Address

Ukraine Apt Address:

Bobbie Lydick
ул. Мира, дом 20, кв. 13
г. Запорожье, 69035
Украина (Ukraine)

Benefits of Foreign Aid in the lives of Women

Okay so my friend sent me this article about the benefits Foreign Aid can have on women. The article is long, but I seriously suggest reading the whole thing. It's worth your time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/magazine/23Women-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1#


If you're pressed for time here is a 5 minute summary in video form that you can just watch:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/08/20/magazine/kristof-audioss/index.html#


If you only have a minute...then read the insert below about why MFIs focus on giving loans to women!

WHY DO MICROFINANCE organizations usually focus their assistance on women? And why does everyone benefit when women enter the work force and bring home regular pay checks? One reason involves the dirty little secret of global poverty: some of the most wretched suffering is caused not just by low incomes but also by unwise spending by the poor — especially by men. Surprisingly frequently, we’ve come across a mother mourning a child who has just died of malaria for want of a $5 mosquito bed net; the mother says that the family couldn’t afford a bed net and she means it, but then we find the father at a nearby bar. He goes three evenings a week to the bar, spending $5 each week.

Our interviews and perusal of the data available suggest that the poorest families in the world spend approximately 10 times as much (20 percent of their incomes on average) on a combination of alcohol, prostitution, candy, sugary drinks and lavish feasts as they do on educating their children (2 percent). If poor families spent only as much on educating their children as they do on beer and prostitutes, there would be a breakthrough in the prospects of poor countries. Girls, since they are the ones kept home from school now, would be the biggest beneficiaries. Moreover, one way to reallocate family expenditures in this way is to put more money in the hands of women. A series of studies has found that when women hold assets or gain incomes, family money is more likely to be spent on nutrition, medicine and housing, and consequently children are healthier.

Support, Service, School, Solo, Spain

Why hello friends of mine. It's been a while since I posted last, but I really don't have too much to fill you in on. My life is pretty chill to say the least. I've been keeping myself busy with work, walks, skype, cooking, sleeping, and a lot of episodes of The Office.

Here's a brief update on my life. As of today, I have been outside of the US for exactly 3 months; I've been in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine for 9 days; and I started my new job 4 days ago. Things have been going pretty smoothly. I took the first couple of days to find an apartment. While the apt-hunt was underway, I stayed with my boss' family. They were super sweet to house me and drive me around everywhere I needed to go. I'm very thankful for them and all their support! I also got pretty close to their 12-year-old daughter named Katya. She's AWESOME and a huge blessing in my life. I will actually be staying with her for a few days while her parents are out of town. I'm excited for some fun girls-nights :).

In addition to the huge blessing of my boss' family, I also got the pleasure of meeting an older missionary couple from Canada. After some small talk about Alaska, they lent me some cook wear, bedding, and some other random things I needed for my apartment. This would be Huge-Blessing-#2. I'm excited to get to know them more and see a little of what their ministry looks like here.

As for my job/service project, I'm starting to put together a questionnaire for a marketing focus group here in Ukraine. HOPE is "hoping" to find out what kind of items their clients would purchase if given small consumer loans. These loans would be for home-appliances or other personal use items. They are hoping to market the new consumer loan products in order to get more clients. I'll be testing some of these ideas. My boss also told me about another project we will be starting soon. We will be making a client catalog. So our clients can buy products they need from other HOPE clients. It will specifically be targeting clients that are having trouble paying back their loans. For example: Client A sells towels. Client A also can't pay back his loan. If he sells his merchandise, towels, he will then be able to use this money to pay back the loan. So, Client B comes into the office and says, "I need a new towel." If Client B buys it from Client A after seeing it in the catalog, then Client A will have more income to pay his loan back. Not only does it help Client A, but also...1)helps the MFI (microfinance institution) get their money; 2)it helps the individual loan officers PAR %(portfolio at risk - which is the % of clients per loan officer that aren't paying back their loans on time). If their PAR % decreases then their salary increases; 3) and it also helps our clients advertise their products. In the future, we hope for all this to be done by shopping online and develop some kind of delivery procedure for all our clients.

