Well I don't have much time to write, but I wanted to let you guys know that I'm officially in Spain. I wanted to also let you know that I put up some pictures from my 2nd trip to Kiev. Go ahead and check it out. http://bobbielydick.shutterfly.com/
I'll try to keep my pictures updated, but I don't know how often that will actually happen.
~Bobbie
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Larysa - Big Heart, Small Business
Here is another client story I wrote for my internship. This client is one of the few Christian clients we work with. I encourage you to read her story and see how HOPE is not only helpng cleints and their families, but also helping the family of God!
Being one of the few evangelical clients of HOPE Ukraine, Larysa starts her morning praying for God’s blessing on her business. She said when she received Christ her life and priorities changed for the better. As a new client of HOPE, she explained that “when I got a loan it was God providing.” Not only is God providing for her, but he is using her business to help provide for others. Larysa was grateful for taking out a loan with HOPE because some of the proceeds also go to Christian English camps called “Tomorrow Clubs”. Partnering with HOPE to improve the kingdom of God is just few of the ways she gives back to her community.
Involvement in weekly church services and leading small groups lead Larysa to volunteer her time at a local addiction center. She spends her free time here working with mothers of drug and alcohol addicts. When sales allow and the Hoy Spirit guides, some of her profit goes to pay for people to stay at this center. Her generosity is also seen first hand in the market. If she knows that someone is lacking funds and yet needs shoes, she will sell the pair of shoes without any profit markup. God continues to bless this generosity and she is often able to attend Christian conferences and meetings for encouragement and fellowship.
Larysa is merely using her small loan to increase inventory and sales. In return, God’s fingerprints are left on a Tomorrow Club, small group, family needs, addiction center, and shoes for the underprivileged.
Name: Larysa
Family: Adult son and teenage daughter
Type of Business: Shoe retail
Loans from HOPE: 1 small business loan
Loan Amount: 8000 UAH = about $980
Family: Adult son and teenage daughter
Type of Business: Shoe retail
Loans from HOPE: 1 small business loan
Loan Amount: 8000 UAH = about $980
Larysa has owned a small business in the market place for 15 years now. During this time she has sold sports wear and women’s clothes, but within the past 7 years she has been in shoe retail. With the occasional help of her daughter, Larysa is able to maintain her business herself. In return, her business helps to maintain her family’s financial obligations including looking after her adult son and teenage daughter. As we spoke with Larysa, her daughter kindheartedly introduced herself and to us in English and told us she would soon be going to a university in order to study linguistics.
Being one of the few evangelical clients of HOPE Ukraine, Larysa starts her morning praying for God’s blessing on her business. She said when she received Christ her life and priorities changed for the better. As a new client of HOPE, she explained that “when I got a loan it was God providing.” Not only is God providing for her, but he is using her business to help provide for others. Larysa was grateful for taking out a loan with HOPE because some of the proceeds also go to Christian English camps called “Tomorrow Clubs”. Partnering with HOPE to improve the kingdom of God is just few of the ways she gives back to her community.
Involvement in weekly church services and leading small groups lead Larysa to volunteer her time at a local addiction center. She spends her free time here working with mothers of drug and alcohol addicts. When sales allow and the Hoy Spirit guides, some of her profit goes to pay for people to stay at this center. Her generosity is also seen first hand in the market. If she knows that someone is lacking funds and yet needs shoes, she will sell the pair of shoes without any profit markup. God continues to bless this generosity and she is often able to attend Christian conferences and meetings for encouragement and fellowship.
Larysa is merely using her small loan to increase inventory and sales. In return, God’s fingerprints are left on a Tomorrow Club, small group, family needs, addiction center, and shoes for the underprivileged.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Olena's Story
Here is a client story I wrote for my internship. I hope this give you a better insight into some of our clients lives and how HOPE loans help them! Enjoy.
Name: Olena
Type of Business: Shoe retail
Loans from HOPE: 1 small business loan
Loan Amount: 8,000 UHA = approx. $980
Type of Business: Shoe retail
Loans from HOPE: 1 small business loan
Loan Amount: 8,000 UHA = approx. $980
“It’s a long story as to why I decided to start the shoe business” Olena replies referring to the store she began in 1995. The story started when Olena lived in Eastern Germany with her husband who was serving in the military. During her time in Germany, she was employed as a performance musician playing the piano for her audiences. Although the money was slim, she cherished performing and referred to those days as “the best days of her life”.
