The International Bank of Bob

 

 



Even if you have zero interest in the world of micro lending, you've got to read this book. Bob Harris is incredibly humorous, intensely honest, at times deeply personal and is a wordsmith extraordinaire. My review.

 

So how do you go from being paid to tour the world and write about some of the most fantastically luxurious hotels and resorts imaginable, to taking everything you were paid for doing the assignment and lending it to help finance small businesses around the world and then writing a book about micro financing? That's exactly what Bob Harris did, although he never imagined things would turn out the way they did when he first took the writing gig. Eventually, he lent all $20,000 he had been paid by Forbes Magazine to do the world tour, to help micro finance entrepreneurs around the world. Later, he went and visited some of the people who he had helped finance, just to see if his loans were effective. The stories he writes about his  travels are riveting and the glimpses he gives into the everyday life of people around the world, incredible. You've got to read this book. It is absolutely fascinating! (and no, I'm not being paid to advertise it)

 

This is more than just a book on micro financing. It's a; history lesson, a travel book, a social commentary, an observation on the "birth lottery", a documentary on individual micro loan recipients and has helped initiate the lending of millions of dollars to finance micro loans worldwide.

Barbe and I have for years lent money through Kiva. Each year our initial loan amount has been returned to us and we have relent it. This has gone on for seven years now. When we first began lending through Kiva, I thought that Kiva actually administered the loans. This is not the case. Kiva brings lenders and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) together. These MFIs are responsible for vetting the loan applicants, administering the loans, putting on training seminars and collecting payments. Although we Kiva lenders receive no interest on our loans and Kiva itself is funded through donations, the MFIs do charge interest and are usually meant to be self sustaining businesses themselves. There are hundreds and possibly thousands of MFIs around the world, although there are very few in the USA. For most developing countries, micro financing is the only option small business owners or those wanting to start a small business have for obtaining working capital. Most loans by US standards are very small, anywhere form $100 to $900 USD, but for those receiving them it can be life changing.

My first truck, purchased with the help of a micro loan

Micro lending is part of who I am. In 1987 at the age of 24, a friend lent me $5000 plus interest as a down payment on my first truck. For that first year I made my regular loan payment plus repaid my friend. Since then my business has grown and prospered, but without that first micro loan I don't know where I would be today financially.

After years of lending through Kiva, we decided to start our own family MFI here in Honduras. Actually, we are Kiva and an MFI all in one. I have set this part of our ministry up to function very much like Kiva does. We put applicants and their requested loan amounts out for potential lenders to decide if they would like to lend towards the project, interest free. We then vet, assist in market analysis and administer the loans as the funds are made available. All loans are lent at 0% interest. At this time, we, as a family are providing our services free of charge as a ministry. If this ministry continues to grow, that may change as it can become very expensive, just in travel expenses alone, to administer the loans and do the follow up.

We are currently looking for five more applicants. We have three possibilities, but each of them are some distance away from Siguatepeque which makes the application process a bit more difficult.

So far the Hondurans we have talked with have been overwhelmingly supportive of the idea. Although most people I have spoken to see clearly that these are loans and the reason for it; that to be in business requires the use of sound business principles, I do see an alarming trend occurring. Because we Americans give so generously and in all areas, there is the developing expectation that everything we do should be free, especially if it is connected with missions. This is really no fault of their own, but is, I believe, a result of poor judgement on our part. Without a doubt there is a time to give and to give generously, but when it comes to business, especially when it comes to business, we must promote sound business principles right form the start. "Free" is not a sound business principle and never will be. Because of this, we lend expecting repayment. That is business! We do lend interest free because we are not here to make money off those we want to help and we want them to succeed. That is ministry!

To learn more about how Go and See Ministries MFI works, click this link.

NOTE: Although we depend on your loans to help fund our projects, we too are lending our own money. We will never ask you to lend or to give money to something that we ourselves are not willing to lend or give towards. Also, we will always clearly state whether or not we will personally benefit from a project or ministry  That is our pledge to you.

The Wolfe Family

 

And You Guys Have Done It Again!

