After several weeks of hard work in getting our projects off the ground, CMI seems to be finding its stride. We spent the past week testing and finalizing the impact assessments that we will be distributing to hundreds of PRISMA's clients over the course of the summer. We also successfully prepared and presented several charlas on business topics, in spite of delays caused by strikes last week. Now we are preparing for a visit from a Kiva.org representative this coming weekend, so we spent the day conducting interviews with PRISMA's clients to find some compelling stories for the folks at Kiva.
Inevitably, though, we were faced with still more challenges as we tried to get our work done. Last week it was a transportation strike that forced us to cancel our business training workshop, and today Puno's teachers went on strike and blockaded the mountain road leading out of the city. None of the combi vans that we usually ride to Juliaca were running this morning, but a few of the larger buses were willing to pass through the blockade. We tried to get on one of the available buses, but so did hundreds of other people trying to get to their jobs at the same time, so we were thwarted in that attempt.
We walked to Puno's other bus terminal and decided to hitch a ride on a bus bound for Arequipa, which passes through Juliaca on the way. Unfortunately we discovered when we arrived in the city that Juliaca's main bus terminal was closed, due to yet more protestors marching and flooding the streets. So we took a bicycle rickshaw several more miles to the city center, and then trekked the last half mile or so to the office -- arriving only two hours late!
When we finally arrived, however, we were rewarded with the chance to interview many of PRISMA's clients about their businesses. I spoke to a 20-year-old woman named Jenny who is studying accounting at the local university. To help pay for her education, she has spent the last four years making clothes -- hats, sweaters, and pants -- that she sells at the local market. She recently came to PRISMA to take out her first loan in order to expand her business. Specifically, Jenny said she wants to take classes about business topics and learn how to operate the large sewing machines so that she can produce more clothing to sell.
Jenny is very ambitious and also wants to use the additional earnings from her business to continue her studies. She currently takes classes mostly in the afternoons and works whenever she is not in school. She hopes to study law when she is finished with her accounting courses, and she very much wants to learn English. But she told me that good English programs in Juliaca are very difficult to come by -- students often must travel to schools in a different city in order to take quality English classes, which is very expensive.
Even all of the directors and staff at the PRISMAcxc v, office have begged us to teach them English during the short time that we are here, so it is clearly a skill in high demand! Perhaps an enterprising Peruvian could take out a loan from Prisma and use it to open an English academy in Juliaca....
Valerie
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
An Interesting Interview
Today, when we finally arrived at Prisma the first meeting of the day was already underway. Juliana, Valerie and I set to work, interviewing every woman in the room about their personal stories.
This Sunday a representative from Kiva, Michelle, is coming to interview PRISMA about setting up a partnership and this is part of the ground work for that partnership. We need to find at least 10 stories of women who are about to start a new loan that we can share with Michelle. We are looking for interesting stories – of women with unique business ideas or interesting twists that set them apart. Many of the women here have similar businesses – they sell clothing or food at the market in Juliaca and or in Ayaviri.
Other stories are interesting but not the best to represent PRISMA borrowers to Kiva. For example Juliana interviewed one woman today who sold spices in Juliaca. Her value-added strategy? Smuggling. She was very proud to tell us that she could sell spices that she bought wholesale in Bolivia for twice as much profit here if she ran them across the border without paying tariffs. Considering the main market in Puno is called “The Contraband” this is certainly not an uncommon way to make a profit here. Puno is in fact well known among the provinces as a center for smuggling goods in from Bolivia – everything from discmen and DVD players to raisins and marshmallows. Most of the clothing in Puno is “contraband”. However we decided that this story wouldn’t sell well to Kiva and if published might damage the livelihood of the women we are trying to help.
We did find several women who we would like to represent PRISMA to Kiva. The last woman I interviewed, Zaiga, was 28 years old with a 9 year old daughter and a 3 year old son (pictured with her). She had been a cook in Juliaca and with her first loan (she was now on her fourth) had started a vegetable stall, bringing in vegetables from Arequipa, a much lower altitude city on the western, coastal side of the Andes, about 5 hours from Juliaca. A few months ago she had turned the vegetable stall over to her husband so that she could start a restaurant in a town called Rinconada called “Comedor Popular” also using food brought in from Arequipa.
A lot of women we interviewed went to Rinconada some days, usually weekends, to sell their wares. Rinconada is a mining town based around the Ananeya gold mine, even higher and colder than Juliaca or Puno. I asked why Zaiga wanted to start a restaurant in Rinconada rather than Juliaca. She said there was more opportunity there, the miners can pay in gold. Because there is no farming or food production in Rinconada itself, food and other basic items are essential (and profitable) to import.
Zaiga didn’t like living apart from her husband, her daughter and her sisters most of the week (her three year old son Ronald traveled with her). When Ronald started school (2 years from now) she wanted to be back in Juliaca for good. Her plan was to work hard, expand her restaurant and earn enough money to save for her son and daughter’s education and some improvements in her house (which she had already started on). Then she would return to selling vegetables in Juliaca. She had most recently taken out a total of 5500 soles in two separate loans and had paid back 3500 of it. She wants to take out another loan to buy more tables for her restaurant and bigger pots. She says people come in at lunch time and eat standing up and hopes that with more tables and bigger cooking pots she can serve everyone faster and increase her business.
Jessie
This Sunday a representative from Kiva, Michelle, is coming to interview PRISMA about setting up a partnership and this is part of the ground work for that partnership. We need to find at least 10 stories of women who are about to start a new loan that we can share with Michelle. We are looking for interesting stories – of women with unique business ideas or interesting twists that set them apart. Many of the women here have similar businesses – they sell clothing or food at the market in Juliaca and or in Ayaviri.
Other stories are interesting but not the best to represent PRISMA borrowers to Kiva. For example Juliana interviewed one woman today who sold spices in Juliaca. Her value-added strategy? Smuggling. She was very proud to tell us that she could sell spices that she bought wholesale in Bolivia for twice as much profit here if she ran them across the border without paying tariffs. Considering the main market in Puno is called “The Contraband” this is certainly not an uncommon way to make a profit here. Puno is in fact well known among the provinces as a center for smuggling goods in from Bolivia – everything from discmen and DVD players to raisins and marshmallows. Most of the clothing in Puno is “contraband”. However we decided that this story wouldn’t sell well to Kiva and if published might damage the livelihood of the women we are trying to help.