Other than that, school starts tomorrow at NWC, and I too will have to start my Advanced Accounting class. It will be interesting to see how my study habits get better or worse while being outside the classroom setting. With this said, it's hard for me not to be back at NWC. I've been pretty successful keeping myself busy so that I don't get too homesick. I'll try to keep this up until I acquire some kind of life here in Zap-town. I still feel like I'm in transition after leaving Moldova. I have to be honest and say that I have very little friends here. My Russian is not good enough to have conversations with strangers, let alone build a relationship. I've met very little people that actually speak English. Some days I go the whole day without taking to someone here (and we all know how strange this is for me...bah!) I'm trying to stay positive through everything and looking at this time as one big "solo" trip. Trying to get the most out of living with myself and seeing what God has for me personally. It's funny how we get so wrapped up in what everyone else is doing that we don't have time to listen to what God is trying to tell us. That describes my life perfectly the last couple of years - being so busy that I have very little time to sit and reflect on the small things of life. I think I'm learning more than I can understand right now.

In another month, I will be taking a vacation. I'll be heading to Western Europe with my dad! I'm so excited for the trip. We've been planning the trip for a while now...okay, so he's mainly the one that's been planning it ;). We will be going to Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and where ever else we decide to go when we get there. I'm really looking forward to seeing a familiar face and to have the ultimate father-daughter experience. If anyone has any contacts where we can stay feel free to e-mail me!

There's my life in a nut-shell. I hope you enjoy reading about it, because I enjoy living it.
I miss you all...A LOT!

Apartment pictures are up in case you're interested! http://bobbielydick.shutterfly.com/

Kiev, Ukraine

I arrived in Kiev, Ukraine on Saturday after a 10 hour bus ride from Moldova. When I got here I soon realized that I had jumped into fall. The weather was perfect and the heat was gone. I spent an hour and a half waiting at the bus stop because my bus had arrived early. After a chilly morning of waiting with two suitcases, I got settled in for a week of new sites and transition to a new country.

Saturday: A team of Americans went to buy souvenirs at Andriyivsky Uzviz. We looked around for a bit, but then Meredith and I decided our money would be better spent on coffee. After a quick stop at St. Andrew's Church, we proceeded to a place called Кофе Хауз (Coffee House in Cyrillic). Afterwards it started raining so we retreated to a cheap Ukrainian cafeteria and caught a quick glance at Kiev's Golden Gate. Later that day we got to see the World War 2 monument accompanied by the Motherland Monument. The Motherland Monument is on top of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. Motherland stands 204 feet tall and is said to weigh 530 tons. She still holds a large shield with the Coat of Arms of the Soviet Union – a blast from the past to say the least.

Sunday: Meredith and I started the day off going to Hillsong Ukraine which is the Kiev-based offshoot of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. It was crazy going to a mega church in a post-soviet country, especially after being in Moldova where 98% of the population is Orthodox. I also took my first subway ever. It was a bit hard with the Cyrillic lettering, but relatively easy. Later we met the guy we would be staying with for the week. He is here in Kiev working for US Aid. He showed us around downtown Kiev. We walked down the famous Khreschatyk Street. The street is blocked off on weekends and holidays for pedestrians to walk around downtown. We walked past the Taras Shevchenko National Opera Theatre and ended up at Independence Square. This is the destination of Kiev's Orange Revolution in 2004. Ukrainians wore orange and flocked to the center part of town to protest against a corrupt government election. After about a month in subzero temperatures, a revote was allowed and the election was deemed fair. This left Ukraine as more politically aware and fighting for a better democracy.

