Building Bridges Across the Digital Divide

The past three months in Guatemala have been fulfilling and eye opening, but not always easy to understand. It's been hard to comprehend how a family of seven, their wallets empty and their house too small, was so willing to give me a bed and a seat at their kitchen table for three months. It's even harder to comprehend how they have invited me to return at any time, on any notice.

In contrast, families in the United States, though unburdened by the fundamental challenge of survival, seem so frequently broken by smaller problems. The families of Lake Atitlan seem more willing to share their love - not just with each other, but also with strangers like me. And I wonder if their generosity is because, not in spite, of the hardships they face. Unlike families in the United States, they do not share material wealth; thus they do not have many possessions to fight over. Perhaps we have something to learn from the rural villages in Guatemala. Perhaps we need to reprioritize what is important and worth fighting for in our privileged lives.

Never was this clearer to me than one week after I left for El Salvador, when Chema, the oldest son of my host family, contacted me with some tragic news: his father, Sito, had passed away at the age of 42. Sito, a bus driver, died on a trip he makes six days a week, when his bus - essentially a run-down American school bus from the 70s - collided with another one head on.

Chema and his family were devastated. More than that, I sensed a fear for the future - fear that a family of four children had lost its only income; but five buses and 24 hours later, when I returned to pay my respects, I saw something amazing. I saw hundreds of friends and family flocking to Chema's home day and night to give what rice and beans they could spare, to offer their prayers and friendship and support for the future. A family with nothing suddenly appeared somehow to have everything. I've seen American families come apart in similar circumstances, fighting over the possessions of the deceased. In San Pedro, I saw family come together when family was needed most.

The sense that there's a community that's bigger than each of us is something I try to incorporate into my work. Many of you know that after graduation, I chose to forego a job in the private sector and have been donating my time to assist in the growth of Guatemala's third-world economy. I successfully created a micro credit program for the Mercado Global artisans and cooperatives of the Lake Atitlan region. Mercado Global now has a program that will provide a financial means for women to purchase the tools to innovate and the raw materials needed to increase production.


This undertaking brought some more harsh realizations. It was not just about creating a credit facility; in a society that's never had access to one, its worth needs to be explained. I had to visit each cooperative in the mission to explain the importance of credit and savings. And then I had to leave it in good hands.

The language barrier made that first step very difficult and frustrating for me: my Spanish is pretty good, but there are three languages other than Spanish that are spoken in the rural communities I was visiting. (Luckily, I had a translator.) But beyond language, the "digital divide" - the difference in computer literacy between the developed and the developing worlds - added another layer of complexity.

My final job before leaving was to hire a loan officer to run the program. Finding qualified applicants was a challenge. Under "technical skills," a section under which many Americans leave off Microsoft Office as too obvious, one applicant listed "calculator." (This reminded me of a time I made my host family a slideshow on my computer; instead of watching it, they were entranced by the ability to scroll back and forward within the video.) It began to dawn on me that my progress, though significant, is ultimately limited by the enormous technological gap that still separates the first and third worlds.

I talked about this gap in a recent Brute Labs post. But in my final days in Guatemala, I got closer to understanding one way to address it. It will be impossible to connect the digitally deprived to the digitally endowed if one group lacks that basic fundamental technological resource: the computer.


Computod@s

From this realization, I opened a new chapter in my passport. Along with Sam Baker, a friend and fellow SCU business grad who was having the same experiences and realizations in his work in El Salvador, we're starting a socially driven, sustainable business that provides low-income communities, NGOs, schools and small businesses with access to high quality, affordable computers.

We have forged a partnership with DPG, a large computer products distributor in El Salvador with over 20 years experience in importation, transportation, and distribution to big companies, governments and PC product retailers. DPG will provide us with a strong logistical backbone and the operational support necessary to get off the ground and begin supplying computers. (They have already provided us with the legal support to register our entity under the name "Computod@s" - "computers for everyone." They will also be supplying us with their warehouse to keep our inventory.) And we'll be importing the computers from our supplier, Interconnection USA, a non-profit located in Seattle, WA. Interconnection is a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher that looks to provide a second life to the many computers in the United States that are destined for the landfills.

