Faraja Youth Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the Faraja Youth Group group, consisting of Dancan Muswera, Conzilata Wesong, Fanice Nabwire, Patranilla Akoth, Bernard Musungu, Peter Okwara, Robert Barasa, Fredrick Wafula, Simon Wesong, Silas Emachari by Opportunity International- Wedco Ltd. in Kenya. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 9 months, Opportunity International- Wedco Ltd. will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Update by Zack Turner, Kiva Fellow with OI-Wedco in Kenya:

I met with Peter Okwara at his hotel (“eating room”) near Busia town. Even though it wasn’t his group meeting day he was kind enough to offer an update on his loan and the group.

As the chairman of Faraja Youth Group his responsibilities a leader are to maintain group cohesion, problem solve any issues, and monitor the repayments with the secretary and treasurer. The group has been together for two years and they have been with OI-Wedco the whole time. He is hopeful that the group will clear their loan by the end of October.

He has been running a hotel, which in Kenya is a small café, for four years. At his “Junction Hotel” he serves ugali, nyma choma (Kenyan BBQ), tea, and chipati. Each week he profits approximately 1000 schillings ($15). Peter would like to open another hotel in Mungatsi a village several kilometers down the road. With his loan he built up stock for the hotel.

His wife and four children are doing well. The kids have recently started school and his wife is busy planting small scale crops for the season.

Duncan, the representative profiled for the groups Kiva posting, was unavailable to interview. However, Peter informed me that Duncan is doing well. He is now profitably selling cereals in Busia town.

All of the group members were deeply affected by the violent crisis that occurred after the disputed presidential election in Kenya earlier this year. During these months violence made business and travel extremely dangerous and economic activity halted in much of Kenya. Thankfully the violence didn’t spread to the village where the members of Faraja live. Still, after peace was brokered the prices of goods and transportation had risen significantly, which cut into all the members potential for profits.

The name Faraja loosely translates to “joy”, which Peter says he is encouraging in his members as they finish their loan.

Special Notes:

This loan was posted mid-cycle on Kiva for extraordinary reasons. After peace and stability was restored, Opportunity International-Wedco chose to reschedule the loans of groups impacted by the post-election crisis. Kiva offered to help by posting the groups that were rescheduled, thus this extended update.

A self-help group is a legal community of people that band together to provide collateral. In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a group of individuals bound by a 'group guarantee'. Under this arrangement, each member of the group supports one another and is responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members if someone is delinquent or defaults. For the Kiva posting, we select one member to represent the group with their story and business.

For more regarding the post-election crisis please start here:

http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2008/09/09/brief-summary-of-the-post-election-crisis-in-kenya/