Bob Harris - The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time

Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy!
Who Hates Whom: Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts, and Various Things Blowing UpA Woefully Incomplete Guide

Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time

BOB HARRIS

Since Bob is coincidentally a name often given to ordinary, middle-class characters in American TV, film, and commercials, the phrase Bank of Bob is meant to playfully imply that lending a few bucks to support small enterprises in the developing world can be easy, fun, and something any ordinary person might enjoy. I emphatically take zero credit for any aspect of the development of microfinance, which belongs with Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank (who eventually shared a Nobel Peace Prize), FINCA, ACCION, BRAC, and many others at every level of the industry, for decades, worldwide. Theyre the fireworks display. Im just a guy saying ooh.

I dont speak or work for Kiva, Rang De, or anyone else. My goof-ups are mine, not theirs. That said, my relationships with a few people in this book have grown into enduring friendships, which could arguably compromise my objectivity. I dont think it did, but Ill just be honest about it, and you can judge for yourself. I did ask Kiva to fact-check their history and data at press time, trying to keep the book current. Other than that, rest assured: absolutely no one has had any editorial influence over the manuscript. Sometimes this has included my actual editor, depending on my mood that day.

The photos are my own personal shots, except for a few taken by Devra Berkowitz, a UN photographer who retraced my travels in Cambodia and the Philippines a year later. Neither Kiva nor Rang De nor anyone else had anything to do with any of the photos, so if Ive screwed something up, holler at me, not them. In non-public settings or wherever any clients face might be visible, permission for use from the subject was always explicitly obtained, albeit often only in verbal form, since written releases in multiple languages with functional legalese operative in a dozen countries appeared to be prohibitively expensive to prepare and probably fallible anyway. Devra got permission as well, usually verbal but sometimes in writing, too. There is a difficult balance between (a) a desire to fully show the warmth and openness of the clients, sharing their strength and accomplishments, and (b) respect for their privacy and sometimes safety. These are judgment calls. Where I err, I hope it is on the side of caution.

Except for the illustration on page 328, which is derived from a public domain NASA photo, I drew all the maps by hand with a free graphics program. These are based loosely on the CIAs online maps, which are in the public domain and fit my budget nicely. If a border is off by a smidge, no disrespect is intended. (I also reassure everyone in the developing world that I have nothing to do with the CIA. I just used their free maps.)

A few recent memoirs have played loosely with facts, so if anything here seems hard to believe, I dont blame you. Fortunately, I do nothing heroic, I overcome no difficult odds, and I dont pretend to have changed anybodys life all that much. Theyre doing the life-changing themselves. Im just telling you about it. Plus, all of my 5,000+ Kiva loans are on view at www.kiva.org/lender/bobharris. I probably come off like enough of a goofball here for you to figure its pretty accurate. As to Kiva, they have never received less thanand continue to holdthe highest four-star rating from CharityNavigator.org. At this writing, Kiva ranks in the 96th percentile among medium-sized charities, with a perfect score for accountability and transparency. (See Sources.) Every loan and its outcome remains on the site in perpetuity, and Kivas financial statements and tax filings are open as can be at www.kiva.org/about/finances. This is all about as transparent as air.

A few things I do hide: For the clients safety and privacy, their last names are never used. Im also a little fuzzy on exact locations, especially if somebodys neighbors might not smile on them hanging out with a guy from Ohio who gets free maps from the CIA. Youll also see a few pseudonyms, with the reason in a footnote on the names first use. Speaking of which, to my friend in Beirut with surprisingly good beer, thanks, Kevin.

Unless otherwise noted, data is the most recent I could find while preparing the final draft in August and September 2012.

More than 830,000 people have made Kiva loans as this book goes to press. Lenders tend to feel a strong sense of connection to the clients, so its common to imagine arranging field visits like the ones described here. Let this book be your vicarious pleasure instead. It took years of my life to make this project work in a way that was good for all concerned. As youll see, most clients are working massive hours, and MFIs arent set up to receive visitors without a darn good reason. Id traveled to more than fifty countries before this project, and even so, the cultural, health, economic, political, and other challenges were often considerable. In short: kids, please dont try this at home.

Mohammed is a bicycle and motorcycle repairman, slight of build, shy, almost apologetic in his body language. As he first welcomes me, I am sure that he was one of the smaller kids where he grew up, and he probably still feels it sometimes.

As a forty-two-year-old adult, Mohammed now labors for eleven hours per day, six days a week, in a space smaller than many American kitchens. Mohammeds work area is crammed floor-to-ceiling with tires, wheels, cogs, chains, motor blocks, and assorted metal bits, but theres an order to the crammery, everything in its place. You can see right away that Mohammed doesnt waste time here. He works.

When our conversation concludes, I turn around from Mohammeds garage, facing a half-dozen young men in this working-class part of town.

They are staring at me and speaking to each other in a language I dont understand.

One of them is making a fist.

When I was a boy in Ohio, Morocco was faraway and alluringTangier, a pulsing oasis for international spies; Marrakech, where Crosby, Stills, and Nash took the express train with the sunset in their eyes; Casablanca, a place so remote that Humphrey Bogart could try to hide from an entire world war. Even Fez, where the little red hats with tassels came from, felt enticing.

Now that Im here, its not quite so beguiling. Casablanca is the size of Chicago, boasting not just Africas largest mosque but its biggest shopping mall, offering the traditional Saharan pleasures of Sunglass Hut, Pinkberry, and bowling. Tangier just got its second Marjane, the local equivalent of a Walmart Supercenter (boxed Tunisian dates, just 19.9 dirhams per kilo). Moroccos eighteen Pizza Huts are all open until midnight, seven days a week, although the pepperoni is made without pork.

As to Marrakech, express trains still arrive dailybut so do dozens of airlines, all serving the million-plus annual tourists who come here seeking a take-home box of exotic. They wander the souks to buy leather and spices, sit in cafs smoking sweet shisha tobacco, and stroll its main square amid a whirling storm of snake charmers, fruit vendors, jugglers, and fire-eaters. Back home, I may have seen Marrakechs main square as often as the rest of Morocco combinedfrom Alfred Hitchcocks