Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog.
Every time I come back from the field, I’m weighed down by videos, photos, barely legible notebook scribbles. Stories from Kiva borrowers, the good and the bad. As I turn these stories into journals I try to imagine what it would be like to be a Kiva lender on the other side, receiving an update on the Kiva borrower that they chose to fund. There’s a lot of joy in sharing the good, the success stories, a cause for celebration. Why we’re proud to be lending through Kiva. But what about the bad, stories of something gone awry? How does it feel, as a lender, to receive those updates?
What do Kiva lenders expect to hear from Kiva borrowers?
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Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog.
The world has been abuzz with Monday’s news of the election “massacre” in Maguindanao, Mindanao. About 50 lawyers, journalists and relatives of local politicians were abducted and brutally killed because of their affiliation with an opposition politician. This horrific event is being followed closely by the international media, including the New York Times and CNN, because it made Monday “the deadliest single day for journalists anywhere in the world” and was also “the worst politically motivated violence in the Philippines’ recent history.” The U.S. Embassy in Manila issued a travel alert on Wednesday as a result, because of “heightened tensions” and “significant military presence” in Maguindanao.
Ironically, while news of the Monday killings shocked the world, it hasn’t physically affected people here in Northern Mindanao quite as much as another news event which, in contrast, made just a small blip among international media outlets – tropical depression Urduja, which hit the area on Tuesday and caused flooding and landslides in Northern Mindanao. (Incidentally, no U.S. Embassy alert on the tropical storm thus far. Not one that I’ve received, anyways.)
The water had a bit abated by Wednesday morning, but across the street from the office people were wading in water up to their hips. A HSPFI colleague said the traffic island was completely flooded over when he looked outside at 3AM.
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It’s been a few weeks since my visit, but I simply loved Camiguin – a beautiful place filled with interesting people and things.
So to celebrate me finding a new favorite spot on Earth, here are some memorable candids from Camiguin.
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Would be the day, any day, when Filipino boxing champion and national hero Manny Pacquiao fights. Most of my (male) co-workers and acquaintances here had circled the date and tensely counted down the days to Pacquiao’s most recent fight (and win) against Miguel Cotto on November 14, 2009, which was broadcast in the Philippines on November 15, 2009. A colleague told me that all activity in the Philippines comes to a grinding halt when Pacquiao fights – traffic and even crime becomes nonexistent on match days because everyone’s watching the boxing. The following day his claim was bolstered by stories in jubilant newspaper reports celebrating the outcome of the match. I read an anecdote in one of the articles about how, even though a father had just lost his children in a fire, he was glad to watch Pacquiao win because it took his mind off of his loss. There were other similar stories from victims of recent hurricanes that struck the northern region of the Philippines, about how watching their hero’s fight really raised their spirits despite all the recent destruction that they had experienced.
I don’t follow boxing at all and had never heard of Manny Pacquiao before arriving in the Philippines, much to my colleagues’ disappointment. However, I’m thankful that Pacquiao won his seventh world championship, even though I ended up missing the big match because of a miserable cold that struck me two days before. The national mood probably would’ve been black with the deepest despair if the Pacman had lost!
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.
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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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.
(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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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
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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.
Here 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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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.
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