Kiva Journal Updates...

One of the deliverables on my Kiva workplan is to write journal updates of borrowers. So what’s a journal update? It’s a chance to hear about the Borrower you made a loan to on Kiva; progress on their business, how they spent their loan, if they misutilized any of their loan, any other details that come up in interviewing that person.

Each microfinance institution might work differently. Mine has what is called Loan Utilization Checks where development officers in the field check on a borrower within 10 days of their release and see how they spent their funds – sometimes this means asking for receipts or proof that they spent their loan on their business – and general what I will call “spot checking.”

Some microfinance institutions (MFIs) don’t require all of the money is spent on your business. I’ve heard that some MFIs are extremely competitive with each other, in Eastern Europe for example, and if they were really strict they would lose borrowers.

Here at my MFI in the Philippines it is required that you spend your general loan on your business (there are also home repair and educational loans that aren’t on Kiva that they offer). However, if you misutilize, you are still required to report that and also repay your loan. And sometimes life happens – a family member is in the hospital, bills need paid, school fees need paid – and the women have been very open telling me about that.

Meeting each woman and sitting with her for an hour, asking questions about her life, her loan, her business, her struggles, her dreams – it is my favorite part of my Fellowship. It’s a window into lives that I would otherwise never have. For my curious nature, the opportunity to ask and ask, listen and listen, talk and talk – it leave an indelible mark on me where looking at the pictures of these women I can see their stories one by one in my mind.

If you’re like to read a few of the recent journal updates I did, click on the links below:

• Alicia Adoc
• Etyline Ario
• Jinalyn Bautista
• Elsie Lamprea
• Merle Fabila

Pretty Pretty Postcard #2...

Round #2 of postcards are on their way!

I sent 7 in the first round and 10 this round. I have 30 official ones to send, so if you’re still waiting, you’re next!

A reminder…Anyone who made a donation of $100 or more to my Kiva Fellowship Fund gets one! So will the following ten people please keep an eye out for your postcards:

Joseph Sabino Mistick, Callie Miller, McKenzie Coco, Chris Schultz, Jeff Henderson, Micki Krimmel, Nicole Jordan, Scott Meldrum, Tim Mahoney and Christopher Dennis.

Thank you again to everyone who assisted with my journey to come here to the Philippines. I hope you’re enjoying my updates, much more to come!

Camiguin Island: Let Sleeping Volcanoes Lie...

Enjoyed the most amazing weekend in what is called Philippines off the Beaten Track to meet up with another Kiva Fellow in Camiguin. It’s a small island with more volcanoes than towns in the Southern Philippines. It’s considered Mindanao (read: dangerous, don’t go, scary) but really it was friendly and kind and small town and just the most remarkable place. I highly recommend visiting if you ever make it to this part of the world.

Just don’t go during Holy Week! It’s crazy packed there. I read during Holy Week there is a tradition called Panaad where Catholic faithful walk the Stations of the Cross up the mountain and around the circumference of the island, 64 kilometers, intense.

We visited the famous Sunken Cemetery – an old public cemetery was overcome by the sea when one of the volcanoes erupted in 1870 and it fell into the ocean. Today, the cemetery has an awesome large cross rising from the waves – we decided to snorkel around it. No, we didn’t see any graves, actually the waves were aggressive getting out there. Quite possibly we were in danger, but I mean this is two girls who are living on their own in a foreign country – and a third girl we adopted for the weekend that is a Canadian teaching English in Korea – so it’s hard to tell us what’s “normal” amounts of fear vs. something that we’re all like, “Hey think we can do that? Yeah, sure, why not?”

We went to gorgeous hot springs, we ate good meals, we bought cheap rum and found the one and only disco in the main town. We talked Kiva, microfinance, about our placements, nuances, just an opportunity to talk to someone else going through similar experiences, it was incredible and really, really needed.

Most of all we laughed and laughed. All three of us decided we were way overdo for a good girls weekend of laughing and bonding and I have to say I’d go just about anywhere with those two dynamic and fabulous women.

Moral of the story, R&R was much needed and I feel amazing. Heading into another amazing week in the Philippines with Kiva and ASHI.

For more Things to do on Camiguin Island, look here

Typhoon Musica – A Music Mix For You!...

Hello friends of The Causemopolitan!

You’re always so good to me. I wanted to do something nice for you. In fact, I’ve decided to do something nice for you every month. I’ll be making a monthly custom mix of the jams I’ve been listening to and will share with you accordingly.

