TITLE CARD: This program contains graphic imagery. Viewer discretion is advised.
TITLE: From the Producers of FRONTLINE
ANNOUNCER: Tonight on FRONTLINE/World, three Stories from a Small Planet.
ANNOUNCER: In Burma … Reporter Evan Williams travels undercover with Karen rebels…
Evan: If they discover we’re here they could attack again…to reveal how a brutal dictatorship makes war on its own people.
ANNOUNCER: In Uganda…Small businesses find a new source of micro-credit – person-to-person, on the internet.
Nathan: The loan amount she asked for $475 for starting up a peanut butter business.
Donna: You get to choose the specific businesses you want to loan to so it’s very personal. You have a real connection with where your money’s going and what it’s being used for.
ANNOUNCER: Finally in Libya … a once outlaw state woos tourists with an extra-terrestrial spectacle.
Libya bite: Oh wow! Oh my God!
SKOLL PROMO
ANNOUNCER: And by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. With additional funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Burma: STATE OF FEAR
(music up)
(map zoom out)
(logo)
REPORTED BY
EVAN WILLIAMS
(night vision; crossing border from Thailand into Burma)
It’s after midnight …and I’m driving along the Burmese border with members of a guerrilla army.
(men in camp)
They’re one of the many underground groups opposing Burma’s brutal military regime… and they’ve agreed to take me across the border.
Evan: Tomorrow morning we’ll cross the river into Burma and walk – how far to the camp – maybe two more days to get to our first camp and from there we’ll meet the Free Burma Rangers and walk further inside Burma.
(entering camp)
Just inside the Burmese border… we arrive at a camp.
Evan: Hullo hullo….
(camp members singing)
Here, we find the Free Burma Rangers…. mainly Christian medics who bring aid to villages being targeted by the Burmese government.
(briefing at the camp)
They’ve heard the army’s just attacked the village of He Daw Kaw… now they’re headed into the jungle to look for survivors.
(heading off on the trail)
We’re joined by soldiers from the Karen guerrilla army…. They know the jungle well from their years of war with the Burmese government…. which has been trying to wipe them out.
A few days in….the soldiers steer me clear of a land mine that’s been laid by the government.
Evan: Through here, where’s the mine…
The trail is littered with them.
(approaching He Daw Kaw, soldier diffusing land mine)
After 14 days walk, we approach the village of He Daw Kaw.
Word has gone out the Free Burma medics are here. Villagers stream in from the surrounding jungle.
(Nah Pi with her family)
Nah Pi is the village schoolteacher. She has pneumonia from sleeping rough in the jungle.
She wants to show me what the Burmese army has done to her home.
(burnt remains OF Nah Pi’s home)
Nah Pi: We built our house with great difficulty but the Burmese soldiers destroyed it while we were hiding in the jungle. I ran and left everything behind. I thought saving my children and my life would be enough for now. Their plan was to take our lives if they captured us.
(archive of burning buildings)
This scene of destruction has been playing out in Burma for years.
Video shot by the Burma Rangers shows Karen villagers being burned out of their homes by the Burmese army.
More than three thousand villages have been destroyed over the last twenty years… and over a million people from Burma have been forced to flee.
(present footage of destruction)
In the village of He Daw Kaw, we’re told, some were also killed.
(man and woman sitting, crying)
Man in blue: We saw the smoke from our burning houses and ran to search for our children. I looked down into the ashes and saw a small hand. It was my son’s hand; I went blind. My little son left me only his palm. I stayed there all day and I thought it would be good if the Burmese army came back to the village and killed me.
(covert pictures of the Burmese Army)
I can actually see the camp where the troops who did this are based. Yesterday a Karen army spy sneaked into the nearest town and took this video.
These are the soldiers who attacked He Daw Kaw.
Survivors said they shot mortars into the village….. then sprayed automatic weapon fire to force the villagers out… Other soldiers have been known to use rape as a weapon.
The Burmese military campaign against the Karen people has been going on for over 50 years—the longest running civil war in the world.
(back on the trail)
As we continue through the jungle, our ranks swell with refugees…and the Burmese army grows closer.
Evan: Apparently the army is firing indiscriminately into the bush or the jungle along the road because they think the Karen National Union guerrillas are there somewhere.
Our Karen fighters have intercepted army radio traffic, and overheard plans for a massive new attack.
Evan: What’s happening?
Soldier: SPCD close across now.
Evan: Patrol…
Soldier: Yes.
Evan: …army Patrol?
Soldier: Yes.
A Burmese army patrol is nearby.
We must hurry… …
Evan: Ok, this is the road…
Back toward the Thai border.
We’re safe.
This is where I say goodbye to the families we’ve picked up in the jungle.
