2006 March Archive at BrianJBecker.com

Monthly Archive for March, 2006

It’s ironic.

Published

on March 30, 2006

. 3 Comments

Congo is a nation of many ironies. Here is a capital city replete with brand new SUV’s and rickety VW buses. There are few functional land line telephones in a city of over eight million people. Yet everyone seems to have a cell phone and prepaid minutes are sold almost everywhere in $5 increments. I was downtown today with my boss for several meetings and in the afternoon we realized we were both out of cell phone minutes. He handed me some money so that we could stock up. I set out into the hot sun to look for someone selling phone time. (Another irony: As you probably know, this is a very poor country and cell phone minutes are among the several daily items that are very expensive. It’s about $0.20 a minute to call within Congo and $0.50 to call the USA.) I walked about a half-block and found a kiosk where a woman had a refrigerator and she was selling cool Coca-Cola to some men who were taking a break from the sun. She had some signs hanging down advertising phone cards. A man on my side of the counter asked me what I needed and I told him, “$30 in Voda-Com cell credit, please”. I handed him the $50 bill and he promptly ran down the street and around the corner. My first thought was to yell after him. Now, since nobody was making any commotion and since I figured they’d be laughing at me if the foreigner had just been taken for $50, I waited. I thought to myself, “I guess I’ll be waiting here until that $50 comes back or until a $20 comes back with $30 of phone credit or until I come up with a good enough story to explain why I lost that money and didn’t put up a fight.” Sure enough a few minutes later the business man comes trotting back with the phone minutes and the change. I’m sure he ran to make the arrangements as quick as possible and then ran right back. This, my friends, is Congo.

There are so many things being sold on the streets here in Kinshasa that if you needed almost anything you could probably stand on the sidewalk and just yell out your need for some facial tissues or a sport coat or the transmission for a 1993 Ford Taurus and someone would come running with three to choose from.

Here’s a wild thought for you. I have officially landed in a world where the microwave oven does not exist. OK, I don’t really know if there are any microwave ovens here but I haven’t seen any and when I do see one, I will try to make sure that it works and I will report on it here on the website. Most appliances are here, even if many people can’t afford them. The microwave loves to eat a lot of electricity to do its magic. I bet if I plugged one in right now and zapped some soup I’d take down all of the electricity in the entire neighborhood. This is a good and bad. It means that restaurant food was not zapped if it’s hot when it lands on my plate. It also means that leftovers are harder to reheat. That’s mostly what the microwave is good for anyway, right? That and softening butter for baking. But here the butter softens itself just fine.

I also went to the US Embassy today to register my presence here and get some new blank pages added to my passport. It’s a collection of bright white buildings with a bright white fence and a bright red, white, and blue flag. In a way it was like entering a private club. We approach and the five guards out front are gruff asking who we are and why we want in and what our business is. Then we flash the American ID and they act like we own the place, “well come right in!” I have to say that the consular staff there are very nice (to Americans like me at least). They welcomed me to Congo and gave me a packet of information on how to stay safe. They told me that they will be coming through Kisangani every couple of months to visit with the Americans there. I asked how many there are and they said 10-15 which is more than I thought there were. It’ll be interesting to see if those meetings really happen.

There are lots of little guys around here who try to make some money by hanging out in the streets and acting like they are guiding you into parking spots, or by conscripting themselves to guard your car while you are in the store, or just by begging. If only these guys could be in school making grades rather than spare change. It reminds me of what we are trying to accomplish by the grace of God.

One last irony: I studied French from 8th grade to 12th grade. I was in a TV Production class at the start of 8th grade that was not very interesting or challenging and the French teacher asked me if I’d like to drop that and join French 1 about a month into the school year. She said she’d tutor me and catch me up. Thanks to her and to my terrific high school French teacher Mike Buscaglia as well as friends from Haiti and Africa, I am fluent today. But here’s the irony. French numbers are a little tricky. There’s no seventy. It’s sixty plus ten. There’s no eighty, it’s four-twenties. There’s no ninety-nine. It’s four-twenties-plus-nineteen. I have never been too great with the numbers since I came in after they’d already learned them in French 1. On top of that the French here is influenced by the Belgians who colonized DR Congo. They have some numbers that they created to deal with the French wackiness. Here I am, the guy who is weak on his French numbers, working in micro-FINANCE. Suffice it to say that my numbers are improving by the day - and thank goodness the calculators are in English

Loan money repaid. Thankfully it’s not my job to count it in FRENCH!

Loans to the mamas

Published

Brian

on March 27, 2006

in Congo and Microfinance

. 2 Comments

This is a question that my Uncle Mike sent in and I figured my response (and subsequent brief elaboration of Microfinance theory) is something that many others might like to read. This fills you in on my understanding of what I’m doing with HOPE International here in Congo.

——————-

Brian, I forgot to ask you about the microloans. What are the most common amounts and what are the general terms. I noted from your blog that you give out additional loans to some of the “mamas”. What are the qualifications to get a loan and to keep receiving additional loans. -Uncle Mike

Uncle Mike - our loans here start at around $40. Many of the people here are living on less than $1 a day (for the entire family in some cases). Since we don’t have anything close to a credit reporting system we use a “social guarantee”. That is to say that we only offer loans to groups of 25-45 people who have met together for some time, had training from our loan officers and who have begun contributing to a group social fund (something like $0.25 per week). They must meet weekly and elect a president, vice president, treasurer, and two controllers. We require that the borrowers approve one another’s loans and also deposit 10% of the loan amount into savings with us by the time of disbursal. We also do a business evaluation with each client before the loan goes out to make sure that they really have a business and to get them thinking about profitability and cash flow. The group is then responsible to ensure that the loans are repaid to HOPE. The term is four months with weekly meetings where our loan officers arrive to collect the loans. After one successful term, the clients are able to move borrow 50% more each cycle if they continue to qualify and their on-time repayment is good. We have many groups here in Kinshasa that are on their 4th and 5th cycle and they are doing well.

The administration costs are high with small loans- weekly meetings with loan officers mean that each officer’s portfolio can only get so large and that means that local staff payroll is always an issue. Loan officers, like most everyone else here, use public transit and that costs us quite a bit and takes a lot of time. They take the money right to the bank so that it is secure and that takes a lot of time since the formal banking sector here is very slow and inadequate. We charge 18% flat interest which works out to a pretty high A.P.R. but even still we are at this time only 50% operationally self sufficient. Still this means that half of our costs each year are self generated rather than hand-out style relief/development work which is in the business of giving everything away every year. Our goal is to become operationally self sufficient so that all money donated goes to loans instead of also covering local expenses. We serve around 6,000 clients after just over two years and as we ramp that up, the additional loan revenue will help our sufficiency. The idea is to create a financial organization that can eventually operate independently and offer loans to the poor in perpetuity, helping them to rise into a better standard of living. It’s a big goal.

One thing that I like about HOPE is that we strive to be frugal with expenses. You would be amazed how much luxury is taken in the world of Non-Governmental Organizations that are funded through government grants. HOPE works to be efficient and keep costs low and to do excellent work.

As it is now, administration costs are covered by our founder so everything donated goes to the loan operations. We are always looking for people who want to contribute to our work. Microcredit has been around for about 25 years and it has grown more popular in many cases not because people in the developed world were tired of seeing their donations to the poor go down the drain, but because the poor themselves have asked for it. It is growing so popular that there are many organizations wanting to partner with HOPE here in Congo. Our goal is to become known across Congo as an example of “best practices” in microfinance that truly reaches the poor. We hope that many local organizations will copy our methodologies once they are proven.

The ultimate goal of microeconomic development is that instead of creating a dependency, it creates opportunity and allows people to build their own economy.

The great thing is that the assistance helps one person and then another and then another, etc.

-Brian

Another Day, Another Adventure

Published

Brian

on March 23, 2006

in Congo

. 1 Comment

It’s been an interesting couple of days here in Kinshasa. The offices of HOPE here are two old apartments on an old Baptist mission compound. The supposed first ever Protestant church in Kinshasa is across the street, but that’s beside the point. The water here at the office comes pretty rarely lately. The staff generally keeps the faucet open in the bathtubs to collect water for hand washing and for operating the toilets. Well the night before last the water must have come on with a vengeance. We came in yesterday to find one of the two offices flooded out. The hallway was a lake, not quite deep enough to swim in, but deep enough. We all rolled up our sleeves and swept, scraped, bailed that water out. The office below us got some of it too, but for now at least relations seem OK. We’re now making sure that the faucet is off when we leave - it takes some diligence since the faucet looks just the same on or off when the water isn’t on. It was a frustrating hour, but it was great to see the level of teamwork that got the office dried out and got us all back to work.

Last night we had a celebration dinner since Lee is leaving to go back to Pennsylavania. He did some souvenir shopping at the Mennonite Store and he’s taking back some samples for the 10,000 villages program. They have some beautiful things that are very high quality there at the store. We walked around the block to a roasted chicken restaurant that served some of the best chicken I have ever tasted. Anyone who comes out here to visit will get a taste, on me. We’re talking good. They spice it just right. There were some very talented musicians busking in the restaurant. Their songs are mostly in Lingala and Kiswahili, but then they had to break out into La Bamba for us foreigners and I think they’d have just kept singing it until we tipped them. La Bamba Kinshasa style.

This morning we awoke to see that the tire on our jeep was flat. We spent a good bit of time figuring out how to get the jack to raise it high enough and then how to get the wheel off when it was pretty stuck. There were some twists and turns and with the help of HOPE’s driver, the tire was changed out. You just never know what adventure will arise next.

Bienvenue au Congo!

Published

Brian

on March 23, 2006

in Congo

. 0 Comments

This is a brief article I wrote for HOPE International’s quarterly newsletter. I will ask HOPE to put some of my friends and family on their mailing list so that you can learn more about what we do. Some people are infuriated by mail, unless it’s a handwritten letter from a cherished friend, (and those are rare these days). If you hate mail and you are afraid that I might be sending you more of what you truly despise, just send me a message and I will never send you anything but personal correspondance.

(They asked me to write something about my first impressions arriving here to work.)

___________________

Congo makes a powerful first impression. The moment I stepped off of the airplane and into the Congo night I felt the heavy, humid, balmy air on my face. I thought to myself, “Alright, this is home.” That night at the airport things were a bit chaotic. Despite the melodrama, we made it through passport control, baggage claim, and customs in quick order. I will always carry a mental snapshot of HOPE Congo Director Nate Hulley’s smiling welcome as we hurriedly greeted one another at the terminal door.

I am blessed to have traveled to a small handful of the over 50 countries in Africa and experienced the continent’s incredible diversity. Within the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s vast borders alone there are hundreds of distinct cultures and languages. Yet Kinshasa does not feel foreign to me. The cars move quickly and make herky-jerky moves while the people on the street play it cool and search for a bit of shade. People are making efforts at business almost everywhere you look and the informal economy is in motion. Infrastructure bends and sags, often unable to meet society’s demand for transportation, electricity, water to drink, healthy food to eat. Poverty is pervasive and people are fatigued, but they thrive. By the grace of God, given the chance to escape poverty, they will rise.

Last Tuesday I attended a loan disbursal meeting of one of HOPE’s community banks. There were about 35 women and one man there to get their third loan. I was asked to greet the group of mamas gathered there in the mud brick church. I told them that I was happy to witness them receive these new loans because I know that their small businesses are growing. When they have more money in their pockets they are better able to give their children the food that they need, support their churches, and bless their community. They smiled and cheered at the recognition of these good things that they are accomplishing. I watched HOPE’s very capable loan officer Seguy Ngeleka lead the meeting and help the group to individually disburse the loans.

I am impressed with the staff here in Congo and with the progress that HOPE has made in light of the unique challenges to success in this work and in this place. I am thankful for the welcome that has been shown to me. I am excited to begin coaching the staff in Kisangani as we work together to build a sustainable financial institution there.

I’ve known the feelings that surround the ministry of directly meeting material needs. It certainly feels good to be the one who gives a cup of cool water to the one who thirsts, even as it can often be an awkward, even humiliating moment for the one in need. What I saw there in the community bank was something different. As the women were given their loans the look on their faces spoke of empowerment.

Mass transit = mass chaos.

Published

Brian

on March 19, 2006

in Congo

. 1 Comment

Will Phoenix ever really build a light rail system?
Will the San Diego trolley ever turn a profit?

These questions seem rediculously absurd here in Kinshasa. Mass transit here is really something to behold, and this is coming from someone who has been fortunate to travel around Africa a bit. They are using circa 1970’s VW vans that are tattered and worn and painted multiple colors. I asked Flory, HOPE’s driver here how they can keep these rickety old rigs on the road and he said that the mechanics here are geniuses. I believe it. We should get these guys working on a new space shuttle. They put about 20-30 people into each mini-bus and then there are other busses of all shapes and sizes that are filled to double-capacity. They even have people who work on commission at bus stops. When the van pulls up, they jump in and cram people around so that more riders can fit in. People even ride with their legs hanging out of the hatchback door on the back end of the VW, which has to be the hot seat on top of the engine. It’s a funny sight, a bus with legs coming out the back. But soon after I chuckle about it, I think about how horrible it must be when those VW’s are rear ended. But just then I see another funny looking bus with one headlight aimed up at the trees on the side of the road like a searchlight and both Flory and I have a good chuckle.

People always seem to be in motion. We build our societies that way and we make long commutes. Some of us even move far, far away from home.

(I hear Phoenix is finally building a rail system, but it’s pretty likely nobody will ever ride it.)
(The Trolley will never, ever make a profit in San Diego. It’s good for riding to ballgames, though.)

Meetings.

Published

Brian

on March 15, 2006

in Congo

. 1 Comment

I have experienced some cool things and met some cool people and I’d like to bring you up to date. On Sunday afternoon we went to the American School here in Kinshasa. I read my book by the pool and wished that I’d brought my swim trunks. If we get back there this weekend, I’ll be ready. While there we met with some other NGO employees who shared an exciting story about travels along the Congo river by small boat and visits in some very isolated villages. Let’s just say that I don’t see myself making that kind of arduous trip on the river anytime too soon.

Of the people we met there, two work for the Mennonite movement called 10,000 villages. It’s a non-profit that uses volunteers to staff storefront locations selling goods that are produced in developing nations and arranges deals that truly benefit the artisans (www.tenthousandvillages.com). Some of my good friends will be quite excited to hear that I have met these very nice missionaries here. Also, the international base for 10,000 villages is in the town where Lee lives. Lee is the computer expert that came over on the same flights and he’s here for two weeks helping with the computers. We drove past the 10,000 villages HQ and now we’re playing spades with the 10,000 villages missionary in Congo. I’d like to check out there store here sometime when I am settled.

Today I attended a microfinance conference here in Kinshasa with my boss Nate. It was a formal occasion hosted by the government. There are some tensions between the governement who wants to formalize the microcredit sector in ways that will push many of the small operators out and raise taxes and fees for the larger operators such as HOPE. The meeting was enlightening as I witnessed the difficult interaction between the government and its people.

A time to reap, a time to sow.

Published

Brian

on March 15, 2006

in Africa and U.S.A.