Many of you received my first mix on mixable, entitled Kiva Mix, SXSW 2009 Edition. That one was for everyone who made a donation to my Kiva Fellowship Fund. It’s all bands from this year’s SXSW and in case you missed it, I saw 44 bands in 4 days just to come away with the best of up and coming music and bands for 2009. I slaved and labored away just to share this with you (or slight confession I just love live music but shhh don’t tell anyone). For the first time ever, I’m releasing it to the public here. Why? Because everyone deserves good music to jam out to. Why else? Because so many of you have helped me in ways that while not financial were no less important like spreading the word about my blog, commenting on my posts, sending me messages of encouragement not to mention the Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn love. What about those who made donations? Don’t you worry, they are receiving plenty of other treats from me.

Get it while it’s hot! Available to stream live, or download the whole thing for free and play thru Itunes, The Kiva Mix, SXSW 2009 Edition.

Oh wait, there was more right. Yes, yes, I remember. The July Mix for you.

Ok, so I’ve named this one Typhoon Musica. It’s a mix of new jams I’ve picked up, a special New Orleans jam song (if you don’t know the Cupid Shuffle, man get with it! People literally STOP their cars in New Orleans and get out in the street and dance to this. Totally serious).

Downloand Typhoon Music Now!

It has an Emperor of the Sun song I can just listen to all day long, one of my all-time favorite Joseph Arthur songs, King Khan & The Shrines, a Grits class, Army Navy, Asobi Seksu to lull you at the end. Each track hand-picked and carefully created to create a musical experience that can take you through a workout, jamming in your car, or needing to get down to business at work.

If you have suggestions for songs or themes for coming months, let me know!

Cause I love rock and roll,
Sloane

What Is Traditional Anyway?...

Update: This video is no longer being allowed to be embedded. Please watch it at YouTube.

What if this is how you started the procession at your wedding?

It caused me to Twitter the following:

Dear Future Husband. I hope you’re out there. Where ever you are, can we please get married like this? http://bit.ly/V6Ze1

Or this is how you were proposed to?

Or this what you did with your dress after the wedding?

Considering these “alternatives” to the traditional down on one knee proposal, church wedding and wedding dress in the closet for future generation to use, this is quite a break from the norm.

To be able to see how this applies to all of us, I give credit to Tom Martin, a true ad guy, family man, New Orleanian and blogger at Positive Disruption. He reminds us to the look at the world around us and messages, branding and creativity (and that which we are motivated to write about) are everywhere.

You’re sitting there thinking something. Are you thinking:

a) Man that’s the coolest set of videos I’ve ever seen, I want my experiences to be just like that.

b) That’s cool and all, I would mind being at a wedding like that, but it’s not really for me.

c) What about upholding tradition? Is there no respect for tradition anymore?

For brands, nonprofits, companies trying to convince you to buy something, they need to appeal to your senses, right? Your sense of style, but also your sense of adventure. Companies can look at YouTube videos, run focus groups, launch sample products all days to see the types of people interested in what they have to offer, but how far can they really get?

Here’s the question that comes to mind. What is tradition to you? What traditions are meant to be broken? Is there a criterion?
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Look Ma! I Have a 504 Area Code!...

In something so truly miraculous that I barely have the words. I have a major announcement to make. I now have a 504 area code.

What in the ****?

Yes (504).

(504) 298-5935 to be exact. Go ahead try it (I’m probably not online when you’re reading this to pick up but leave me a message)!

Thank you magicJack!

You saw right. In something that feel very much like The Secret running me over with a car, I swear I dreamt and wished and prayed for a 504 number. It’s New Orleans silly, the place to whom I wrote My Love Letter to New Orleans, this past Spring and just took my breathe away and stole my heart and beckons my return this fall.

But I thought how in the world could I get a 504 number when I know I won’t be giving up my 310 area code? Santa Monica love and I worked hard for five years in Los Angeles to deserve that phone number.

Then the miraculous little thing called technology happened. Or in this case macgicJack. A friend of mine who moved here to Manila to start a virtual assistant company (yes this one) introduced it to me this past weekend. I think I’m down with the tech, but it blew me away. The quality is amazing. And free! Can’t really beat that. I had to have one. Here’s how it works.
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Lives Too Cool To Ignore...

It’s been an interesting week. One day last week I stumbled upon something on the Internet, which led me somewhere else, to somewhere else and next thing I knew I was thinking about my blog in a whole new way.