We did find several women who we would like to represent PRISMA to Kiva. The last woman I interviewed, Zaiga, was 28 years old with a 9 year old daughter and a 3 year old son (pictured with her). She had been a cook in Juliaca and with her first loan (she was now on her fourth) had started a vegetable stall, bringing in vegetables from Arequipa, a much lower altitude city on the western, coastal side of the Andes, about 5 hours from Juliaca. A few months ago she had turned the vegetable stall over to her husband so that she could start a restaurant in a town called Rinconada called “Comedor Popular” also using food brought in from Arequipa.
A lot of women we interviewed went to Rinconada some days, usually weekends, to sell their wares. Rinconada is a mining town based around the Ananeya gold mine, even higher and colder than Juliaca or Puno. I asked why Zaiga wanted to start a restaurant in Rinconada rather than Juliaca. She said there was more opportunity there, the miners can pay in gold. Because there is no farming or food production in Rinconada itself, food and other basic items are essential (and profitable) to import.
Zaiga didn’t like living apart from her husband, her daughter and her sisters most of the week (her three year old son Ronald traveled with her). When Ronald started school (2 years from now) she wanted to be back in Juliaca for good. Her plan was to work hard, expand her restaurant and earn enough money to save for her son and daughter’s education and some improvements in her house (which she had already started on). Then she would return to selling vegetables in Juliaca. She had most recently taken out a total of 5500 soles in two separate loans and had paid back 3500 of it. She wants to take out another loan to buy more tables for her restaurant and bigger pots. She says people come in at lunch time and eat standing up and hopes that with more tables and bigger cooking pots she can serve everyone faster and increase her business.
Jessie
Everyday is an Interesting Day
Every day is an interesting day when you live in Puno and work in Juliaca.
Remember how there was a total strike last week? Well today the teachers went on strike. We found out about it at breakfast this morning when my mom came home early. She’s a high-school (or the equivalent, ¨secundaria¨) teacher. She told us that they had tried to form a union in her school this morning to support the strike. She was elected secretary but refused because the director of the school had made himself president and apparently that’s illegal. So she went ahead and taught her classes until the school shut down (despite being unable to form a union).
There were plenty of cars out as we walked down to the combi station at 7:45. However when we arrived the cars were leaving without passengers. I asked a woman attempting to get to Juliaca and she said that the teachers had blockaded the roads out of Puno and that’s why the combis wouldn’t take passengers - they were just going home, not leaving the city. We waited, along with throngs of Peruvians for a combi or bus willing to take us. Some taxis offered, but for 70 soles. One taxi driver tried to convince us to go to Sillustani (some nearby pre-Inca ruins) instead. What do we look like, tourists?
Well, at 8:30 we decided to give the long-distance bus station a try since almost all the busses from Puno to Arequipa or Cuzco stop in Juliaca as well. We convinced a bus going to Arequipa to sell us tickets just to Juliaca (4 soles- a high price but it was our only option). We think the guy who sold us the tickets just pocketed the money since they didn’t give us actual tickets. Leaving Puno we could see the evidence of the blockade – boulders in the road and riot police. We got through fine, although it was a longer trip than usual. We arrived at PRISMA at 10:15, an hour and a half after we intended to, just as the first meeting started. So begins the long day of a commuter in Peru.
Jessie
Remember how there was a total strike last week? Well today the teachers went on strike. We found out about it at breakfast this morning when my mom came home early. She’s a high-school (or the equivalent, ¨secundaria¨) teacher. She told us that they had tried to form a union in her school this morning to support the strike. She was elected secretary but refused because the director of the school had made himself president and apparently that’s illegal. So she went ahead and taught her classes until the school shut down (despite being unable to form a union).
There were plenty of cars out as we walked down to the combi station at 7:45. However when we arrived the cars were leaving without passengers. I asked a woman attempting to get to Juliaca and she said that the teachers had blockaded the roads out of Puno and that’s why the combis wouldn’t take passengers - they were just going home, not leaving the city. We waited, along with throngs of Peruvians for a combi or bus willing to take us. Some taxis offered, but for 70 soles. One taxi driver tried to convince us to go to Sillustani (some nearby pre-Inca ruins) instead. What do we look like, tourists?
Well, at 8:30 we decided to give the long-distance bus station a try since almost all the busses from Puno to Arequipa or Cuzco stop in Juliaca as well. We convinced a bus going to Arequipa to sell us tickets just to Juliaca (4 soles- a high price but it was our only option). We think the guy who sold us the tickets just pocketed the money since they didn’t give us actual tickets. Leaving Puno we could see the evidence of the blockade – boulders in the road and riot police. We got through fine, although it was a longer trip than usual. We arrived at PRISMA at 10:15, an hour and a half after we intended to, just as the first meeting started. So begins the long day of a commuter in Peru.
Jessie
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Charlas, Cheap Seats and Culture
One of the projects PRISMA wanted us to work on was providing their clients with business classes (charlas de negocios). It is common for microfinance organizations to provide services to their clients in addition to loans. After preparing a series of classes under the topic of Aumente Sus Ventas (Increase Your Sales), we delivered the first class on Thursday evening. The first class specifically dealt with customer relations.
This is all sounding very BUSI 101. But what is important to understand is that PRISMA clients are largely conducting business in literal markets. Many of the women sell produce, clothing and handicrafts in very congested and competitive markets in town. So what do 8 American undergraduates in varying majors know about this? Nothing. Thank goodness for pre-made rural South American charlas. Our job has largely been to take preexisitng information already proven to be helpful to these clients and present it in an organized and fun way.
Through interviews and roaming around the offices, the PRISMA clients have come to know our faces and recognize our broken Spanish from a mile away. This has made it easy to approach the women and invite them to the charlas. After personal invites, sign up sheets, transportation strikes, and a rescheduled charla, we did it! The participants were very involved in the discussion and excited for the next class. We will be giving these classes twice a week.
