I take a break from my normal broadcasting about microfinance to discuss a special event. This weekend I had an invitation to attend a funeral a couple hours away in a part of the country I have never been to. I was invited by my friend and co-worker Lawrence, but I live with Lawrence’s mother’s [...]
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A Party and a Funeral
November 3rd, 2008 — , CRAN, Cassie DeFillipo, Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN), Ghana, KF6 (Kiva Fellows 6th Class) from cdefillipo @ Kiva Stories from the Field
Ode to Veronica
October 17th, 2008 — , CRAN, Cassie DeFillipo, Christian Rural Aid Network, Ghana, KF6 (Kiva Fellows 6th Class) from cdefillipo @ Kiva Stories from the Field
Veronica was more than just the small provisions shop owner across the street from where I used to live in Ghana’s capital city of Accra. She was more than just a woman full of life and smiles who I would often visit with on my way home from work. She was a friend, one I [...]
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July 25th, 2008 — , Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN), Ghana, KF5 (Kiva Fellows 5th Class), Sarah Allen, africa from sarahallen @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
Microcredit undoubtedly represents a creative and original response to poverty. But I think that somewhere along the way, the innovativeness of the idea seems to have translated into an expectation of novelty and ingenuity for all “small-scale entrepreneurs.” I was reminded of this recently while reading a report published by IBM that described microcredit recipients [...]
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June 28th, 2008 — , CRAN, Ghana, KF5 (Kiva Fellows 5th Class), Sarah Allen from sarahallen @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
I have been in Ghana for two weeks now and I love it. The country is known for its warmth—both physical and relational—and thus far, it has lived up to its reputation. The Ghanaian handshake, with its snap upon release, seems to epitomize the general tone of life here. Friendly and laid-back. In the town [...]
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May 29th, 2008 — , Dylan Higgins, Ghana, Sinapi Aba Trust, Uncategorized from dylanhiggins @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
Does microlending work? That’s one of the questions that I wanted to answer as a Kiva Fellow and that’s the question I’ve been asked on numerous occasions since I returned to Seattle. After a couple of weeks of readjusting to the American pace of life, I’m prepared to provide an answer.
Yes, it works. But, it [...]
The mission to be social
April 25th, 2008 — , Dylan Higgins, Ghana, Sinapi Aba Trust from dylanhiggins @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
As my fellowship nears its end, I’ve purposely taken time to step back and revisit my original reasons for deciding to quit my job, stuff my apartment into a dusty storage unit, leave family and friends and fly to Ghana. One of my goals was to see the impact of commercialization on an MFI’s social [...]
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April 11th, 2008 — , Dan Strack, Ghana from danstrack @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
I’ve been back in Chicago for about 2 weeks now and have had time to sit and digest my Kiva Fellow experience. Going into this I tried to keep a completely unbiased and open-mind about microfinance. I’m a huge supporter of microfinance, but I have heard critics argue that it does little to actually lift [...]
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April 10th, 2008 — , Dylan Higgins, Ghana, Sinapi Aba Trust from dylanhiggins @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
I’ve visited over 100 clients in the past two months and one of the most common responses to “how are you going to use this loan” is “I’m going to buy in bulk.” At first, it appeared to me that perhaps this is a common impulse to overstock inventory so a customer never walks away [...]
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March 27th, 2008 — , Dylan Higgins, Ghana, Sinapi Aba Trust from dylanhiggins @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
During the last month, I’ve visited quite a few courtyards, backyards, sideyards, and frontyards. In each one, I can usually count on two things. One is that someone in the group rises to find chairs for the loan officers and myself and places these chairs in a cool, shady spot. [...]
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March 13th, 2008 — , Dylan Higgins, Ghana, Sinapi Aba Trust from dylanhiggins @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
Sometimes the end is the best beginning. And, by the end of my first repayment day, a group of four women marched past me, through the hallway and onto the red dirt path outside the house where they had just completed their repayments. As they passed, some were shaking their heads, others were [...]
