Maria Alexandra Parraga Sornoza

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to MARIA ALEXANDRA PARRAGA SORNOZA by Fundación ESPOIR in Ecuador. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 5 months of this loan, Fundación ESPOIR will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Once again, thank you for making a loan to a Kiva borrower in Ecuador. That loan was posted by one of Kiva's local field partners -- Fundación Espoir. The purpose of this message is to update you on how Kiva funds are impacting local entrepreneurs given recent in-country challenges and let you know how you can support Fundación Espoir's work to serve low-income men and women who live in marginalized urban and rural areas.

As a Kiva Fellow for the past three months, I have been responsible for working closely with my MFI to achieve a number of objectives to reach an ultimate goal of graduating Fundación Espoir from the Pilot stage to the Active stage on Kiva.org. On Kiva.org, MFIs need to pass certain requirements and demonstrate good Kiva practices in order to obtain Active status on the site. With pleasure, I'm proud to announce that it was accomplished on Friday, December 11. I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with the energetic staff at three of my MFI's offices: first in their main branch in Quito and then more closely with borrowers in the field in Manabi (Portoviejo) on the coast and Azuay (Cuenca) in the south.

I wanted to give you an update on how a major energy crisis has swept Ecuador since November 5, crippling many businesses. Daily power rationing in every zone of every town and city lasts between 3 and 5 hours every day. Half of Ecuador’s economic output is petroleum, but most is destined for foreign lands. Domestically, the country relies on hydroelectric power, and the nationwide drought and lack of alternative fuel sources have brought the country to a near-standstill. Coupled with the global financial crisis, the energy crunch has impacted further access to capital for many entrepreneurs, given slower demand for goods and services.

Examples of how Kiva borrowers have been affected are unfortunately easy to find from our interviews. For example, Felinda in Manta has a restaurant that needed to shut its doors in the evening for dinner, as she could not service her clients. Astromelia in Portoviejo could not use her computer nor print photos for clients using her digital printer when the power went out for 5 hours in the middle of a work day. In Cuenca, the drought itself is impacting the many agricultural businesses of Kiva borrowers such as Teresa who lives in the hills behind Cuenca. Many of her chickens and pigs purchased with a Kiva loan have passed away, and she is currently behind on her repayments to Fundación Espoir. Luckily, the government has stated that the crisis will be over and daily rationing will end before Christmas due to new deals signed with Peru and Colombia to supply energy to Ecuador. Many Kiva borrowers have stated that they are very eager to take orders for the holiday season and also cannot wait to see family members during this festive time of the year.

The staff at all three locations -- Quito, Portoviejo and Cuenca -- have been extremely welcoming, very open to my requests and have made me feel at home here in Ecuador. Coming back from the rural countryside at 8 or 9 pm at night is a regular occurrence since there are many community banks to visit every 15 days for repayments, and the staff do not complain; they relish the opportunity to support their fellow citizens and also spend time with one another, as they're definitely a happy bunch.

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