Fellows Blog

Stories from the field

Stories tagged with Kenya

Sep 9, 2011 KE Kenya

Lauren Barra, KF16, Kenya

“A startling new statistic from the World Health Organization,” the BBC announcer sounded from my taxi’s radio. “There are only two registered medical professionals for every 1,000 Kenyans…” As I drove through the bustling, overcrowded streets of downtown Mombasa, I took a deep breath and was reminded once again – my work here is not going to be easy.

The BBC announcer continued to explain that this data is even more sobering for poor, uninsured Kenyans who rely on government-funded hospitals. A...

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Sep 9, 2011 KE Kenya

By Claire Markham, KF16, Kenya

On Kiva’s website, the description of why Kiva does what it does is as follows:

We envision a world where all people – even in the most remote areas of the globe – hold the power to create opportunity for themselves and others.

We believe providing safe, affordable access to capital to those in need helps people create better lives for themselves and their families.

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to spend a day with a loan officer with SMEP’s Nairobi Central branch, and we traveled to...

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Sep 9, 2011 KE Kenya

Lauren Barra, KF16, Kenya

News of hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires bringing you down? Tired of hearing about how the world economy is in the toilet and the U.S. outlook is grimmer than ever? Want to explore a corner of the world where risk profiles are actually improving? Welcome to Yehu Microfinance Trust in Mombasa, Kenya.

Starting today, Yehu will now proudly display a three star Field Partner risk rating on Kiva. In their communication with Yehu, Kiva highlighted its main justifications for the change:

Reasons...

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May 5, 2011 CO Colombia

Compiled by Kate Bennett, KF15, Ecuador

The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field: Fixing the chain on the way to a repayment meeting in Haiti. Poor roads thwart borrowers and MFI loan officers alike.

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...

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May 5, 2011 KE Kenya

Nathan at work visiting borrowers of Juhudi Kilimo

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 the side of a road. The occasional share-taxi barrels past us, but mostly we are surrounded by the hush of farmland that...

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Mar 3, 2011 UG Uganda

The Source of the Nile in Jinja, Uganda

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 me in. And held me close. Whispering. This land is unlike any other.

But it seemed as if...

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Feb 2, 2011 KE Kenya

By Tara Capsuto, KF13, Kenya

This blog really is about giant bunnies. It’s also about asset financing and how loan groups are working together, with the help of Juhudi Kilimo (one of Kiva’s field partners) to raise rabbits and boost their incomes. Juhudi provides an innovative, agriculture-based, micro-asset financing loan product to assist smallholder farmers in acquiring productive assets such as dairy cows, chickens, irrigation equipment, and most recently, giant Flemish rabbits.

Juhudi Kilimo’s...

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Jan 1, 2011 KE Kenya

In the past decade, the African nation of Sudan was in the news because of massive violence in the region of Darfur. Today, the world watches as the country takes part in a referendum on the south’s potential secession from the north. Voting has gone on for one week and finished this past Sunday. In some areas of the south, over 80% of registered voters took part, and the stringent requirement of 60% total turnout needed for validity of the vote has been surpassed.

Relations between the north and south have historically been strained, not least because of the racial and...

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Jan 1, 2011 AM Armenia

By Kiva Fellows, Various corners of the globe

Around the world, Kiva Fellows are celebrating the start of 2011 in all sorts of different ways. Here’s what some KF13-ers are doing to ring in the New Year.

Enjoy and Happy 2011!

Ellen Willems, Ecuador

Ecuadorians, as I was told, celebrate the coming of the New Year, and more importantly the going of the “Old Year” by making “monigotes”. These are dolls made of old clothes, stuffed with newspapers or sawdust and sometimes with fireworks as well. They have masks made of papier...

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Dec 12, 2010 KE Kenya

In the summer of 2009, I spent a few weeks in the small East African nation of Rwanda. I was there as a student as well as an observer, one who could testify to others about conditions in Rwanda today. Like in any country, various standards of living could be found, from upper-class mansions to poverty-stricken slums. However, never before had I seen these extremes exist so closely together.

 More often than not, poverty is the result of circumstances difficult to change. Although people can be very resourceful in making the best of what they have, the trap of poverty is difficult...

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