The town is called San Cristobal Norte – or Sacrin for short – and remember that name because I might never make it out. It’s mid-afternoon, but I am sitting in the dark and the rain outside has culminated into a monotone shriek. So much for the borrower visit I was supposed to do today.
My compañeros at this Field Partner – Grupo Finca – didn't know Tropical Storm Nate would hit Costa Rica. Nobody did. Still, it swept into Sacrin in the middle of the night, where I was sleeping in the home of some of its employees.
Stories tagged with EDESA
By Kiva Fellows | KF19 | All Over the World
A Happy Holidays to the Kiva family everywhere! May your celebrations be filled with foods and flavor, smiling faces, natural beauty, light and memories… here are some gifts from around the world courtesy of the Kiva Fellows 19th class:
On the Twelve Days of Christmas my Kiva Fellow gave to me…Day 1: A Turtle Heading Out to...
Continue Reading >>It never ceases to amaze me how you can connect with people who are completely different from you. Maybe you don’t speak the same first language. Maybe you grew up on opposite sides of the world, or you were born in different decades. But somehow, despite all your differences—and perhaps against all odds—you find commonalities. And what’s more, sometimes you realize that below the surface, maybe you’re not actually all...
Continue Reading >>Trekking to La Danta
Two weeks ago I headed out for the last of my borrower verifications with EDESA, the microfinance institution where I’ve been working. All week long I anticipated my trip to Golfito, which is way down in southern Costa Rica, in the Puntarenas province. I asked my colleagues about our portfolio there and peppered them with questions like: ‘Have you ever been to Golfito? How far is it from the Panamanian border? I heard it’s...
Continue Reading >>Visiting borrowers in rural Costa Rica
By all accounts, borrower verifications (BVs) have been a highlight for all Kiva Fellows who have had them on their work plans. I started mine last week, but I have to admit I went into them feeling apprehensive—especially since not all borrowers fully understand how Kiva works or how Kiva is even related to them.They all know they get money from the local bank...
Continue Reading >>Social Responsibility: The principle that companies should contribute to the welfare of society and not be solely devoted to maximizing profits
(source: dictionary.reference.com)
EDESA requires every ECC it serves to have a Social Responsibility Program. This means that the organization must be making efforts to achieve social, environmental, and financial sustainability.
Last Friday Luiz Jimenez (EDESA executive director), Gerardo Barillas (FINCA coordinator) and I visited ECC Vivero Datraban in Upala, Costa Rica. The purpose of the visit was to...
Continue Reading >>Around us mountains soared as we left San José at dawn. Certain that what I had been admiring all week were indeed the rugged ranges of Costa Rica, I snapped a few pics and dozed off.
A few hours later I woke up. It was now late morning, and getting hot. My colleague Steven turned to me and said, “Look where we are.”
http://vimeo.com/14095736
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Continue Reading >>Great things are happening here at EDESA in San José, Costa Rica. A quick rundown of what EDESA does and how that ties back to Kiva and lenders like you:
EDESA is a microfinance institution in San José, Costa Rica. It is located in a lovely house-turned-office and staffed by several dedicated and energetic employees. Kiva is one of EDESA’s several funders.
EDESA lends money to well over 100 Empresas de Credito Communal (ECCs) throughout Costa Rica. ECCs – Communal Credit Companies in English – are small credit organizations created and run by the very...
Continue Reading >>Alana Solimeo, KF9, Costa Rica
I’m not here to cry wolf. I know that the subordination of women exists to much more oppressive degrees around the world.
I am also aware that my ability to identify phenomena here as ‘machismo’ has everything to do with my perspective, that of a female born into a world where I have virtually no boundaries, where glass ceilings are slowly being pushed further and further away from my upper limits by the women that precede me. But I am here to tell my stories, and I’ll do so cautiously. This one is about my personal experience...
Continue Reading >>Alana Solimeo, KF9, Costa Rica
I realized after letting the excitement of Kiva, Costa Rica, and research topics (exhibited in previous post Rice, Beans and an Inspired Hypothesis) settle that I might want to take a step back. The thing is I hit the ground running here, thanks to the great work of my predecessor Kiva Fellow, the fact that EDESA really is on top of their game, and the enthusiastic charge with which I like to begin things that earned me my nickname Eager Beaver.
As ready as I think I am...
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