Monday: We stopped by HOPE Ukraine's administrative office. We met a few of the people that worked there and then set up a time to meet with my new boss on Tuesday. One of the guys in the office needed to go downtown so we followed him and his wife there. They showed us around a huge underground shopping mall. Later Mer and I went to the Park Misky Sad. There we saw the Rainbow Arch which is part of the Friendship of Nations Monument with a beautiful view overlooking the Dnipro River. We took a path along the lock bridge where newly married couples will come and put a lock which symbolizes their lasting relationship. We took a walking break and sat outside the beautiful Puppet Theater. People watching was a must at this stop. Also it was my brother's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVE!

Tuesday: I met with a man that would be my boss for the next 3 months. He gave me small hints into what I would be doing once I arrived in Zaporizhzhya. We decided that I would pick out my own apartment once I arrived. He also helped me get my bus ticket for the 8 hour trip on Saturday. We worked on some questions for a focus group I'll be orchestrating soon in Zaporizhzhya. After that the day was pretty relaxed until Mer and I got lost trying to find a local coffee shop. Five bus stops later with the help of a really nice elderly Ukrainian women, we finally found the metro to take us downtown. It was a long day, but it ended with a great conversation over coffee. To finish off the night we went to a lookout that looked down on Independence Square beautifully lit up.

Wednesday: I would call this the "Day of Sights". We went to St. Sophia's Cathedral which is the oldest standing church in Kiev which has Byzantine architecture dating back to 1037. We then went to the kievo-Pecherska Lavra. 123 mummified monks' bodies sit in caves in the "lower lavra". Visitors are only allowed into one small, dark section. Orthodox believers pilgrimage to Kiev just to kiss the glass cases that surround the bodies of the monks, because the bodies are believed to have healing powers. Head scarves and skirts for females are a must. I think this was probably one of the most powerfully cultural experiences thus far. We then proceeded to walk around the campus of the Lavra before leaving. Taking my first tram ever, we went back to the apartment and got ready for the upcoming "football" game. We met some of our host's friends and went to a soccer game that started at 9pm where Ukraine lost badly to Turkey. Let's just the goalie was having an off-day.

Thursday: Mer and I left the apartment at 9am. We got picked up by the "company car" and road to a town 40 minutes away called Bilacerkov. The local market was host to 2,000 small businesses and 40 of these businesses are HOPE loan clients. We interviewed 5 clients and asked them questions regarding the history of their business, their future goals, how the loan had helped them, and any social involvement within the community. We will soon be choosing a few of these clients to write stories about in order to send the stories back to HOPE in Pennsylvania. Once these get written up, I will post one or two of them on my next blog so you can get a better idea of the type of clients HOPE Ukraine is helping. The rest of night was relaxing. We made supper and dessert at the apartment and enjoyed good company and fun conversations.

Friday: That's today, my last full day in Kiev.
Saturday: I leave at 2:35pm and will haul all my stuff by bus to Zaporizhzhya where I will live for the next 3 months. I'll be staying with a family for a few days until I find an apartment.

Life-State: Monday I will start my new job in a new town. A lot of people have asked me if this makes me nervous/scared. So here's my most current answer... I guess I'm really at peace with the transition. I'm moving because, well, I had to. I'm excited to see a different type of microfinance and to see the community developement side of thing that HOPE Ukraine's Tomorrow Clubs fight for. These clubs help teach kids English while telling them about Jesus. The work/job part of the internship will be really great. There are a few things I am worried about. I'm worried about not being at Northwestern this semester. It will be hard for me to know that all my friends are back at college without me, that most of the SOSers are back, and that I won't be involved in RUSH, RA, or other campus events. But I know I'm here for a reason and once I get settled in things will be fine. So there's my current life-state. Feel free to leave comments or amusing happenings about your life. I miss you all!
~Bob

Pictures: http://bobbielydick.shutterfly.com/

Tobacco -- Death or Development?

