Filming for Kiva, Philippines Take TWO

I have some good news and some bad news...

Bad news first? My output of sweat has not decreased even though I have now been in the Philippines for more than a week. The humidity of the Negros Islands continues to feel like 100%. But, I really can't complain because without this tropical weather, I wouldn't have the beautiful landscapes to see or film.

The good news? I am starting to get a handle on the learning curve of my new equipment. The camera is starting to feel like an extension of my arm, or perhaps an extension of me, and it's helping me capture footage from these borrowers in ways that would have never been possible if I was still shooting with DSLR's. The first borrower we filmed was the perfect example of this... She owned a furniture making business and we were taken to her woodshop to film.


Walking in there, you could feel the hard work she put in: the wood shavings, the smell of varnish, and the different pieces of furniture being asessmbled all around the shop.

Filming this scene woukd have been nice with my old camera, but much of the fine details that give this space its character would have been washed out. With my new camera, the details of each unique piece of lumber were shot in immense detail and the Black Magic cameras' 13 stops of dynamic range perfectly capture the beautiful indor/outdoor setting on that sunny morning. I know I'm not scoring any cool points here, but I really can't help but be excited.

The next few days were filled with us visiting different female borrowers: a furniture maker as i mentioend earlier, a pig farmer, and two vegetable farmers.

All four women had borrowed money to further their business and have suceeded! The pig farmer we met was in fact called a "pig fattener" where they purchase piglets, grow them to much larger sizes and resell them at a higher price.

You may not know it, but this little piglet is only 2 months old! He got really excited to see us (or perhaps the expectation of getting food) and constantly jumped up onto the fencing. We thought this would be a great shot to film, but for some reason, right when the camera lens was pointed at them, they seemed to have lost their enthusiasm. But with much perseverence we finally got the piglet to jump into frame to chow down on some grub.

One thing I learned was that all crew members should be ready to get their feet compeltely submerged in mud and/or some form of brown stuff while on a shoot on a farm. Lucky for us, there were always water pumps somewhere nearby to rinse off. For some reason though, the locals seem to never get dirty AT ALL. Even when we are always at least ankle deep in the mud.

Our third profile piece was Juanita, possibly the most smiley woman we've met thus far. Her business was farming vegetables including green beans and eggplants. Unfortunately, not too long before our interview, a large rainfall had wiped out her crops. Although it was tough, she continued on with a very positive attitude. She concentrated on what she had rather than what she had lost.

Throughout the more rural areas of the Philipines, there are small shops that sell snacks, sometimes household items and drinks. Juanita was also the owner of one of these shops. Using the money she had earned from farming, she started a small snack shop next to her home selling to the local neighbors. At the end of our shoot, we were able to purchase a few refreshing drinks and sit down and chat with her while we packed up the gear.

Being a Kiva fellow really allows us to step into the lives of people from different cultures. As Juanita and her cousin sat down to chat, they were swaying a large net filled with pillows and blankets back and forth. Upon further inspection, we had realzed that there was a little baby inside, fast asleep to the chatter of the adults nearby. The home-made rocking crib looked so comfortable some of us (who will remain nameless) were extremely tempted to jump in and catch a nap.

Our next interview was with Joy, also a vegetable farmer, but to a slightly smaller scale. She truly lived up to her name and was an absolute pleasure to work with. Her smile was intoxicating and her personality shined bright through the camera lens.

She has a small garden at the back of her home where she grows vegetables such as eggplants, green beans, cabbage, squash and much more. They are sold on a small table outside of her home on most days - except for Sunday where her and her mother take the vegetables to the market to sell.
We ended up purchasing green beans and eggplants for dinner that evening. Let me tell you, there is soemthng special about fresh and organically home grown vegetables for dinner after eating three square meals of rice, meat, and fish every day. Joy's veggies provided a welcomed detox for the crew.

These four amazing women once again wowed us with their dedication to hard work and their commitment to improve the lives of their families through the use of Kiva's loans!

Post-interview note: Every car ride that we took in the Bacolod area never failed to have some sort of beautiful landscape that was post-card worthy. Having Pach and the MFI driver, Ramil, with us helped a lot when we would randomly stop on the side of the road to take a shot of some gorgeous scenery or some workers digging through a rice field or chopping through sugar cane.

Once again, thank you NWTF for a great set of interviews and the chance to meet the people who best represent Kiva's potential for success.