After leaving the office especially late in the evening (because a 5 o'clock charla means a 6 o'clock charla on South American time), we take our 40 minute commute back to Puno to catch a bus for Cuzco! We decided to take a much deserved weekend trip to Machu Picchu and the famous Inti Raymi festival. Being the frugal student travelers we are, we of course hop onto the cheapest overnight bus towards our destination. What should have been a 6 hour sleepy journey turned in to a 9 hour hectic ride. After some logistical nightmares and close-to-tears moments, WE MADE IT TO MACHU PICCHU!
It is a unique experience to see a place so many times in a photo and then witness it in person. We are all feeling more in touch with the culture in Peru and are starting to understand a little bit more of where that unparalleled peruvian pride comes from.
Chelsea
This is all sounding very BUSI 101. But what is important to understand is that PRISMA clients are largely conducting business in literal markets. Many of the women sell produce, clothing and handicrafts in very congested and competitive markets in town. So what do 8 American undergraduates in varying majors know about this? Nothing. Thank goodness for pre-made rural South American charlas. Our job has largely been to take preexisitng information already proven to be helpful to these clients and present it in an organized and fun way.
Through interviews and roaming around the offices, the PRISMA clients have come to know our faces and recognize our broken Spanish from a mile away. This has made it easy to approach the women and invite them to the charlas. After personal invites, sign up sheets, transportation strikes, and a rescheduled charla, we did it! The participants were very involved in the discussion and excited for the next class. We will be giving these classes twice a week.
After leaving the office especially late in the evening (because a 5 o'clock charla means a 6 o'clock charla on South American time), we take our 40 minute commute back to Puno to catch a bus for Cuzco! We decided to take a much deserved weekend trip to Machu Picchu and the famous Inti Raymi festival. Being the frugal student travelers we are, we of course hop onto the cheapest overnight bus towards our destination. What should have been a 6 hour sleepy journey turned in to a 9 hour hectic ride. After some logistical nightmares and close-to-tears moments, WE MADE IT TO MACHU PICCHU!
It is a unique experience to see a place so many times in a photo and then witness it in person. We are all feeling more in touch with the culture in Peru and are starting to understand a little bit more of where that unparalleled peruvian pride comes from.
Chelsea
Friday, June 22, 2007
Transportation Strike
Activism seems to be a big part of Peruvian culture. I've seen many marches up and down the dusty streets of Puno. It seems like they have them everyday. They're usually composed of middle-aged people, fifty to one-hundred of them, in two separate lines, chanting and doing call-and-response. They display banners, walk slowly and hold up traffic. There is usually a contingent of policemen in tow with riot shields and clubs, as if these elderly folks were priming molotov cocktails under their coats. I haven't seen any of them escalate into anything violent - they hold up traffic for a while and eventually dissipate.
Tuesday night, we got word of a much wider demonstration. Transportation workers in the department (like a state or province) of Puno were going to strike on Wednesday, and perhaps Thursday and Friday. The strike, or 'Paro', was to protest the Peruvian government stalling on their section of the Interoceanic Highway Project. The highway system is going to connect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America, and allowing people and goods to travel across the continent. Brazil finished its sections of the highway; Peru has yet to finish it sections.
After Tuesday´s workday we went to the Juliaca bus terminal to return to Puno for the night. All of the combis had slogans like ¨Viva El Paro Regional¨, or long live the regional strike, written on their windshields in blue paint. We knew for sure that the strike was on for Wednesday. This was unfortunate because we had planned a business seminar, or charla de negocio, for the women Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday morning we wake up, and instead of hearing the hustle and bustle of Puno traffic, their is relative silence. The only thing I can hear is a group of transportation workers playing soccer in the street below our apartment. When we go out to get groceries there are many people walking around, but nearly every business is closed for the day. Even Promujer, the microfinance institution that we share tenancy with, is closed due to the strike. The only part of town that has shops open is Lima avenue, the tourist hub of Puno.
The strike only lasted one day. I´m not sure how it was organized, or what the demands were, but it sure was disruptive. Not only did it bring business to a halt in Puno, but a handful of women showed up to Prisma for our charla and we were not there to deliver it. I cannot imagine a situation in America where a political demonstration would shut down the economy of a whole state.
Working in Peru is difficult because we have to operate at a Peruvian pace; which, to pragmatic (and perhaps impatient) Americans, is laboriously slow. With a bit more hassle than we bargained for, we delivered the charla on Thursday. It was a great success. I will let Chelsea fill you in on the details. Hasta Luego
Tobia
Tuesday night, we got word of a much wider demonstration. Transportation workers in the department (like a state or province) of Puno were going to strike on Wednesday, and perhaps Thursday and Friday. The strike, or 'Paro', was to protest the Peruvian government stalling on their section of the Interoceanic Highway Project. The highway system is going to connect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America, and allowing people and goods to travel across the continent. Brazil finished its sections of the highway; Peru has yet to finish it sections.
After Tuesday´s workday we went to the Juliaca bus terminal to return to Puno for the night. All of the combis had slogans like ¨Viva El Paro Regional¨, or long live the regional strike, written on their windshields in blue paint. We knew for sure that the strike was on for Wednesday. This was unfortunate because we had planned a business seminar, or charla de negocio, for the women Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday morning we wake up, and instead of hearing the hustle and bustle of Puno traffic, their is relative silence. The only thing I can hear is a group of transportation workers playing soccer in the street below our apartment. When we go out to get groceries there are many people walking around, but nearly every business is closed for the day. Even Promujer, the microfinance institution that we share tenancy with, is closed due to the strike. The only part of town that has shops open is Lima avenue, the tourist hub of Puno.
The strike only lasted one day. I´m not sure how it was organized, or what the demands were, but it sure was disruptive. Not only did it bring business to a halt in Puno, but a handful of women showed up to Prisma for our charla and we were not there to deliver it. I cannot imagine a situation in America where a political demonstration would shut down the economy of a whole state.
