I have written a lot about the auxiliary services offered by microfinance institutions in Guatemala. One blog, Going Above and Beyond, reflected ASDIR´s additional services from insurance to bill pay, and my last blog, Good Medicine, spoke a little about FAPE´s new medical services program. Why do you care? As other Kiva Fellows have stated, microfinance is not the silver bullet that will knock out poverty, it is merely the start. This being said, it will be microcredit coupled with access to basic services such as health, insurance, savings, and education...
Continue Reading >>Stories tagged with FAPE
For most, take your medicine! conjures up negative images of spoonfuls of cherry cough syrup or days spent in bed with the flu. For the clients of one microfinance institution, FAPE, based out of Guatemala City, Guatemala, it is something much sweeter. FAPE recently teamed up with the Canadian Government and an NGO “Gems of Hope” to provide low cost medicine and medical consultations to its clients as well as free health education.
How it works. A Gems of Hope team arrives to the village bank meetings with FAPE´s loan officer. After loan repayments are collected, one member of...
Continue Reading >>Some days start out like all the others, and let you take a deep breath before spiraling out of control.
Today was one of those days. Waking up, eating slowly and enjoying my coffee, taking pictures of the sun rising over the rusted rooftops and avocado trees while waiting for my ride to park in front of the hostel honking. It was 7:20 am when he finally arrived. We would sit in traffic for 30 minutes and arrive at the office right before eight. Typical. Like every day last week.
But today, we stopped at a gas station so my ride could run to the ATM before work. Locking...
Continue Reading >>“Again it might have been the American tendency to travel. One goes, not so much to see but to tell afterward” John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley. As a Kiva Fellow, I travel differently. I have too. Instead of trying to throw myself into those great stories that I could tell over and over to friends—about the times when I sipped mate with Argentine gauchos on the Pampa or hiked Machu Picchu in the pouring rain, I am looking for a different story.
If asked before I got here, I don’t know that I could have put a finger on what that story would be. Staring my first day at...
Continue Reading >>By Jeremy Lapedis, KF9, Guatemala
A violinist and pianist set the ambiance along with a slide show of pictures. Everyone attended FAPE’s 25th anniversary celebration: the board of directors, the general assembly, representatives from FAPE’s international partners (I was Kiva’s representative), and FAPE’s director, accountant, and lawyer. Moriré con las botas puestas. That’s what FAPE’s vice president of the board of directors said while giving an award to the president of the board.
... Continue Reading >>Jeremy Lapedis, KF9, Guatemala
On Wednesday I traveled with Aura, a loan officer. My main goal was to get some signatures from Kiva borrowers so that we could use their photos in a press release. What I ended up getting, along with the signatures, was a glimpse into Aura’s life
Since getting the signatures required us to go a little village called Cruz Blanca (White Cross), where Aura’s lives, I asked if I could see her house. She in turn suggested that we just eat lunch there. Her house had several rooms, but the floor was a base of concrete. Aura shared...
Continue Reading >>Jeremy Lapedis, KF9, Guatemala
I spent thanksgiving in Costa Rica with four other Kiva Fellows who are placed in Central America. Before going, the Guatemalans who I had spoken with about my trip mentioned two things: Costa Rica is safer than Guatemala, but it has less of it’s own culture. Having spent only five days in Costa Rica, I can hardly make any judgments about Costa Rica’s culture (however you define culture, be it ideas, materials, art, family values, government etc.), but I can confidently confirm that Costa Rica is safer than Guatemala: walking down...
Continue Reading >>Today is my last day as a Kiva Fellow working in Guatemala City. I will admit that in recent weeks my mind has been wandering to the luxuries of home: ethnic food, safe and timely public transportation, dishwashers, smog laws, etc… But as always, when leaving a new “home”, I know that I will miss the experiences and friendships that I have been lucky enough to experience while here.
As one of my fellow Kiva Fellows pointed out in an earlier post, we fellows tend to receive credit for the support that all of you lenders are really giving. I wish I could offer you one of the glasses...
Continue Reading >>**Warning: Do not read if you are my parents**
Yesterday morning the secretary of FAPE (the MFI I am working with here in Guatemala City) woke up at 4:30am. As she left her house she kissed her 3-year-old son goodbye and told him that if she didn’t come home tonight he should know that she loves him. She then waited at the bus stop for over 2 hours for a city bus to bring her the 5 miles to the FAPE office.
Guatemala City (“Guate”) is in a public transportation crisis. It’s taken me awhile to...
Continue Reading >>Those of us who know and love the Kiva platform probably find ourselves giving the “what is Kiva” elevator pitch fairly often. “Kiva is an online platform…” or “Kiva is a microlending social community…” or whatever your go-to line may be. And we’ve most likely all seen eyes glaze over and watched our audience find a sudden fascination with their feet. But every once in a while you can tell that you’ve hooked them: “So I would get my money back?” “I can really lend $25?” And my favorite moment of those conversations: “What is the default rate?”
... Continue Reading >>