Last Thursday I went with two other girls to a village located about 3 hours north of Chisinau. Our purpose was to interview a potential client for a work project. If chosen, they would receive a relatively large loan with very low interest. We would also use the information gathered to write a business plan in order to contribute to the organizational structure of their company. The company we visited was an agricultural business that raised many different types of fruits, vegetables, and tobacco. They not only planted fields, but also owned 8 greenhouses. If the loan was given, the greenhouses could be covered with a type of plastic that will allow them to obtain heat, lighting, and water. They would then be able to produce some crops year-round. The company currently employs over 150 people with seasonal work. If they would be able to cover these greenhouses, they would not only increase revenue, but would also be able to employ more workers year-round. This would contribute greatly to the economic development of the village. Other positive community projects are also being started by this company. One of those projects is a kindergarten for their employee’s children.

The owners took us on a tour of their greenhouses. They also took us to see the tobacco huts where tobacco was hung to dry. Middle aged women that looked much older than their numerical age suggested sat in dirt with tobacco leaves surrounding them. In their left hand they held what looked look a knitting needle with a heavy string attached. With their right hand they picked up a tobacco leaf and pierced it with the large needle. This mind-numbing action was repeated until the string was covered with tobacco leaves the width of the hut – one strand down and a few more months’ worth of string to go.

It caused me to ask questions I’d thought about before, but hadn't experienced before. There were the obvious questions that first come to mind regarding working conditions, but there were other questions that were not so obvious. First of all, even if these women were paid a respectable wage, how do I feel about the production of tobacco? Coming from a country where the deadly effects of cigarette addiction are understood at a very young age, a moral dilemma arises. Most of us would agree that creating jobs by drugs or prostitution would not be worth the repercussions. But what about tobacco? Is it okay to loan money to a company who contributes greatly to a mass amount of cancer and death? Or is it better to make cigarettes so that many women can be employed and put food on the table for the young children that are waiting at home? With Moldova’s bad economic state in mind, I also wondered if a county’s economic development and growth outweighs the repercussion of tobacco's effects.

I spotted another group of women further down the hut. The translator and I walked down the row. I proceeded to ask about their family. All of them had children. One of the women spoke up proudly and said, “My oldest daughter is going to college in Chisinau.” After this short conversation we walked back to where the others were standing. I was curious to how much these women made. I asked the owner what the wages for this manual labor were. She proceeded to tell me that the women worked 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, and got paid 1000 lei a month (about $100 a month).

(10 hours a day)(6 days a week)(4 weeks a month) = 240 hours/month
$100 a month/ 240 hours per month = about $0.42 per hour.

After returning home and thinking about this for a while, the number haunted me. I was almost mad at the owner that she would want a loan to employ more people at this rate. It bothered me so much that I went and talked to some of my friends about the numbers. What frightened me more was their response. “Oh yeah, that’s about average for working in the village,” they responded without any hint of concern in their voice. They proceeded to tell me that $100 a month is what respected village teachers make. I didn’t know what to say. In the past I had seen Moldova’s GPD per capita sitting at $2,500. Compared to USA’s $47,000, the numbers were shocking. Now seeing it in action was much more heavy and intense. I wondered if this would be considered “sweat-shop” wages. I finally decided they were not, but this got me thinking about more sticky situations regarding economic development. If there is no minimum wage, where is the line drawn between “helping people gain an income and increasing community development” and “taking advantage of cheap labor and destroying their humanity”? Thinking further, I also wondered if it is better to cut one person’s wage in half so that two people can hold jobs even if it does mean bending over that fine line. Think about the economic crisis in the states. For example, you have a job and your brother is struggling with unemployment. Would you rather get paid $20 an hour and your brother get paid nothing or both be employed and each receive $10 an hour? I know this is not the best example considering $10 an hour is nothing like splitting $0.42 between two, but I still think it is good to think about. I believe that thinking about examples like these will lead us to think about other situations regarding poverty, hunger, and other social injustices. It will lead us to think about the situations that break God's heart while breaking God's people.

