Fellows Blog

Stories from the field

Stories tagged with Kenya

Sep 9, 2010 KE Kenya

The Internet is out, so I’m writing my first blog post—one of the few things a Kiva Fellow can accomplish without access to the “series of tubes.” I’d like to introduce myself and explain a little about why exactly I wanted to move across the globe, give up access to reliable water pressure, and work for 12 weeks for free.

I’m interested in microlending, Kiva, and social entrepreneurship because of what I’ve learned in the classroom and experienced while spending time abroad. One day I hope to build a career in sustainable economic and social development. I graduated from college a...

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Aug 8, 2010 KE Kenya

By Brittany Boroian, Kiva Fellow Class 12 with Faulu Kenya in Nairobi, Kenya

It all started last Monday with a cold. I downed orange juice, popped some sudafed, and went through two boxes of tissues.

A day later, I found myself in St. Theresa’s Ward of Nairobi Hospital.

Monday night my cold continued to get worse, which wasn’t too helpful considering I had a huge report to write for work and I had already missed one day. Sleeping proved to be impossible, and I stayed up until 5 AM trying every remedy I could think of...

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Aug 8, 2010 KE Kenya

By Brittany Boroian, Kiva Fellow Class 12 with Faulu Kenya in Nairobi, Kenya

Hello Kiva readers! My name is Brittany Boroian, and this is my first post on the Kiva Fellows blog! I am a Class 12 Kiva Fellow working with Faulu Kenya, one of the largest micro-finance institutions in Kenya. I have worked with micro-finance in Asia and South America, and this is my first time to Africa.

I’ve only been in Kenya a few days, but one realization that has been apparent to me immediately in East Africa is the sense of community with your co-workers.

...

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Aug 8, 2010 KE Kenya

Kiva Field Partner Juhudi Kilimo has been nominated by Changemakers and Artemisia as a model of how to build the field of social business. Juhudi qualified as one of 448 entries from 78 countries as an outstanding demonstration of innovation, social impact, and sustainability.

Vote now until August 11 to help them win $5000. The winner will be announced on August 18th.

Juhudi Kilimo is an innovative social enterprise working with small-holder farmers in Kenya. They became a Kiva Field Partner in January 2010 and have already posted over $250,000 in loans on Kiva....

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Aug 8, 2010 KE Kenya

Jenny Jin, KF11 – Kenya, KADET

I’m a whimsical documentarian, and the video clips that I find on my computer consistently surprise me if they turn out to have captured something.  After officially ending my fellowship this past week, while waiting for my flight back to San Francisco and missing Kenya already, I was idly flicking through my computer files and I found a pretty excellent clip that I wanted to share with the Kiva community.

This clip features Dorice explaining what Kiva is to a 15-member group of KADET clients in Western Kenya. This was...

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Jul 7, 2010 KE Kenya

Jenny Jin, KF 11- Kenya, KADET


In Kabarnet, a town situated on the mountain tops of Western Kenya, I spent a day with Irene, a credit officer, to meet KADET’s client groups living in this area. At the end of the day, I was tired but happy from all the people I had the pleasure to meet. One young woman, at the young age of 28, was earning less than $2 a day and supporting 8 orphan children in addition to her own two kids.  Wow!

Towards the end of our last meeting with a women’s group, one of the clients, Albina, gave an impromptu...

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Jul 7, 2010 KE Kenya

By Jeremy Gordon, KF11, Kenya

On July 26th, Erick Bii updated the 21 lenders that had supported his loan with the state of his business, the impact of his loan on his family, and his recent challenges. To read the full journal, click on the quote above.

To communicate with his lenders, Erick didn’t need to travel to the Juhudi branch office in Litein, or even sit down with a loan officer at his farm. Instead, he responded to a series of SMS questions sent to him via...

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Jul 7, 2010 KE Kenya

By Jeremy Gordon, KF11 and Rachel Brooks, KF10, Kenya

“Esther Keino hopes Juhudi will consider giving loans without requiring solidarity groups in future as group lending is sometimes discouraging because not all members are reliable.”

“Peter is grateful Juhudi Kilimo is focusing on the rural poor who would otherwise have limited or no access to capital. He likes the funding for dairy cows as it is not just for financial purposes but also for social purposes, as it improves the health of families.”

Kiva entrepreneurs can often be a little uncomfortable...

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Jul 7, 2010 KE Kenya

Jenny Jin, KF11- Kenya, KADET

In the first weeks as a Kiva Fellow with KADET, I learned that the Kenyan microfinance organization focused on serving rural small entrepreneurs, both men and women. But it wasn’t until I got into the field and met the clients that I began to have a richer understanding of the entrepreneurs that KADET was serving.  The clients were infallibly gracious in their welcome, and shared details of their businesses, their family life, and invited me into their homes and...

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Jul 7, 2010 KE Kenya

By Steve Grey, KF11, Kenya

I recently attended a 4-hour training session for new clients of SMEP, one of Kiva’s lending partners in Kenya.  SMEP did a great job helping these new borrowers understand how the microfinance lending process works and what their responsibilities are as members of 15-person borrower groups.

But it was one of the meeting management techniques that intrigued me.  At the beginning of the 4-hour session (with no break!), the leader asked the 100+ attendees to come up with rules for the...

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