$113,475

Sometimes I wonder how much of an affect I have on this organization. Earlier this week I was thinking about all the people I have talked to over the last two months or so, and I began to wonder what my impact has been. I keep a list of all the people I’ve talked to and the loans I’ve posted, and I began to wonder if I could compile some statistics about those loans.

Total loans disbursed: $113,475

Average loan per group: $2,182.21

Average loan per person: $241.44

And these are just the loans I have worked with. There are so many others from all around the country. One of my favorite things about this is where the money comes from. Take this map for example:

Beautiful thing

And this is just for one loan. There are literally thousands of loans all over the world, each with their own little markers. What a cool time in history we live in, and what opportunities it provides us! Outside of the last 5 years, when would this map have been so easily made, and so easily replicated time and time again?

Now just know that I’m not bragging about the amount of money I’ve worked with. This was not hard. Can others do this job just as easily? Of course. Are there other ways that I will contribute in the future? I sure hope so. One thing that is comforting, though, is knowing how incredibly appreciative these borrowers are for every single one of those 113,475 dollars. This is just the beginning for me; as I slowly get more comfortable here, as I pick up the language, more opportunities will arise through which I can contribute.

So, to updates. Sorry I haven’t been on top of this as much lately, I just want to fill these posts with excitement, mystery, and intrigue, and sometimes there isn’t too much of that to report during a given week:). November 2nd was El Día de los Fieles Difuntos (Day of the Faithful Dead). I’d say it is the Dominican version of Halloween, but really it’s the other way around. Halloween is a dumbed-down, non-religious marketing and spending spree that really doesn’t have a whole lot to do with anything other than eating candy and dressing up. Here, it is a day to pay respects to your lost family members. I went with Miriam, one of my host “mothers”, Vicente (her son and my host brother), and two of the neighborhood boys to two cemeteries. Miriam and Vicente cleaned the tombs of many family members, including husband/father, son/brother, father/grandfather, and others. It was sobering. Also a beautiful experience however, and I was glad to share it with them.

Miriam after cleaning one of the tombs

Many Dominicans can't afford tombstones, so they just paint on the epitaphs

All the tombs are above ground

Last week I came up with a good description of what the language is like for me here. It’s somewhere in between Taboo and Mad Gab. If you haven’t played those games, here is a quick rundown. In Taboo, you are trying to get your teammates to say a specific word, without saying a list of related words (trying to get them to say “cow” without using words like “milk”, “farm”, etc.). Mad Gab is a game where a team tries to say a word or phrase based on similar-sounding jibberish. So my language here is somewhere in between those two. I can’t say something exactly how I would like to, so I have to beat around the bush and figure out another way to get my point across. When I am not understood, I have to just keep repeating myself until the listener gets it, repeating back to me what they did not recognize I had been saying the whole time. Haha, make sense?

Plans have changed over the past week or two, and it looks as though I’ll be staying in San Pedro until I return to the States for three weeks in December. I had been planning on leaving San Pedro in about a week, but between housing situations and the fact that I’m enjoying my time here, I will stay put. This is good in many ways, and it is bad in another. It is good because I really enjoy the people in this city. My host family is great, and the people I work with have opened up to me a lot over the last few weeks. They know where I stand language-wise, and it is nice that they know where I stand and how they can challenge me and help me learn. It is also good because San Pedro has, by far, the most Esperanza associates and diversity in communities reached. I am able to attend meetings in urban barrios and rural bateyes, and everywhere in between. It is bad in one way – I’m starting to get a bit bored at times. San Pedro is the oldest and most established branch office, and it was easy to knock out most of the Kiva-eligible loans in the first month and a half that I was here. Since most of the loans last six months, they won’t come back around before I leave. There are still new loans, but almost all of them are done in the office and I can’t just go out into the field every day anymore. So I’m just hoping that in the next month or so I will have the ability to experience some new things.

This past weekend was a three day weekend; Monday was Constitution Day. Constitution day is kind of a joke – The DR doesn’t have a permanent Constitution. Almost every new government just scraps the old one and makes their own. In fact, it is going to change again in less than a month under President Leonel Fernadez’ government. Regardless of the value of the holiday, it was still a holiday, and we were happy to oblige the offer of a three day weekend. I went up to the Samana Peninsula, expecting nice hikes and nice beaches with lots of sunshine. We got the nice hike, but the nice beaches were abruptly stolen away from us as a rainstorm consumed most of the island for the majority of the weekend. And Mr. Murphey and his stupid law were in effect on Monday: after morning rain the sun poked through the clouds, only to be swiped away by wind and rain as soon as we arrived at the beach. It was still a great weekend, and a relaxing one, filled with good food, chats, and reading. The hike itself was one of my favorite parts of the trip so far – we went out to Salto de Limon (Limon Falls), a very beautiful waterfall in the middle of the mountains. It was somewhat of a treacherous hike, mostly because we were wearing sandals and the trail was well worn, slippery and muddy (with plenty of presents left behind by the horses that carry tourists to the falls). The falls had a great pool to swim in, however, and we definitely took advantage.

