EL Salvador, a country devoted to Football

After the first days in EL Salvador it looked like if I had never left Spain. Every single newspaper I read, there were FC Barcelona or Real Madrid at the front page. I did not know at all the fever salvadoran people had about football and especially about Spanish soccer. Wherever you look to, you can see Barça´s or Real Madrid´s colours and emblems: in every mean of transport, t-shirts, houses, boats…

     

Wherever I say I am from Spain, people ask me, before I can say a word, which team I support. I always answer the same. Ni Barça ni Madrid, Athletic de Bilbao! And some of them have started to change team. Here is the biggest supporter, Ever!

And this fever gets to the point that if Real Madrid and Barcelona play together people stop working and go to see the match. And this rivalry between these two teams has become dangerous. Tension is very high among supporters and quite often there are fights and quarrels that end badly. This is why police presence is reinforced whenever they play together. It is very strange to see them behave this way for something happening thousand of miles away from this small country.

                           

However, there is a time when these two supporters come together forgetting any differences. It is when “La Selecta”, the national team. plays. This is definitely one of the biggest moment for Salvadorans. The country stops and the blue and white paints the country.

By the time La Selecta was playing the qualification round for the world cup against Costa Rica I was collaborating with Fundación Campo, a very special MFI.  Its management has achieved to share with their employees strong values and they have established a true reliance relationship with their employees.  One of the many activities they do to reinforce teamwork is going to San Salvador to support La Selecta.

As one more member of the team I went with them to support the national team against Costa Rica. The winner of the match would be classified to the World cup. After a 3 hours journey we arrived to San Salvador and we straightly entered to the stadium in order to take a good seat.

When I asked about the starting time of the match I got astonished. There were 4 hours and a half left, it was starting at 19:30! Soon I understood why we did this. First, two hours before the match began, the stadium was nearly full. And second because it was vibrant to warm up the match with the supporters. In the 4 hours and a half waiting, they did not stop singing, dancing, doing the wave and many more. It was an extraordinary experience seeing the unconditional support of the fans.

Unfortunately La Selecta was not at the same level as its fans and it was beaten by Costa Rica, losing any chance to qualify for the world cup. But as H. W. Arnold said, “ the worst defeat a person can have is when he loses his enthusiasm”. And this never happens to Salvadoran people. They are passionated people that get up again and again despite the difficulties they meet on the way. Sharing this experience with my colleages of Fundación Campo made me understand them better and consolidate myself as a member of their team.

As good Salvadorans, on the way back to San Miguel we started to dream again about seeing La Selecta playing a world cup…

Update from the Field: Adapting for Borrowers by Borrowers, Microinsurance +SKFL

Compiled by Jim Burke, KF16, Nicaragua

A Warm Welcome! Manana offers the best from her garden. By DJ Forza, Georgia

This week’s Fellows Blog focuses on adaptability: Adapting microinsurance to poor households in Indonesia, an MFI in Turkey adapts to the needs of women entrepreneurs, a multifaceted borrower in Nepal adapts to market pressures, and a Kiva Fellow adapts to changing expectations. In a continuation of The Stuff Kiva Fellows Like series we hear how different fellows have adapted to their lives abroad by ‘crashing parties’ and ‘going to the Bazaar’. We hear about how practitioners are adapting finance and microinsurance products to their borrowers. Equally nimble we hear from a few borrowers and how they have expertly adapted to market pressures and changing circumstance. Microfinance is a dynamic industry by nature and like DJ or Binu or Maya Enterprise for Micro Finance, ensuring success means staying flexible and welcoming new opportunities born out of challenges.

Wrap your arms around me

By Marcus Berkowitz, KF16, Ecuador

Imagine yourself stepping outside of your tomato-colored house and onto a peaceful street, steeply hung over a mid-sized Ecuadorian town nestled in a lush valley. It’s nearly silent as you walk to the bus stop. You can see the center of town bustling below you. The giant Mt. Chimborazo in the distance and the smaller range just in front of it block the harshness of the early morning sun, casting a soft light on the quiet countryside.

This peace lasts no more than a couple of minutes before it is loudly shattered by the shouting of the fare official of the bright red bus screaming towards you with no intention to stop, loudly blaring from its many loudspeakers the same song as yesterday (indeed, as every day). So it begins!

Too Crude? Or, Just Reality.

Common Latrine in Northwest Cameroon

This photo may not be recognized immediately as a toilet, bathroom, or water closet. Or, it may be considered indecent for publishing on a civilized blog such as the Kiva Fellows Blog. Justifiably, blogs typically highlight the hardworking entrepreneurs who are fighting poverty. But in the interest of connecting Kiva lenders and blog readers to the true lives of Kiva and GHAPE borrowers, I have decided to share an image that many lenders and blog readers may have never seen.