They’ll now start a hard new life in refugee camps…. joining over 700,000 others… fleeing one of the worst military dictatorships in the world.
(map of Burma)
Burma… now called Myanmar by the military regime…. The capital used to be Rangoon … But this is their brand new capital, Pyinmana, on its official opening. The ruling generals call it the Royal City.
(archival of Burmese regime)
Supreme leader general Than Shwe moved the entire capital to this remote site at 6:37 on the 6th of the 11th, 2005, because his astrologer told him it would ensure everlasting military power.
(archival of Aung San Suu Kyi)
But the real reason is fear of his own people. And especially of this woman - Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aung San Suu Kyi: So I would like the people of Burma to…to…to try to free themselves, daily, from the net of fear which the authorities have thrown over the whole country.
Aung San Suu Kyi led the National League for Democracy to a landslide election victory in 1990. General Than Shwe refused to accept it, and has held her under house arrest for most of the past 16 years.
Aung San Suu Kyi: One of the first things we can start doing is to resist injustice.
(Savoy Hotel in Rangoon)
The regime has blacklisted me for covering the democracy movement, but I’ve managed to get in as a tourist.
Evan: Now that I am in Rangoon I’m going to try to make contact with someone from Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party and there are members of other organizations operating underground inside the country that we’ll try to speak to as well.
The trouble is, the government has become so paranoid about its grip on power, that if I contact these people directly they will be arrested.
(in taxi to Aung San Suu Kyi’s house, talking with cab driver)
Aung San Suu Kyi is being held just up the road from my hotel. But people are scared even to mention her. It takes four attempts to get a taxi willing to take me to Suu Kyi’s house.
Evan: Just show me which one, just interested. Why are they afraid of her?
Taxi driver: They don’t want her to contact other people. They don’t want to be a democracy.
Evan: So nobody can see her?
Taxi driver: Nobody can see her.
Evan: Nobody from Burma, from Myanmar?
Taxi Driver: No, no, no, no. They made it… like a jail, like a jail, yes, like a jail. Most of the people don’t like the army, don’t like the army…But we cannot confront, if I confront them, they catch me. Not only me but all family, they give trouble.
Our driver sees our camera.
Taxi Driver: Just for me please don’t take photos. If you take photos it makes me big problems.
(pic of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house)
We put it down and use a hidden camera. This is as close as I’ll get to Aung San Suu Kyi – she’s held behind these gates.
(Evan riding in taxi)
Evan: It’s a measure of how scared the regime is of her that that’s as close as any visitor will get to her these days. She’s held under house arrest behind the walls of her family home. There are soldiers on each side with control gates just in case crowds ever did try to reach her and to add insult to injury they’re not allowing any repairs to the home so she’s held in solitary confinement isolated completely from the community while the house falls down around her ears.
(Rangoon city streets; restaurant)
My taxi drops me outside this restaurant in the middle of Rangoon. Last year, one of Suu Kyi’s party members was dragged from his table by two plain clothed intelligence officers.
Six days later Aung Hlaing Win was dead.
(Evan talking on phone)
Evan: Yes, hello…
To find out more I’m trying to contact his widow.
Evan: He’s in Newmar at the moment?
It’s too dangerous for her to see me … but she bravely agrees to videotape this message.
(Aung Hlaing Win’s wife sitting in room alone)
Wife of Aung Hlaing Win: The police denied he was there. But 10 days later I asked again and that evening they phoned and said he was dead. They never showed me the body; they said I had no right to see my husband’s body. He had no disease and had never been sick. But in their hands he could survive only six days.
(footage of memorial)
Win was cremated before his wife could reclaim his body. This is his memorial.
It’s too dangerous for her to see me … but she bravely agrees to videotape this message.
(Aung Hlaing Win’s wife sitting in room alone)
Wife of Aung Hlaing Win: My daughter sometimes asks for her father because she didn’t see what happened and I don’t know what to say to her. Where did your father go? He often went to buy the eels from the bigger fish store. So she thinks that’s where he’s gone.
Win is one of the 128 activists to die in custody from torture or ill-treatment since the current junta took power. 1100 others including Aung San Suu Kyi are locked away.
(MRTV footage)
With the opposition muzzled, General Than Shwe presents himself on state television as the father of his nation.
Myanmar TV: Due to the inclusive education project of the ministry of education, the education standard of all school going age children has equal opportunities to attend the school.
(Evan walking)
But what I see on TV has nothing to do with the reality on the streets.
(children on street)
This is a nation rich in natural resources, yet UNICEF says a third of children are malnourished and 10 percent will die before they’re five.
(soldiers at defense complex)
Meanwhile Burma’s military government spends almost half the national budget on its army…
Evan: Defense college?
