Takeoff is tangible

It’s about a week and a half until I takeoff,  and I have recently found out that when I arrive, I will be living in a seminary.  I don’t know who I’ll be living with or what my living quarters will look like, but I’m sure it will be a learning experience.  Despite these uncertainties, I keep finding myself more inspired the more I learn about Kiva.  Here’s a link to my bio on Kiva’s website. Scroll down about a quarter of the way.

In reading an article by the founder and CEO, I was reminded off this core principle: Kiva is committed to transparency.  If some sort fraud occurs with one of their partners in another country, they do not hide from it, but rather they proactively tell their lenders and supporters about it.  And lenders in turn respond with a greater devotion to Kiva as a result of their honesty, instead of looking at this setback as a sign of weakness (if only governments also held this belief).  I will be proud to be a part of this  organization.

I also stumbled into a little more clarity of what my life interests may be.  Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen claims that although life expectancy increase is correlated with GDP increase in developing countries, that when two factors are taken into account, that correlation disappears.  Those two factors:  incomes specifically of the poor and public health expenditure.  My experience doing health education in Argentina and working with microlending to poorer communities with  Kiva fall right in line with those two factors.  Maybe what I most interested in global development, and health and microfinance are just two ways at which I have approached that field.  Here’s a brief Amartya Sen article or check out his book, Development as Freedom, for a really good read.

Meg Gray, a current Kiva Fellow in nearby Nicaragua wrote a very interesting blog entry on how different businesses in other places look.  It’s a really cool read about breaking preconceptions

In case you missed it, here’s a little more information on what I will be doing.  Also, for those still wondering what Kiva is, be sure to check out their website.  It explains things very simply.

Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed so far.  I’ve been able to raise over half of my goal of $2,000.  Thanks for all your support.

October 28, 2009 | Jeremy | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments »

Kiva and Matt

This was a video that was shown to us at our Kiva training in San Francisco:

Warning: This is where the blog gets potentially self-important and emo.  But really that video is one that strikes a chord with me.  Really, all that Kiva is trying to do is to connect people on different parts of the world for a common interest.  Now, they way they are attempting to do it is a little less light-hearted, but I think that the similarities between Kiva’s mission and Matt’s are there enough to post this video.  What is more inspirational than people connecting and coming together for something they believe in?  Also, anyone who knows me (okay, maybe only some people know this), knows that I think dancing is a perfect way to both express yourself and connect with other people.

And now my impression:

Dance with me guys.  Loan to entrepreneurs on Kiva.

October 19, 2009 | Jeremy Lapedis | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments »

My activities, from before.

Oh, hey.  What’s up from before?

For those of you who are still confused as to what I will be spending my time doing in Guatemala, here are a list of my primary activities:

-Learning words and concepts about microfinances in Spanish, as I have never learned them in English and proceeding to forget everything about Biology, the brain and the science of celestial mechanics.  Also, there are about 22 indigenous languages in Guatemala, and neither Spanish nor dolphin speak will help me here.

-Interviewing borrowers and updating journal entries on Kiva’s website.  The main reason Kiva is so spectacular is that the people who lend money receive information of where their loan went and what impact it actually had.  It’s about creating a personal relation, not just a one-way flow of money.  I will be meeting with individual entrepreneurs, having a “hands-on cultural experience,” and learn more in one day than I did during three months of studying for the  MCAT.  I will do my best to translate and passionately and accurately articulate these stories to the lenders.

-Adding my humble thoughts to the fellows blog and this blog.  I promise to tell everyone just how much a 6′3″ white person sticks out in Guatemala.   As height largely depends on nutrition and, according to the World Bank, about 75% of Guatemalans are living in poverty, I might look different from other people.

-Social Performance Monitoring.  Is microfinance actually helping these Guatemalans move out of poverty?  I’ll be looking at non-monetary factors to see if this is actually the case.

-Empowering others.  There is nothing like giving someone the ability to fulfill their dreams.  With Kiva and this fellowship, we are giving with the expectation that others will give their effort in return.  It is not a blank donation, but a call for action.  The entrepreneurs are not given money to sit back and relax, but rather to step forward and achieve.