Our trail, full of mud and, uh, gifts from the horses

Our guide, Junior, with a cacao pod. It's surprisingly sweet and tangy when eaten raw.

View on the hike

Beautiful. Salto EL Limon

Coming from nowhere

Coffee!

See Seattle? It rains here too!

And finally, here are some things that I can’t currently say I enjoy, but will someday look back on with fond memories:

- The phrase “La luz se fue” (the electricity went out), which happens at least twice a day here, and the phrases “¡Gracias a Dios! (Thank God!)”, “¡Por Fin! (Finally!)”, and the applause and cheers across the neighborhood when the electricity returns

- Standing in front of my shower at 6:15AM in the dark with no electricity, trying to psyche myself up for the frigid drip of a shower I’m about to experience. (and on some days, finding there isn’t even a drip to dread, which is even worse haha!)

- The continuous, unashamed, and slightly-off-key singing of the people in my office

- Queso creole (local white cheese. squeaky and not tasty at all, but unfortunately it comes on everything), chicken and pig’s foot soup, carrot and mayonnaise salad, Crisol oil (used to cook EVERYTHING, and then usually drizzled over the finished product, just in case your food wasn’t oil-soaked enough)

- Cockroaches. They are feisty little buggers.

Tough Week

This past week was rough. A lot of it had to do with my inability to communicate. I’m definitely improving by the day, but it is SO frustrating not being able to say whatever I want as opposed to skirting around something in a way I am able to. My point doesn’t get across in the way I want it to. I’m just tired. That being said, I’d appreciate prayers for a new drive over the next week, and the remaining month and a half before I have my U.S. “break”.

I feel bad that I was frustrated this week, because I had a chance to see some great stuff. The last week was the first round of Esperanza’s literacy graduations. These are mostly held in the bateyes, and most of the graduates are over 30 years old. Some were as old as 70 and just never had a chance to learn to read and write. Let me just say that it was a joyful experience. To us, literacy may seem like a small achievement. To someone who didn’t recognize their own name for 70 years, literacy is huge. These people were so proud of what they had accomplished, and they should be! Hearing the stories (or at least what I could understand) was very humbling, another example of how privileged we are as Americans. This is an example of Esperanza’s efforts to be “more than just a loan”. Financing is important, but if you can’t read, how far will a small loan really get you? It will help, but the support is only multiplied if literacy is there.

Graduates!

Never too old to learn

 

Love the faces…

Notice the cake in the foreground of this picture. One of the interesting parts of the graduations was bringing all the “stuff” with us. For example: on a given day we would have two graduations. To make them successful, we brought with us pop, ice, napkins/plates, robes, and mortar boards for thirty people, along with two huge cakes. In addition to all this, pack 6 people into the same truck. What can we learn from this? Thank God for air conditioning.

(Also, the graduations gave me an excuse to bust out the Nikon for the first time with Esperanza, it was nice to get away from the ol’ point and shoot. Some of my favorite pictures below)

Trek to the waterfall

The falls

I also had a fun time last weekend. I went with two other Esperanza employees, Lindsay and Claire, to Jarabacoa, which is the self-proclaimed outdoor capital of the Dominican Republic. It is up in the mountains in the central D.R. and thankfully much cooler. The first day, Lindsay and I took a long motoconcho ride, which in itself was really fun, to one of the largest waterfalls in the Caribbean, Salto Jimonea. Apparently the falls were used in Jurassic Park, but I don’t know which part. After that we told our drivers we wanted to hike in the mountains. They said they knew a good spot, but it ended up being, to put it nicely, sub par. They thought we would be robbed in the mountains, so they brought us to a river bed instead. Lindsay and I forded the river in search of higher ground (it wasn’t that shallow…) and eventually trespassed onto private property to get to the top of a large hill (it was the best we could do). Not ideal, but the experience getting to the top was interesting. The next day we went rafting on Rio Yaque del Norte, and it was much more intense than I was expecting. The trip lasted about 2 1/2 hours and we went through at least 4 class 4 rapids. More than I thought a little island could produce, but I was pleasantly surprised. A couple names of the rapids: Mike Tyson, Jr., El Cemeterio, and Monica Lewinsky. We had a fantastic time getting back to Santo Domingo after the rafting trip, witnessing firsthand the wonderful (insert sarcasm) efficiency of the developing world.

And as a side note: The DR doesn’t have daylight savings time. That means that for all of you who have chatted with me in the past, add another hour to our time difference (Pacific +4 hours, Mountain +3, Central +2, Eastern +1).

It’s November!

Circumcision & Prostitution

Sorry I haven’t posted anything new in a while – I’ve been strangely without internet the last week or so. Anyway, I had an interesting start to last week, so here it goes:

Every Monday morning, each Esperanza office has a two-hour devotional. Usually I spend this time completely lost, but this Monday happened to be an exception. It started off innocently: we read Galatians 6:15 which states that “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation”. Totally agree. From there, things got interesting. Starting with one female loan officer asking for an explanation of circumcision, we got the full rundown. And I mean the FULL rundown. Male and female anatomy in full detail? Check. Hand gestures? Check. Debate on the physical pleasure during sex if circumcised/uncircumcised? Check. In Spanish please, my opinions on the spiritual and physical benefits/consequences of circumcision? Check. And of course the best of all – “Jarrett, are you circumcised?” Uhhh….

Wow. Long story short, you can see that I had an interesting start to my work week. It was hilarious watching this conversation unfold – most of the people in the office are Adventist, aka incredibly conservative (they don’t dance or drink caffeine), so hearing them talk about sex was pretty funny. And it wasn’t all serious, they were laughing hysterically at times, especially when they realized I understood almost everything being said.

And this wasn’t the only awkward, semi-sex-related thing that happened on Monday. Prostitution is unfortunately pretty common in the DR, but until Monday I had avoided the most blatant cases. While walking back to work from lunch, a woman pulled the classic “Are you Mormon? No? Want to sleep with me then?” line. I was not wooed, however, and politely turned her down.

Monday night I went to the first home game for the Estrellas Orientales, the professional baseball team from San Pedro. They beat the Toros (bulls) from La Romana 5-1, and I am telling everyone I bring luck to the team so they can win the championship for the first time since the 60s. The game had an opening fireworks show and a rowdy bleacher section in which I was proud to take part.

My Dominican Cubs!

 

First run of the season!

You know how in the U.S. we have that age-old debate: Christmas music before or after Thanksgiving? (AFTER!) In the DR, the debate is more like “Christmas decorations before or after October 15?” My office chose “after”, but just barely. That’s right folks, as of October 20, my office is ready for Christmas! It seems a bit premature, but considering we have two major holidays (Halloween & Thanksgiving) that do not exist here, aren’t we all celebrating something for almost the same amount of time?

Flaudia and Teodora, happy to be celebrating Christmas in October!

Random observation on political correctness and race in this country: to get someone’s attention, you yell “Moreno!” (brown guy!) or “China!” (Chinese lady! Pronounced chee-nah). Skin color here is used simply as an identifier, without the baggage it can carry in the States. You can be white (rubio), brown (moreno), caramel (mulatto), or simply referred to by your heritage (Dominicano, Hatiano, Chino, etc.). Also, many Dominicans seem to conveniently forget their history. Often they refer to themselves as “india”, what Columbus called the natives of the island (who no longer exist), for the same reason in the U.S. we have the incorrect term “Indians”. Instead of embracing an African ancestry, many Dominicans think of themselves as an indigenous people whose ancestors were in no way related to the slaves of the U.S. I met a black American girl down here, and she said she is frequently mistaken as a Dominican. When she tells them she’s from the States, they respond by saying “That’s weird, why do you look like us?” I don’t understand this, because obviously they know of many black Americans.

And as a long side note, I really dislike the term African-American. It is so engrained into our culture that white Americans refer to black people as “African Americans” no matter where they are actually from, sometimes when they aren’t even American. Wrong. I am white, so what’s wrong with black? In my experience, black people are fine with me referring to them that way because they know I am not adding any baggage (*correct me if I’m wrong). I really wish the U.S. was more like the Dominican Republic when it comes to ethnicity. Be proud of who you are, respect who you are not.

Sorry for the quick rant. Language-wise I think I’m starting to get better. I can definitely tell that I am forming sentences more quickly, and every day it’s easier to remember words that are new to me. I still spend most of the work day oblivious to what is being said, but I can tell it’s getting better. A lot of this has to do with accents; I can actually have detailed conversations with my host mom, but one of the women in my office asked me to “please get the long box off the shelf” and I looked at her as though she was speaking Russian. I’m also learning some phrases like “Dime unos minutos”, which I took to mean “give me some time”, but actually means “let me use your phone minutes”. Or the joke “el maneja un B-M-doble pie”, or “he drives a B-M-two feet” (“W” in Spanish is “doblay-bay”, and “pie” is “pee-ay”). Little phrases are fun because they always bring a laugh when the American says them.

Also, check out some of my friend’s blogs on the side of this page. I know a great crew of people taking adventures all over the U.S. and the world (France, another in the D.R., Russia, SE Asia, Mozambique, Argentina). They are interesting people too! But not as funny.

