Twenty borrowers, Three Camels, and Thirteen Kenny Rogers Songs: Borrower Verifications in Kenya by the Numbers

May 5, 2013

By: Jada Tullos Anderson

When you are looking at the Kiva website, you might occasionally wonder: “Is that a real person and are they really getting a loan for what they’re saying?” How does Kiva make sure their partners are doing what they claim to be doing? They send out over-qualified but eager volunteers who ride hundreds of hours on public transportation, drink countless cups of tea, and meet a randomly chosen sample of the borrowers you see on kiva.org. We’re called Kiva Fellows, and this activity is known as a Borrower Verification, or in Kiva lingo, a BV.

Visiting with borrowers in Tala area

There are many excellent posts about BVs by other fellows:

Why is there a gringo in my house and is he leaving soon?
Pakistan: Remarkable Women in Remarkable Places
How do you know Maria in Peru is really buying a sewing machine?
And the prize for the scariest blog about BVs: The Bridge: Between Life and Dead

My storytelling abilities are a work in progress, but I do like to count. I started a count when I began my BVs, and now that I’m almost done, I wanted to share them with you.

Everyone needs a helping hand sometimes

Another night, another hotel.

Borrower Verifications:
2 sets of 10 borrowers each, one set for Juhudi Kilimo and one set for KADET
Hours in the Field: 140
Hours on Public Transport (of the 140): 85.5
Days in the Field: 15
Missed Lunches: 15
Tea and bananas from a borrower: 5
Milk for tea came from borrower’s cow: 3
Matatus (minibus): 30
Buses: 7
Public Taxis: 7
Boda Bodas (motorcycle taxis): 22
Walks: 10
Taxis: 9
Flat Tires: 1
Switched matatus because of breakdown or not enough people to continue to destination: 3
Kenny Rogers Songs: 13 (one was Kenny and Dolly together)
Kenny Rogers Ringtones: 2
Camels on side of road: 3
Things stolen from me: 1 camera
Wonderful people I met: Too many to count

Borrower and his family in Mwingi. His youngest thought I was absolutely scary.

If you want to see more about matatus and bodabodas (and why I’m addicted to bodabodas), check out my other fellows blog here.

By the way, Kiva Fellows are not compensated—we do this because we believe one way to improve the world is to provide someone the opportunity help themselves. If you are as passionate as we are about helping others, please click here to make a loan and invite someone else to do so now.