Allan

I continue to be astounded and humbled by the generosity of Americans. As I write this, I have in my minds eye a picture of each of you who have so willingly lent your hard earned money to help Allan and Nicole start a business. Some of you have lent for religious motives, some of you have lent because you feel blessed and want to bless others. Some of you believe that helping to provide jobs is the best way to alleviate poverty and some of you have lent just because you believe in us. No matter what motivates each of you, I want you to know how very, very much your generosity means to Barbe and me and to Allan and Nicole.

Huevos Tres en Uno, Our First Bam Project, is officially in business. Allan has made a few adjustments in his business plan, which I fully supported, thereby reducing his start up cost and the amount of the loan he had originally requested. So, I am pleased to announce that this first project IS FULLY FUNDED. We actually have a small balance left to help fund our next project, which we are working on. Until that time, no more funds are needed and we would prefer that those of you who may still be considering lending to BAM hold off until we have another project ready to go. It is an awesome feeling to be able to say, "Stop! No more giving!" Many, many blessings on each of you for your generosity to others.

We had dinner with Allan and Nicole a few nights ago. It was a beautiful evening. We wandered around the yard looking at "the girls".Yep, you heard right, we were checking out the chicks and Barbe and Nicole were right there with us!

I was once again impressed with Allan's resourcefulness. He has already bought a beautiful Rhode Island Red rooster and a few hens. Last week he and Nicole went with me to San Pedro Sula to purchase a 40 egg incubator. Allan has several months before his biggest buyer is ready to begin purchasing eggs, so he thought it would be more cost effective to incubate and hatch the chickens he needs. Instead of buying the 150 hens he has planned for, Allan will spend the next several months raising his own. There is still considerable cost involved. Your loans will be used to finance; the incubator, eggs and once the chicks have hatched, medicine and a lot of feed. All this before they even begin laying and paying their own way. 


The Incubator





Well, I just wanted to give all of you an update on the project. Thanks also to those of you who have  encouraged us and shown interest in the project through emails. A good friend of mine who has his own little chicken farm has sent Allan useful information and advice from his own experience ...thanks for that as well. Still hoping you're gonna' come down and show us how it's done Ted.

 



 



Triunpho de la Cruz

A homemade party barge/fishing boat in the waters of Tela Bay, HN

One of the things I am working hard to overcome, or at least control, is my hard driving, finger tapping, clock watching American induced tendencies when plans and schedules start to fall apart. After all, isn't that really what tomorrow is for...a day to finish all the things we didn't get to finish today?  That's the way that most people here feel and it's really not a bad way to see life...within reason of course, but it can sure drive some of us Type A personalities crazy!



Yuuuummmm!!!!!

Monday's plan is to get up, eat a quick breakfast of delicious cinnamon rolls hot and fresh from the oven, baked by Kirsten and Barbe, pack and hit the road to Triunpho de la Cruz by 9 am. Sure enough, on the stroke of nine we pull away from El Cocal House, all of us valiently engaged in a life or death battle with a cloud of mosquitoes who have attempted a hostile takeover of the van while we were loading up. The plan for the day is as follows; the Wells have a meeting with Samaritan's Purse in Triunpho de la Cruz at 9:30. I have a meeting in Naco scheduled for 3:30 pm. Theoretically, this should leave us plenty of time for both meetings, a quick lunch and still allow us to make  Siguatepque by night fall. "Should" being the key word here!

At 9:30 as we're pulling into Triunpho, right on time and right in character, Corey gets a call from SP letting us know that they will be 2 hours late. Immediately, thoughts of the extra two hours I could have slept fill my mind.  I feel irritation beginning to blossom; why didn't they call earlier, why didn't we call them, why can't anybody around here be on time. But then I realize that being irritated or worrying about the "what ifs" will change absolutely nothing. So I decide to make the best of it, unpack the van, (again) look for swimming trunks for the boys, scrounge through the coolers and bags for any left over chips, bananas, or... OH YES!... cinnamon rolls and head for the beach and the shade of a palm frond thatch roofed hut. Darn!

The younger boys are immediately in the water. The rest of us, with the exception of Kirsten and Corey who head off down the beach hand in hand, lounge in the shade under the palm fronds where we are quickly joined by a large pack of village dogs. At first I assume they are being drawn in by my cinnamon roll, but soon realize that instead, they all have a very keen interest in the one poor female in the pack. Out numbered 7 to 1, she has taken refuge under my chair and refuses to leave. I can't say I blame her. Trey has manged to fall asleep on a wooden bench half his width. Mark, Ben and Barbe are either reading or dosing and I...I sit in the shade of the palm thatch, enjoying ocean breeze and ocean view, practicing patience. Darn!

Finally, around noon Monica and Christine from SP show up, apologetic, but ready to start the meeting. Samaritan's Purse is helping start a fishing co-op in Triunpho. They have brought together 12 of the village men, purchased a boat and are guiding them through the process of developing a self sustaining, profit producing business. I'm all ears. So how does it work? Is it working? Is there enough work/profit for 12 men? What challenges are they facing? Are you helping them plan for the future?

We sit in a circle in the shade of a huge tree, sipping Coca Cola and getting to know each other. Not all of the men are able to attend the meeting, but Christine and Monica chat with those who are there about the business. The men would like to buy a GPS so they can mark the good fishing spots to return to later. Also a horse and cart so they can bring the nets and the Yamaha 75 hp motor home each night. The wheel barrow is getting old, the motor heavy. Fishing has been slow. The boat doubles as an excursions boat for tourist and that too has been slow. Other than that, all is well.

The Wells are interested in moving to the area after they finish language school. They want to know about village life for the Garifuna. (great article) When asked to list their view of the village's top 5 needs, they respond without hesitation. Closer health care facilities and more jobs, followed by worries about their young people and they'd like to see the main street paved. Honestly, I could have been sitting in a rural town in Maine listening in on a town hall meeting, except I was sweating. It makes me realize once again that we all really just want the same thing. Health, steady work so we can provide for our families and we sure hope our kids turn out all right and have a shot at a decent future. Oh... and would it really be asking too much to just get the main street paved? Darn!

It's nice sitting in the shade, laughing, sharing life. The  men want to know if we'd like to go out in the boat. Corey, Kirsten and Trey all look over at me, eyebrows raised. They know I'd still like to make my meeting and it's getting late. I know it's a beautiful day to be on the water. I know they'd really like to go and I know Barbe and the boys who are still patiently waiting under the fronds would too. I think about the boat skimming across the waves, the wind blowing the spray over us, cooling my face. I shrug, lift my phone and cancel my meeting. After all, isn't that what tomorrow's for?

 



 

I tell Fausto, captain of the boat and leader of the co-op, that we really need to be back in half an hour, that we have a long drive home. I can tell he's disappointed. I can almost here his thoughts, "Hey, we're having a good time here, there's always tomorrow. Darn!" 

 

We head for the point of land that marks the southern extremity of  Tela Bay. Pirates and buccaneers used to hide in the many nearby lagoons, making swift forays into these waters looking for Spanish galleons returning to Spain loaded with gold. It isn't too difficult to imagine. We stop to watch two fisherman pull a homemade trap up through the bottom of their homemade boat (top picture). Then Fausto heads directly for the beach and enters the mouth of a river. Immediately we are in another world. The river is the color of  milk chocolate. The banks are jungle like and the air has a damp, fetid smell to it. It's hot and humid. We are warned not to put our hands over the side of the boat and into the water. I have no desire to find out why.

 

An hour later we are back on the beach. Now it really is getting late. We all help drag the 28' boat back up the sand. I'm all in favor of them buying that horse...this thing's heavy! We say goodbye and promise to come again. Back in the van, we head for home. We treat ourselves to Burger King. (whoever thought we'd ever think of that as a treat) Darkness is falling as we leave El Progreso. I really try to avoid travel at night, far to many potholes, slow trucks with no taillights, unlit mopeds and unlit pedestrians for my taste. We arrive back home around eight, without mishap. It's been a great weekend, but it's good to be home. And that's exactly what Siguatepeque is becoming to us.



El Cocal House



A view of El Cocal, hidden behind the palm, from the beach.

Rustic! Secluded! Beautiful! Quiet! Awesome beach!

That's El Cocal House, a beach house/retreat center near Tournabe, (Tela) Honduras.

 

In my last post I wrote about the quality of life and remarkably low cost of living that Honduras offers foreigners and I ended my post by saying that "...this may be the best kept secret in the world". Incredibly, this post received more page views than anything I have written so far. One friend made the comment that perhaps I shouldn't be revealing this "secret" for the same reason most guys won't tell you where their favorite fishing hole is. With this thought in mind, I somewhat reluctantly write about this wonderful place called El Cocal House.

This past Friday morning, desperately needing some R & R after a difficult week at the office (just joking), we headed for Tournabe. All of us, including Corey and Kirsten Wells, their two boys and Trey, piled into the Party Bus and headed for the "playa". Boogie boards, backpacks, coolers, flip flops, all piled high in the rear cargo area. Once again the 1 ton package has paid off. The only thing we left behind were our electronics and Tiger.



The Great Room

 

 

Arriving at El Cocal House in the afternoon, we immediately hit the beach. The water was wonderfully warm, the waves perfect, the sand soft. Later that evening, after dinner, we all gathered in the Great Room to read, drink coffee, play chess and group games like Mafia or the Couch Game. "Last night the Mafia was on the prowl, unfortunately...". This game was introduced to us by Trey. The boys loved it!



 

 

Let me describe briefly the lay out of El Cocal. First of all, it stands high above the beach on wooden post...all of it. It's huge! Fourteen bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a kitchen and the Great Room. It even has a tower/observation area. Wide decks encompass the front of the place offering many places to sit and watch the waves come in. All the rooms are very rustic and are screened in with louvered slats for walls which allow the ocean breezes to waft through the rooms at night. Coconut palms grace the beach area. Sea kayaks and boogie boards are provided at no cost. The kitchen is well supplied with utensils so cooking for a group is easy or for a minimal fee you can ask the caretakers to cook for your group. Although El Cocal is used primarily for group rentals, the owners were kind enough to allow us to stay there. My family had two rooms with a shared bath, access to the kitchen and all amenities for the extremely reasonable price of $30 per night. It was AWESOME!

Saturday was cool and misty. It didn't stop us from going in the water or taking a long walk down the beach. Later, we enjoyed another evening together, similar to the first night, in the Great Room. Trey brought out his guitar and we sang songs and played more games.

 

Trey (Roberto)





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  



Walking the beach in the rain

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning was clear and beautiful. More like amazing really. After breakfast we had "beach church" down by the water followed by swimming, kayaking and sunburning. For a late lunch we drove to the Garifuna village of La Ensenada for fish and shrimp served fresh on the beach.

 



Beach Church

On the way back we decided to check out Miami. We made it, but as you can see from the photos the road left much to be desired. For the first 5 kms the road went through a swamp and was rutted, muddy and rough. The last 3 kms followed the beach and was much better, but the loose sand sometimes threatened to bog us down. When we got to Miami we did not stay long. The place did not have a "good" feel to it (apart from the fact that there was little to see) and we left quickly.

 



The Road to Miami



Mudded

Monday was a very interesting day, but because I try to keep these post reasonably short, I will blog about our adventures in Triumpho de la Cruz later. But let me say this; our adventures do include a pack of dogs, the shade of a thatched palm hut, fishermen, boats and a murky, jungle river.

 

Live Like a King on $1200 a Month.