It all started with Taylor Davidson naming me to his People With Lives Too Cool To Ignore. I mean Chris Guillebeau certainly. The Art of Noncomformity, a guy going to every country in the whole world between 30-35. Yeah, that’s a cool life.

I thought of other people that I think are living cool lives right now and blogging about it to-boot, like Christiaan from Mind The Beginner and Carl Nelson from Slacker Reform, Jonathan Fields from Asleep at the Wheel and who could leave out Leo Babauta of Zen Habits.

There are other friends of mine who have mastered the art of the virtual lifestyle, like Kareem Mayan of Digital Nomad and others like Andrew Warner who has found his passion in interviewing entrepreneurs on Mixergy.

Does this get to be me? Am I really living the life I want to?

It took someone pointing it out, but yeah, I am. I never would have thought that losing my job and having my whole world turned upside down including ending a relationship with someone who still means the world to me (and saying temporarily goodbye to the best damn dog in the whole word), giving up my apartment and most of my belongings and hitting the road would lead me to where I am now. 7 months later, 5 new countries, time spent on 3 continents, a Kiva Fellowship, other great possibilities on the horizon. Yes, I’m happy.

What does that mean for the future ? For the next steps? I’m not sure right now. I’ll tell you what though, I’m putting a lot of thought into it. I’m not online that often (since I am here doing my Kiva Fellowship in the field) but I am thinking about it all the time.

Can my blog make money? Can I publish a book about my experiences? Can I speak and give talks about how to get the life you want? Can I find a way to continue being a humanitarian and working around the world with various causes and raising awareness? I mean can these things actually sustain me?

And then I remember that anything can happen, I just have to put the wheels in motion. We are the reality we create. That’s the good news. Now all I need is a cabin in the woods, a month and to freeze time. That or the confidence to know that I do the best I can every day, I’m making it happen, and the rest will continue to fall into place.

Even New Donors Still!...

There were a few friends out there who missed making a donation to my Kiva Fellowship Fund during the flurry of May 2009 when I conducted my campaign. A few friends had suggested that even though the “official” campaign ended, I should still keep a ChipIn going, because you never know, right? More people might want to help and I was extremely frugal with my estimates on how much everything would cost here so I could maybe use the extra funds.

I have added these names to the final list of donors that can be found on my upper navigation tab under “Kiva Fellowship.” However, as it is in my nature to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU as many times as possible, I’d like to say a quick public thanks to those who have supported me since the campaign ended:

Lisa Newton (aka UniLove on Kiva) for her 3rd donation!
Brian Traeger not only for your donation but for being an amazing friend and the one person I’ve seen more music shows with than anyone else (50+ easy).
Trey Shelton, the king of cool and one of my favorite SXSW buddies.
Michael Beerman, who I went to elementary school with and hadn’t talked to in maybe 15 years? He found me on Facebook, saw the work I was doing and contributed. How about that for the best parts of social media coming true?
Rebecca McQuigg, who embodies the definition of fabulous. A true go-getter, ambitious career woman with endless style and a job most people would kill for as Trend Forecaster with the Intelligence Group.

As they say in Tagalog here, SALAMAT!

In case you missed your chance too. Well as they say, it’s never too late!

The Sweet Spot...

Well. It’s happened. I’ve been here in the Philippines over a month now and wouldn’t you know, I’ve hit The Sweet Spot. I’m still learning, growing and changing every day, but there are things I’m more sure of now. I can get around on jeepneys, tricycles, taxis – I have landmarks across Manila and in the provinces I’m working at in Rizal and Antique that guide me, I can negotiate when necessary and I know when that is. If I were to get terribly lost, I’d find my way again. I’ve made some friends. I know what questions to ask the Kiva Borrowers. I know how to endear myself to them by inflecting just so on certain words, the body language, interactions between age groups, social groups, men and women. I have a few favorite foods. I’ve gotten used to the hardship, accustomed even, and I’m living each day to the fullest. Most of all, I’m confident here, I’m not worried, I’m just fine.

In my travels and nomadic lifestyle, I call this “The Sweet Spot.”

This has happened to me before, after a few weeks in New Orleans, I stopped getting lost every other second, I had friends, I made connections. I adjusted.

Hey man, that’s life.

The prisoner, the soldier, the person with a sudden disability, or who has lost everything, or become a millionaire overnight – any of these require adjustment.