… and on vast military installations throughout the country.
(on the road to Mandalay)
Evan: We’re now in Mandalay which is Burma’s second biggest city. The opposition people in Mandalay believe that the government is trying to provoke them into some sort of violent reaction, that they can then use against the opposition groups to ban them.
(billboard on street; Mandalay street scenes)
The junta’s message here is clear – “crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy.” It seems there’s always someone watching us, which makes it especially dangerous for the two men I’m about to meet.
They’ve just been released from seven years in this prison for writing in support of democracy….. and against the regime.
(Evan talking with men, faces not shown)
Mandalay Man #1: People are not satisfied with this situation, because they oppress us greatly, they crush an ant with a hammer.
Mandalay Man #2: First they put the handcuff backward and put on the canvas bag. It is very hard to…
Evan: Breathe?
Mandalay Man #2: Breathe yes.
Evan: How long did this go on for?
Mandalay Man #2: For five or six days.
Evan: Do you know if many other prisoners were tortured?
Mandalay Man #2: Yes, I think all the political prisoners are tortured.
Prisoners …and locals… are also forced to do hard labor….like the building of this Mandalay palace moat for tourists…. where soldiers now take the entrance fee.
(Mandalay hotels and tourist attractions)
Mandalay Man #1: I don’t want tourists to come to our country because most of the money will flow into the pockets of the military officers. They will get richer and richer through tourism.
The opposition says many of the big hotels and tour companies are owned by military officials…but nearly all the millions tourists bring in goes directly to the junta.
(inside museum)
Evan: The army stole this large collection of ancient Buddha images from a monk who spent years collecting them. Then they forced lots of local people here to build this museum using forced labor over many years. The conditions apparently were so bad that the people have called it the museum of suffering.
(photos of forced labor)
These pictures secretly shot last year reveal the kind of forced labor used across Burma.
Here, hundreds of men, women and children carry supplies for the army.
If they refuse, they can be shot, raped or forced to walk in front of soldiers to clear landmines.
(villagers gathering stones)
These villagers work long days gathering stones for a new road.
Translator: Grandma, how much are you paid for each load of stones?
Grandma: I don’t know anything about that.
Translator: Are you paid for working here?
Grandma: No.
Translator: Do you have time to do your own work at home?
Grandma: I can do a little bit each day.
(undercover motorcycle video)
Burmese cameramen working undercover have filmed more abuses in sensitive government areas.
(sign: Attention: mines!)
The junta reportedly used forced labor to clear the area for a natural gas pipeline built by Unocal and the French oil giant Total.
(oil fields burning)
Foreign oil companies stand accused of propping up the junta… and colluding in its use of forced labor—a charge they deny. But for now the gas keeps flowing.
(city scenes of Rangoon)
I’m back on the streets of Rangoon… One of the founders of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party is willing to see me, despite knowing this meeting could lead to his arrest.
(U Sein Win talking with Evan)
He’s already spent thirteen years in prison for opposing army rule … but U Sein Win wants to make a stand.
U Sein Win: If the people have no way out, if there is no decent means to express their sufferings…to express their desire to change of government, they will resort to … violence. I think this is inevitable.
Evan: Violence by the people?
U Sein Win: Yes.
Evan: But the army has the weapons; they will kill people.
U Sein Win: But we have 50 million people. They cannot kill all the 50 million people.
Evan: I am worried about you – by meeting us I am concerned that, that…
U Sein Win: As I said to you it is very dangerous for me and I know that this time when they came and pick me up this time I will not come out alive.
(thunderstorm in jungle)
Just after this interview, Burmese intelligence came looking for me.
(Evan driving in taxi)
Evan: I had arranged to meet people who’ve just been released from prison. They’re members of a student organizations, acting for working for democracy here. They’ve just called me though and told me that special branch has come back to seem them to tell them not to do the interview. And also the Special Branch is on the way to see me, so I’ve got to get out of the hotel and try to find them.
(nighttime driving)
I grabbed a taxi for the airport. I needed to get out that night and head for Thailand, where hundreds of Burmese political exiles have fled for their lives.
(Evan walking down street in Thailand)
Evan: Almost 10 years ago, I interviewed a man inside Aung San Suu Kyi’s compound. He revealed how torture was being used against political prisoners inside Burma’s jails. As a result of that interview he himself was given seven years jail. He’s now free and living here in Thailand just down this road. I am going to see him for the first time since he’s got out of prison.
This is Ibar.
(Evan and Ibar talking)
Evan: Ibar, so how are you?
Ibar: Fine.
Evan: Not so fine…six years I saw you in Rangoon…. 1996.