This morning as Barbe and I took our usual walk through the countryside, I was reflecting on how good life can be here in Honduras if you have a little money. How different are the lives of most of us "Gringos" who live here, even for those who work, compared to those who live in the States. I know so many people who work 50 or even 60 hours a week back home...and this is considered normal.  Most of the truck drivers I know work 70 hours per week or more. Here the work day may start at eight, an hour for lunch and done by four. If you're retired...well, even better. Without a doubt, if you have an income of $10,000 to $15,000 per year, life in Central America can be very, very nice

Here in Siguatepeque there are many retired folks. "Expats" as they are called by us, "Extranjeros" or "Gringos" by the Hondurans. There is a growing number of expats in all of Latin America. Why would someone want to retire here anyway? Well let me put it this way. While most retired folks back home are stretching every social security dollar they have just to get to the end of the month, retirees down here are living like kings by comparison.

Here's what you can have, retired or not, for $850 - $1,200 per month.($10,200 - $14,400 annually)

A very nice house with all utilities.                     $300 - $400    (per month)

A part-time maid/cook and a gardener.              $150 +/-

All meals/groceries, American style food.           $300 +/-

Central American health insurance.                        $55 +/-

A taxi ride anywhere in town $1.10 per                   $30 ?

There is no real need to own a car, unless you just want to or like to travel in-country. Insurance is not required. Taxis are cheap, buses even cheaper. Walking is recommended, not only for savings, but for health. (I've lost almost 20 lbs since we left Maine) It is also a great way to meet and talk with people. I can't begin to tell you how many great people I have met just by walking instead of driving.

The days are warm, the nights cool. We have yet to experience the rainy season...so stay tuned. But, I can assure you of this; it does not snow. (Update: 5 years after this post, we are still here and the rainy season here where we live are actually some of my favorite months. Rains come in the late evening or at night, everything is green and the air fresh. Apr. 2018)

Health care is very good here in Siguatepeque and very inexpensive. We have an excellent hospital and a Medical Specialty Clinic. When we were here in 2012 for a couple of months Barbe had to have an emergency surgery. Three days in hospital, all test and meds, the surgery and an emergency room visit all for $1,700 USD. And the care she received was fabulous. A visit to a specialist, $25. You can even prescribe your own medication. I recently purchased Ciprofloxacin for pennies on the dollar to what I would have spent at home and bought it over the counter. (Update: In May of 2016 I had my gallbladder removed laparoscopically at the medical specialty center. Total cost was $1350 USD)

Safety is probably the biggest concern people have when considering moving to a third world country. Personally, I don't see it. Choose a decent area to live, don't flash your wealth and definitely make friends with your neighbors. If it really bothers you there are gated communities with guards available. Besides, have you seen the headlines from the States recently!

The cost of food is actually less here than in the States. Imported items like designer cereals are more as well as some name brand canned goods, but everything else is less. Milk cost about the same. Ground beef  as well as most other cuts run about $2.50 -$4.00 per pound. After living here a while you really begin to enjoy beans and tortillas too. We eat them often. They are inexpensive and healthy.

Flights in and out of the States are reasonable. Into the south, they run about $400 - $500 round trip. A bit more to the far north.

If you have children, the cost increases some, but much less than it does at home. There is far less, entertainment wise, to spend your money on. That DOES NOT mean that there is nothing to do or that life is boring. You can send your child to a decent private, Spanish only school for about $60 per month plus the cost of uniforms, which all schoolchildren are required to wear by law, or to a private bilingual school $150 per month. The cultural experience and learning a second language is priceless as far as I'm concerned.

Honduras is a very easy place to own a small business if you're not ready to retire. I know missionaries and expats who have coffee shops, bakeries, language schools and export coffee or own coffee fincas. (Update: I now own six businesses. Apr 2018) Almost anything you want to do here is possible. Profits margins may be less, but so is the cost of labor. There are very few personal taxes and not much government involvement in small business, other than mandatory minimum wages. Note: The US still requires it's citizens to pay taxes on profits earned here. There are also many missions, bilingual schools and charitable organizations as well as other types of NGOs who are looking for Americans, especially those with specialty skills, to work for them. With the explosion of the Internet and online businesses, living and working outside the States has never been easier.

So, although there are definitely things you will miss when living outside the US, (family being one of those) I believe that whether you are still working or retired and have at least $12,000 in annual income...living in a third world country may be the best kept secret in the world!



Or you could stay home and have this!