Journal entries that make an impact

[Guest]

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[wthepoo]

KivaFellow Sierra posted about 15 new journal updates today.

Here are two nice ones for loans that I share with several KFs:

1. Ena Cristina Avila

As a Kiva Fellow working with Kiva's Field Partner, Prisma, I recently had the opportunity to visit with Ena Cristina Avila to whom you recently made a loan.

Ena is expecting to have a baby any day now, and can't wait! This will be their last child since they have three others aged 16, 12, and 9. She started her general store, or "pulperia" one year ago with practically no products at all. With her Kiva funded loan she has been able to dramatically increase her goods and attract a loyal customer base. One of the major purchases was a small fridge that she can keep soft-drinks cool in. She hopes to work with the soda companies to get a larger one.

Ena and her husband also used part of the loan to invest in Ena's husband's metal working business. Metal working tools are very expensive, and so their loan helped them purchase new blades for one of his cutting tools. Her husband started this business 5 years ago after working in a different metal shop since as long as he can remember. One of the major industries in this part of Honduras is coffee. The harvest season is beginning right now, and many people in their community will see its economic benefits. As soon as their neighbors receive this windfall, they will invest in their homes. In Honduras homes are built piece-meal, as funds become available. This investment in houses indicates a big jump in business for Ena's husband's metal shop and they look forward to this busy season.

They are very pleased that Ena's pulperia is right next door to the metal shop. This ((allows?)) Ena's husband to help in the pulperia if Ena has ((to?)) take care of their children.

2. Aly Fernando Martinez Moradel

As a Kiva Fellow working with Kiva’s partner MFI, Prisma, I recently had the opportunity to visit with Sylvia Garcia, Aly Fernando Martinez Moradel’s wife. You recently made a loan to Aly.

Sylvia and Aly live in a dusty town outside of Danli, Honduras. This area of Honduras produces the majority of the country’s staple products- beans and corn. The couple used to live in the capital, Tegucigalpa, but moved here 4 years ago because in this part of the country there is always a minimum amount of beans and corn available, and the cost of living is lower.

They decided to invest the loan partially in a general store, or pulperia, and partially in a their clothing business. Sylvia jokes that the biggest challenge to her business is the fact that her kids want to eat all the snacks out of the pulperia. None of the 4 children watching me during our interview deny it! While its more convenient for them to purchase items from roving salesman that come to their town, like most pulperias do, Sylvia travels to Danli once a week to buy goods at a better rate.

Her husband, Aly also travels to find the best price. He crosses the border to El Salvador about twice a month to buy clothes at a lower rate. Shirts bought in Danli cost around 130 Lempira, or $6.88, but can be bought in El Salvador for 70 Lempira, or $3.70. With their loan, this trip becomes much more profitable because they can buy in bigger quantity every time they make one of these trips. While Sylvia runs the pulperia from her house, Aly takes the clothes on the road and sells them from the back of his bicycle.

It was a pleasure talking to Sylvia and learning more about her and Aly’s business. Thanks for your support.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

[charity]

There are several new journal entries from Samoa up today, and many sure seem like they make an impact...but not necessarily a good one....  A couple said something like "Thank you for making a loan to such an unreliable member"  or "to these kinds of unreliable woman."   Others, when quoting the woman, said it was not easy, but she paid off, or that "she was being chased, but she paid off."
One, that appears to be fully paid back, said they were still trying to collect from her, and called her an unreliable client.     

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=11488
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=11481
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=11485
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=28128
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=18736

[Jan & John]

interesting...   

possibly their way of wording an update for a delinquent loan...

they want to reassure Kiva and the lenders they are trying...

and there is still time before it goes to default

also makes me wonder how well the MFI actually screens their clients...

the last one has an 18 month loan and seemed to be making payments long after the benefit from the loan had passed.

jan

[charity]

possibly their way of wording an update for a delinquent loan...

they want to reassure Kiva and the lenders they are trying...

You're right, that does seem to apply to a couple of them, some of the others I am not so sure of...

[reb-mar]

 Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it the MFI that selects the people they loan to? 

                     Rebecca

[Turtle]

Well.........wow.... they sure are among the more "interesting" updates I've read in a while!  Thanks for pointing them out, Charity.  I so hope they are not so bad as they sound (well, with the exception of the legal-action one...which does sound...bad).  Samoa is right in my own geographical backyard, so to speak, & I do hope to lend more to the area in the future.  Some random, maybe entirely off track thoughts that occur to me about some of the loans you raised, Charity...


I have to wonder if there is something of a problem with the wording/translation/cultural context that might be exacerbating the apparent negativity of some these entries?  Certainly the loan where the MFI is taking legal action sounds like a nasty situation (Maluai Iosia).  