In 1992 they moved to Eastern Ukraine after her husband retired from the army. After they moved back to the Ukraine, Olena put her piano skills to work as a kindergarten music teacher at the local military base. Although she enjoyed the job, the income was minimal. Thinking of starting her own business, her husband lent her the start up capital so she could begin selling shoes. This start up capital was used to purchase shoes from Turkey, Poland, and Russia in order to resell them in Ukraine.
After being asked about any struggles she had to overcome, she quickly broke out into laughter. Through the audible smiles, she told us that the largest setback was last year when she had a box of shoes worth about $1000 stolen from her. When the police came to write up an incident report they asked her, “Why are you still smiling?” She replied, “Well, what am I gonna do?” The officer was shocked that she would respond to this situation in this way, but at this moment her joyful spirit was evident. She asked a few acquaintances to loan her some money to cover this loss and she persevered successfully through this hard time.
Besides the small loans from friends, she has only taken out three loans with banks since starting her business 14 years ago. Appreciation for HOPE was apparent when she compared these loans to the loans she took out with other banks. The two previous loans had a very hard repayment system with high interest rates. She decided to take a loan with HOPE because “it was very quick and easy system of receiving loans.” Although she only took out this loan a little over 2 months ago, the loan was given just in time for customers who would be shopping for back-to-school clothes. She has already seen the impact of the loan from having a larger inventory while sales are increasing.
Although sales look good this month, the economic crisis has undoubtedly hit the Ukraine. Most business owners have been forced to buy their inventory in US dollars because it is more stable than the local currency. Depreciation is a huge concern for business owners like Olena. In the midst of a global economic crisis that has even hit Ukraine, Olena’s future plans have changed to purchasing lower quality shoes so that locals can still afford to buy from her. These profits go to support her and her husband. Her retired military husband currently works as a bus driver in the capital city of Kiev about 45 minutes away from Olena. She travel travels back and forth and spends half her time in Kiev with her husband, and the rest of her time selling shoes in Bila Cerkov
Although Olena doesn’t get to see her husband every day, she continues maintain relationships with her customers. Having a much interconnected community, she has the privilege of calling her customers her friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Working in the market for an extended time she says “It’s like a continual conversation with my clients. After so many years in the markets, there have been so many conversations.” It is conversations like these that not only help sales, but help Olena and HOPE Ukraine build up a community where people are valued and supported.
In 1992 they moved to Eastern Ukraine after her husband retired from the army. After they moved back to the Ukraine, Olena put her piano skills to work as a kindergarten music teacher at the local military base. Although she enjoyed the job, the income was minimal. Thinking of starting her own business, her husband lent her the start up capital so she could begin selling shoes. This start up capital was used to purchase shoes from Turkey, Poland, and Russia in order to resell them in Ukraine.
After being asked about any struggles she had to overcome, she quickly broke out into laughter. Through the audible smiles, she told us that the largest setback was last year when she had a box of shoes worth about $1000 stolen from her. When the police came to write up an incident report they asked her, “Why are you still smiling?” She replied, “Well, what am I gonna do?” The officer was shocked that she would respond to this situation in this way, but at this moment her joyful spirit was evident. She asked a few acquaintances to loan her some money to cover this loss and she persevered successfully through this hard time.
Besides the small loans from friends, she has only taken out three loans with banks since starting her business 14 years ago. Appreciation for HOPE was apparent when she compared these loans to the loans she took out with other banks. The two previous loans had a very hard repayment system with high interest rates. She decided to take a loan with HOPE because “it was very quick and easy system of receiving loans.” Although she only took out this loan a little over 2 months ago, the loan was given just in time for customers who would be shopping for back-to-school clothes. She has already seen the impact of the loan from having a larger inventory while sales are increasing.
Although sales look good this month, the economic crisis has undoubtedly hit the Ukraine. Most business owners have been forced to buy their inventory in US dollars because it is more stable than the local currency. Depreciation is a huge concern for business owners like Olena. In the midst of a global economic crisis that has even hit Ukraine, Olena’s future plans have changed to purchasing lower quality shoes so that locals can still afford to buy from her. These profits go to support her and her husband. Her retired military husband currently works as a bus driver in the capital city of Kiev about 45 minutes away from Olena. She travel travels back and forth and spends half her time in Kiev with her husband, and the rest of her time selling shoes in Bila Cerkov
Although Olena doesn’t get to see her husband every day, she continues maintain relationships with her customers. Having a much interconnected community, she has the privilege of calling her customers her friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Working in the market for an extended time she says “It’s like a continual conversation with my clients. After so many years in the markets, there have been so many conversations.” It is conversations like these that not only help sales, but help Olena and HOPE Ukraine build up a community where people are valued and supported.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Change
Oh how I love NWC. Even when I'm not on campus they still have me debriefing on paper. I sent in a Summer of Service Evaluation yesterday. Since I spent so much time writing it, I thought I should probably share some of my thoughts with the rest of you. So as I sat to write about things that had happened in my life, I realized that there were some things that had really changed me. As I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that it would be a huge waste of 3 months not to change. With that said, here are a few of the random ways I’ve see my experience play out in my life.
