Farm Babies!

Before I hit everyone with another wall of text, I thought you would all like to know that it's baby season here on the farm! So I went around and took pictures of all the babies. Enjoy!

IST Part 2 - Micro Finance

So, what was the training actually about? Well, it covered a variety of topics, some was the normal HR stuff about discrimination and diversity and then some country specific security topics. Most was programmatic, however and we talked a lot about implementation of possible projects in our communities. We discussed micro finance and working with local development associations to develop local economies.

I’m going to pause to explain this for a sec because micro finance (also known as micro credit) is a pretty cool concept. Bear with me as I try to explain this concept in a couple of paragraphs. In the US, people take out loans all the time, for example, they get loans for houses, businesses and cars. They also get money for every day things. A credit card is a little device that facilitates loans all the time. Little loans, like $15 for a DVD. All of which needs to be paid back eventually.

Now, why would anyone lend someone money for nothing? Well, they normally don’t, they charge interest, which is a percentage of the money you borrowed to be paid back in addition to the principle, or original amount borrowed. For example, if I borrow $100 dollars and need to pay 5% interest, my interest will be $5 and my principle will be $100. So, I pay back $105 dollars to my lender and my lender profits the extra $5. (This is a very basic description; I’m keeping it simple on purpose.)

Basically, because small, rural communities don’t have access to credit cards or banks, they need someone to loan them money to start or improve businesses. This is where micro finance comes in. In Costa Rica community credit businesses are called Empresas de Crédito Comunal, or ECCs. They lend small amounts of money to businesses in rural communities so that those businesses can make money and eventually pay back their loans.

So, for another example, this time I’m borrowing $100 for a cow. I buy the cow and make cheese from her milk. After 6 months at 2% monthly interest, I need to pay back $12 in interest (interest = 6 months x 2% of 100 OR 6 x (.02 x 100) = $12) PLUS my principle, $100. So I would owe the ECC $112 after 6 months.
During those 6 months, I sold enough cheese to make $120. So I pay back my $112 and I still have $8 left.

Why did I do all that for $8? Because after I pay back my loan, I get all the future money I will make from the cow. So, if I make another $120 dollars in the next 6 months, I get to keep it OR I can buy another cow.

This is how businesses grow from micro finance.

The best part about setting up ECCs is that none of the money comes from outside the community. The community buys shares, or pieces of ownership in the ECC, much like stock and receives dividends at the end of the year. (Dividends being a percentage of the ECC’s profits divided among all the shares. Example: at the end of the year, the ECC profited $1000 and will pay half of that to dividends. So $500 is divided among the 50 shares. $500/50 = $10 So ever share receives $10. The other $500 is loaned out to make more money!)

To learn more about ECCs, micro finance or credit in general, you can feel free to write question to me or check out Kiva to see what kind of projects get done with micro finance.

PLEASE send me questions about this if you’re interested. I studied this in university, so it makes sense to me, but I can’t tell if I explained this very well.

IST Part 1 - Intro

IST Part 1 - Intro

Melana and I were in IST last week. That’s “In Service Training” in Peace Corps terminology. There are a few major trainings that we are required to go to as PCVs. They include Pre Service Training (PST), In Service Training (IST), Mid Service Training (MST) and Close of Service (CoS).

This IST was the longest in the history Peace Corps - Costa Rica, ten days. Normally, IST is about four days or so but, due to the landslides that ravaged the country during PST, we had to make up a lot of work. Each day was 8am-5:30pm with two coffee breaks and an hour for lunch. As far as accommodations go, Uncle Sam REALLY took care of us. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a nicer hotel. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in downtown San José, the gorgeous hotel pictured below.

After spending three months in our site, this was a real treat for Melana and I. In particular, the food was delicious. Every morning we would have some of the best Costa Rican food we’ve tasted along with a variety of fruits and pastries. This was really a shock to our bodies which are used to having the same three or four entrées over and over again out in the country. So, predictably, I hoarded food in our room, particularly multiple pastries and pieces of banana bread.

The only meal that we didn’t get at the hotel was dinner. For dinner, we were left to fend for ourselves. Luckily, there was a supermarket across the street and we managed to make ourselves a variety of soups and sandwiches on most days in order to keep costs down. We did manage to indulge on some days, though, having such a variety of exotic cuisines as fried chicken, hamburgers and salads. I even caved to Temptation and bought myself a Whopper one night*. On our final night there, Melana and I even found a Korean restaurant and had some familiar† Kimchi jjigae (김치찌개) - pictured below.

 Also, were were there to see the opening of the new stadium in San Jose - traffic was unbelievable. The government of China has been working with Costa Rica to put up this new stadium in the middle of the San Jose’s answer to NYC’s Central Park. After all of the fireworks and Chinese style theatrics, China and Costa Rica played off in an inaugural soccer match that left fans cheering. At the time, I was eating dinner about a block away and everyone ran outside to see the fireworks before returning to the restaurant to watch the game on TV - what a night! Costa Rica and China tied 2-2.

 

 

* I know, I know - fast food is bad for me, the environment and the economy, but I needed to indulge. Also, I was curious to see the spectacle of fast food in Costa Rica. Here, fast food restaurants are sit down affairs where the whole family comes and eats.


† For those who don’t know, Melana and I used to live in S. Korea. If you’d like to know more, check the older entries of the blog.