J

- And how many of you read this post just because of the title? Haha, that’s what I thought…

Cabarete

Baseball season starts this coming week, and I’m pretty excited to go to a few games. The team in San Pedro, Las Estrellas Orientales, is pretty bad: they are called “the Cubs of the Dominican Republic”. Perfect reason for me to cheer for them, right? I’m already used to cheering for a team with the longest drought in its nation’s professional sports history, so no hurt adding another one to my list. And there’s always next year. Also, it’s no wonder why this area produces more MLB players than anywhere in the world. As I walk home from work, I see guys playing in the street with a broomstick. Oh, and instead of a ball they use a plastic bottle cap.

Cabarete is one of the best places in the entire world to kiteboard... It looks so awesome.

This past weekend I took a trip up north to the town of Cabarete with two other Esperanza employees, Lindsay and Jordan. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into – it was like I left the country. It sort of felt like a toned-down spring break hotspot. There were lots of Americans, and tourists in general, bars with college football and NFL games on all day, and beaches full of hot… sand? Let’s just say that Esperanza has an office in Puerto Plata, just up the coast from Cabarete, and I’m glad it wasn’t where I was sent. With Dominican, American, and Norwegian girls as far as the eye can see, and knowing why I’m here and how I should be spending my time, boring San Pedro seems just right.

Surfer?

I also had the chance to surf for the first time in my life. I’m no pro (or as the Dominicans would say, “He’s a pro…. a pro-BLEMA!”), but for my first time I think I did pretty well. The waves were the perfect size; the biggest ones were about 5-6 feet, so that they could carry me in without pummeling the willpower out of me. It was also wind free, so paddling out to the break was not as hard. I think I’ll do it again at some point while I’m here, but there are other adventures I’d also like to partake of first. Examples: scuba diving to see old ship wrecks, white water rafting in the Dominican mountains, and climbing and jumping down the 27 waterfalls of Damajagua. These are pricey for the DR, but well worth the money in my opinion (the surf lesson and three hours of rental were only $40). I’m sure I’ll also find more than these three little gems, and I’ll seek those out when I can.

Stood up on my first try! It wasn't pretty, but I was happy. I will definitely be surfing again while I'm here.

Going to Cabarete allowed me to finally see more of the country (at least outside of work). I passed through Santiago, surrounded by fields and fields of everything from tobacco (world famous cigars) to chinola (passion fruit). I had to go through 3 mountain ranges, relatively close to Pico Duarte, the highest point in the Caribbean at around 10,000 feet. All spent from the comfort (?) of the A/C equipped Caribe Tours bus. I thought I loved air conditioning in every instance here in the DR, but I was mistaken – 45 degrees is not enjoyable on a 5 hour bus ride. I was told to bring a light jacket with me, and until that bus ride I had no idea why.

Over a month of this crazy experience has already flown by. The first two weeks seemed to take forever; the last two went by in a blink. On one hand, that is a good thing. I am comfortable, have established some relatively close relationships at home and at the office, and my body has adjusted to the cuisine, although I could really go for some pad thai. Or Chicago pizza. Or fresh-baked bread and good cheese. Comfort is easy to rest in, however, and that is not why I am here. I am here to challenge myself, to throw my comfort to the Caribbean winds. With that being said, here are some prayer requests for those who are willing:

• Prayer for a new sense of motivation, even urgency, to be willing to widen my experiences and knowledge base
• Prayer for a sense of community without an ability to always communicate
• Prayer for the borrowers who I have been working with – successful business practices, health for their families, and a Dominican government that can get its act in gear
• Prayer for constant reminders of why I am in this beautiful country, having these beautiful experiences, and meeting these beautiful people

My little slice of heaven

Not much, but it does the job! The one sheet is usually overkill here. When the overnight low is 80 degrees, the way you sleep changes a bit.

¿Como tu ta?

Mayonnaise is not good on salads. Just so you know. Hopefully, with time, I can change this misconception here, and in the end do some good for these people.

Every day I run into some very odd things. Any of you who have spent time in a developing country can relate: life is so random. Almost every day I see things that just make me laugh.

- A woman in a rural batey with a trucker hat that says “Wishin’ for Walleyes”. I feel like I need to give her a PBR tall boy in a cozee, a couple Rappalas, and a lake in the U.P.

- Ever been to Disneyworld/land? You know those carts that bring you from the parking lot to the park? Yeah, here I’ve seen one being used as a taxi.

- Ambulances here have advertisements for local politicians. Not little ads, huge ads that take up the entire side of the thing. Really? “Someone’s dying in here, but look at me, I helped them by putting my huge face on the side of this ambulance!”

- A 6-year-old boy wearing a “Brennan Bail Bonds” softball t-shirt. Go Team!

