It just keeps getting more and more interesting

It seems like every day in the field is a learning experience, specifically, about how the other half lives. Being out and about, visiting people in thatched, stilt homes as we sit barefoot on the floor and smile at each other just seems too good to be true sometimes. We LOVE our work!

Darin + I were saying to each other the other day, "Why didn't we do this sooner?!" There's no real answer to that except that we didn't know how right up our alleys working with a microfinance organization (MFI) would be. The concept is great - Giving the poor access to just a little bit of capital at a reasonable interest rate so that they can better their lives. And Kiva has really latched on to something profound - A medium by which lenders from rich countries can lend to those in poor and make them feel like they can reach right out and touch these people. I was looking at comments to my posts the other day and found that people actually write personal messages to the borrowers. I was shocked! Of course there's no way that someone living in a village with sporadic to no electricity is ever going to get the message (and the loan officers are way too busy to become a message service on top of their normal workload), but that's the power of the concept that's been created! (Photo: Siem Morm picking long beans)

Just yesterday I wrote in one of my journal that "Previously she(Saran Rous) had purchased both her loom and materials on credit from the middleman and received minimal compensation when she provided the finished product. Now she is able to earn around $1.50 USD per day for her labors." Can you believe that?! I write it as if - WOW, look at how much she makes now! But it's TRUE, these are the kinds of incremental changes we're dealing with that improve people's lives. Daily, I continue to have my mind blown over details like this. Most people we speak with use the loans for these kinds of small improvements to their businesses. Many never had capital to purchase things upfront and had to work on credit for which their end profits were much reduced. These loans really only give them a slight edge, but it's enough. The truth is that many borrow repeatedly because they are never able to save enough. Really, it's not so dissimilar from the way a credit card works. The borrowers also have to put up considerable collateral (like the deed to their land) so they don't default, and it seems to work. Maxima says their loan default rate is less than 1%! Not bad in a country where most people only earn around $2/day. Darin's wrote a great detailed description of how it all works "here". (Photo: Hand-woven silk on the loom)

Besides actually digging the work, we've also been blessed to have been placed with an MFI as stellar as Maxima. They're not all run as efficiently or by people as sharp. With a staff of 23, even all the loan officers at Maxima have degrees in finance or business, or are going to night school to get them. On top of that (more for our benefit than anything) several speak English fluently, a half dozen are much better than average, and most of the rest can at least speak as much English as we can Khmer. This has made our field interviews so much deeper than we ever would have hoped because we can just wing-it from person to person to gather lots of interesting information.

Every time we interview, I'm impressed at how sweet, gentle and open the Khmers are. They smile with their whole face and most seem, dare I say, "tickled" that we're interested in them and downright AMAZED that people from all over the world can see their photo. They have pride too, and most women want to clean up and/or change clothes before I take another photo of them once they realize so many people will see it. Almost everyone in Cambodia works where they live so that our interviews all happen in people's homes. They're modest homes, mostly wood or thatched, raised on concrete stilts with an open living/work area on the ground floor. I've found myself both amazed and appalled sometimes at how many people live in such a small space. (My most extreme example so far is 10 people in a 10'x 12' space. They all sleep on the floor.) For most, their children are their biggest concern and hope for the betterment of the family's future. Remember that not so long ago, 30% of the population was eradicated by the Khmer Rouge genocide so that now a huge portion of the population consists of young families and their kids. And what cute kids they are! Their wide-eyed, full-lipped, little faces combined with the sing-song way they have of talking makes even ME want to take them home. (Photo: Ny Sith with children)

As you may have guessed, the work is not without it's flaws. The truth is, we get REALLY dirty - Covered head to toe in dust with racoon circles around the bit of skin our sunglasses and face mask don't cover. And we really ARE taking our lives into our own hands every day we hop on the back of that moto. But besides that, I've found my dream job :) (Photo: Darin + loan officer interviewing Kiva borrowers at home)



Check the links for more detailed posts as they appear on the Kiva site -

Ny Sith, Pig Farmer
Sothea Dhim, Ice Seller
Saran Rous, Weaver
Pon-lork Yun, Producing Scarves
Siem Morm, Farmer

You can also check the "link" to our Khmer Portraits album with lots of great shots from the field.