Working in Peru is difficult because we have to operate at a Peruvian pace; which, to pragmatic (and perhaps impatient) Americans, is laboriously slow. With a bit more hassle than we bargained for, we delivered the charla on Thursday. It was a great success. I will let Chelsea fill you in on the details. Hasta Luego
Tobia
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
A day in the life of a CMI student…
It’s Monday morning, 6: 30 A.M. and you’ve just weaved your way through the maze of mototaxis, tricitaxis, women setting up their street stands, and the man who incessantly tries to sell you a Quechua language book (he obviously doesn’t understand that you’re still working on your Spanish), until you’ve finally made it to the combis terminal in Puno. Each successive combis fills up immediately from the crowds who are impatiently waiting to make it to Juliaca to begin their work week. You push into a combis with the other CMI members, all 8 of you just barely making it in. You squeeze your legs behind the seat in front of you, made for someone much smaller, and hold on tight for the bumpy 45-minute ride to Juliaca. Upon arrival at Prisma, you find that the meeting you had rushed to get to is not at 8 AM, but rather 9 AM, so you spend an hour preparing for the day.
When 9 AM rolls around, you make your way into one of the loan meetings, explain in broken Spanish that you are conducting an interview for Prisma, and you get as many women as possible to answer your questions. You hear from some women that they have to hide their loans from their husbands. Others work 16-hour days to provide for their families. All are trying to improve their lives with a small loan from Prisma. You then reunite with the rest of the CMI group to discuss your impressions and you begin to realize that your original questionnaire needs editing and rework. You spend the rest of the morning tweaking the questions until you are satisfied with the new version of the interview.
At 1 PM it is time for a 2-hour lunch break while Prisma is closed. You go to a nearby restaurant where you order the menú del dia- a cheap combination of platters including tripe soup. When the bill comes, you realize that you have in no way fooled the waiter that you might be from Peru and he has overcharged you for your meal. So, like many times in the past, you send your Colombian CMI member to point out and reconcile this unfortunate mistake. The rest of your lunch break is spent making copies of the survey and perhaps grabbing a snack at the Ricos Pan bakery to get that tripe out of your mind. The afternoon brings more meetings and client surveys; some women are ready to talk your ear off, others are indifferent and still others, who are illiterate, require extra attention. The afternoon flies by as you frantically collect as many surveys and client stories as possible while publicizing the business charla (chat) that you will give that week, all while trying not to interrupt the loan meetings too much. You have to keep in mind that any time the clients are at Prisma, they are losing money by not attending to their respective businesses.
Around 5 PM you make another fearful trip in the combis back to Puno, take a break for dinner and some internet time, then meet back at Ricos Pan (which has inevitably become your favorite place in Peru) to tie up loose ends and finish some work over a steaming cup of chocolate con leche. By midnight you are ready to escape the cold of your unheated apartment and so you dive under a pile of blankets to catch some much needed rest before you see what excitement Tuesday might bring.
-Emily
When 9 AM rolls around, you make your way into one of the loan meetings, explain in broken Spanish that you are conducting an interview for Prisma, and you get as many women as possible to answer your questions. You hear from some women that they have to hide their loans from their husbands. Others work 16-hour days to provide for their families. All are trying to improve their lives with a small loan from Prisma. You then reunite with the rest of the CMI group to discuss your impressions and you begin to realize that your original questionnaire needs editing and rework. You spend the rest of the morning tweaking the questions until you are satisfied with the new version of the interview.
At 1 PM it is time for a 2-hour lunch break while Prisma is closed. You go to a nearby restaurant where you order the menú del dia- a cheap combination of platters including tripe soup. When the bill comes, you realize that you have in no way fooled the waiter that you might be from Peru and he has overcharged you for your meal. So, like many times in the past, you send your Colombian CMI member to point out and reconcile this unfortunate mistake. The rest of your lunch break is spent making copies of the survey and perhaps grabbing a snack at the Ricos Pan bakery to get that tripe out of your mind. The afternoon brings more meetings and client surveys; some women are ready to talk your ear off, others are indifferent and still others, who are illiterate, require extra attention. The afternoon flies by as you frantically collect as many surveys and client stories as possible while publicizing the business charla (chat) that you will give that week, all while trying not to interrupt the loan meetings too much. You have to keep in mind that any time the clients are at Prisma, they are losing money by not attending to their respective businesses.
Around 5 PM you make another fearful trip in the combis back to Puno, take a break for dinner and some internet time, then meet back at Ricos Pan (which has inevitably become your favorite place in Peru) to tie up loose ends and finish some work over a steaming cup of chocolate con leche. By midnight you are ready to escape the cold of your unheated apartment and so you dive under a pile of blankets to catch some much needed rest before you see what excitement Tuesday might bring.
-Emily
Sunday, June 17, 2007
A Monkey, Impact Assessments, Folk Dancers, Arts & Crafts, & Much More!
We’ve been working in Puno/Juliaca for a week now at it’s been a blast. After a little delay on Thursday, we were able to do our first couple of impact assessments as well as Kiva client stories/photos for PRISMA. On our combi ride to Juliaca we saw a woman with a cute little monkey on her head which blended right in with her hair. One of the many exciting things that happen on the rides to/from Juliaca.
The community bank we worked with Friday afternoon was called “Las Poderosas”, the powerful ones. Las poderosas was comprised of eleven women, the majority of whom live and work in Juliaca. Instead of getting together at PRISMA’s office, the group meets in one of the women’s tienda about ten minutes from the office. As two o’clock rolled around the women came in one by one, making sure to be there on time to avoid a fine. The group sets their own penalties for late payments, showing up late to meetings, and a few other things.
The community bank we worked with Friday afternoon was called “Las Poderosas”, the powerful ones. Las poderosas was comprised of eleven women, the majority of whom live and work in Juliaca. Instead of getting together at PRISMA’s office, the group meets in one of the women’s tienda about ten minutes from the office. As two o’clock rolled around the women came in one by one, making sure to be there on time to avoid a fine. The group sets their own penalties for late payments, showing up late to meetings, and a few other things.
