El fin de la semana

I tried to make this post short, but I failed.

Today was day #2 of work, and it went by quickly. Time flies when you have tons to do. I spoke with my supervisor in Seattle, which I really enjoyed, because our conversation made me feel better about the fact that there seem to be quite a few challenges to mediate. He encouraged me that this is just the nature of the job that I'm here to do*; it's funny because I conceptually knew that a huge part of my job would be facilitating communication between Vittana and CrediMUJER, but I am not really good, per se, at conceptualizing. I'm better with details and facts. Ergo, it was kind of humorous today when I realized, "Aha! So facilitating communication between CrediMUJER and Vittana means, like, taking what one doesn't understand, and what the other doesn't understand, and clarifying it for each...and then coming up with a solution." So, for all you kiddies out there that like to use big words in interviews, know that when you get the job, you'll have to know what those words mean. And do them.

Outside of work: Between ever-present cloud blanket, the fluorescent lights at my office and "home", and staring at a computer screen all day, I'm beginning to feel like I'm in a twilight zone of sorts. Blue Christmas lights always make me feel tired and light-headed, and this combination of light sources makes me feel the same way. Today I had to look up from my desk and around my office to make sure I was awake and not dreaming. Still not sure.

Additionally, I realized today (mid-sentence) while typing some notes that I talk to myself as loudly as our secretary does :)

Lastly, I stopped at the supermercado tonight on my way home (after going for a long jog on the treadmills at Energym, a gym at which I have a free three-day pass and two friends, woot!) to buy some food to cook for dinner. Food is so cheap here, and for S/6 (~$2.50) I got all of this:

and two bottles of water. (Speaking of which, I drank 2.5 litres of water today. I am going to have the healthiest kidneys!) Anyways, look at the tiny potatoes! I'm going to try to work my way through all the new potatoes I find. I was informed by some ladies at my lunch table that the six different kinds at PlazaVea (the grocery store) "are nothin'!"

That melon-looking fruit by the bananas is like a pomegranate, and starts with a 'g', but I don't remember its full name. More on it in a moment...

With the above ingredients I made this:

which was delicious, and would have been delicious tomorrow, too, except that this happened:

By the way, in case you cook mini-potatoes in the future, they boil much faster than sweet potatoes and carrots. Mine were kind of mushy (but still full of carbohydrates, ergo, awesome).

So the gromegranate. As someone who likes to eat (duh, who doesn't?), one of the most fun things about any new place is the cuisine. I've made it my goal, as I mentioned yesterday, to try all the new fruits I encounter. Today it was gromegranate's turn. Pictures first, report after.

The opening of The Pod:

The Pod ridden of its eggs, I mean seeds:

A cup of tadpoles:

So, I had somewhat high expectations of the gromegranate, as I love its more popular cousin, the pomegranite. Sweet and tangy, the pomegranate really could only be better if it were easier to eat, and even then, I think some of its luster would be tarnished. Anywho, the gromegranite, like that weird guy in your health class who says creepy things under his breath, is not popular for a reason.

So there was this one time when I tried to smell a new conditioner at Bath & Body Works. I opened the top of the bottle, put it to my nose, and gently squeezed it to bring some scented air out and into my nostrils. I guess I squeezed too hard, though, because I ended up snorting a ton of Sea Island Cotton. This is exactly what I was reminded of when trying the gromegranate; it felt like eating a heaping spoonful of slimy and crunchy Sea Island Cotton.

I didn't eat the whole cup full, but I did do my due diligence and try it three or four times before finally declaring it 'not good'. Instead, I ate my two bananas. (I was still hungry!)

Stay tuned over the weekend for some riveting updates. Tomorrow I'll be touring Centro Lima (the historic district); Sunday I'm having breakfast (at 8 a.m., across town) with CrediMUJER's director and her husband, and then tour the city with her. (She and the entire staff are incredibly accommodating and hospitable.) Monday, I'll be posting pictures of my favorite posters in our office.

¡Saludos, queridos lectores!

Audrey

*I guess here I should explain exactly it is that I'm doing as a Vittana Fellow. Maybe that would have been helpful a few posts ago. Better late than never.

Okay, so Vittana is a US-based NGO that works with microfinance institutions (MFIs) like CrediMUJER (a subsidiary of Peruvian NGO Manuela Ramos) to help them establish student loan programs. Microfinance has been around for about forty years, pioneered by Nobel Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank, the first MFI. Microfinance traditionally is a method of providing small loans to the world's poorest, usually women, for them to establish their own businesses. Over the last four decades microfinance has been extended to other types of loans, like those for basic living expenses in special cases, or to celebrate a family event like a wedding, etc. (Loans for these purposes are much less common.) Microloans are always very small--usually just a couple hundred dollars--and reputable microfinance institutions generally have repayment rates upwards of 97%. MFIs are able to provide credit (loans) to poor borrowers who do not have a history of credit because of the structure of these loans. Often it works like this: potential borrowers form groups that are held responsible, as guarantors, for the others' debt. Borrowing one at a time, each person in the group gets their turn to borrow (and build their business) and repay. If a member defaults, the others are responsible for repayment, or they don't get their chance at credit. Almost always, business management, accounting, and other trainings are provided for entrepreneurs so that their businesses can become successful and self-sustaining.

In 2007, one of Vittana's founders Kushal Chakrabarti had the idea: What if microloans could help students in developing countries finish college? (In early 2009, I asked the same question, and tried to examine it for my senior thesis, but I got nowhere with the project and changed my thesis topic. Thank goodness Kushal didn't do the same.) In 2008 Kushal and a colleague from Amazon, Brett Witt, founded Vittana, whose purpose in life is to help MFIs establish student loan programs that work: they get money to students in need, and they get repaid by those students. The logistics are complicated enough, and you can read all about them here: http://vittana.org/about/faq .

My job in all of this is that of a Vittana Fellow, which means that I work in the field, with the MFI, CrediMUJER, that wants to start a new student loan program. To do this, I need to do things like 1) Make sure that the MFI and Vittana are on the same page regarding how this program will work and what it will look like. Vittana has a ~98% repayment rate on the 900+ loans in its portfolio over the last two years, and they have found a formula that works. That said, there are goals for the future Vittana would like to see, including expanding the potential client base (aka changing the rules so more students can get loans). Lots of things need to happen before that can happen, though, and this relatively young idea and organization need to first establish a good report with lenders (like you and me, via their person-to-person website), borrowers, and partnering MFIs. So anyways, my other responsibilities as a Fellow are 2) Conduct market research study in the area the MFI hopes to provide loans, to see what loan specifications will work best for this particular community. 3) Facilitate the creation of the loan product by making sure stipulations that are important to Vittana are incorporated, and also tailoring the loans to the needs determined in the market study. All of this is super complicated (and conceptual--boo), and I'm betting that maybe one or two of y'all will have made it this far. If that's you, kudos!!

That's about all I'm going to dump on you about logistics and microfinance. It really is an exciting field and it's especially exciting to see it manifested in student loans. Most of us complain about our student loans, but really, it's a privilege to be able to borrow money for our education. We are incredibly blessed to live in a country where we are able to do that so easily. (See tomorrow's blog entry about Morgan Nwangu, my Zambian translator, who first helped me realize this fact.)