The 'Cibert' and the School Supplies List: Thoughts on a Loan That's Close to Home

I have just translated a Kiva loan profile for a woman called Julia who runs a 'cibert' in Jipijapa on the coast of Ecuador. I would like to say something about the 'cibert' and also the nature of the loan, which is to purchase school supplies for Julia's daughter.

The typical translation of 'cibert' is 'internet cafe'. However, this is hopelessly inaccurate. The internet cafe was a largely recreational place to use the internet and drink coffee (and be cool because obviously there had never been places to share information, communicate and drink beverages before in human history). These appeared in the mid-90s when the internet was still young and disappeared about ten years later when people realised they could just drink coffee and use the internet in their houses instead. (The launch of the first iPhone and widespread offerings of free wifi in public spaces also contributed to their decline.) Thus, they are preserved in the memories of anyone older than about 35 as a somewhat hipsterish fad, something we did when we were too young to know better.

By contrast the 'ciber' or, in some dialects of Spanish, 'cibert' remains a socially relevant phenomenon across Latin America, South and South-East Asia, Africa (particularly south of the Sahara), where mobile money services are also sold, and in rural areas of countries with widespread internet availability. In Ecuador at least, they are not specifically frequented by hipsters and neither coffee nor any other comestible is typically served. They provide internet access for school children who do not have internet at home to do their homework, printing and photocopying services for young professionals applying for jobs amongst other document and internet-essential tasks.

Thus, I have chosen to translate "cibert" as "a small internet and computer service business". I hope you will agree this is more accurate than "internet cafe".

And now to the nature of the loan. Julia is requesting the loan not to assist the running or expansion of her business but because providing these essential services to her community provides her such a thin margin that, when the annual list of school supplies is published by each school - state and private - for parents to buy, she struggles. This is such a relatable situation. Teachers like myself, despite being essential to the economy and people's lives, are rarely afforded a comfortable lifestyle by our salaries, and so I know very well the struggle to purchase the uniforms, stationery and teaching supplies that families are forced to provide every year.

In Ecuador and I don't doubt elsewhere too, it is a sign of a dilapidated education system, which is said to be substantially poorer than it was a generation ago. State schools cannot afford to provide these supplies, and private schools fear pricing out middle-class families by including them in their monthly fees.

And so Julia is appealing, through Fundación ESPOIR*, to the large-hearted and comparatively affluent of the international community for a loan of $325 to buy these essentials for her daughter and pay it off over the school year. You can meet Julia and support her at https://www.kiva.org/lend-classic/2968416.

At the time of writing, the loan may not yet be live, so I thank you for your patience if the information is not yet available.

*Fundación ESPOIR is a microfinance institution in Ecuador that specialises in providing financial services to low-income business owners, particularly women, through community banking and individual loans.