Profile of an Indonesian: Mr Franciscus
Feb 23
Mr Franciscus is one of the founding members of the Jelayan Kaki Kuta branch of Keling Kumang, our partner in Indonsia. He is a rubber farmer and has been a member for 10 years, taking multiple loans in this time.
Mr Franciscus told me of his two rubber plantations. “The first was a failure,” he said. Mr Franciscus was new to rubber farming and his wife became ill which meant that he wasn’t able to “think about the plantation” as much as he needed to. Luckily he was able to take a loan from Keling Kumang, and the second was much more successful. Building on his knowledge from the first, he has seen his quality of life significantly improve in the last 10 years.
I asked him about hard times, and he immediately pointed to the 1998 Asian crisis when rubber prices slumped. Keling Kumang provided him with a loan during this time which he used to smooth his income and he was able to continue harvesting when the prices bounced back.
The branch manager was also keen to tell me of the commitment of Mr Franciscus to the branch – “He is a very loyal member. When things are going wrong he comes directly to the branch to talk about it.” As an example, Mr Franciscus saw that sometimes members going through hard times struggled with their repayment. He suggested that Keling Kumang reduce the interest rate of the loans for these members – an initiative which Keling Kumand adopted.
