For those of you who don’t know I worked in/conducted research in/yadda yadda yadda in the Dominican Republic last summer. I partnered with a microfinance organization called Esperanza International. My main duties entailed posting Kiva profiles and doing interviews to learn about/make recommendations for the training programs that Esperanza offers its loan recipients (for more information, chat me up or read earlier blog posts).
After being admitted to the Stanford Santiago program, we learned that we could potentially do an internship during the study abroad. As I grow older, I realize I am more and more like my dad: I lose my keys, I sometimes wear sandals and socks, and I like to keep my options open. Wanting to keep my options open, but not really desiring an internship, I uploaded a copy of my resume just in cases (yes, case is plural on purpose). I then received information about Accion Emprenadora. They’re a non-profit MFI. I figured it would be great to have a comparative microfinance experience, so I applied. I was accepted and as I corresponded with Accion and Stanford students who had interned in the past, it became clear that Accion is not so much a micro lending organization (though they’re trying to develop that aspect) as they are a micro business-training organization, which is exactly what I focused on while in the DR. Too perfect.
Today, after a much needed sleep-in, Lauren and I grabbed lunch and then I jetted off to Accion for orientation. ¬¬¬I met up with Ian who is another Stanford student who will be interning with Accion. Apparently, he was way more motivated/on his stuff because he began talking with Accion in the fall. Despite both being juniors, both being econ majors, both having taken some of the same classes, and both having lived in FloMo this year, Ian and I were completely oblivious of the other’s existence until about two days ago. This is particularly strange because he’s at least 6’7’’ and, well, hard to miss. I thought I’d be the only one interning, but I am glad I was wrong. While introducing ourselves, the office found it hilarious that we were Anne y Ian.
Accion’s mission is to break Chile’s cycle of poverty through helping people start businesses or improving current ones. Their current model is a three-phase one: 1. Business owners take several weeks of classes in whatever business training they want and Accion offers 2. Business owners partner with tutors/consultants with whom they meet once a week for four months 3. Accion helps these businesses secure funding. It’s impressive because most businesses owners believe that working with Accion has helped them improve their productivity, the majority have seen increased income, and about 30% have hired additional employees (the last data point is most impressive to me).
I’m now especially excited to work with Accion because
1. Studying abroad with thirty-two Stanford students is very different than working more or less alone whilst abroad. We roam in large packs and I was having a difficult time foreseeing opportunities to connect with Chileans in an even close-to-similar way. Working with Accion will foster those possibilities and will also help me not feel like I’m part of a herd of cattle.
2. I had forgotten that I really, really love and care about these kinds of initiatives and that I really, really love and enjoy working with smart, hardworking people who also care about these initiatives.
3. I’ll get to design and work on a project that will be personally and meaningful and genuinely beneficial to Accion. We’re going to meet again on Monday to determine what that will look like.
I’m guessing my internship with Accion will be way more important to me than I had initially thought it would be. I had gone into it fairly flippantly but am now eager to more fully dedicate myself to this project. I like projects; I like ‘em a lot.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Far, Far Away from Here.
Hi Y’all,
For those of you who don’t know, I am studying abroad in Santiago, Chile this quarter. It is a Stanford program, which means it is heavily organized and subsidized, the latter of which is and will continue to be amazing. I will be in Santiago until mid-June.
Between two flights and an eight-hour lay over, I traveled for 24 hours. I was totally ready to do it all by myself. However, I very much appreciated the fact that my dad walked into SFO with me and made sure I sent off my bags and checked in with ease. Just because I can do things completely on my own doesn’t mean it’s not a lot nicer when someone else (particularly someone I love and care about) helps me.
While on the 8:25 AM flight from SFO to Atlanta, I asked the flight attendant for tea. He kind of rolled his eyes and made a fake ordeal about tea being so much work. I posed a fake apology for making him do his job and then he accused me not having a sense of humor. When he passed by with the drink cart a couple hours later, I said that I did not want anything to drink because the last time I asked for something he had given me such a hard time that I wasn’t interested in pressing the issue. He then asked if he could beg my forgiveness by buying me a drink. 10 AM or not, I said yes and quite enjoyed my baby-sized bottle of white wine. It was kind of symbolic because the wine was called “gato” and is Chilean: the liquid emblem of a gringa passing from Los Gatos, California to Chile.
Also on the flight, I took out my tour book and map. As I read and highlighted, I became increasingly more excited for this quarter. These some of the main things that I decided want to accomplish during the quarter:
1. Dance. I love dancing and didn’t get to do nearly enough latin dancing while in the DR. I’ve been hitting up a lot of the Stanford salsa events and a local Salsa club ever since I turned 21. I went the Tuesday before I left and danced with an Andre the Giant look-a-like.
2. Drink a lot of wine and develop preferences, perhaps.
3. Improve the Spanish, specifically the grammar.
4. Travel most every weekend
5. Make new friends, but keep the old (yeah girl scouts)
6. Journal regularly, which will be much more difficult than last summer because
a. I have internet in my house
b. I’m not going to be lonely/uncomfortable
c. I’m going to be a lot busier
7. Think about the possibility of writing a thesis (ick). The only reasons I would truly consider it are
a. working on a project is the only way to get any real and sustained attention from Stanford professors.
b. hashing through and writing succinctly about ideas that are genuinely interesting to me could be valuable/interesting (duh).
Post the cross-country flight, I spent eight hours in the Atlanta airport. Luckily it’s large and there are a few bookstores. I read some junk magazines, thumbed through Freakanomics, and watched some guy fail in flirting with a girl from Honduras.
Over the airport’s loud speakers, a voice would occasionally announce a plane that had changed terminals, a flight that was about to leave, or a person who needed to check in. One time, that voice called for a Bueller repeatedly. Hehe.