More pictures available at http://bobbielydick.shutterfly.com/

Cultural Christianity

For those of you who don’t know yet…the real world isn’t a small mid-western Christian country club. Deep conversations are hard to find, and if they come, they’re usually accompanied with a beer in hand. The latest sex gossip travels fast, and there’s no such thing as, “Wow, that’s way too much information.” Religious talk is welcomed to a point everyone feels comfortable – universalism at it’s finest. True friendship is something to latch onto. It’s something which arouses jealousy for those who actually find it. At first glance, it might seem as though I am anti-the-real-world. But what if these experiences were to not drive us away from our Christian bubble, but in fact allow us to demonstrate the truth that will pop its naivety completely? Could these experiences allow us to stop being inwardly focused on “Christian Community” and start building the Kingdom of God?

Christians often joke about the “Holy Huddle” of believers, but after jumping out of the huddle, the actuality of it scares me. There are quite a few things I’ve taken in as I reflect on being outside the world I’m used to. It’ll take a bit for me to really make sense of them, but I think I’ll get a better grip by starting this dialog now while you all are still listening. So here it goes…

One of the Moldovans I’ve gotten to know refers to the Orthodox Church as not being Christian. This made me uncomfortable when I heard the statement. “Who’s this guy to say they’re not Christian?” A different friend told me of the rituals performed for the sake of a cultural religion. Very few of the people performing these rituals really understood the meaning behind them. It hit me that the reason my Moldovan friend didn’t think they were Christians, was because although they are culturally Christian Orthodox, they did not live a life that tried to glorify God. In fact, their actions often caused people to look at them and say, “If that’s what following God is like, I don’t want any part in it.” This got me to really think about what it means to be “Culturally Christian”.

I quickly found out that in Moldova, and a lot of other countries, it’s ethically exceptable to illegally download movies. In fact, there aren’t even places to buy movies. It’s just assumed that if you want to watch a film, you download it. It wasn’t until I saw someone I consider a leader in the faith download lots of movies and talk about it unashamed that I really understood it is morally accepted here. (Note: if you’re wondering in your head why I would tell everyone it’s okay to illegally download, you’re completely missing the point.) As we start out in the faith, we begin discovering a lot of gray areas which we reason as either “good” or “bad”. A lot of times we make hard and fast rules and then make sure the usage is consistent. If not consistent, we’re left admitting that maybe we weren’t right the first time. One must ask if this good-verse-bad type of consistency is driven by conviction or pride.

As a “cultural Christian” one starts to take what other believers think is “good” or “bad” and take it as truth. This is what forms the Christian bubble. This is also what forms the notion that Christians are judgmental. Without even knowing why, we (yes, this I’m intentionally including myself in this statement) automatically write something off if our cultural Christianity says it’s taboo. Let’s look at an exaggerated example. Let’s say someone starts driving their car on the sidewalk in the US (I added the “in the US” because it’s actually okay to this in Moldova). Without even thinking about it, I would instinctively think they were drunk or at least shouldn’t have a license. Even if it is just internal, the person would react to situation negatively. This is something our culture has stated is not okay. In the same way, a lot of times when a Christian sees someone doing something “bad” they think they shouldn’t have a “license” AKA shouldn’t be acting that way. Whether hidden in their thoughts or even bluntly verbalized, a negative vibe is definitely given off. I think this is the cause of judgment. Judgment is reacting negatively to a person or situation because you do not agree with what is happening. In other words, it’s an inability to connect with a person because one has already decided that something this person does or believes in is “bad”.

What I’ve slowly started to realize is that what a Christian culture deems “bad” is not always Biblically bad, even if a verse is pulled out of context and quoted. One of my friends put it this way, “That’s why I think I like traveling so much. I can experience who God really is instead of what everyone back home thinks he is.” By wanting to take Jesus seriously, I think we need to experience who God really is, and I think that’s done by putting love before judgment and the Bible before a Christian popularity contest.