Evan: During the 7 years that you spent in prison did you ever regret giving me that interview? Did you ever think that was the wrong thing, I shouldn’t have done that?
Ibar: Not at all, because of my interview I was able to tell the world what was going on here. Instead of hating you, I am happy to thank you, because I was able to let the world know that there was brutality and mistreatment and also torture in Burmese prisons.
(photos from Ibar’s wedding)
Three years ago, Ibar got married. The guest of honor was Aung San Suu Kyi who was in one of her brief moments of freedom from house arrest.
These are some of the last pictures taken of her. A few months later she was attacked and nearly killed by a government mob. She’s been locked away ever since.
(wedding video)
Ibar: This is Tong San San, former political prisoner…this is former political prisoner Ye Tong (inaudible)
This man, Thet Naing Oo had also spent years in prison for being a member of Suu Kyi’s NLD party. On the 17th of March this year he was beaten to death by government-sponsored thugs as he walked down the road in Rangoon.
(footage of Thet Naing Oo’s funeral)
At Thet Naing Oo’s funeral, many of the mourners were fellow dissidents.
One of them told me in graphic detail about his friend’s murder.
Mr. Museum: Firstly they had some catapults, and they used some steel balls, and throw his face. They were well prepared and waiting for his coming. He was also beaten by the long bamboo sticks and he fell down on his face to the ground. At the time, they throw one big stone. And they crush his head.
Evan: Do you think it was political that they attacked him?
Mr. Museum: They hate him and they intend to beat him dead.
Thet Naing Oo’s mother: I wish you ongoing peace my son…. I’m trying to stay calm, I’m trying to forget what they’ve done to you.
(mourners at funeral)
Over the last decade, pro-democracy activists in Burma have gotten used to funerals… Now, as the government intensifies its crackdown on opponents, most feel the country has reached a breaking point.
(Mr. Museum interview)
Mr. Museum: If it happens again and again …I see another bloodshed, another mass detention, and even another, it may lead to another… civil war.
(government troops firing)
The junta continues to root out opposition, despite a new threat of sanctions by the United Nations.
(defense training facility, military parade)
Since coming to power, Burma’s junta has built one of the biggest armies in Southeast Asia. Yet it has no enemies other than its own people.
(refugees walking in rain in the jungle)
BUMPER 1
(music up)
(graphics)
ANNOUNCER: Later, in Libya, a country comes out of the shadows. But first, a revolution in micro-lending transforms lives around the world.
(map zoom in)
Uganda: A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY
(map graphic zoom out)
(FLW logo)
(music up)
(scenes from Uganda)
REPORTED BY
CLARK BOYD
Let’s get the clichés out of the way.
Yes, most of Uganda’s 25 million people live on less than one dollar a day.
Yes, the East African nation has suffered from civil war.
But despite all of this, people somehow manage to be enterprising.
Here on the edge of Kampala, they sell everything from charcoal to used greeting cards.
That’s what’s brought me here -- to a neighborhood called the Acholi Quarter, where most of the people are refugees from up north.
(Clark and Grace walk and talk through Acholi)
Clark: How did so many folks end up here?
Grace: Yeah, it’s really mainly because of the war.
Clark: The war.
Grace Ayaa takes me through the local rock quarry.
These former Acholi farmers now eke out a living by breaking rocks all day to earn money for food.
(Workers chipping rocks in quarry)
(Clark and Grace walk and talk)
Clark: So is that still the main source of employment for people?
Grace: Yeah.
(walking through quarry)
Grace Ayaa is lucky; she doesn’t have to work in the quarry.
That’s because she owns a small business.
She makes and sells peanut butter.
Clark: So this is your peanut butter factory.
Grace: Yes – it is.
(Woman handing out bag of peanut butter)
Grace’s factory got a boost when she changed the way she did business.
Grace: What we used to do - we had the stones, the grinding stones... So I used to do this just have my sesame and the peanut. Grind them on the real stone. And then pack them up. And then get into offices to get people who would buy them.
(Shots of women preparing peanut butter)
Last year Grace was able to buy a grinding machine and a refrigerator because she received what’s called a micro-loan.
(Woman with grinder)
Grace: I’m really so happy that the loan has been there. So that I put up everything in place. I bought this – I bought the packaging materials with that money. I bought more of the produce – the sesame and the peanuts itself, the raw one. And this really increased my sales. And I feel so happy about that.
Grace had options when looking for a micro-loan.
She could’ve gone to a local bank.
But they often charge as much as 35% interest on such loans.
Local moneylenders are worse.
Their interest rates are as high as 300 percent.
Instead, Grace found her loan in a completely different way, and at a much lower interest rate.