- And possibly my favorite: Cars drive around blasting music, advertisements, and campaign promises for local politicians. Deafening. The best yet was an old beat-up junker with a massive speaker roped to the top Blues Brothers style. Literally identical. Man I wish I had a picture of that one.

These are some of my favorites, but every day something just cracks me up or forces me to do a double-take. Some are just cultural differences. Some are misinterpretations of American culture. Some are just hilarious, and finding these things has become one of my favorite pastimes.

OK, in my last couple posts I mentioned that Esperanza is not 100% sustainable. They realize the importance of sustainability, and currently have three offices that have achieved this goal. Overall, they are still working on it.

The reason Esperanza is not 100% sustainable is because they do what they call Microfinance+. This is their way of saying that at Esperanza, development goes beyond microloans. It includes the development of faith, health, community, education, and savings. It is a holistic view of development, or what many would call transformational development. All that being said, Esperanza is roughly 83% sustainable, and improving. All financial services are currently sustainable, and they are approaching sustainability across the board. Here are some examples:

• Faith – Each branch has a spiritual director. They help loan officers deliver devotions for the associates, meet with associates in need, etc. Every day, every meeting, and every loan disbursement begins and ends in prayer.

• Health – Esperanza hosts several events each year dedicated to improving the health of its associates. Recently we had a team of dentists in the San Pedro area giving free appointments to Esperanza associates. Doctors give free medicals and recommendations. In a couple weeks, associates have access to free orthopedic work. These services are not cheap, but Esperanza’s goal is to sustainably continue providing them.

• Community – Esperanza provides business training to associates. They send experts to the field who work on water systems, latrines, and construction projects, and instruct associates to do the same. They require solidarity among group members, and have group presidents who hash out disputes. These approaches are all meant to strengthen a sense of community within each group, bank, and town.

• Education – In my previous post I mentioned some literacy rates among Esperanza borrowers. Among Dominican borrowers, illiteracy stands at 30%. Among Haitians, an astounding 95%. Loan officers spend some of their time giving reading and writing lessons. They also give business training to each associate; basic business principles so that they can make the most of their loans.

• Savings – Loans are important, but some might say that savings are the most important financial service for the poor. When a loan is in default, an associate can dip into savings to remain creditworthy. If a child has a sudden illness, again they can go to their savings. Many people in the developing world store up their savings in very illiquid assets. With savings accounts, they have almost immediate access to this money whenever it is necessary.

There you have it. Now you know all about microfinance as it pertains to Esperanza. You know about Kiva. And you know about some of Esperanza’s programs.

Yesterday (Wednesday), I visited Hato Mayor. This is the town I was originally supposed to stay in. In many ways, I wish I had been sent there: it is smack in the middle of one of the DR’s most beautiful locations. I can’t wait to see more of this beautiful country.

Kiva

This has been an interesting week. I’ve been frustrated, sick, bored, tired, and stressed. Some of you may know I turned 24 on Tuesday, and it was, how should I say it? Strange. I hadn’t told any of the people in my office about my birthday because I didn’t want to be that guy: “Hey, I’m Jarrett. Nice to meet you, my birthday is in five days!” So I went through the day without anyone knowing, and I was also pretty sick. Not sure if I had some kind of flu or just ate something unfortunate, but let’s just say I was happy to find a toilet when we stopped to get lunch. We had been out in the bateys all morning, and bateys=no toilet. Anyway, I did get to talk to my parents, and thank you all for the messages that you sent from home! Despite not feeling well, they were a much appreciated break from my paltry little worries.

And I don’t want to give the impression it was all bad this week, I had some fun too! Last night I played basketball with Vicente, the teenager who lives in my house, and played three full games with local guys. I also got to mess around playing with three younger boys, Carlito, Rafealito, and Dominguito (the ending –ito means “little”) which is always fun. It has surprised me how many people play basketball here; I know baseball is king in this country (see: Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez, Albert Pujols, Soriano, Manny, Big Papi, and on and on and on…).

On Friday, I had probably my most enjoyable experience so far: riding on a motoconcho down a two-lane highway with cars and trucks flying by in both directions (literally; they don’t sneak past, they pass you at 100 kmh). A motoconcho is the most basic form of public transportation. It’s a guy on a motorcycle, and you just hop on the back. It’s common to see three or four people at a time, and sometimes five with little kids. Anyway, they aren’t used because they are safe, they are used because they are easy, and this was no exception. The woman on the motoconcho is Rosi, one of the Esperanza asesores (loan officers).

