It's a Mystery to Me; Loan Descriptions and Pictures That Leave Us Wondering

[Guest]

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[Jill]

Every once in awhile, we’ll see a Kiva picture or a loan description that has us stymied, no matter how many times we keep looking at it.  It happened with me the other day when I was trying to identify something in the journal picture referred to in the “P.S.” to Post #14, here.  It happened to Carla who was so bemused by a "big foot" as to be inspired to create an entire thread around it, Strangest Photo .   

I made a loan today, partly because I have a great affection and respect for farmers as well as an apparent fetish for hay (!), but mostly because I felt sorry for the Entrepreneur who wasn’t getting any bites, still hasn’t, except for mine.   I assumed that that might have been partly because a translator may have accidentally translated something incorrectly or left a key word or more out, and I didn’t think that the poor suited-up farmer pitching his hay should have to suffer for someone else’s mistake.  See,  below.


Anyway, I thought it might be entertaining for us to have a thread where we can
Post the mysteries in Kiva pictures and descriptions that baffle us and put them up for anybody and everybody to give it their best guess…. or better.

Here’s my man, Mashalla.  I’m not a hundred per cent certain, but I don’t think one can sell meadows to bazaar traders…… hay, possibly, but I’m not even sure about that.

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=36882

Mashalla Abbasov – Agriculture – Azerbaijan

Mashalla Abbasov is a 59-year-old man who cultivates meadows in a small village in the Saatli region. He raises meadows and then sells them to the local farmers and bazaar traders. He has eight years of experience in this field. He applied for a loan of $1100 to expand his business.

Would anyone care to speculate just exactly what it is that Mr. Abbasov raises and sells.....?

[Robert]

My guess is that he may grow onions, although I wonder why his fellow farmers should buy lots of onions from him. The Russian word for meadow is луг [loog] and for onions is лук [look]. Could this make sense?

Azerbaijan communicates in Russian with the outside world, but an MFI employee is likely to commit a translation mistake that originates in his/her native Azeri, which is a Turkic language and not a Slavic language. So what would Mr Abbasov grow in that case?

[Christopher]

Well I'm in, whatever he is raising...

Personally I think the translator probably has it right, though we might considering it to be something along the lines of 'cultivating grassland to produce hay'.  I would suspect hay is a valuable commodity to be traded, as it takes time and equipment to produce, and it is probably a significant feedstock during the winter and spring for cattle and sheep farmers - and he does seem to have quite a bit of hay around him in the picture (unless it is a clamp full of onions  ).

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

Agreed, Christopher! There are no onions to be seen, and raising hay for feed is a longstanding occupation  in many lands. 

[Jill]

Noticed KF Christopher sharing my mystery meadow loan.   Clicked on his lender photo early this morning, then went to his travel blog  as he’d suggested we check it out (it’s wonderfully impressive), ended up back at his lender page,  and happened to glance at a couple of his loans which, upon further inquiry, happily produced a couple more rounds for  “Your Guess is As Good As Mine.”

#1: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=35817

      Elisabeth Djoné – Market Gardening – Mali

Query: Just what do you think Ms. Djoné is doing in this picture? 
If some bright soul responds, “Watering,” you may be right, but….
I’d just like you all to ponder how many trips to the watering source, wherever that might be, to fill up this watering can it would take to water 3 hectares of crops!  One hectare is equivalent to almost 2 ½ acres!.


#2: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=34725
   
      Antoinette Hounga – Fruits and Vegetables - Benin

Query: What’s that baskety-material-thingy being held down by the rock on the chair?  What purpose do you think it serves,
           and why is it being held down by a rock?

[cpbailey]

That woven thing over the chair, could it be for shading the poor person who tends the smoking fire?  Just a thought or a wild arse guess...

Colette

[Canadian Here]

Agreed, Christopher! There are no onions to be seen, and raising hay for feed is a longstanding occupation  in many lands. 

Here, in Canada, too. Good hay (feed) is expensive.
Horses and cattle really need it during the winter months.
Lorna

[Canadian Here]

      Elisabeth Djoné – Market Gardening – Mali

Query: Just what do you think Ms. Djoné is doing in this picture? 
If some bright soul responds, “Watering,” you may be right, but….
I’d just like you all to ponder how many trips to the watering source, wherever that might be, to fill up this watering can it would take to water 3 hectares of crops!  One hectare is equivalent to almost 2 ½ acres!.

Best guess: Fertilizing specific plants/crops or perhaps, spot treating with some kind of insecticide. Certainly NOT the entire hectare!

Lorna

[cpbailey]

OK...she could be posing for a picture.  She could consider it her gym--lots of walking and a bit of weight lifting of the can of water.   Watering?  Weedkiller?  Bug killer?

Colette

[Christopher]

I do like a mystery.
Elisabeth Djoné – Market Gardening – Mali - could well be growing onions!

The original image is nice and large: http://kiva.s3.amazonaws.com/img/orig/127839.jpg with lots of lovely detail...
She does have two watering cans - so hopefully that will cut the work / trips down by half, and you can perhaps see where she has already been by the darker looking soil - which to me looks more like watering / fertiliser application rather than spot treatment for pests or disease.

It could be very western to baulk at walking a long way during the day, in many countries people have no choice and have to.  Walking or doing something by hand would be the cheapest and perhaps only option while in the west we have the luxury to use a tool or equipment to assist us.  They are already laying out the irrigation lines and pumps here in the south east of England to irrigate the crops.

Or it could just be that the person taking the photograph suggested she do something in her garden to make a more interesting picture...

I am pleased you liked my blog Jill   
C