Working with refurbished computers is good because it's green and it's cheap. Extending the life of one desktop computer with a CRT monitor is equivalent to taking one half of a car off the road for a year. And we'll be offering these computers at a price never before seen in Central America. Operating with a cost-recovery financial budget model, we will be selling brand name Pentium 4 desktops for $150. (Current stores resell comparable PCs for about $300.) Sam and I believe that computers should not be seen as a luxury, and we will be receiving our first shipment of computers very soon to begin working towards this vision.

Last week, I had the opportunity to talk with a delegation of students from Santa Clara on an immersion trip. They asked me if it was difficult to pass up many high paying jobs to come live down here as a volunteer. The short answer is yes. But I've seen firsthand that the value of even one volunteer where I am are often overlooked and underestimated. Plus, the ability to volunteer is itself a luxury: for many, it is impossible to survive in the developing world if you are not working for a wage every single day.

I'm lucky to be able to donate my time, and I'm lucky to be able to leave whenever I want to - to take a more lucrative job in a more prosperous country. This experience has taught me to wonder what it might feel like to live down here without that easy escape. But it's also made me realize that we need to do what we can to make staying put a little easier. I'm trying to do it one computer at a time. I challenge you to find out how you can contribute.

Micro Finance for Macro Change

Anyone who's ever bought a house knows the importance of the credit application process. The most qualified applicants get the most attractive loans. But the difficulty and importance of a strong application has taken on a new meaning for me recently when I learned that many of the artisans Mercado Global will try to assist can't read or write, let alone fill out a credit application form. As is too often true, those most critically in need are facing the most obstacles. I learned I'll need to go through the applications with the applicants, step by step - and then fill them out myself.

The success of a micro loan hinges on the ability of the borrower to meet the monthly payment. One aspect of the loan application, then, is determining a borrower's ability to repay the debt; for this, we use the Feasibility of Credit form. Put simply, the form helps to assess the borrower's ability to pay by subtracting their monthly expenses from their monthly earnings. The Feasibility of Credit form will work to beneficially pair the borrower's monthly repayment capacity with the terms of the loan.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Cooperative of Chaquija. A group of about 20 women in the Guatemalan village of Solola, Chaquija will be the first cooperative to receive a micro loan. The women of Chaquija often work through the day and night at antiquated loom stands to produce the fabrics that sustain their economy. Providing the cooperative with a loan will let them invest in higher quality tools and more advanced technology, in turn increasing their efficiency and improving their quality of life.



But the benefits of technological advancement stretch far beyond Chaquija's looms. Access to information can in so many cases pave the way towards economic advancement. Yesterday, one of the boys in my host family, Victor, sprained his ankle during a soccer game at the local campo. I went to see how he was doing and was surprised to see that basic treatments - treatments we too often take for granted in our own homes - were being forgone. And I'm not talking about Advil and Ace bandages; I'm talking about ice. (Information isn't all that limits Victors treatment; ice is hard to come by in a tropical climate and a home without a refrigerator or freezer.) I explained to him that it was important to keep his ankle elevated to limit the swelling, another step I had considered universally known.
I started to realize how much a simple internet connection could have provided real, physical - even medical - benefits to Victor and his family. Type "sprained ankle" into Google Search, and he could have learned in five minutes all he ever wanted to know about sprained ankles. (And in almost any language, no less.)

Technology that provides access to information can educate, strengthen, and connect communities across the world (both the "first" and "third" worlds). A family's access to medical information, a farmer's access to prices and markets, a mother who is able to contact her son in the United States about the status of next month's remittance - these are just three of a limitless number of reasons that a connected world is a better one.
While I'm down here, I'm exploring ways to provide technology infrastructure to the three billion people that lack it. (And I look forward to the possibility of working with the Brute Labs team to provide this resource.) Dr. Muhammad Yunus echoes the same vision that there are too many middlemen between the developing and developed worlds.