· Being independent is necessary only to the point of realizing the need for God.
· I’ve started to seriously take hold of the power of God’s timing and live in union with it instead of in conflict against it.
· I’ve learned that non-Christians can change a Christian for the better.
· Doing something that will truly show the love of Christ to the “least of these” is a sacred calling not meant to take lightly. It involves deep love, long work hours, humility, passion, confrontation, encouragement that leads to empowerment, and many years of hardships. It’s a life decision…not a $100 bill.
· I observe better; I listen longer; and I think deeper.
· As I learned more about the demographics of a people group, my outlook on history and how it affects a culture changed. This also changed how I viewed characteristics of my own culture as an American and as a Christian.
· My attitude about how the Church interacts with non-Christians sadly became more realistic.
· After one interaction with a missionary couple in the Ukraine, I understood that it is impossible to live a joyful life without vision.
· Somewhere among having to budget for each month, going to work every day, cooking each night, and still trying to stay connected to the people I love back home, I’m scared that I actually grew up a bit.
· In order to become more Christ like we must change despite what the people around us want.
· I should not ever take for granted the power of Christ’s presence through a single hug or the deep, penetrating connection to fellow believers.
· Without a loving Christ, Christianity is worthless and without allowing someone else to love and change you, you cannot love or change them.
· The best part of a meal was after dinner when we all sat down for 30 minutes conversing with a cup of tea in hand. Tea is the symbol of a habitual commitment of time given in order to love the person sitting across from you.
· My perspective on foreign aid changed drastically. It is now hard for me not to ask the question, “Is this a temporary fix, or is this something that will truly show God’s eternal love?”
· The things I miss have revealed to me where my priorities lye…both the good and the bad.
· After recognizing that for most of my summer God was the only one that knew what was going on in my life, I took one step closer to truly loving my Savior.
· Being independent is necessary only to the point of realizing the need for God.
· I’ve started to seriously take hold of the power of God’s timing and live in union with it instead of in conflict against it.
· I’ve learned that non-Christians can change a Christian for the better.
· Doing something that will truly show the love of Christ to the “least of these” is a sacred calling not meant to take lightly. It involves deep love, long work hours, humility, passion, confrontation, encouragement that leads to empowerment, and many years of hardships. It’s a life decision…not a $100 bill.
· I observe better; I listen longer; and I think deeper.
· As I learned more about the demographics of a people group, my outlook on history and how it affects a culture changed. This also changed how I viewed characteristics of my own culture as an American and as a Christian.
· My attitude about how the Church interacts with non-Christians sadly became more realistic.
· After one interaction with a missionary couple in the Ukraine, I understood that it is impossible to live a joyful life without vision.
· Somewhere among having to budget for each month, going to work every day, cooking each night, and still trying to stay connected to the people I love back home, I’m scared that I actually grew up a bit.
· In order to become more Christ like we must change despite what the people around us want.
· I should not ever take for granted the power of Christ’s presence through a single hug or the deep, penetrating connection to fellow believers.
· Without a loving Christ, Christianity is worthless and without allowing someone else to love and change you, you cannot love or change them.
· The best part of a meal was after dinner when we all sat down for 30 minutes conversing with a cup of tea in hand. Tea is the symbol of a habitual commitment of time given in order to love the person sitting across from you.
· My perspective on foreign aid changed drastically. It is now hard for me not to ask the question, “Is this a temporary fix, or is this something that will truly show God’s eternal love?”
· The things I miss have revealed to me where my priorities lye…both the good and the bad.
· After recognizing that for most of my summer God was the only one that knew what was going on in my life, I took one step closer to truly loving my Savior.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Address
Ukraine Apt Address:
Bobbie Lydick
ул. Мира, дом 20, кв. 13
г. Запорожье, 69035
Украина (Ukraine)
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.
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.
Monday, August 24, 2009
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/
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/
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