Finally, the shameless offer.  For every dollar that you contribute,  I will do a shoulder stand for that many seconds. That means, if you give me a Kiva gift certificate for 25 dollars, I will be doing a 25 second shoulder stand.  How many seconds do you think I can do it for?  If you would like me to videotape this as proof and send it to you, let me know and I will.   Ways to contribute are outlined below and on the side bar.  I hope to go to Guatemala with your help and support and a firm set of abs.

October 8, 2009 | Jeremy | Tags: , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Waiting to Begin

Just having returned from an inspirational training at in San Francisco, I’m antsy to get to Guatemala where I will be doing grassroots work with entrepreneurs looking to better their lives.  Unfortunately, I still have to wait another month.

Thanks for taking the time to learn more about Kiva and what I will be doing with them. Kiva is a microlending website that connects lenders from all over the world to entrepreneurs in other places for the sake of alleviating poverty.  The way this works is that YOU can view entrepreneurs’ profiles  Kiva’s website, and decide who to lend to.  Kiva then collects the money and distributes it to a Microfinance Institution (MFI), who in turn, give the loan to the entrepreneur.  The entrepreneur then repays the loan, and you  get your money back, along with updates of what the entrepreneur was able to do with your loan.

In November, I’ll be going to Guatemala City, as a Kiva fellow, to work with an MFI, FAPE (translated into English, Foundation to Assist the Small Business) . They are a socially oriented MFI give over ninety percent of their loans to women entrepreneurs.  I will be partnering with FAPE to help strengthen their relationship with Kiva.  Additionally, I will visit the entrepreneurs to get a grassroots experience of microfinance.  Throughout my time there, I will be blogging periodically to document my experience both on this blog and on the kiva fellows blog.

Those of you who know me well, know that I am currently applying to medical school.  How does  being a Kiva Fellow fit into this plan?   Firstly, I am doing this because I strongly identify with Kiva’s mission to alleviate poverty while connecting people from all over the world by being completely transparent.  Secondly, I will be traveling to Guatemala, learning about a new culture, and meeting incredibly inspiring individuals.  Thirdly, I recognize that there is an inextricable relationship between health and economics.  In order to treat my future patients effectively, I want to have a wide range of experience in learning and supporting people to build healthy lives.  Productivity and health are socially, physically, and emotionally interconnected. Being a Kiva Fellow will allow me to better understand hardships, economic or otherwise, facing my future patients.

I can hardly wait for November to come.  But before I can go, I need your help making this dream a reality.  As Kiva cannot provide me with any money, it is my responsibility to completely fund the trip. It’s my goal to raise $2,000 which would cover flight, food, vaccines, health insurance, transportation within country, and communication(like uploading photos and posting on blogs).  I’ greatly appreciate it if everyone could contribute according to their means, as ANY amount will help.  There are three ways YOU can help me in this endeavor: Direct paypal contribution, Kiva Gift Certificate, and by mailing a check.

1) A direct contribution to me via paypal.

Make A Donation

2) A Kiva gift certificate. This is really a 2 for 1 option.  By giving a me a Kiva gift certificate, you would be helping Kiva, an entrepreneur, and my trip.  I would lend the money to an entrepreneur (if you have picked out a particular person you would like to lend to, you can let me know that when you give the gift certificate in the ‘Personal Message’ section) and send you the updates I get about how that entrepreneur is doing. After the loan period, I would ge the money back, which would help offset my costs.  My email address is jeremy.lapedis@fellows.kiva.org Click here  Kiva gift certificate.

3) You can mail me a good ‘ol check directly at:

3755 Charter Place
Ann Arbor, MI, 48105

Thanks for visiting and hope to hear from you soon.

To learn more about Kiva and the fellows program click on these links:

Kiva

Kiva Fellows Program

Kiva Fellows Blog

Feel free to email me at  jeremy.lapedis@fellows.kiva.org or jlapedis@gmail.com with any questions to find out more or just to say hello.

September 23, 2009 | Jeremy Lapedis | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments »