Wish List (Must Pick When Santa Claus Comes)

*hiking boots

*skiing boots

*winter boots

*trekking poles

*harness

*Semi-professional Camera (with a wide-range lens)

*car

*beading materials

-small binoculars

Favorites: Magritte, Dalí

René Magritte, "Empire of Light"

 

 

Salvador Dalí, "Raphaelesque Head Exploding" (1951)

 

 

Ideas Worth Spreading

Perception

What Value is

Love

*

“Sita Sings the Blues” (Nina Paley)

Commentary about the Animation

*

Wiener Staatsoper Panorama

Money Transfers (Kiva – Microfinance)

If you are wondering how it is possible to use the internet in poverty alleviation and whether you can trust Kiva´s idea of using the internet to connect to small entrepreneurs worldwide, please read the quickly written explanation below:

The way Kiva works is that it connects the Lender (internet access) to the Kiva Website through which Kiva works with local Microfinance Institutions(internet access). They receive the money through a wire transfer and then THEY, not Kiva, distribute the money. Now, the MAIN branch has internet access, but this does not mean all the rest of them do. They do not in Armenia, for example. But one has to have internet access because the flow is that of money and information between the lender and the borrower. This means that the MFI must have a way to effectively communicate with the Lender (in a slightly figurative sense, but still…Lender comments are often read by MFIs).

Now, here it gets complicated and it depends on the country in the sense that I have many answers to your question because the situation in every region is SO different. But what is common for all organizations is that they receive the loans from Kiva with a 0% interest rate, which means that they receive the exact amount of money that the Lender has chosen to invest and they are expected to return the same amount of money to that same lender. What is crucial to understand here is that even if the MFI is making ´profit´in this way, this is helping the Microfinance Industry as a whole and so the individual borrowers. Hundreds of people depend on the loans from local MFIs and if these organizations stop functioning, they have nowhere to go to not just to borrow money, but sometimes also to receive basic business education or the opportunity to open a bank account. All the borrowers I met with in Bosnia and Herzegovina shared that the credit they received through Zene za Zene was invaluable to them. In short, Kiva´s way of helping individual borrowers is partially through supporting the organizations that provide the funding.

The system of Microfinance is not perfect, but which system is?

This post has quickly been written by Velizara Passajova (KF8–Bosnia * Armenia) who has completed her Kiva Fellowship, but is planning to stay involved with Kiva.

Pray the Devil Back To Hell

Sozusagen grundlos vergnügt (Mascha Kaléko)

Ich freu mich, daß am Himmel Wolken ziehen
Und daß es regnet, hagelt, friert und schneit.
Ich freu mich auch zur grünen Jahreszeit,
Wenn Heckenrosen und Holunder blühen.
- Daß Amseln flöten und daß Immen summen,
Daß Mücken stechen und daß Brummer brummen.
Daß rote Luftballons ins Blaue steigen.
Daß Spatzen schwatzen. Und daß Fische schweigen.

Ich freu mich, daß der Mond am Himmel steht
Und daß die Sonne täglich neu aufgeht.
Daß Herbst dem Sommer folgt und Lenz dem Winter,
Gefällt mir wohl. Da steckt ein Sinn dahinter,
Wenn auch die Neunmalklugen ihn nicht sehn.
Man kann nicht alles mit dem Kopf verstehn!
Ich freue mich. Das ist des Lebens Sinn.
Ich freue mich vor allem, daß ich bin.

In mir ist alles aufgeräumt und heiter;
Die Diele blitzt. Das Feuer ist geschürt.
An solchem Tag erklettert man die Leiter,
Die von der Erde in den Himmel führt.
Da kann der Mensch, wie es ihm vorgeschrieben,
- Weil er sich selber liebt – den Nächsten lieben.
Ich freue mich, daß ich mich an das Schöne
und an das Wunder nie gewöhne.
Daß alles so erstaunlich bleibt, und neu!
Ich freu mich, daß ich . . . Daß ich mich freu.

A Taste of Art in Halle, Germany

Hermann Max Pechstein

Djakometti

Paul Klee

Max Ernst

FRANZ MARC

Emil Nolde

Carl Schuch

Curt Herrmann

Werner Tübke

Hermann Glöckner

Klaus Elle

Feininger

Albert Ebert

Peter Hacks

Olya Manukyan’s Business in Sevan

Olya has used her Kiva loan to buy autumn clothes for her clothing store in Sevan. In ten days, she is planning to buy more clothes from Yerevan. Her business is going well and life is normal. Olya has not felt the negative effects of the economic crisis because she has constant clients. 

This is Olya’s first loan with both Kiva and Nor Horizon. She used to take credit from another organization, but she feels ready to take out an individual loan. With part of the 200,000 drams, Olya bought school uniforms to sell around the beginning of the school-year on September 1. 

Olya uses all profits from the business for expanding it. Her goals are to develop her trade (maybe by renting a bigger place).

Here is the video Velizara Passajova (KF8) made of Olya:

Today Olya has made her first repayment to Nor Horizon. 

*Currently Fundraising Loans:    http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&queryString=&status=fundRaising&gender=All&sectors[]=All&regions[]=Eastern+Europe&sortBy=Popularity

*Armenia Lending Team:    http://www.kiva.org/team/armenia

Great Selection of Armenian Art

Vasili Polenov (1844-1927) –> “Farmstead, Bulgaria” (1876)

Василий Поленов (1844-1927) –> “Дворник, Болгария” (1876)

- Vladimir Makovsky (1880-90’s)

* Mikhail Nesterov (1910’s) (wiki)

- Anna Ostroumova-Lebedova (1910’s)

* Alexander Golovin (1910’s)

* Konstantin Makovsky (1875)

"The Bulgarian Martyresses" (Makovsky, 1875)

* Carl Gun –> “Italian Woman” (1870)

* Sylvester Shtedrin (1825-7)

by Sylvester Shtedrin

* Hovhannes Alkhazyan (1920’s)

- Hovhannes Aivazovsky (1850’s)

"American Shipping off the Rock of Gibraltar" sold for 2,710,000 pounds

***Vardges Surenyents (1910’s)

"Salome" (Vardges Syurenants)

* Gevorg Bashinjagyan (1890’s)

* Stepan Aghajanyan (1910’s)

* Egishe Tadevosyan (1894)

Ararat (Егише Тадевосян)

* Hovhannes Tadevosyan (1930’s)

* Zareh Suryan (1945)

* Karapet Adamyan (1920’s)

*** Martiros Saryan (1930-50’s) –> versatile

* Georgi Yakulov (1914) –> “Trees on the Hill”

"Trees on the Hill" (Yakulov)

*** Hakob Kojoyan (1920-50’s)

(^) Gohar Fermanyan (1930’s)

- Sedrak Arakelyan (1935)

"Autumn. A corner in Yerevan" (Arakelyan, 1922-1926)

* Dmitry Nalbandyan (1951)

* Zakar Khatcatryan (1924)

* Minas Avetissian (1970’s)

"Memory"

* Ara Bekarian (1960’s-70’s)

"Lyalya at the balcony" (Bekarian, 1961)

(-) Armineh Kalents “Portrait of a Woman” (1958)

*** Jeansem /Jean Semerjian/ (1920) –> (~) Svetlin Rusev

Exemplary Armenian Entrepreneur

The Best Lahmajun Place in Yerevan — Mer Taghr or “Our Street”:

Volunteering in the field of microfinance since May 2009, I have encountered numerous

stories that are a true inspiration for me. still, it is always great to meet entrepreneurs

who would, in Kiva Slang, be “graduates” from the organization because their business is

already doing so well.

At the beginning of September 2009, I took a friend to the “Best Lahmajun Place in Yerevan”

and had the pleasure of meeting the owner–Mr. Sarkis Grboyan–who shared his vision about “Mer Taghu.”

“A friend in need is a friend indeed”

Volunteering in the field of microfinance since May 2009, I have encountered numerous borrower stories that absolutely inspire me. For many, receiving a small credit is a matter of survival, not a matter of ambition. The borrowers’ commitment to work and their willingness to fight so hard are two reasons why Kiva exists. Kiva’s goal is to remove the conditions for this need. Through my encounters with Kiva borrowers, I have learned to appreciate the opportunities that the world of business can give people.

At the beginning of September 2009, I took a friend to what had been presented to me as the “Best Lahmajun place in Yerevan, Armenia.” That evening, we had the pleasure of meeting the owner–Mr. Sargis Grboyan–who shared the story of his the vision for restaurant “Mer Taghe.”  I enjoy meeting entrepreneurs like Sargis, who would, in Kiva Slang, be “graduates” from the organization in the sense that their businesses are already well developed.  These are the entrepreneurs who fall in the category in-between needing micro-credit and heading a big business. If everyone had access to credit resources like Mr. Grboyan did, Kiva and the field of microfinance would not be as vital in the fight for alleviating poverty as they are at the moment.

Velizara with the owner of Mer Taghe (Tumanyan Street, Yerevan)

According to Mr. Grboyan, the past 20 years have brought about a positive climate for entrepreneurship in Armenia while the Soviet regime kept the hands of businessmen tied.  When his parents moved to Armenia in 1947, Sargis began studying at the local university. In history lectures, he was taught that Capitalism was the worse system and that as young people create families, they must make sure to educate their children of that fact. What he learned from this “brainwashing” was to get “into the blood of a customer”–just like the Communist ideal was supposed to get under the skin of people–and to make sure no client forgets “Mer Taghe.”

Sargis was brought up understanding how to “make money;” but more importantly, he was brought up a good and sociable person. One of his visions is being kind to others, while  his everyday priority is to meet new people and help them. He says that if from age 14 you help everyone around you (and most importantly your neighbors), at age 18 one of these people will return your kindness and give you credit to start a business. Sargis says, “If you asked me for money, the first thing I would ask you is ‘Why are you not going to your neighbor’.” You have to seek out the acquaintances that could help you in a hard situation.

It was precisely thanks to such a generous hand that Sargis was able to leave his successful textile business and open a restaurant. Using their own hands, Sargis and his brother, Vazgen, engineered and decorated the place on Tumanyan Street, where they is currently employing 20 people. Sargis thought through every detail from the connection with the kitchen, through the type of seating, to the little Armenian-English wisdom-notes he puts inside the menus:”

“A good name keeps its luster in the dark”

“A fool and his money are soon parted”

“Strike while the iron is hot”

“An honest man’s word is a good as his bond”

I wish all Kiva Borrowers to be able to achieve the ambition, comfort and enjoyment that Sargis Grboyan finds in his work. Part of Kiva’s mission is to provide entrepreneurs from all over the world with the necessaryconnections to develop their business to such an extent. Helping others in a sustainable way is the goal of all of us who commit to the Kiva Community.

Velizara Passajova is serving as a Kiva Fellow with the new field partner Nor Horizon in Yerevan, Armenia.

To view currently fundraising loans from Nor Horizon click here.

To become a member of the “Armenia” lending team click here.