Last month I had an opportunity to meet two Kiva borrowers in Khujand, Tajikistan’s second largest city, a city with a long and rich history. Both borrowers are young and ambitious women. Both of their loans were facilitated by one of Kiva’s partners in the country, IMON International. Mavjuda, who just turned 20, is currently studying in a medical school with a dream of becoming a midwife and eventually opening her own private clinic for women. When we met at one of IMON’s offices in the city, Mavjuda was shy at first, but she began to smile and speak more freely when sharing her... Continue Reading >>
Oleg was born in Southern Russia, spent five years working in Moscow, but has been living in Sweden since 2006. He spent a few years working for international environmental non-profits, including Greenpeace, WWF and 350.org. For about a decade Oleg was active in the international youth climate movement, where he helped train new climate advocates and ensure a strong youth participation at the UN climate talks. Back in 2009, he co-founded a social enterprise, Wake-Up Call, that works to inspire a new generation of young leaders working for a more sustainable, peaceful and equitable world for all. These days Oleg lives in the city of Gävle in Northern Sweden, where he works part-time at the municipal energy company as a sales representative, while also teaching Swedish, English, Social Studies and Natural Sciences at the local community college. As an educator and a life-long student himself, Oleg is very passionate about teaching and believes that education is a vital component in improving people's lives and alleviating poverty. Oleg enjoys travelling abroad, discovering local cultures and meeting different people. He spent one summer in Japan, learning Japanese, and hopes to live and work abroad again in the future.
Fellows Blog Posts by Oleg Izyumenko
Aug 7, 2016
Tajikistan
Last month I had an opportunity to meet two Kiva borrowers in Khujand, Tajikistan’s second largest city, a city with a long and rich history. Both borrowers are young and ambitious women. Both of their loans were facilitated by one of Kiva’s partners in the country, IMON International. Mavjuda, who just turned 20, is currently studying in a medical school with a dream of becoming a midwife and eventually opening her own private clinic for women. When we met at one of IMON’s offices in the city, Mavjuda was shy at first, but she began to smile and speak more freely when sharing her... Continue Reading >>
Last month I had an opportunity to meet two Kiva borrowers in Khujand, Tajikistan’s second largest city, a city with a long and rich history. Both borrowers are young and ambitious women. Both of their loans were facilitated by one of Kiva’s partners in the country, IMON International. Mavjuda, who just turned 20, is currently studying in a medical school with a dream of becoming a midwife and eventually opening her own private clinic for women. When we met at one of IMON’s offices in the city, Mavjuda was shy at first, but she began to smile and speak more freely when sharing her... Continue Reading >>
Jul 15, 2016
Tajikistan
It is the fifth and last Kiva borrower visit for the day. It is something that we, Kiva Field Fellows, do as part of our placement with microfinance institutions (MFI) around the world. A dusty and bumpy rural road brings us to the village where Habiba, a 52-years old school teacher, lives. A loan officer from one of Kiva’s three partner organisations in Tajikistan, Microcredit and Deposit Organisation Arvand, goes to the door to call for Habiba. A slender woman appears from inside the house and greets us in a soft voice with a kind smile on her lips. Russian happens to be my first language... Continue Reading >>
It is the fifth and last Kiva borrower visit for the day. It is something that we, Kiva Field Fellows, do as part of our placement with microfinance institutions (MFI) around the world. A dusty and bumpy rural road brings us to the village where Habiba, a 52-years old school teacher, lives. A loan officer from one of Kiva’s three partner organisations in Tajikistan, Microcredit and Deposit Organisation Arvand, goes to the door to call for Habiba. A slender woman appears from inside the house and greets us in a soft voice with a kind smile on her lips. Russian happens to be my first language... Continue Reading >>