. 0 Comments

First of all I am reminded to tell you that I never did see any Amish folks driving buggies when I was in the heart of Amish country. Of course I spent most of my time in the office or in my accomodations or dashing to the store to buy things that I needed. On the way to the airport in Philadelphia, I did catch a glimpse of a man plowing his fields with a horse-drawn plow. That was pretty cool. It reminds me of car and bus rides through Rwanda where I have seen some of those mamas there plowing their field with a hoe or pick axe. It’s wild to think that the horse-drawn version is a very significant technological step beyond the hand implement and then even wilder to think about the giant green John Deere tractors that are now even satellite controlled. I am now living in a place of many technological paradoxes. Cell phones but no microwave ovens. Busy automobile traffic but no stop lights. Satellite internet but often instable electricity.

13 March - First Day at Kinshasa HOPE office

Published

Brian

on March 13, 2006

in Uncategorized

. 0 Comments

I have to say that the heat and humidity causes some additional fatigue, but it is not horrible. In fact it is quite supportable with a good attitude. It may take some time before I can get any photos posted as we are quite busy. It’s also a little hard to take photos here without offending people according to the culture and the laws. Photos will come at some point, however.

Much love to everyone.

Blog post 11 March 2006 – upon arrival in Kinshasa

Published

Brian

on March 13, 2006

in Uncategorized

. 2 Comments

I feel like I have just flown halfway around the world and I haven’t even gone quite that far. The trip was rather uneventful. The longest line was the one to get out of Philadelphia. It has been a royal pain carrying all of the baggage that I have got, but I know that the things I’ve brought will make a big difference during my stay here. I look forward to getting to Kisangani where I can truly unpack it all and settle in. It was nice having a travel companion in Lee Zimmerman who has come from Lancaster, PA to help with some IT work for two weeks. Let it suffice to say that the arrival tonight at Kinshasa was a unique experience. Traffic was quite bad for the night time coming from the airport to my new boss Nate’s house, but at last we are here and cooking something to eat. I know that a night’s sleep will do some good, but it’s hard to sleep on a new bed in a new climate under a new mosquito net and all of that in a new time zone. Hold on, I need to change the time on my computer’s clock… That’s better. Now at least one clock is right, even if the one in my head is swimming.

So it is quite humid here, and it did just rain recently, so this might be a little thick tonight. But it’s true what I have been told, that it is not bad at all when you have a fan blowing in your direction stirring the air. Of course, I haven’t felt it in the daytime. That’ll come tomorrow.

I know the now familiar feeling of arriving in Africa for a two week PLNU LoveWorks trip. I realize now that the end date is always in your mind. Now I am here and I am here for awhile. It’s a good feeling, and an apprehensive one. God is good.

Step 2: Lancaster, PA

Published

Brian

on March 10, 2006

in Uncategorized

. 0 Comments

I’ve spent the last few days here in Lancaster, PA at the HOPE International HQ. They call it the CSU, which means the Central Service Unit. The people here are very dynamic and very nice. This is a small but growing organization and it is very exciting to be part of it. Coming from a large organization like PLNU it is definitely a change of environment, but that is not a bad thing in life. There are many exciting things developing with HOPE Congo and I am very eager to get involved and looking forward to being able to write about some of it when it is appropriate.

The countryside here is quite beautiful. I never took my camera out to snap photos and there wasn’t much time for that, but I wish that I could have shown you something. Maybe I will find some photos on the net to post later. I sent a puzzle to my grandpa recently with a Pennsylvania Dutch farm scene painting on it and I feel like I am in that painting here. There are cool looking houses and barns and rolling hills. I haven’t seen any Amish horse drawn buggies yet, but there is still a little time. It’s very classic American-feeling here with all of the old architecture and the quaint streets of downtown Lancaster. I am glad that HOPE is based here because I think I could live here someday if need be and I will enjoy the visits.

The weather has been great here. It’s in the 70’s today, almost a little balmy. It’s nice to have a little San Diego weather before I leave for Congo.

I’ll be on a flight this evening to Paris.

Love,

Brian