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