When she visits her local web café, there is a message waiting for her.
It was from Nathan Folkert, who lives in San Francisco.
(Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco)
Nathan: Uh, I do like peanut butter. I like chunky peanut butter. Um, I don’t know if Grace makes chunky peanut butter.
(Nathan typing)
Nathan: I’m glad that I could be of help to you. Did you purchase the refrigerator?
Grace: …purchase the refrigerator? And has this impacted your ability to produce and market your peanut butter?
Nathan’s one of a small group of lenders who loaned Grace the money she needed.
Nathan: Thanks so much Nathan. I purchased the fridge and bought the packing materials and this has really enabled me to produce more. Excellent. I’m glad that this has improved your business.
(Grace typing, laughing)
Grace came to the attention of Nathan when he found her story along with her photograph on the website of a San Francisco based non-profit called Kiva.
Nathan: The loan amount, she asked for 475 dollars, which I think is pretty reasonable for starting up a peanut butter business. This is Grace Ayaa’s entry. So it just tells like how much I’ve loaned to her and how much of my loan she’s repaid.
As Grace’s business grows, Nathan is taking the money and loaning it to others.
In all, he’s invested in some 70 businesses.
Nathan: Some of the stories are more interesting to follow and some of them are like, oh I went and visited this person and learned all about water spinach and you know, we went out on a boat and I met their kids. And so, some of the stories are more fun. But all of the stories are interesting. I mean just to follow along.
The concept of Kiva is simple.
Using just a credit card, a lender in the U.S. can make a small loan to an entrepreneur.
What’s different about Kiva is that – through the web – a more direct connection is forged between lender and borrower.
(Antonio and Olga at computer)
Antonio: Ok, so our names, locations…
Olga Espira gave to a business in her native Kenya.
Olga: There’s a human face behind the money. It’s direct contact. You almost feel like you’re building a relationship with that person. You can see the people, you can see what they’re trying to do; you understand it. And the rest just really depends on what calls out to you.
Antonio: Right, right.
(driving shot in Uganda, Clark and Janet getting out of van to meet Amos)
In Uganda, Kiva relies on partnerships with local organizations to evaluate a businesses’ credit-worthiness.
Janet Alupot runs one of these partner organizations.
She takes me to meet Amos Mayoka.
Clark: Hi, Amos? I’m Clark.
(Clark and Amos walking together)
Clark: This is the site of your business here?
Amos: Yeah, this is my business.
Clark: Ok, well tell me a little bit about your business.
Amos: Yeah, this business…we were three brothers. My elder brothers, passed away of AIDS and left me with a lot of children. So now it’s entirely on me to keep up the two families.
Clark: So you’re responsible for them?
Amos: I’m responsible for my own nearly as for the others – the other two families.
Clark: So how many people in total are you responsible for?
Amos: Over 20.
Clark: Over 20?
Amos: Yeah.
(children in outdoor furniture shop)
Amos makes furniture to order.
He wants a loan of a little more than $1100 to expand his business.
(Janet talking to Amos)
It’s bigger than usual. Loan officer Janet Alupot asks Amos the hard questions.
Janet: What’s the collateral that you’re giving us?
Amos: I have land. I have a house.
(Brick maker working in the mud)
Amos also has a brick-making business.
He says he’d use the loan to improve the way he makes and stores the bricks.
(Amos posing for picture by tree)
After the appraisal, Janet takes Amos’ picture so she can post it on the Kiva site.
(Picture of Amos by the tree on Kiva website)
Some of Kiva’s other Ugandan partners work a bit differently.
Grace Ayaa doesn’t just make peanut butter.
She’s become the assistant director of a group called Life in Africa.
Life in Africa takes a more communal approach to deciding who can apply for a loan.
Each week, the members hold a meeting to review loan applications.
Grace’s assistant (woman): Next is Kyomukama Molly and it is a charcoal stall. Activity: buying charcoal and paying rent for the stall.
The members ask tough questions about Molly’s application, because they’re all responsible if her business fails.
This man defends her business plan.
Grace’s assistant (man): Okay..transport. I think you always see these big trucks. We call them Mfusa. They’ll just go deliver it. There’s no transport cost.
(Group meeting with Grace)
Woman in group: I support the idea of giving a loan to Molly. But Molly should not hire her son. Because her son refused to go to school 10 years ago. He might be capable of stealing or even disorganizing the business.
Grace’s assistant (man): The son dropped out of school because of school fees. There was no school fees for him.
Grace’s assistant (woman): How many people think Molly should not get the money? Put up your hand.
Molly’s asking for 275 dollars.
Grace’s assistant (woman): OK, how many think she should get the loan?