As Christians, what would happen if we didn’t write people off for the immediate vibe they gave us? What if we could TRULY understand how to love our neighbor as our self, even if they’re atheist? What if we could see God in humanity as a whole again? Would we rather demand the truth of Scripture or be fake? Wouldn’t it bring others closer to knowing the Kingdom of God? And if it’s at the cost of popping this Christian bubble and sacrificing the title of a “good Christian” so that truth is known, would you do it? These are a few of the questions I’ve been asking myself.

I wish I had some great conclusion for this blog post, but if I had a conclusion I would be ending something I know I need to better understand. I don’t want to shut the door on a great conversation, but instead I want to ask those close to me who care about their faith to think about this with me. Please feel free to post responses, criticisms, or suggestions how to better portray the truth. If you would rather e-mail me my e-mail is bobbielydick@gmail.com With that said, I’ll end with a quote that really hit me. It’s by one of my good friends struggling with Christianity. She said…

“I don’t doubt that Jesus existed, but I don’t think he meant for his followers to turn out like this.”

Microfinance 101

"So...what exactly is microfinance?"
Say you are in a country where there are no jobs available, and I don’t mean the state of the US right now…think worse. If there are no jobs, then you have to make your own jobs. This means being employed by yourself, AKA starting a business. In order to start a business you need money. But where does this money come from? There are two options: you either save the money or receive a loan. Here in Moldova there are savings accounts available, but in other parts of the world saving is a problem.

Problem with saving:
Living Conditions: Imagine living in a “house” where you don’t own furniture let-alone a lock on your door or windows. There is nowhere to hide your money and people are desperate enough to steal anything lying around. So maybe you opt to bury it then. Rain, fire, or other natural disasters don’t care where your money is. If something happens, your money is gone.
Social demand: In many developing countries, familial and communal ties are so strong that it would be social suicide to deny someone money if you had some to spare. This puts a person in an awkward position - giving up money for your friend’s relief efforts instead of their own development. (Which is why a lot of people don’t like giving money to beggars – development verse relief.)
Lack of Alternatives: In poor communities, banks exist to serve the wealthy and have barriers that keep the poor out. They require minimum balances, fees, or deposits which are sometimes double the average annual income in that area. The poor are too risky for banks to help. Instead of a bank a village might have a “Savings Collector”. But instead of having a “free saving account” the poor are paying in order to keep the collector employed. 30% APR isn’t affordable just to save a small amount of cash. Many people don’t even have a savings collector.

Saving money can not only help in gaining capital for a person's business. It also provides reassurance that if an unexpected expense comes up they can pay for it. For example, if your son got extremely sick one might have to choose between getting medical care or feeding her other children. Something as small as having a savings account could easily save a life.

Instead of saving, loans are the alternative, but what if the person doesn't have good credit? If you ran a bank, would you risk giving money to someone who had nothing in the form of collateral. How would you reassure the loan will be paid back? It seems like a risky business endeavor. Instead of getting a loan from a bank, people must find other ways to get money. They might go to someone down the street who has some extra cash. Not knowing what they're getting themselves into, they might fall into the trap of a loan shark. A loan shark is a person that will loan them the money they need and then charge them extremely high interest so that they are always indebted to this person. Thus, the loan shark is always receiving money because the poor person can never pay back the interest with the small wage he/she makes.

MFIs try to change this very thing. They can not only provide saving accounts, but also give legitimate loans with reasonable interest rates. MFIs are basically banks that use other ways of deciding whether or not a person is eligible for a loan. They also use education, social pressure, and other alternative ways to guarantee repayments. These institutions give the poor an opportunity to be good businessmen in order to care for their family, create jobs for others, and eventually help the economy of a country as a whole. Instead of just giving a hand out to people, giving a loan to people restores their dignity as human beings. It acknowledges that these people's poverty is due to something they are personally lacking. It is in fact a lack of opportunity.

Check out this video it'll make more sense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrKQZeoAzyI&feature=channel

The next time I blog, I'll start giving more specifics to the MFI I'm working at and to MFIs in general. Also, some of this blog was taken from a book entitled The Poor will be Glad by Peter Greer and Phil Smith.