Kiva Fellow! If you haven’t heard of Kiva.org, I would highly encourage you to check out their website, as the concept behind their organization is really cool. Kiva is basically a microfinance organization that makes small loans to entrepreneurs around the world, so they can grow their businesses and improve the life of themselves, their family, and even their community. The cool thing about Kiva is that it allows you as an individual lender to go on their website and make small $25 loans to any entrepreneur of your choice. Over a period of time (between 6 to 12 months), the borrower will pay back the loaned amount to Kiva so you’ll ultimately get your money back, interest-free. It’s a great way to make a small but powerful difference in the world.

Kiva is all about communications and connections between individuals, so as part of my fellowship I’ll be interviewing different borrowers and sharing their stories with Kiva lenders through blogs, journal entries, profiles, etc. on Kiva.org. I’ll also be assisting both Kiva and Hagdan sa Pag-uswag Foundation, Inc. or HSPFI (Kiva’s field partner organization in the Philippines) with other work as needed. I’ll be the first Kiva Fellow to work with HSPFI, so it’s definitely an exciting prospect!

This blog posting was actually a long time in coming. I was accepted to the fellowship program around the middle of August, but I kept putting it off because there was just so much going on. In the whirlwind of preparing for my fellowship in the Philippines, I had also decided to move to Australia in January 2010. There are a multitude of reasons involved in the planned move to Australia, just as there were in accepting the Kiva Fellowship. For people who know me, yes, my Australian boyfriend played a big part in this decision :) But there was so much else to consider, and these weren’t decisions that I could make lightly.

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2009
09/02
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Volunteering @ White House Kitchen Garden

White House Kitchen Garden - WeedingBack in May this year me and a bunch of colleagues had the opportunity to volunteer at the White House Kitchen Garden – we basically spent a slightly drizzly half-day doing lots of weeding. Although it was a morning spent with good company, wonderful White House staff members, and also – Bo paid a surprise visit at the end! So overall, definitely was a memorable day. And as another work friend and I joked, the White House is one of those few places on Earth where people will line up to do chores like weeding or sweeping (if such opportunity were readily available!)

It took me a while to get photos from that day for posting, but here they are, finally! :D

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2009
08/28
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Previously Convicted Felons Barred from Stimulus Employment in Virginia? Part Four (Final)

Four days ago I received the final response to a question that I had stumbled upon almost two months ago – are there employment restrictions against people with past criminal histories for stimulus projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009? Somewhat on a whim, I decided to see if I could uncover the answer to this question by sending inquiries to the Department of Energy, Virginia State Government, and the Department of Labor, because the anecdote I had heard involved Virginia county agencies preventing previously convicted felons from being employed on stimulus-funded energy projects. One by one, thoughtful responses slowly came back from all the agencies I had contacted, and all of the answers were an overwhelming NO – there are NO POLICY RESTRICTIONS against employing previously convicted felons on stimulus projects.

If you are aware of a stimulus project in your community that bars ex-offenders, I would highly urge you to report the incident to Government Accountability’s FraudNet, or contact relevant agencies’ Inspectors General as listed on Recovery.gov.

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2009
08/28
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