In this last picture, taken from my office last week, you can see four Americans sitting inside using computers, and four artisans outside making jewelry. How much longer until no one needs to be on the outside looking in? As critically as we must pursue the many green efforts in place across the world, it's time for us to enable an equally vast information revolution. It's time to start "G-chatting" with the developing world.

Microfinance in Guatemala

The past couple weeks of my life have flown by faster than the pouring rain flooding the streets of my new home in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala. My name is Brian Belcher and I graduated from Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business seven days ago. Santa Clara's integration of social justice into its curriculum has influenced me to accept a position with Mercado Global (mercadoglobal.org), a fair trade non-profit organization that specializes in the exports of artisans and cooperatives to developed regions in the world. I will be working to help launch Mercado Global's new microfinance bank, a bank established to provide credit for its network of artisans. Because of my academic background in the microfinance industry and my strong passion for working with the bottom of the pyramid (the largest and poorest global socioeconomic group), this was a great opportunity for me.

BRUTE LABS has been gracious in allowing me to share my journey with you. I reached out to Joshua To and the BRUTE LABS team earlier this year after finding the BRUTE LABS website and falling in love with their mission. I had the opportunity to meet the team and attend weekly meetings, as well as their very successful fundraising event this past spring. During my undetermined time in Guatemala, I will be working with BRUTE LABS to explore the possibility of a BRUTE LABS project in Central America.

The first five days in Guatemala have been quite adventurous. I am still in the immersion phase, but the family I am staying with in San Pedro La Laguna is making me feel as comfortable as I am with my own family in Seattle, WA. San Pedro La Laguna is a small village on Lake Atitlan, which is approximately four hours west of Guatemala City. Surrounded by three volcanoes, Lake Atitlan is absolutely beautiful and its daily dose of rain makes it the greenest place I have ever been in my life. Because my office is in Panajachel, another village across the lake, I'll be taking a small boat to work each day. My Spanish is not perfect, but my host family is taking the time to help me out.

My host family has four children of all ages. They were very excited by the gifts I brought: coloring books, crayons, a yo-yo, a paddle with the ball attached, and their favorite, silly putty. On Friday I got a change to hang out with them. We played basketball in the village center, and although I towered over them, we had a lot of fun. After that I brought out my guitar and played some songs for them. I even began to teach one of the kids how to play.

This past weekend I went to Antigua, a tourist village three hours from Lake Atitlan, with another volunteer named Meggie. There were many attractions to see, but the best part of the trip was the hike up Volcano Pacaya. Despite the tour book's warning to not go up during rain, we took a bus to 6,000 feet and hiked up to the peak at 10,000 feet. It took a couple hours to get to the summit. As we got closer to the top we began to smell the sulfur and feel the heat. At the peak we saw LAVA! It was hot and on the move, but it was raining so hard that you could only pick your head up to see it for a couple seconds. After that we began to retrace our steps down the mountain. Unlike tour guides in the US, Central American tour guides are less concerned about the safety of the group and the liabilities involved. Our whole group got separated and Meggie and I were left alone to find our way back down. We could not see a football field's length in front of us and the lava rocks were acting as quicksand. At one point, I was taking about two steps per minute. We finally hit the tree line and I was able to use my "Man vs. Wild" skills (following horse manure and the water trails) back to base, but not before getting a little bloody. While stuck in the quicksand of lava rocks, a basketball-sized rock skidded down the volcano and crashed into my leg, leaving an ugly but manageable gash. It was quite the experience and if this is any indication of the following months, Guatemala is going to be quite the excursion.




Today is my first day of work at Mercado Global and I am excited to begin work on this program. After I get more acclimated and begin to understand where we are with the bank I will be sure to update you on its progress.

Saludos,
Brian