(Grace interview)
Grace: People are very interested, I’m sure. Our next loan is going to be more than 50 people. Cause everybody’s like wanting to get after the loan thing.
(David uploading Molly’s loan)
That evening, the information about Molly’s charcoal store is posted.
It goes halfway around the world to San Francisco.
(Kiva office in San Francisco)
Fiona: So this is the screen where we can see all of the loan applications that have been uploaded to our database.
Amos the furniture maker is in that database.
Surprisingly, he may not have to wait long for a response.
Fiona Ramsey: Average funding time is two and a half days. I think that it’s quite possible he will be funded by the end of the week because this loan is from Africa and because of his story. Even though it’s a large loan size. We’ll see.
(Scenes of Kiva office in San Francisco)
Kiva’s a small operation relying on donations; they have a staff of just seven people.
Premal Shah serves as President.
(Premal power point presentation)
Premal: Humans are fundamentally better than banks.
He came to Kiva from the online money transfer company PayPal.
Premal Shah: Banks don’t value emotional returns. And so banks will charge a high interest rate to these micro-finance institutions but people will be a little more forgiving. And second, banks have a cost structure. So they need to pay for their brand building and their brick and mortar expenses, branches, etcetera. People on the internet using basically your credit card – and PayPal by the way is providing its free payment processing – there’s really no cost for an internet surfer who’s sipping coffee just to come in and lend $100 to a small business.
(Shots of Bill’s house, Bill at computer)
Bill Wetherell: There’s something about the tangibility of this. You know, I’m helping to buy a bicycle or a chicken farm or a taxi. That to me felt like, you know, like if I don’t get the money back, great it’s a donation, but if I do, this is great because I actually, I can actually re-loan the money to someone else. And I can feel like a little Bill Gates Foundation or a Rockefeller Foundation in my own way.
(Matt and Jessica in Uganda)
The concept of online person to person lending came to a young couple from San Francisco – Matt and Jessica Flannery.
She’s a Stanford Business School student.
He used to do web design.
Matt: You guys ready to go to Turroro?
They joined me in Uganda to show me how Kiva got its start.
(On the road in Uganda with Matt and Jessica)
Jessica was here a few years back, working for another micro-finance group.
What she saw inspired her.
Jessica: This is what, this is the Uganda that I remember.
Jessica and Matt thought about using the internet to make micro-lending more efficient.
But they needed a local partner.
Jessica found Moses Onyango in his village in eastern Uganda.
Moses, in turn, identified the first seven recipients for loans from Kiva.
(Happy reunion scene; Moses walk and talk with Clark)
Moses: Immediately, when the businesses were logged on the site, they got funding of $3,100. They wired the money to me. I brought the money to the village. I gave the money out to them. And the businesses started immediately.
(Moses talking with Matt, Jessica, and group)
Moses: We have Kristin Aurora, she’s a…
Jessica: The restaurant. Good food. It is! It’s very good!
(Clark and Jessica talk with Elizabeth)
Clark: So this is Elizabeth, she was one of the first people who got a Kiva loan. Right?
Jessica: Yes, Yes, yes. And one of the first people I met. And she was so enthusiastic and so energetic.
Elizabeth Omalla received a 500 dollar loan from Kiva early last year to expand her fruit and vegetable business.
She’s already paid off her loan.
Jessica: This looks great; you have a lot.
(Clark and Jessica walk and talk through village)
Jessica: So many of these businesses were started with just small bits of money, usually $100, hundred dollar grants.
Jessica: Hi Christina, how are you?
(Christina at work)
Jessica: Christina’s one of the original seven Dream Team who, if they failed, the whole idea probably would have stopped right there.
Clark: So her initial loan was for how much money?
(Jessica and Clark with group)
Jessica: Um… I think it was 500.
Clark: Five hundred.
Jessica: I think it was 500. Oooh, chipati…
Jessica: We know that Matt and I weren’t the experts in doing micro-loans. We saw great organizations doing great work and we wanted to get involved, but we weren’t so presumptuous to think – Oh, we can just go in there and give money to people that we meet and have it work. The partners are the experts, so what we want to do is empower them to do what they’re already doing and do it better and do it more and reach more people.
(Matt and Jessica walking in Kampala craft fair)
Jessica: Good morning.
Back in Kampala, Matt and Jessica are visiting Life in Africa. There’s a craft fair going on where many of the merchants have been funded by Kiva.
Jessica: Wow! This is so exciting!
Matt’s also trying out some new technology – he can use a cell phone to take a picture of a loan recipient and upload it directly to the website bypassing the need for a computer.
In Africa, where electricity isn’t always available, cell phones are a more reliable way to communicate.
Matt: I just sent an image from my cell phone that went to our server which then emailed all the lenders to Joyce’s patchwork….this picture.
