The short-term countdown has begun! Next week I have training at Kiva’s San Francisco headquarters, and two weeks from today I arrive in Honduras to begin work at Prisma!

This week Lucy, a member of the Prisma Honduras staff, sends me an email offering to let me stay in her apartment with her. This comes as a huge relief to me, because I actually considered just buying a crappy car to sleep in (housing and transportation all-in-one, you know?). She describes her apartment and names the price for rent. The price is exactly what I budgeted for shelter, but because it includes meals, internet, and transportation (because she, in fact, has a car), I will actually be saving a lot. To top it all off, she asks what sort of food I like so that she can have the kitchen stocked, and concludes with a kind offer to pick me from the airport when I arrive. “Cuídate bien” (take good care of yourself) she signs.

Hallelujah! Compared to the sleeping-in-the-car scenario, this will be luxurious!

Now, with living arrangements taken care of, I begin to sift through the other intricacies of this fellowship that are making themselves known to me. Early today I finally catch up with Sierra, a Kiva Fellow who worked with Prisma last year, who shares honest and helpful advice and funny anecdotes about living in Tegucigalpa and integrating into Prisma. Many of her tips center around office politics, and how to make it clear that I am a serious and worthwhile addition to their team. As a Kiva Fellow, my goal is to help Prisma maximize its productivity within the Kiva process; and it’s clear that I can only achieve that by following my own most efficient work process. For example, this means surrendering to the fact that, although Prisma’s female loan officers are capable of conducting business while decked out in 3-inch stiletto heels, I will need my tennis shoes to reach borrowers across uneven roads and farmlands.

Sierra mentions that there is some friction in the offices, caused by the fact that the director is a woman. I have been excited about how the microfinance industry benefits female entrepreneurs by improving their access to credit; but I have not given much thought to the women who support themselves by taking directive roles within microfinance institutions. I am looking forward to meeting, working, and living with the women who progress professionally past the confines of a traditionally “macho” culture.

Don’t get me wrong, I also look forward to interacting with Prisma’s male staff, but I am currently fixated on how microfinance empowers women.

This is a result of my community of powerful women. I am fortunate that the women in my life play multiple roles; whether their label is “mother”, “sister”, “friend”, “teacher”, “coworker”, “boss”, “neighbor” … every woman I know acts also as my indispensable role model and confidante. My mom has collected letters, pictures, and charms from some of these mentors so that I have tokens by which to remember their support while I am in Honduras. I cannot just expect the same kind of bond with Lucy or the other women at Prisma, but I do hope to channel the energy of those totems into good relationships.

Thanks to all (the women and men:) who, whether by sending charms, writing letters, donating money, or giving love – contribute to my fountain of inspiration. Without you I would not have the opportunity to meet Lucy, nor to work with Prisma and its clients to understand how this micro-lending helps women finance their own opportunities.