Before the meeting started, as the women were coming in, we interviewed a few of the women for our impact assessments and Kiva stories. At first, most of the women were hesitant but the loan officer assured them that there was nothing to worry about. The woman I interviewed Friday afternoon was Esperanza. Esperanza is twenty-five and has a five year old son named Kevin. She has a husband who she lives with but is not legally married. She has been taking out microloans for almost three years now. She took her first loan out with ProMujer, but has since left and now has microloans with three other institutions. Two of the current loans she has are with Edyficar and Caja Arequipa, both of which are single loans. Her third is with PRISMA, a group loan. She is on her first loan cycle with PRISMA. Her loan with PRISMA is relatively low compared to her other two loans (PRISMA S/. 600.00, Caja Arequipa S/. 3,000.00, Edyficar S/. 7,000). She plans on staying only with PRISMA and Edyficar after her current loan cycles end. She did not like the strictness of Caja Municipal Arequipa and does not think she’ll continue with them. She is planning on joining a different community bank within PRISMA because she feels as though she is not getting the same treatment within the group as do the other members, most of which have been with the community bank since it started. Esperanza uses her loans to build and maintain the two stages she has. She rents them out to different local groups to put on performances. Her business has been a stable and reliable source of income for her family.
On the way to buy some art supplies and some things for the apartment we ran into a parade of children from different schools in Puno dancing different traditional Peruvian dance. The colors of the costumes and the energy of the kids were incredible.
Make sure to check out the Flickr site for some more great pictures. We will continue to update pictures regularly. (http://www.flickr.com/photots/unccmi)
FELIZ DIA DEL PADRE!!! To my dad and all the great dads out there!
Untill next time!
-Pedrito
Friday, June 15, 2007
Our First Setback
Today CMI (or specifically Tyler and I) suffered our first setback. Don’t worry; we will be on track again tomorrow. We were headed to Juliaca to conduct impact assessments with PRISMA. Forms, pens, water and a roll of toilet paper in hand we boarded the combi for the 50 minute journey. Combis are 12 passenger vans outfitted with an extra row of seats behind the driver and 2 extra seats beside the right side sliding door and then stuffed with at least 21 people. As a small American (I’m 5’3”) I barely fit into the seats. Tyler is six foot. He has to sit sideways to fit in the narrow aisles.
The ride from Puno to Juliaca is not only uncomfortable but terrifying. The roads are small and wind along steep cliffs. Busses, combis, cars, motorcycles and “tricitaxis” (like a rickshaw except the man pulling it is on a bike) all pass each other and do so on blind curves sometimes knocking each other into the terraced fields that drop off to the side. The scariest part however is looking out the window and seeing the rows of crosses where former combi passengers are remembered. Fortunately this ride I was so squished I couldn’t turn to look out the window.
About 10 minutes into the ride Tyler informed me that he felt sick and needed to get out as soon as possible. Unfortunately between Puno and Juliaca there isn’t much of a place to get off – just a lot of grazing land and some deteriorated mud-brick structures. About 20 minutes later another woman got off in a tiny town called Caracoto (the RUMI cement factory nearby is bigger than the town itself) and Tyler skedaddled off after her and began asking every person in sight “Baño? Baño? Baño?”
I caught up with him at a bodeguita (snack shop) where a sympathetic storekeeper had let him in back to use the baño. After waiting a while and buying a coke I left to go find a pharmacy or somewhere where we could stock up on enough pills to get Tyler home safely. Unfortunately in a town of about 200 there are no pharmacies. I eventually found an outpost of the Juliaca hospital and bought various pills there which I returned to Tyler.
After the pills Tyler felt well enough to look for a car to get us to either Juliaca or Puno. There were plenty of cars going to Puno but to our dismay they were all too full to squeeze onto. After about an hour we found a combi that could take us to Juliaca and from there we caught another combi back to Puno. We made it back around 5:00, exhausted from a long day of adventure, disappointed at a lack of filled out impact assessment forms.
Tomorrow impact assessments will continue…
Jessie
The ride from Puno to Juliaca is not only uncomfortable but terrifying. The roads are small and wind along steep cliffs. Busses, combis, cars, motorcycles and “tricitaxis” (like a rickshaw except the man pulling it is on a bike) all pass each other and do so on blind curves sometimes knocking each other into the terraced fields that drop off to the side. The scariest part however is looking out the window and seeing the rows of crosses where former combi passengers are remembered. Fortunately this ride I was so squished I couldn’t turn to look out the window.
About 10 minutes into the ride Tyler informed me that he felt sick and needed to get out as soon as possible. Unfortunately between Puno and Juliaca there isn’t much of a place to get off – just a lot of grazing land and some deteriorated mud-brick structures. About 20 minutes later another woman got off in a tiny town called Caracoto (the RUMI cement factory nearby is bigger than the town itself) and Tyler skedaddled off after her and began asking every person in sight “Baño? Baño? Baño?”
I caught up with him at a bodeguita (snack shop) where a sympathetic storekeeper had let him in back to use the baño. After waiting a while and buying a coke I left to go find a pharmacy or somewhere where we could stock up on enough pills to get Tyler home safely. Unfortunately in a town of about 200 there are no pharmacies. I eventually found an outpost of the Juliaca hospital and bought various pills there which I returned to Tyler.
After the pills Tyler felt well enough to look for a car to get us to either Juliaca or Puno. There were plenty of cars going to Puno but to our dismay they were all too full to squeeze onto. After about an hour we found a combi that could take us to Juliaca and from there we caught another combi back to Puno. We made it back around 5:00, exhausted from a long day of adventure, disappointed at a lack of filled out impact assessment forms.
Tomorrow impact assessments will continue…
Jessie
Children in Orphanages
Someone asked me to explain more about orphans in Peru. A fair number of these kids living in orphanages are not true orphans, in the sense that the still have one or both parents living. Many of the kids in San Juan de Dios are have single mothers, often from rural areas surrounding Puno, who have been widowed or abandoned by their husbands with several young children. Some have disabled fathers. Many children go to the orphanage because their parents cannot support them. When I was there parents would visit their children, bring them bags of yogurt or juice, and help wash clothes, usually once every few weeks, depending on the distance. Sometimes the kids in the orphanage have little brothers or sisters that are still living at home.