We either look at life and say, “Hey I’m going to make lemonade from lemons” or we hang our heads and say THIS IS JUST TOO HARD.

Which type of person are you?

I’m taken aback by the adjustment. I mean after all, things can be really hard here. My computer’s hard drive essentially melted, I’m fighting a truly terrible cold (I’ll be so mortified to have swine flu, holding off on the doctor for now), the placement was for “English Speaker” but man every day I wish I was fluent in Tagalog because it is a barrier in many places. I’m traveling to a new place every few days. Which means I’m living out of a backpack and part of me is damn exhausted from doing this for 7 months now (1 here but before on the go-go-go too). Internet is NOT guaranteed. I mean really. Adjusted? The Sweet Spot?

But it’s here. I can feel it. I wonder what the next month will bring. But better or worse, I’m learning a valuable lesson. I can adjust to just about anything. All it takes is a little faith in humanity, a strong sense of curiosity, a support network to turn to for when things are down and the understanding that these experiences come in waves and to maximize the up and minimize the down.

The Humanitarian...

Attending a Center Meeting in Antique Province, Philippines

Totally by surprise I found out two weeks ago that a friend of mine from Los Angeles moved to Manila. He’s moved to Manila to start an outsourcing company and seeing as how fate brought us to the same city, we met up last week for dinner. A few years ago he founded a nonprofit aimed at providing malaria nets to kids in Africa and our conversations easily turned to activism and how to encourage people to get involved with causes.

Seeing as how I’m currently homeless and without a permanent job and unsure exactly where my income will be coming from when I return to the U.S. in the fall, I have gotten quite used to people introducing me in a variety of ways. I’m somewhat hard to categorize – I know, I know – and honestly, I have a hard time with it too. The simple “Where do you live?” and “Where do you work?” are either going to illicit from me an answer that is brief (what most people want right? The simple answer?) or depending on the person and the circumstance, I’ll give more detail, delve into a bit more the who’s and what’s, tell one or more of the canned stories and jokes I have in my back-pocket for such situations.

This time, however, I heard something I’ve never heard before. When introducing me to his roommate, he said, “Meet Sloane, she’s a humanitarian working on a great project here in the Philippines in microfinance.”

Humanitarian? I was taken aback. Embarrassed even. No, I thought, the term humanitarian is for someone who does great things. Great big things. I’m just one person who turned lemons into lemonade and stumbled upon this amazing opportunity to serve a nonprofit I believe in here in the Philippines. Yes, I have a long history of giving back so maybe I could be considered an activist, or nonprofiteer, do gooder – something with less weight to it, but humanitarian?

At dinner, he reminded me that he was very active in his local Rotary Club. “You should really get involved,” he said “It’s the oldest service club in the country.”

I have always wanted to be involved in a service club, I’ll join in the fall when I settle into a hometown, I told myself the next day when I went online to casually check out the Rotary Club’s website. I was floored. It was like knocking on a door and when it opens you’re staring at all your friends who look up like “why are you late to the party?” I scrolled and clicked and tabbed and browsed. Yes, this is absolutely me, I whispered breathlessly to myself.

That very evening I was headed to Baguio City, a must-see town in Northern Luzon, about 6 hours by bus from Manila. I checked into a nice resort that was running an off-season promo called Ridgewood Resort. I’m standing at the check-in desk waiting for my room and look down on the coffee table and what do I see but a stack of The Rotarian, the official magazine of the Rotary Club.

So here I am, currently obsessed with the Rotary Club from my dinner conversation the night before and from devouring the website during the day and the magazine is sitting in front of me. I pick up the one on top with a picture of Archbishop Desmund Tutu on the cover (April 2009) and flip through to read his article.

There are no such things as coincidences.

On the second page of his article, I came upon Archbishop Tutu’s answer to a question about how people in development can sustain themselves in the face of so much world greed and global shortages of resources:

Tutu: Very few people want handouts. They want a hand up. We are seeing more and more people who are saying, “We are not bringing charity. We are in a partnership. We are family. We are trying to work with you, so that you can be part of the solution to pull yourselves out of poverty.” We speak about humanitarian work – actually that’s a nice word, humanitarian. You are looking to help people recover their humanity, their dignity, the worth that is intrinsic to every human being. You are really working with God, who is saying, I gave you a world that’s not perfect, and quite deliberately, because I wanted you to be partners with me in perfecting it.

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