No one is quite sure how far the technology can go, but Matt’s willing to dream big.
Matt: Kiva made a huge step in just connecting people from the first world to people from the third world. Now if we could connect people from the third world to each other… that would just be, it seems like the next step. It seems like the futuristic scenario.
(Janet visiting Amos)
It’s been a week since Janet Alupot came to see Amos the furniture maker.
Now, after just a few days on the Kiva site, she has news for him.
Janet: Glad to let you know your loan has been approved already.
Amos: Wow, thanks a lot.
The lenders have completely funded his project.
(Janet handing Amos stack of money)
Over the next nine months, Janet will keep tabs on Amos and post updates on the Kiva website about how his business is doing.
In fact, no one has ever defaulted on any loan made by Kiva. The repayment rate, for now, stands at 100 percent.
(Acholi Quarter scenes)
What Kiva calls peer to peer micro-credit lending does seem to be working.
Grace Ayaa has seen the impact in Kampala’s Acholi Quarter.
Grace: The many who have managed to get other loans are doing very well. Their income have increased, which wasn’t. Many people are really coming out from the stone quarry business, which is a hectic one. It’s real hectic. So, it brought real and great change to the people.
The success of a small business spreads throughout a community.
In the Acholi Quarter, new houses are being built.
(shots of Kiva website)
And Kiva is building on its success as well.
It’s given out more than 400,000 dollars in loans.
And what started in just one small village in Uganda has spread to eleven other countries in just its first year.
(music up)
(map zoom out)
(logo)
BUMPER 2
(music up)
(graphics)
ANNOUNCER: Finally tonight, chasing an eclipse in the Libyan desert.
(map zoom in)
Libya: OUT OF THE SHADOW
REPORTED BY
MARCO WERMAN
(various shots of Tripoli city life)
I’m in a record shop in Tripoli, Libya.
(Marco in record shop)
I usually report on music from around the globe for my radio program The World.
But I’m not in Libya for a music story.
(Promotional poster showing eclipse)
I’m here to cover a rare total eclipse of the sun that’s passing through the Libyan desert.
(Crowds of tourists on street)
With me are ten thousand foreign tourists. That’s more visitors than Libya typically has in an entire year.
(Marco walk and talk with government minder)
I’m assigned a government minder who tells me that Libya is opening up to the world now that it’s renounced terrorism.
(Marco on streets of Libya, talking with locals)
Marco: Can I ask you a few questions? Can I ask you a few questions for radio?
Man On Street #1: No, I’m sorry because I don’t speak English fluently.
Marco: But this is very good English?
Man #1: No I do not speak English fluently.
(Marco in Libyan market)
Marco: Americano.
Man On Street #2: Americano! Hello.
Marco: Do you speak English? No?
(Marco sitting trying to speak to man in shop)
But people here still seem reluctant to talk to an American journalist.
(Marco on streets talking with people)
Marco: I’m from America, radio in the United States. I just want to ask you a couple of questions about the old-
Man On Street #3: I’m sorry, I don’t speak English.
Marco: You speak great English! I just want to ask you a couple of questions about the old city.
Man On Street #3: I’m very sorry about that.
(Marco speaking with a young man; face is blurred)
There was one young man who struck up a passionate conversation with me.
Young Man: I want to live life like a human.
Marco: You want to be like a human? And you don’t think you’re a human here in Libya?
Young Man: Not exactly, part. I’m missing a lot of things. No one is hearing my voice.
Marco: You seem to be expressing yourself quite freely; you say there’s no free media, there’s not a lot of human rights
Young Man: Yeah, yeah.
But the government minder cut the interview off almost immediately.
(Government escort gets up and interferes with shot, talks with young man)
Young Man: What? Stop, stop.
After 36 years in power, Colonel Moammar Qaddafi is still very much in charge here.
(driving shot out the window)
But just outside Tripoli, there are signs that things are loosening up.
(Tourists walking to ruins)
Foreign tourists are starting to discover some of the most spectacular Roman ruins in the world.
Libya hopes these sites and its unspoiled Mediterranean coastline will one day make it a major vacation spot.
(Marco on plane)
Marco: It’s about 5:30 right now. We left Tripoli on a plane at about 11:00 this morning, flew down the coast of the Mediterranean for about an hour and a half and then ducked about three hundred thirty miles to a little town in the middle of nowhere, an airport called Lahura, and now we’re racing along these date plantations south to the town of Jalu, where we’ll watch the eclipse tomorrow at noon.
(shots of tent camp)
We’re dropped off in the middle of the desert where the Libyan government has built a sprawling tent city.