Many of the families considered this a temporary arrangement when I first met them. However now, two years later, at least five of the kids who have families living outside of Puno and four who have living families in more rural areas are still in the same situation, living in an orphanage because their parents are poor. As Father’s Day approaches we have helped them make Father´s Day cards. There are some who don’t have fathers, mothers or any close family, true orphans, and they are making cards for the workers at the home. However a fair number of the kids have family members, and they make Fathers Day cards for parents who they have been separated from by poverty.
Class discrimination runs deep here. Class is tied in with skin color, money, education and family. The kids at orphanages get an education but other than that they are at the bottom of the class pyramid. They are mostly dark-skinned, almost all from very poor families or have no family at all. Despite the emphasis on learning practical skills (shoemaking, pharmacy, tailoring, computer skills, carpentry and coffin making, raising animals, cooking, farming…) they have trouble getting good jobs when they leave the home. In general people are mistrustful of them simply because they are from an orphanage. I have heard people say they are bound to grow up “bad” or that they are delinquents, or accuse of being thieves or a bad influence on other children for no reason other than that they live in the orphanage.
Microfinance gives me hope that maybe if the mothers or fathers of these children receive help from a microfinance institution they could reunite their families. Or that microfinance might enable other mothers and fathers to never have to give up their children for lack of money. The fact that poverty can have similar effects to the death of a child’s parents was shocking to me and I hope that our work with microfinance this summer may prevent one child from being “orphaned” or allow one child to return to his or her parents.
Jessie
Many of the families considered this a temporary arrangement when I first met them. However now, two years later, at least five of the kids who have families living outside of Puno and four who have living families in more rural areas are still in the same situation, living in an orphanage because their parents are poor. As Father’s Day approaches we have helped them make Father´s Day cards. There are some who don’t have fathers, mothers or any close family, true orphans, and they are making cards for the workers at the home. However a fair number of the kids have family members, and they make Fathers Day cards for parents who they have been separated from by poverty.
Class discrimination runs deep here. Class is tied in with skin color, money, education and family. The kids at orphanages get an education but other than that they are at the bottom of the class pyramid. They are mostly dark-skinned, almost all from very poor families or have no family at all. Despite the emphasis on learning practical skills (shoemaking, pharmacy, tailoring, computer skills, carpentry and coffin making, raising animals, cooking, farming…) they have trouble getting good jobs when they leave the home. In general people are mistrustful of them simply because they are from an orphanage. I have heard people say they are bound to grow up “bad” or that they are delinquents, or accuse of being thieves or a bad influence on other children for no reason other than that they live in the orphanage.
Microfinance gives me hope that maybe if the mothers or fathers of these children receive help from a microfinance institution they could reunite their families. Or that microfinance might enable other mothers and fathers to never have to give up their children for lack of money. The fact that poverty can have similar effects to the death of a child’s parents was shocking to me and I hope that our work with microfinance this summer may prevent one child from being “orphaned” or allow one child to return to his or her parents.
Jessie
So far so good!
The past week has been jam packed with meetings and getting to know our surroundings here in Puno and Juliaca. All of us have been busy working with Prisma to accomplish some of their goals to better serve their clients, while at the same time establishing partnerships with ProMujer and Mibanco. As Jessie mentioned in her last post, she and I have been hard at work developing an impact assessment/client assessment that Prisma will be able to continue to use long after we leave Peru. This has been particularly exciting for us since we are both extremely interested in learning just what kind of effect microfinance is having on the men and women participating in the system. This afternoon we are presenting our preliminary questionnaire to Prisma and hopefully we will get to test it out at a couple of the meetings groups are having at the bank today.
Living in the homestay has been incredible! Our family is amazing and so much fun. Through their connections we’ve been able to talk more directly with ProMujer, which has been a huge help in expediting the process to build a partnership there. They only speak Spanish and Quechua (not English!) which is really helping me to get a better understanding and feel for the language. The rest of the group has been a huge help in filling in the details for me. Over time I’m confident my Spanish skills will be much better, especially since I am staying for both sessions.
As I am writing this the rest of the group is over at the orphanage working out the details of the projects we hope to complete there during our spare time. We might even be able to get started this weekend if things go well today. Also on the schedule for this weekend is some group bonding time. We’ll be doing some short day trips to some sites surrounding Puno, in particular the ruins of Sillustani and the hot springs. In honor of Fathers’ Day on Sunday, we decided to have a barbecue out by the hot springs (an hour away from Puno) with our host family. I’m really excited to get out and start seeing more of Peru!
Yesterday morning we went to school with my host family’s eldest daughter Annie (she’s 16) to watch her give a presentation in her class about finance! Unfortunately, we arrived at 7:30am (when school is supposed to start) but her teacher didn’t show up until 8:30am so she didn’t get to do her presentation. I was kind of shocked that the teacher was so late, especially since her school day ends at 1:00pm. I’m told that this is pretty typical of many schools in South America though (at least in Argentina and Peru). At least it wasn’t a total loss; we got to sit and chat with her friends for an hour and met some really cool kids.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the weeks progress. It’s a goal of mine to leave here having accomplished as much as possible, and give Prisma some extra tools to provide better services to their clients. It would be great to get some other perspectives on microfinance from ProMujer (a MFI that loans only to women and also incorporates a range of other social services tailored to women) and MiBanco (a commercial MFI) as well. Time is going by so fast, I can’t believe it! We have a great team of students down here though, and we love working together. There is no doubt we are going to be able to accomplish some great things during our relatively short stay.
Tyler
Living in the homestay has been incredible! Our family is amazing and so much fun. Through their connections we’ve been able to talk more directly with ProMujer, which has been a huge help in expediting the process to build a partnership there. They only speak Spanish and Quechua (not English!) which is really helping me to get a better understanding and feel for the language. The rest of the group has been a huge help in filling in the details for me. Over time I’m confident my Spanish skills will be much better, especially since I am staying for both sessions.