But re. the phrase along the lines of "thanks for lending to these unreliable women" - perhaps they mean more that they don't have access to the collateral or have a stable enough business, so that an ordinary bank would consider them unreliable?  I think this type of situation might be applied in particular to Gloria Aliivaa's loan, where her business collapsed & she has no way of repaying - the nature of business for these clients does appear to be unreliable.  In fact, in this context, all entrepreneurs listed on Kiva are "unreliable", & such is acknowledged in Kiva's Terms of Use.  I definitely think it could be worded better if this is the explanation....or perhaps these really are unreliable in repaying - could be due to geographical, financial, family, medical, or plain old "moral hazard" reasons.....a little more info would have been nice!

Faititili Fuatagaumu's comment about being chased - as I understand it, all MFIs will try to recover repayments..."chased" certainly doesn't have friendly connotations, but noting that the loan has increased her income significantly, perhaps the MFI has been asking for more regular repayments than she has been making, for whatever reason she may (or may not) have.

And re. the comment about the loan not being easy to repay....sadly, I know I've read this not uncommonly, esp. in loans from Cambodia (I think??), where I once even read of a lady who was buying less food so she could repay her loan...at first, I was dead shocked that the MFI would allow that & not re-negotiate the terms or similar - but then it was explained that this was the entrepreneur's decision, because for the short-term sacrifices, her regular (if extremely difficult) repayments were building her credit record, so she could take out a larger loan, improve her business more, & eventually provide much more effectively for her family.  Of course...I'm not saying this is what's happened here....but, perhaps things are not quite as badly as they are made to sound.  I sincerely hope these ladies are doing ok, or able to get back on their feet...and yes, I do hope the MFI isn't "chasing" them unnecessarily...


Thanks again for pointing these out, Charity....it's certainly food for thought....

[Dottie b]

I got this journal entry on a loan to a Samoan:



Freida Lisa Makesi is 38 years old and has 3 children. She is a member of Matautu Uta B center which is located in Western Upolu. She has a sewing business, which she has been engaged in for 5 years.

She has used her previous loan to purchase still try to collect from her, the center has collapsed and loans officer in charge in still trying to collect her remaining balance for her business.

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=11484

On the bright side, she did repay 89 percent of her loan, or at least that's what I've been repaid.

Remember a year or so ago when we were complaining about how long it took for the loans in Samoa to be disbursed? Maybe there's a connection. . . .

Dottie B

[wthepoo]

Well, I really don't want to appear overly critical (though I guess I just am  ), but it is with mixed feelings that I browsed the about 190 (!, yes, really) journal updates from Samoa that have been posted today. On the one hand, it is great to see that an MFI is trying to give the lenders some feedback - and it's what most of us have been asking for -, but on the other hand, these journals just seem so... disconnected (especially when you compare them and realize that about 150 of them are almost identical and sometimes just don't seem to fit 100% (like: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=20338 - she requested money for buying ingredients to make icecakes [?] and pancakes and doing some construction work, and according to the journal she used it to "purchase taro crops and bananna crops,fertilizer, coromozone and sting chemicals bushknifes, spade, digger, trailer, and home improvement for her business" - just like many other borrowers...).

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

[Mona]

This is IMHO a perfect example why journal updates are so important. From the original write-up to my loan to Maria I would have neither known how dangerous the situation is nowadays in Honduras nor would I have ever dared to think that I would be able to change this woman's life so much with my help:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=66647

As a Kiva Fellow working in with Kiva’s local partner MFI, Prisma Honduras, I recently had the opportunity to meet with Maria Lidia Garcia, a Kiva funded entrepreneur.

Unfortunately, Maria lives in a very dangerous neighborhood in San Lorenzo, Honduras. In recent years Honduras has struggled with an increase in gang activity, which has become more and more powerful as the drug trafficking business grows in Honduras. This neighborhood has been affected. One of her neighbors was recently killed during a robbery, and other assaults are common. In the past, Maria has been assaulted while trying to leave the neighborhood to sell her tortillas.

With her Kiva financed loan, Maria purchased a used car so that she can travel safely from her neighborhood to the city center. She sells 800 tortillas daily for half a Lempira each. This means that her earnings are about $21 dollars a day, out of which she spends between $10 and $15 on materials. She estimates that with the time her car saves her she is able to make 100 more tortillas than she used to. This seemed like a natural business for Maria to get in to as her mother did the same thing when Maria was growing up. The picture here is of Maria cooking lunch.

She wanted to let her lenders know how much the car has changed her business.

[mejane]

Mona, thank you for sharing that journal.  In all that poverty look how neat and clean her work area is.  It looks like a dirt floor in the first picture.  Yet the table she works on is spotless.
Jane (who wishes she could get carryout)