Motoconcho Ride

Which brings me to the next topic…my work with Esperanza and how Kiva fits in. Esperanza is a Microfinance Institution (MFI). This means that Esperanza works directly with the borrowers, giving training, collecting payments, etc. Kiva is a Microfinance Investment Vehicle (MIV). It would be incorrect to call Kiva an MFI; rather than working directly with the borrowers, Kiva gives MFI’s the incredibly powerful tool of free, online access to millions of lenders worldwide, the “investment vehicle” of the internet. Here is a step-by-step process of how I take an Esperanza loan and work it into Kiva (to see how borrowers obtain loans, read my previous post):

1. A Banco de Esperanza (BDE – Bank of Hope) receives a new loan from Esperanza’s general fund. I try to meet with as many of these groups as possible. Often, the desembolsos (loan disbursements) are held in the main office where I work, so it’s easy. Some of the groups that live far outside San Pedro are unable to make it in to the office, so the desembolso takes place in their batey or town.
2. If the loan was disbursed/will be disbursed within 30 days of any given day I am working, it is eligible to be posted on Kiva, with a few exceptions. Either at the office, or in the field with a loan officer, I interview the coordinador and take a picture of the group so that I can make a Kiva profile.
3. At the office, I write up a brief story about the coordinador that will represent the entire group on Kiva. I enter their loan amounts, repayment dates, interest rates, etc., and make a Kiva post. This then goes to Kiva, and once it is approved, the loan is posted online.
4. Cory E. Shepherd, a generous lender from the beautiful Emerald City, visits Kiva’s website. He clicks “Lend”, and then selects “North America”. He sees that there is a brand new loan from the Dominican Republic, and decides to lend $25 to that group. Kiva sends this $25 to Esperanza, and to cover their administrative costs, Kiva asks Cory for a 10% donation. Esperanza then sends every bit of that $25 to the Banco de Esperanza whose story was posted on Kiva.
5. At the end of the loan repayment period, typically six months in our case, that $25 is repaid to Esperanza, along with all the other $25 donations. Esperanza sends this money to Kiva, and Kiva gives the money back to Cory, because Cory is antsy to lend that money to a borrower in Malawi. And the process repeats itself, either with the same MFI or a new one.

And that’s that. Loan successful; mission accomplished. I am fortunate enough to visit all kinds of communities, and the diversity of the people and living situations has been fascinating. And humbling. I discovered this week that 95% of Esperanza’s Haitian borrowers (mostly in the D.R.’s bateyes, but also from the one office in Haiti) are illiterate. 95%!!!! And comparatively better, but still pretty crappy, Esperanza’s Dominican borrowers are 30% illiterate. Here I am trying to become literate in a second language, and these people can’t even read or write their first. Just another example of how these are the poorest of the poor. Again, this post is long, so next time I’ll discuss Esperanza’s programs and services, and why they are not yet 100% sustainable (but close!). Miss you all!

“It is in the sphere of humiliation that we find our true worth to God, that is where our faithfulness is revealed”. – Oswald Chambers

Microfinanza

One week of real work done. I’ve been in the country for just two weeks, but already it seems like much longer! I’ve found somewhat of a rhythm for each day, but my work at the office is still a bit random. I’ve successfully posted six loans on Kiva, visited about a dozen communities, and written reports on those communities and their borrowers for Kiva and Esperanza’s internal database. I still haven’t seen much of the country, but hopefully in the upcoming weekends I can travel around a bit. There is one beach I’ve been to twice now, and it’s below average for the Dominican Republic. I’m looking forward to seeing some actual nice beaches:).

Juan Dolio Beach

I’m sure some of you are unfamiliar with what I am doing exactly, so here is a rundown of how microfinance works in Esperanza’s case:

1. Through the grapevine, a person in the Dominican Republic hears about a friend who has received a loan from Esperanza. This person usually lives in a batey (small community of sugarcane workers in the countryside), or in a poor area of a Dominican city or town. This person realizes how a loan could benefit their own business, or how it could help them start a small business in order to get a step up in society.
2. The interested person comes to Esperanza to inquire about lending possibilities. Esperanza instructs them to find four other people with the drive to take out and repay a loan to help their businesses. This is called a solidaritygroup. Since the poor do not have traditional collateral, they rely on one other to cover any losses should someone default or become delinquent on a loan. Their collateral is their social reputation.
3. Once a group of five borrowers has been established, they come back to Esperanza. At this point, Esperanza will review their business plans and determine if the group is financially able to take out a loan. If they are approved, the members of the group enter capacitaciones, or a series of meetings in which they are instructed on how a business should be run, how to manage their finances, and how to make the most out of their new loans.
4. Once a group has finished their capacitaciones, they have a reconocimiento, or a recognition meeting in which they are officially welcomed into the Esperanza community. They officially become a Banco de Esperanza (Bank of Hope – BDE), and the individuals are now Esperanza asociados (associates). Since this is now their own organization, Esperanza does not refer to them as “clients”.
5. The group then has their first desembolso (loan disbursement), and selects a coordinadora of the group who will be responsible for collecting the money in the future. They have repayments every two weeks, and the loan term is typically six months.
6. Every two weeks, an Esperanza asesor (loan officer) goes out to the BDE and collects the payments. At each meeting there is prayer, a short devotional, and a reciting of Esperanza’s core values. The asesores collect the money from the coordinadoras, and also notify the group of any upcoming events within Esperanza. Since Esperanza does holistic, transformational development, this could mean a visiting group of doctors or dentists giving free checkups to Esperanza associates.
7. Once the group has finished the six month repayment period, they are immediately eligible for new loans. They will have a comite de credito in which they review each other’s past loans and each request for a new loan. Once everyone has agreed on amounts, they prepare to come into the local office for their second desembolso. Hopefully, this process will be repeated over and over again as the loans get larger and the borrowers more confident.