As I am writing this the rest of the group is over at the orphanage working out the details of the projects we hope to complete there during our spare time. We might even be able to get started this weekend if things go well today. Also on the schedule for this weekend is some group bonding time. We’ll be doing some short day trips to some sites surrounding Puno, in particular the ruins of Sillustani and the hot springs. In honor of Fathers’ Day on Sunday, we decided to have a barbecue out by the hot springs (an hour away from Puno) with our host family. I’m really excited to get out and start seeing more of Peru!
Yesterday morning we went to school with my host family’s eldest daughter Annie (she’s 16) to watch her give a presentation in her class about finance! Unfortunately, we arrived at 7:30am (when school is supposed to start) but her teacher didn’t show up until 8:30am so she didn’t get to do her presentation. I was kind of shocked that the teacher was so late, especially since her school day ends at 1:00pm. I’m told that this is pretty typical of many schools in South America though (at least in Argentina and Peru). At least it wasn’t a total loss; we got to sit and chat with her friends for an hour and met some really cool kids.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the weeks progress. It’s a goal of mine to leave here having accomplished as much as possible, and give Prisma some extra tools to provide better services to their clients. It would be great to get some other perspectives on microfinance from ProMujer (a MFI that loans only to women and also incorporates a range of other social services tailored to women) and MiBanco (a commercial MFI) as well. Time is going by so fast, I can’t believe it! We have a great team of students down here though, and we love working together. There is no doubt we are going to be able to accomplish some great things during our relatively short stay.
Tyler
Our Living Situation in Puno
CMI volunteers are living in two different places here in Puno. Tyler, Jessie, and Juliana are living with a great Puneno family. Pedro, Chelsea, Emily, Tobia and Valerie are living in a sunny apartment which also serves as our group meeting place.
Our host family is Jessie's host family from two years ago. The host parents, Carmen and Darwin (actually he has two first names, Angel Darwin), are so generous and caring and kind. Our host mom has already been a huge help to our group so far, and has fed DELICIOUS lunches to the entire group. The grandmother and four children live in the house as well. The oldest daughter is 16, the next two daughters are 13 and 11, and Fernando, the baby, is a little over two years old. This family is a lot of fun, and they have really opened their home to the entire group.
The group living situation is great as well! The other five CMI members live in an apartment that is coincidentally in the same building as Pro Mujer (another microfinance organization with whom we hope to work)! The homestay family and the owners of the apartment are related, and it seems like kindness runs in their family. Jessie's host aunt and uncle own the floors and are just as helpful and friendly as her homestay family-- her aunt is a nurse and said to send people on to her if they get sick!
Juliana
Our host family is Jessie's host family from two years ago. The host parents, Carmen and Darwin (actually he has two first names, Angel Darwin), are so generous and caring and kind. Our host mom has already been a huge help to our group so far, and has fed DELICIOUS lunches to the entire group. The grandmother and four children live in the house as well. The oldest daughter is 16, the next two daughters are 13 and 11, and Fernando, the baby, is a little over two years old. This family is a lot of fun, and they have really opened their home to the entire group.
The group living situation is great as well! The other five CMI members live in an apartment that is coincidentally in the same building as Pro Mujer (another microfinance organization with whom we hope to work)! The homestay family and the owners of the apartment are related, and it seems like kindness runs in their family. Jessie's host aunt and uncle own the floors and are just as helpful and friendly as her homestay family-- her aunt is a nurse and said to send people on to her if they get sick!
Juliana
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Somos Puneños!
Yesterday Tyler and I attended our first lending meeting at Prisma. The group was on their third loan cycle and they were borrowing 1,000 soles each. There were only two men, the majority of the women were middle aged and four had brought toddlers with them. As we watched they paid back their loans and interest in order and one woman who had missed her payment the previous week paid a fine of twenty soles plus the payment she had missed. One woman was absent and one of the group members told the sister-in-law of the absent women to run to her house and see where she was. The sister-in-law, who was obviously the youngest women there, refused and the group erupted in argument over what should be done about her loan payment. The presidenta suggested that one other woman pay it, either the sister-in-law or another woman. Various women kept trying to get someone to go to the absentee’s house but everyone refused. Finally they decided to take the payment out from the internal account and fine the woman at the next meeting. She would also have to pay back the internal account plus interest. Although the group was only fourteen people the meeting took almost two hours due to disagreements about fines and how to cover the absent woman’s debt for that month.
After seeing this meeting and doing some online research at the “Speddy Internet Café” above our house, Tyler and I discussed the best way to implement our impact assessment surveys. We had created short interviews for the women to determine what effect Prisma loans had and how Prisma could be more effective but Juan told us that the women would be difficult to contact outside of meetings and reluctant to stay after meetings because of busy schedules. We decided one of the best times to catch people would be before the meeting while those who arrived early were waiting for other members to show up and during the payment part of the meeting. Tomorrow we will test out our strategy for Prisma’s first ever impact assessment!
Aside from microfinance we are also working at the children’s home Hogar San Juan de Dios on weekends. When I was in Puno in 2005 I worked with the kids there, built a rabbit coup, put glass in the windows in the dining room and did several other projects. Now the home has changed so much! They have a “granja” with 300 guinea pigs that the kids take care of and then are sold or eaten at the home. They have a functioning green house with abundant vegetables (very little will grow in Puno because of the dry, cold climate and high altitude) that the boys take care of as well. They also have an old-folks home where 12 “abuelos” who have been abandoned by their families and are unable to care for themselves live. There are 35 boys there currently (there is another home for girls) between the ages of 6 and 14 who are either orphans or have been given up by their parents. Often the case is that when a father dies or abandons a family a single mother is not able to feed her children and gives some of them up to a home like this hoping to eventually be able to take them back herself.
At Hogar San Juan de Dios we are constructing a wall between the bathroom and the dormitory so that the kids won’t have to walk outside to use the bathroom at night and so that the wind will not blow into their bedrooms at night. For those of us more artistically inclined we may be replastering and painting a mural on the back wall of the courtyard. We haven’t designed the mural yet but our idea is to have something both educational and aesthetically pleasing. We´ll see!
