WHO?

James Allman-Gulino is a Kiva fellow in Uganda. He is originally from Alexandria, Va.

I’ve been in Kampala, Uganda, for about a month now, and the city is starting to really feel familiar. I can now orient myself by the frenetic Taxi Park or the bustling Nakasero produce market, generally know how much things should cost, and have my lineup of “boda-boda” motorcycle drivers and food sellers who I can rely on for daily transport and sustenance. Ironically, I feel more connected to these dozen or so local merchants than I do to their counterparts back in the States, despite the far more numerous interactions I’ve shared with the latter. Maybe it’s the isolation of a foreigner in a new place that causes me to come back to the people who I trust; that and lacking proximity to my friends makes me put more value on the social interactions of conducting business.

View of the city of Kampala from the National Mosque.

I’ve come to Uganda for a six-month fellowship with Kiva, a web-based microfinance organization that raises funds from individuals to loan to poor entrepreneurs in the developing world. Kiva’s champions—myself included—see it as a prime alternative to traditional development aid, empowering business owners to pull themselves out of poverty, instead of dictating the means from above. There’s also some great cultural exchange that happens through Kiva; lenders receive written updates and can read descriptions of the businesses they contribute to, and borrowers learn how the magic of the Internet enables a person halfway across the globe to see their business and say, “That looks like a worthy investment,” which is a huge point of pride for the borrowers.

I first learned about Kiva in 2006, and joined as a lender shortly thereafter. The Kiva Fellows program sends volunteers out across the globe to work with Kiva’s “field partners,” the microfinance institutions (MFIs) that actually administer loans in the 50 countries where Kiva works. I’d always thought it sounded like a fantastic opportunity to see how developing-world borrowers were responding to the challenge of poverty in their own unique ways. Naturally, my timing worked such that I was accepted to the unpaid fellowship only just after starting my first real job—sorry, savings account—but a very flexible employer later, I was on my way.

Being a Kiva Fellow has been a great experience so far, especially getting to see just how deep the rabbit hole goes. As a longtime lender, I thought I’d understood pretty well how Kiva works; but there’s an amazing amount of complexity between clicking “lend” on the site and cash getting to a farmer, shopkeeper or tailor in the developing world. The MFIs Kiva works with have to identify clients for loans; disburse cash, often traversing long distances to reach rural borrowers; track client information in electronic databases; and supply additional updates and business stories to Kiva lenders. This is all not to mention that many MFIs do not just specialize in microfinance, but also offer public health programs, educational services and agricultural training. Their work is truly exhaustive.

James Allman-Gulino interviewing village borrowers in the town of Aura Hill in the West Nile region near the Democratic Republic of Congo.

As a Kiva Fellow, I am a humble assistant to this effort, overseeing the relationship between the field partners and Kiva, and giving hands-on support where needed. To give you a glimpse of the scope of these efforts, my work with just one MFI in Uganda has included walking five kilometers to find a rural borrower near the Democratic Republic of the Congo; watching an original song and dance performed by young adolescents who are also borrowers—I wasn’t responsible enough at that age to remember homework assignments, much less take on debt; and interviewing a young businesswoman in the West Nile region who has managed to simultaneously operate a drugstore, sugar-selling collective, and tailoring business. It is truly astounding the work that both the MFIs and the borrowers do. And while I’m not naïve enough to think microfinance will “cure” poverty in Uganda and other developing countries, I know that MFIs’ services really do make demonstrable differences in the lives of poor clients. One woman in Northern Uganda, which was wracked by a violent insurgency for many years, was able to keep her fish mongering business despite having to relocate to a makeshift refugee camp, thanks to a loan from my MFI. She also spoke about the importance of being in a group of borrowers, since it gave her a community when her family was splintering in the wake of the insurgency. A multitude of stories like these abound throughout microfinance, and all demonstrate the resiliency of borrowers to persevere through challenging situations on their own terms, with only a small level of support.

Participating in this fellowship has also given me a lot of time to think—unlike the apparently superhuman borrowers, I have occasional downtime. I think a lot about my role as a Westerner in Africa, particularly as someone engaged in “development” work. What do impoverished populations really need? Is it for the developed world to give them a hand up, or is it to get out of their way and let them address their own problems? What about my presence here—how does it affect Africans’ conception of their own continent when many white, Western volunteer visitors are coming to “save the world?” I certainly don’t feel that way, and think that Kiva does a great job of fostering genuine partnerships to work equitably on the challenge of global poverty, but the questions persist. And the longer I’m here, the more I grasp that there often aren’t clear answers to these questions; the important thing is simply to struggle with them. The school of complete self-reliance for developing countries is met pretty squarely by my borrowers, who despite their pride in their self-financed businesses, are still desperate for financial support and are routinely disappointed that I’m not from a donor agency. On the other side, several Ugandan professionals I interact with bristle at the way they perceive that donor countries are injecting themselves in the upcoming Ugandan election. So I’m learning firsthand that there will always be conflicts in development; the best I can do is be thoughtful about my role and interact with people in Uganda and other developing countries as equitably and affably as possible. And luckily, that’s something that the reliable boda-boda drivers and cassava merchants of Kampala can help me learn every day I’m here.

Comments

• Silvia on July 13, 2010

  I’m glad UVA Magzine is covering Kiva! There is a UVA Kiva group, which I am involved in, and I really feel Kiva.org is a worthwhile organization to look into.