Bafut by Foot

At GHAPE, new borrower centers are established only in areas identified as mostly poor. Individual borrowers are also screened using a tool called the Basic Needs Test to determine whether they qualify as potential GHAPE borrowers – very poor based on a variety of measurable factors. Recently I had the opportunity to accompany GHAPE’s Chief of Administration and Finance and the Assistant Field Manager to conduct a Basic Needs Test for a new borrower center in Bafut, outside Bamenda. The Basic Needs Test is a survey developed by GHAPE staff to first assess the overall poverty level of an area and then to screen potential borrowers to learn their economic status. GHAPE administers micro-loans, beginning as small as $10, to the poorest of the poor. In order to assess whether new clients qualify as very poor, GHAPE visits their home and asks detailed questions. The questions focus on 5 main areas: food consumption (number and quality of meals per day), clothes, cleanliness, house structure, and health. type of toilet, number of school age children in school, and whether or not children under age 6 receive milk every day.

Lessons from my own Country – Lecciones de mi Tierra

By Lourdes Toussaint, KF13, Mexico

As my time as a Kiva Fellow comes to an end, I would like to sum up my experiences in Monterrey, a new city for me in my native country of Mexico. Initially, I was hesitant and scared of going to Northern Mexico given the safety issues that have been felt for the last few years. Shootings, kidnappings, and other forms of violence have become an everyday concern. Still, I decided to give it a try, at the end it is my country, and I really wanted to learn all about microcredit and its impact on people and poverty.

Al acercarse el término de mi tiempo como Kiva Fellow, me gustaría concluir esta entrada con mis experiencias vividas durante este tiempo en Monterrey, una ciudad nueva para mí aquí en mi propio país. Al principio, cuando me enteré que iría al norte de México estaba dudosa y con algo de miedo debido a la situación de inseguridad que desde hace ya tiempo se vive en esta zona. Las balaceras, la violencia, las muertes, y los narcobloqueos son cosa de todos los días. Sin embargo, decidí intentarlo, finalmente, es mi país y tenía muchas ganas de aprender todo acerca de los microcréditos y su impacto en la reducción de la pobreza.

The world of Kiva and my first experiences with borrowers in Bolivia

By Clara Vreeken, KF 14, Bolivia
Blog 1: My name is Clara and I have started my Kiva Fellowship last week at the field partner IMPRO in Bolivia. IMPRO is a small non-profit organization that has been offering micro credit to the working poor in the cities of La Paz and El Alto in Bolivia since 1995. In this first blog I describe how Kiva works by using the example of IMPRO in Bolivia.

Colorful Finances – Finanzas de Colores

By Lourdes Toussaint KF13, Mexico

The state of Chiapas, located in the southwest Mexico, is one of the most diverse regions in terms of demographics, language, food, geography and colors. Today Chiapas is the state with the largest number of microfinance institutions. Some of these institutions have developed professional methodologies and practices that have allowed them to grow steadily and achieve efficiency and financial inclusion in remote rural areas.

El estado de Chiapas, localizado en el sureste de México, es considerado como una de las regiones más diversas en términos de población, cultura, idiomas, comida, colores, flora y fauna del país. Chiapas es el estado con mayor número de instituciones microfinancieras. Algunas de estas instituciones han logrado desarrollar metodologías y prácticas de gran profesionalidad que les han permitido llevar los servicios financieros a zonas rurales remotas.

Are Financial Services a Human Right?- ¿Son los Servicios Financieros un Derecho Universal?

By Lourdes Toussaint, KF13, Mexico

Access to credit, even on a small scale, can have a transforming effect on human lives. According to the Center of Financial Inclusion at Accion International, it is estimated that in Mexico 45% of households are completely excluded from financial services, meaning that they are not using any single formal service. Another 50% of households are using the system in a limited way with access to one or two services, and only 5% of the country reports using savings, credit and insurance.

El tener acceso a créditos, aun cuando sea a pequeña escala, tiene un efecto transformador en las vidas de las personas. El Centro de Inclusión Financiera de Accion Internacional, estima que en México el 45% de los hogares están completamente excluidos de servicios financieros, esto quiere decir, que no usan ningún servicio financiero formal. Otro 50% de los hogares usa el sistema de forma limitada, con acceso a uno o dos servicios y, únicamente el 5% del país, reporta usar los servicios de ahorro, crédito y seguros.