And where does the money come from? That’s a good question, but for now maybe a bit too much for one post. In a future post I’ll describe how I work with Kiva, and how Esperanza funds its loans. Ideally, a microfinance institution (MFI) is 100% sustainable, as any well-run business should be. Esperanza is not quite there yet, and I will explain why in a future post. Some of my Kiva posts, lend to them if you can!!:

http://partners.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=139835

http://partners.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=139859

http://partners.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=139878

Nebraska’s 300th consecutive sellout today, back to 1962. Go Big Red, wish I could watch the game!!

First Posting

Oh, how to begin…? Sorry if you have been waiting in anticipation to hear how I am doing. Or if I am alive. And I apologize in advance, I get the feeling this is going to be a long one…

I am fine. Clearly, I am alive. First, I suppose I should let you all know my current location. For the first 1½-2 months I will be staying in San Pedro de Macorís, a city of about 300,000 people on the southeastern coast of the island. The original plan for me to stay in Hato Mayor fell through because the woman I was supposed to stay with is doing some construction on her house. So, in the Dominican tradition of staying flexible, I came to San Pedro.

I am staying in a compound owned by a woman named Angelita; there is the main house, and then out back she owns four small one-person houses. I live in one of those. I have electricity (although blackouts are frequent; stay flexible!!), running water (horrible pressure), roaches, and a nice fan to keep me nice and cool. The windows even have screens, which is unusual, so I don’t have to have a mosquitero (mosquito net).

I am finding that I can understand much more Spanish than I am able to speak. At the start of a conversation I am never able to understand anyone, but once they realize what I know and speak slowly, I can usually at least pick up the gist of what they are saying. I hear so many words during the day I don’t understand, I can’t even keep track of them to learn later. However, I have been told several times just in the last day that I speak well considering the time I have spent here. They say “aprenderás rápidamente, Jehre” (“you will learn quickly, [sound resembling my name])”, so that is encouraging.

In language and experience, I am trying to remember to throw myself into the fire, even though I know I will be burned. Badly. It is so, so difficult, but necessary to learn as fast as possible. Those of you who know me well might understand: when a situation is uncomfortable for me, or if I don’t know a group of people, I am content to sit to the side and just take it in without participating. Here I have to force myself to do the opposite of my instinct.

OK. So here is what a normal day should look like for me:
6:30 – Alarm
7:00 – Desayuno with Angelita and whoever else is up
7:30 – Arrive at the office, which is just two blocks from my house
8:00 – Depart with one of Esperanza’s asesores (loan officers), either to house construction projects, local businesses, or betayes (more on these later)
9:00 – “Interview” the borrowers in broken Spanish, hopefully with the help of the loan officer, and not understanding 91% of what is said (that’s an A-, right?)
12:00 – Return to the office, begin making sense out of what I just heard, post stories and loans on Kiva’s internal website
2:00 – Attend a desembolso (distribution of new loans) meeting, or something similar
2:30 – Perform another interview of a coordinador of the group at the above meeting
3:00 – Try to make sense out of interview #2 for the day, begin posting on Kiva
5:00ish – Head home, freak out about why I’m in this country, gather myself, pray, take a nap
7:00 – Cena (dinner) and conversation for an hour or so with Angelita and others
8:30 – Retreat to my room, study Spanish for as long as I can stand
10:00 – Lights out

Obviously, this will vary. There are a ton of unknowns, especially when people are talking to me, haha! Today I showed up at the office not knowing what to expect. I was directed to a pickup truck, and whisked off to the campo to see the vast fields of caña de azucar. These fields are one of Esperanza’s main focuses; truly, the poorest of the poor live here. Generally, the people who work in the fields live in tiny, run-down, nearly inaccessible communities called bateyes. The word batey is synonymous with poverty. Not all of Esperanza’s asociados are as poor as those living in bateyes, especially those in the cities with a bigger market.