Jessie Schmitz
After seeing this meeting and doing some online research at the “Speddy Internet Café” above our house, Tyler and I discussed the best way to implement our impact assessment surveys. We had created short interviews for the women to determine what effect Prisma loans had and how Prisma could be more effective but Juan told us that the women would be difficult to contact outside of meetings and reluctant to stay after meetings because of busy schedules. We decided one of the best times to catch people would be before the meeting while those who arrived early were waiting for other members to show up and during the payment part of the meeting. Tomorrow we will test out our strategy for Prisma’s first ever impact assessment!
Aside from microfinance we are also working at the children’s home Hogar San Juan de Dios on weekends. When I was in Puno in 2005 I worked with the kids there, built a rabbit coup, put glass in the windows in the dining room and did several other projects. Now the home has changed so much! They have a “granja” with 300 guinea pigs that the kids take care of and then are sold or eaten at the home. They have a functioning green house with abundant vegetables (very little will grow in Puno because of the dry, cold climate and high altitude) that the boys take care of as well. They also have an old-folks home where 12 “abuelos” who have been abandoned by their families and are unable to care for themselves live. There are 35 boys there currently (there is another home for girls) between the ages of 6 and 14 who are either orphans or have been given up by their parents. Often the case is that when a father dies or abandons a family a single mother is not able to feed her children and gives some of them up to a home like this hoping to eventually be able to take them back herself.
At Hogar San Juan de Dios we are constructing a wall between the bathroom and the dormitory so that the kids won’t have to walk outside to use the bathroom at night and so that the wind will not blow into their bedrooms at night. For those of us more artistically inclined we may be replastering and painting a mural on the back wall of the courtyard. We haven’t designed the mural yet but our idea is to have something both educational and aesthetically pleasing. We´ll see!
Jessie Schmitz
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
CMI Photo Site
Wow, we have some great photographers in the group... and they´ve done a beautiful job documenting this first week of set-up in Cuzco and Puno!
Please see the CMI photo site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/unccmi/.
New photos will be uploaded at least once a week. We can´t wait to show you more photos next week of us working with Prisma and their microfinance loan borrowers!
Juliana
Please see the CMI photo site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/unccmi/.
New photos will be uploaded at least once a week. We can´t wait to show you more photos next week of us working with Prisma and their microfinance loan borrowers!
Juliana
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Prisma
Training with Prisma
Pedro and I had recently an absolutely thrilling meeting with our partner microfinance organization, Prisma! We are so enthusiastic about Prisma and their director in Juliaca (a town neighboring Puno). The director, Juan Farfan (he asked to be called Juan), is a small man with kind, caring eyes and a friendly and genuine manner. He was very interested in CMI-- the first thing he asked is us what our objectives were and then he talked to us for a long time trying to figure out how he could help us meet them. Even though one of our main objectives is to assist Prisma achieve some of their expansion goals and we kept trying to turn the conversation back to that purpose, he never even asked how we could help Prisma, he just wanted to know how he could help us-- what a generous and giving man.
Juan is also giving us access to basically every aspect of Prisma's MF operation, something that is very rare for a MF organization to give so freely. He was very honest and up-front about Prisma's capacity to effectively utilize CMI, which was really nice. The whole group won't go there every day, which is in all of our best interests, and it was great to know that we can find another microfinance partner (we are now talking to ProMujer and MiBanco to complement our work with Prisma).
Also, we were thrilled that Prisma agreed that 100% of the donation we give them will go directly to providing loans for the women; none of it will be used for Prisma's overhead costs.
I also really appreciated that Juan spoke directly to me during our conversation-- as a female in Peru, people usually speak to Pedro (my fellow Country Director) and not to me. His office has mostly female loan officers, and he is very respectful of them as well... in addition to the impoverished women borrowers he works with every day!
I feel so strongly that this partnership will be an amazing experience for both CMI and Prisma.
Yesterday, our whole group commuted to Juliaca, to meet at the Prisma office with their national directors of microfinance. Our training with them was so inspiring and exciting. We’ll be given the official Prisma jackets to wear during our work with them. At the training, they even asked us to drive motorcycles out to the country to work with their most rural clients! Unfortunately, we won’t be able to do that, but we were glad to hear that they trusted us so much!
I feel so strongly that this partnership will be an amazing experience for both CMI and Prisma.
Yesterday, our whole group commuted to Juliaca, to meet at the Prisma office with their national directors of microfinance. Our training with them was so inspiring and exciting. We’ll be given the official Prisma jackets to wear during our work with them. At the training, they even asked us to drive motorcycles out to the country to work with their most rural clients! Unfortunately, we won’t be able to do that, but we were glad to hear that they trusted us so much!
We are looking forward to report more about our experience tomorrow, during our first full day of work with Prisma!
Juliana
Hello from Peru!
Hello again!
We hope that everything is well for you in the US! Enjoy your hot summers on our behalf—it’s winter here in the Southern Hemisphere, and really cold at this altitude!
Our entire First Session group is so excited to be in Puno! We have been here for two days, and have spent that time completing our microfinance training with Prisma, reviewing our individual and group goals for this session, and moving in to our new homes and setting up our office/apartment, and adjusting to the altitude (almost 4000 meters above sea level). Our group arrived in Peru with high energy and excitement which has actually increased over the past few days! We are so looking forward to our first official day of work with Prisma-- at 8am on Monday!
We plan to update our blog every three times a week so that we can share our experiences with you!
Hasta luego...
Juliana
We hope that everything is well for you in the US! Enjoy your hot summers on our behalf—it’s winter here in the Southern Hemisphere, and really cold at this altitude!
Our entire First Session group is so excited to be in Puno! We have been here for two days, and have spent that time completing our microfinance training with Prisma, reviewing our individual and group goals for this session, and moving in to our new homes and setting up our office/apartment, and adjusting to the altitude (almost 4000 meters above sea level). Our group arrived in Peru with high energy and excitement which has actually increased over the past few days! We are so looking forward to our first official day of work with Prisma-- at 8am on Monday!
We plan to update our blog every three times a week so that we can share our experiences with you!
Hasta luego...
Juliana
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