You know that smell of hose water on warm concrete? That’s what rainstorms smell like here. We have a lot of warm concrete. And in the evening, like it is now, the sky is golden and the colonial walls that line the sidewalks are still warm from the late day sun. I can feel it glowing against my shoulder and my ankle.

Brisando, they call it. Just light rain.

León is a city of several thousand people, it is considered an urban environment here in Nicaragua but it operates like a small town. People call out to each other in the street and everybody knows everybody and my whereabouts are reported back to me the next day, So what were you doing in Bar Baro yesterday?

The climate is hot, the alternative is really hot. September and October are the rainy months and everyone tells me that November brings cooler temperatures, though when I ask, the director of Fundación León says to me, “No, muchacha. Forget about Fresca, here it is never Fresca.”

As a Kiva Fellow my work here is to observe and learn and to serve as a resource for both Fundación León and Kiva. Fundación León has been a Kiva partner for a little over 20 months now and has raised $774,475.00 so things operate pretty smoothly without me. My job as a fellow is part auditor, part trouble shooter and part journalist. I meet with clients and verify that they are indeed the person that we thought we were giving money to and to get to know the story beyond a photo and a short description of their business.

I have not met every client, but those that I have come to know are, by a vast majority, hard working and dedicated. They often express to me that they are grateful to have an opportunity to improve their lives, and without fail their dreams are earnest ones: to provide for their families, to serve their customers, to build something, to have pride. Some look forward to retirement and ask for smaller loans because the responsibility is great. Some just look forward and ask for larger loans because their dreams are great.