Batey Santa Lucia - 1st loan repaid!

Typically, your average sugarcane harvester is of Haitian decent, most likely came to the DR illegally or has a family member who did, and pretty much has the worst job in the world. And they get paid crap. So when I talk about loans to these people, don’t think on the “I need $10,000 to buy a used Volvo” scale. Don’t think on the “I need $1,000 to buy a new 45” 1080p HDTV” scale. We’re talking the “I need $50 to buy a big tank of gas to sell for a profit to my neighbors” scale. In general, the loans are spread over 6 months, with payments every two weeks. For those doing the math, that’s just over $5, with interest and fees, paid back every two weeks. In the U.S., just about anyone can make enough to repay a $50 loan in, oh, about 12 hours on a bad day. It takes these borrowers 4,000 hours to comfortably do what you did in 12. That’s 100 full work weeks to accomplish what you did in 1 day. Think about that. These are the extremes I’m talking about, and yes, some could pay off their loans much sooner. Just something to consider.

This post is getting a bit long, so I will head out. And if you are a person of prayer, I expect the next two weeks to be extremely difficult, so prayers for comfort and quick learning would be amazing. E-mail me questions, or just to send a message from home!

“The Christian leader…is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self”-Nouwen

Skype

I haven’t included this in any of my info yet, but I just wanted to let you know my Skype name:

jarrett.mylander

If you haven’t used Skype, it’s great. You can call people anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. When I get a cell down here, you can call it. If I’m on my computer, you can video chat with me or talk to me. And if all else fails, we can just message each other.

So get a username and add me to your contacts lists!!

Jarrett

Hato Mayor

It is 2:00AM, and I’m awake, lying on a semi-carpeted floor at Miami International Airport. Que bueno.

So now that you know how MY night is going, I suppose I could get into some details (haha! not the best word choice) about my trip.

I suppose I can’t say it officially yet (I don’t really have any certainties), but I have been told that most likely I will be placed in a town called Hato Mayor. It has a population of around 80,000 (I think…), and is located in the east-central part of the country. The area used to be well-known for cattle ranching (Hato means herd, Mayor means greater/bigger), but I believe that it is now mostly sugar plantations. My understanding is that many Haitians work in the DR on these sugar plantations, and that it can be a source of tension between the two countries/peoples. I’ll probably learn a ton about that and give you more information when I receive it.

I also know that the area around where I will be was the location of some guerilla warfare in the 1920s between US marines and the locals. Apparently the US took over peasants’ land, and they weren’t too happy about it. We had occupied the country to “stabilize” it, but once the DR’s strategic value was deemed unnecessary, we bounced out. Nice. Just one of many botched relations our country has had with our ENTIRE HEMISPHERE (I love our country, but seriously…).

So that’s all I know about Hato Mayor at this point. My travel book doesn’t say much about the town specifically, just the area. I imagine with an agricultural history in the area, many of the people I’ll be working with will have businesses related to raising cattle, etc. The town does seem to be rather large though, so I’m sure I’ll also be dealing with many borrowers from all kinds of small businesses. Sorry I don’t know much yet! At least I know where it is:

The city is located in between some amazing areas and sights, and hopefully it’s big enough for a lonely American to find a Nebraska football game on TV somewhere. Go. Big. Red.

Ahh, still a fan. I’m right there, all season.

Anyway… I’ll be in Santo Domingo from Saturday through about Wednesday or Thursday, meeting people and going through a quick orientation. For that period I’ll be staying in a hostel near the main office. I still do not know what my living situation will be in Hato Mayor (or wherever else I end up!), but I’m not too worried about it. According to my past conversations with people in the DR, I’ll be in Hato Mayor for 1-2 months, working on my Spanish and learning the ins-and-outs of how Esperanza works as an organization. From there, I may move elsewhere. Or maybe I’ll just stay put. Who knows. I guess I’ll just cross that bridge when I get there.

Finally, some cool information I’ve found out about the area since my last post:

- What is now the DR is the first place in the “New World” on which Columbus set foot. It also has the Western Hemisphere’s oldest church, in Santo Domingo.

- The Island of Tortuga from Pirates of the Caribbean actually exists!! Wow, Hollywood accuracy! Modern name: Ile de la Tortue in Haiti

- The entire island earned its independence in 1804, becoming the second colony-to-free-nation after the US. The DR bounced back to Spain briefly, then were taken over by Haiti, and finally announced its independence from Haiti on February 27, 1844, and has remained sovereign since.

- In general, the island and the two nations have dark, sad histories. European exploitation, corrupt leadership, and (unfortunately) a less-than-ideal relationship with the U.S. have left it stumbling when at one point the island was the most productive in the entire world.

I’ll keep you all update on my situation! Hasta luego!