After seven and a half hours of bumming around the airport, I finally stood in line for the flight. While waiting in the queue to board the airplane, a Chilean woman asked if I was Latina. I said no, but I was quite bolstered that she mistook me for a Chilean. While in the Dominican Republic, there was no chance of mistaking me for a local, so this is boding well for me.
There were two particularly memorable parts of the eight-hour flight from Atlanta, Georgia to Santiago, Chile. I sat next to a man who initially reminded me of an older Clint Eastwood. I was a bit intimidated and resultantly worried that the flight would be an uncomfortable one. To try and minimize this potential awkward tension, I attempted to strike up a conversation by asking him if he was going to Santiago for travel purposes or not. He enthusiastically responded that he was indeed a traveler. In fact he has traveled all over the world and is just now taking on South America. He does motorcycle tours. Thus, he’ll ship his bike to x destination, pick it up, join a group of nine to ten other people and they’ll ride a specific route, allowing them to explore more rural parts as well as the regular city destinations. This current tour will be just short of two months. He was particularly excited because “my lady” was going to meet up with him the next day and ride on the back with him. She (unclear whether it was his wife or girl friend) too has accompanied him on many of these treks and though she is a well-educated and beautiful (he showed me a couple photos) Persian woman, she is not averse to roughing it a bit.
Motorcycle tours sound quite fun. After using motos as one of my primary mode of transportation this past summer, I could really see myself owing some sort of motorized bike, especially if I lived in a slightly more rural area.
The second element of the flight that was particularly memorable was a sunrise I saw from the plane. Ever since my 3rd grade best friend rode on her first plane during which she saw “the most amazing sunset,” I’ve been eager to see the sun rise or set from a plane. While I’ve certainly ridden on planes during dawn and dusk, I have either been asleep or on the wrong side of the plane to catch the phenomenon. This time, however, I was both on the proper side and awake; I had just woken up from one of my several naps I managed to take while flying. I also caught the sunrise at its earliest phase: when it was simply a red line stretching across the sky. As I watched, the red line became thicker and melted into orange and yellow. It was stunning.
After landing, passing through customs, and paying the reciprocity fee, I sought out a cab to drive me to my homestay. The driver’s name was Pedro, which was completely appropriate because Pedro was my neighbor during the summer and he too was my taxi (though he was also my ice cream and billiards date). While driving into the city I was struck by a few things in particular. The first was a billboard for the consulting firm Accenture. I have a couple of friends who will intern for Accenture this summer and the sign, with the same advertisement I’d seen online, made the world feel small and made me smile. The second was that cars don’t really stop for pedestrians. As we nearly missed a few, all I could think about was how I would stand on the sidewalk until there was quite a lull in traffic. The third was how the foliage is very California: jacaranda trees, palm trees, pepper trees, etc. etc. etc. The more time I spend here, the stronger that impression grows.
I easily found the apartment where I would be living and took the elevator to the fifth floor. I was immediately greeted by Catalina, the nine-year-old daughter with whom I living. Cecilia, her mother was out and so I moved into my room. Lauren Carter, one of my dear friends who lives with Cecilia as well, had arrived earlier that morning and was sound asleep. Since I had found independent travel to be completely not romantic during the summer, living with a friend is super appealing. Also, Lauren and I are close enough that we don’t have to be together 100% of the time and we can also tell each other to get out of our hair, which is crucial to a good relationship. It’s been great living with Lauren because we can walk to the Stanford center together and always have someone to go home with after a night (or early morning) out.
Let me share a bit about my homestay family. I live with Cecilia and her two daughters who are fourteen and nine. Catalina is nine and is very sweet. Apparently she dislikes studying but is smart enough to still take top marks. I always wished I were one of those people who didn’t have to study. I have yet to meet Daniella (the fourteen-year-old) because she is quite grown up and has thus been spending the past few weeks at her friend’s house. I believe she’ll be home next week. Cecilia is kind and welcoming. We began communicating via facebook and email prior to my arrival in Chile, so it was great to finally meet her. She has family and fiancé in Miami and has visited them several times. One of my favorite conversations we shared was about the merits of TJ Max and Nordstrom Rack. A thrift shopper, Cecilia is a woman after my own heart.
Cecilia is a tremendous and healthy cook. The second part is particularly wonderful. Lauren and I both feel like the portions have been perfect and are thankful that we don’t have to beat off offerings of food with stick. After talking with others, this seems to be a rare phenomenon. Several members of Cecilia’s family have diabetes and thus she is extremely cautious, which is fine (and delicious) by me.
The first full three days in Chile have certainly been full. The first two were crammed with Stanford orientation. Some of it was helpful, but the majority just felt a bit too much like a lecture. After the first day of orientation, a huge group of us went out for Pisco Sours, a quintessential Chilean drink. They are very yummy indeed. Right now, we seem to travel in a huge pack. If we had lanyards with nametags it would basically be freshman year 2.0. After the second day of orientation we went on a hike to the top of Cerro San Cristobal. There’s a park where apparently every Sunday there are free salsa lessons. I’ll have to hang around one weekend to check it out. Also at the very top of the hill is a huge white statue of The Virgin Mary. Slightly lower, and significantly smaller, is a statue of Jesus on the cross. I guess he’s ok too.
Later that night, a group of us went out. We first stopped by a pub called Fozzy. It was great because there were several nooks where we were able to sit, chat, laugh, and generally get to know each other. After that, we took a few cabs to another area called Bellavista and found a dance club. It was good to dance, though I still have yet to salsa (they played a few merengue songs however). The wonderful thing about this night was that we had both talk and dancing; often it’s one or the other. Conversation and dance are my favorite forms of caffeine.
I’ll be sure to share many more updates and am happy to cater them according to your wishes.
Besos y abrazos,
Anne
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