(people looking out across desert, adjusting binoculars and telescopes)
Here, eclipse chasers from all over the world are getting ready for a few extraordinary minutes in the moon’s shadow.
Kelly Beatty: Why should people see a total solar eclipse? You have this rare opportunity here on earth to see the sun and moon line up in such a way that one covers the other almost perfectly. For the truly dedicated eclipse chaser, it’s all about seconds in totality, the complete eclipse. The more you get, the better.
Landon Knoll: This will be my twelfth eclipse. I now have one thousand four hundred eighty four point three seconds of totality. And looking forward to getting another four minutes and five point eight seconds of totality in Jalu.
(Libyan security agents seated)
Mixing with the foreigners in the desert are a small number of Libyans…but many seem like they’re here to watch us, not the eclipse.
(Nighttime cultural display; Marco in Jalu camp in desert)
Marco: I’m standing under an unbelievably starry sky in the middle of the Libyan desert. I’m now in a colony that resembles a refugee camp with about three thousand people from forty-five countries around the globe and a handful of Libyans, and tomorrow we’re all going to see something really spectacular.
(sunrise in camp, people heading out with gear to watch eclipse)
The eclipse wouldn’t happen until just past noon. But by nine o’clock, people were staking out the best spots to view it.
Frenchman: Just to make sure that the sun is in the middle and the computer will do the job of taking the picture for me.
(people looking up at sky, eclipse approaching)
Marco: It’s absolutely extraordinary to be out here in the middle of the Sahara desert. The temperature in the last ten minutes probably has dropped ten degrees Fahrenheit. It’s high noon, it’s actually 12:20, we’re about seven minutes away from totality, and the quality of the light has changed to—I can’t even describe it as twilight, it’s more like the whole middle of the day has turned gray and we’re gonna see something sensational in about seven minutes from now.
(shots of eclipse in the sky)
Marco: Watch it, watch it… watch it … Oh my god…it’s total eclipse. The moon has just covered the sun, you can look directly at it. Gossamer waves of light are shooting out from the sides, and all around me are sunsets.
Man eclipse watcher #1: It was like looking into a black hole, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything that black before.
Man eclipse watcher #2: The darkness of the moon against the sun, is incredibly black.
Woman eclipse watcher #1: The corona was very veil-like, gauzy.
Man eclipse watcher #3: The darkness, and that coolness of the air, it’s so beautiful. And you can see many, many stars up there. All of these stars just show up right away.
Man eclipse watcher #4: People got very quiet, very reverent. There’s that bit, call it my reptilian part of the brain, saying this isn’t normal, there’s something really unusual going on.
Woman eclipse watcher #2: When it lines up at totality, that perfect geometry, it’s just so magical.
(Marco reporting for radio; daylight returning to desert)
Marco: The sky’s starting to get brighter over on the horizon from where the moon’s shadow came, and now the sunset is actually more pronounced—oh it’s changing, it’s incredible, here we go, it’s about to come back out…and it’s like they pulled up a stage light, and suddenly we’re all illuminated again. And now the horizon to the south is bright, we’re coming back into daylight and it’s all changing. This is even more dramatic than going into totality in some ways, because you can look off into the distance and just see how everything is just shifting by the second. It’s like everything we saw in reverse.
Doug McCarty: It's an astronomical event but it's beyond that, it's something that's so inspiring and exciting and otherworldly. It's a magic experience that hooks people. And I'm already planning to go to my next eclipse, I'm already starting to save my money.
(people leaving desert, empty tents blowing in breeze; Marco in the desert)
Marco: It’s the day after the eclipse here in Jalu and lots of the tents are empty, many of them are being folded up and packed away, most of the people have left. I’ve got to say one of the things I’ve found most remarkable in speaking with the Libyans who have come here is their really strong desire to meet people from around the world who’ve come here to see this eclipse and let them know that the Libyan government is not them. And it’ll be really interesting to see how much of that message remains when this is just another piece of the Sahara desert again.
(night shots of Marco in Tripoli streets)
As it turned out, the eclipse happened just as Libya’s future on the world stage was looking brighter. But it’s too soon to tell how it’ll adjust to this strange new light.
END
BUMPER 3
ANNOUNCER: There’s more of the world to explore on our web site. Including stories of repression in Burma. And more on micro-lending and the Nobel Peace Prize. And…
Woman: She literally said, “If I have a baby I can stay here, maybe.”
ANNOUNCER: A new internet video about illegal immigrants with legal children. A woman facing deportation fights to keep her family together.
Woman: To President Bush.
ANNOUNCER: Watch the whole piece online – part of our web-exclusive series “Rough Cut.” Discuss the world and tell us what you think of our stories from a small planet at pbs.org
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