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March 11th, 2008 — Dan Strack, Ghana from danstrack @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
Along with its microfinance unit, CRAN also sponsors social development projects. CRAN has built 5 schools in Ghana and has provided a community with clean running water. I recently got an opportunity to visit a CRAN sponsored school in the Abaenu community. To get to the village a 4×4 vehicle is a must. Once you turn [...]
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March 3rd, 2008 — Dylan Higgins, Ghana, Sinapi Aba Trust from dylanhiggins @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
Struggles. That’s what came to mind during my first days in Ghana. The struggle to find my way around to light a candle when the electricity had failed again. The struggle to keep my body hydrated in the heat and humidity. But, much more, it was the [...]
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February 27th, 2008 — Dan Strack, Ghana, P2P Lending from danstrack @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
I’ve been in Ghana now for one month and I realized I’ve been slacking in keeping up my journal, so I’m posting several random experiences I’ve had so far.
On most days I go out with a loan officer to take pictures of clients who are requesting loans for their businesses or have already taken a [...]
Planet Rating
February 22nd, 2008 — Dan Strack, Ghana from danstrack @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
Things at CRAN have been pretty hectic the past couple weeks. At the end of February, CRAN is having an international rating done. This basically announces to the entire microfinance world how well CRAN is run as a MFI. A good rating could mean new sources of capital as well as world-wide acknowledgement of CRAN [...]
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January 30th, 2008 — Dan Strack, Ghana from danstrack @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
My name is Dan Strack and for the next 2 months I will be living in Cape Coast, Ghana and working with the Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN).
CRAN has 7 branches located throughout the central region of Ghana with its main office in Cape Coast. Cape Coast is a very poor area with some of [...]
Hawkers
December 4th, 2007 — Ghana, Roslyn Wang from obruni @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
My limit for walking around Ghana in the daytime here is about ten minutes. I’m in pretty good physical condition, it’s just that after the fifth minute I start feeling like I dived in a pool with my clothes on. At that point I find an excuse to go indoors, take my backpack off, and [...]
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November 14th, 2007 — Ghana, Roslyn Wang from obruni @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
I’ve been in Ghana for 3 months now. I thought my culture shock stages were over after the tro-tro (mini-van bus) dodging, fou-fou (sticky plantains mixed with cassava) eating, sun burning, marriage proposing, etc etc…, but I was wrong.Last week I started my Kiva internship, which involved me moving from Cape Coast to Sinapi’s head office in Kumasi. When [...]
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July 10th, 2007 — Anne Sophie Breuning, Ghana, Kraban Support Foundation from annesophiebreuning @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
My first Kiva client–her name is Sophie, my namesake!
In Ghana your nickname is the day you were born – ny nickname in Twi is Nana Adjnoa – Princess Monday! Today we were at the Golden Tulip – a Dutch owned hotel chain. Walking into the hotel I feel like I am in the middle of [...]
Obroni Meltdown
July 9th, 2007 — Delana Lensgraf, Ghana, Kraban Support Foundation, P2P Lending from delana @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
We call ahead to at least five hotels that we have starred in the Bradt Guide to Ghana – all of their prices have doubled from what the travel book says – I guess my Obroni accent isn’t exactly helping the situation! After settling on the price of the room, we get to the Raybow [...]
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July 5th, 2007 — Ghana, Jacqueline Marshall, Kraban Support Foundation from Jackie @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
We escaped to the country…to Grandma Rose’s.
Grandma Rose lives in Nsawam, which is at the foothills of the mountains, approximately a two hour drive from Accra, Ghana. Nsawam is “lush.” This tucked away small community oozes with vibrant, tropical vegetation everywhere I looked…a far cry from the sweating, concrete jungle of Accra. It reminded me [...]
hello from Ghana!
June 29th, 2007 — Anne Sophie Breuning, Ghana, Kraban Support Foundation from annesophiebreuning @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
My name is Anne Sophie Breuning and i am a Kiva fellow in Ghana. I have now been in Accra, Ghana for almost 72 hours and my jetlag is slowly wearing off. The air is hot and humid; the streets are crazy with no sidewalks, open sewers, a million honking cars, and street peddlers hawking [...]
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