Fund 43 microloans through Kiva.org

I don’t want to bore anyone with the other loans I have done, since those entrepreneurs are fully funded. I will say I’ve done several more loans, pushing my total number up to 13.

However, I was late in joining the 43things Kiva team, which can be joined here:

http://www.kiva.org/team/43things

Let’s look alive everyone! :-)

This loan was made possible because of Kiva’s new loan credit policy. To be honest, at first I thought about withdrawing some of my loan balance since my car went kaput this weekend in a big billowy puff of smoke.

However, I have a new job and a way to work (thanks to a devoted sweetheart man) so I know it will work out somehow. I’m reloaning my Kiva credit in good faith that God will direct it for good to people who have greater need for the funds than myself.

This loan goes to the Karim Abdul Hamid Group:

Karim baji lives in a city named Arifwala, Pakistan. Karim baji is a housewife and prefers to do household work. She owns a two-room brick house and has been living in it for the last 20 years. She is the mother of three sons. Her elder son is a mason. Her husband, Abdul Hamid, has worked in the fruit business for the last 10 years and earns $26 per month. Karim baji successfully repaid two loans from Asasah (a microfinance institute of Pakistan). Now she is applying for another loan to buy seasonal fruits to expand her husband’s business.

She is joined in her loan group by four other members. Shamim baji wants a loan to buy more paints for her paint shop. Maqsoodan baji wants a loan to buy tractor. Razia baji wants a loan to buy vegetables to re-sell. Latifan baji wants a loan to buy a donkey cart.

This is a group loan. The loan funds will be distributed among the group members, each of whom will invest in her own business. The members mutually guarantee one another’s loans. If one member does not repay, the other members are responsible.

This loan was from the proceeds of a repaid loan from one of my first Kiva ventures. This loan goes to this worthy group:

La Fuerza Divina Group – Rosa is a lively and energetic young woman who lives with her husband and three children (aged 16, 14, and 12 years) in the rural farming town of Hato Mayor in the Dominican Republic. For a few years now she has run a small business selling clothes and shoes, but she says that often she lacks the necessary capital to buy as much merchandise as she would like. She is asking for this loan so that she can purchase a larger variety and greater quantity of clothes and shoes.

Rosa say she dreams of seeing her children go to college so that they can enter a profession and enjoy a more comfortable life than she has been able to. She hopes that with the extra income this loan will allow her to generate she can save money and buy her own house; in the Dominican Republic those who can buy the title to their own land and house are viewed with great respect.

Today, I was laid off from my job. I decided as a show of faith to visit the Kiva site and find people who were so inspired about their work that they wanted to run a business of their own.

Here are the seeds I have sown:

Juana Vilca Miranda – Doña Juana is a very responsible mother of two children. Since she was young she has had to face many adversities in her life, and until now, with great diligence she has overcome them with the help of her beloved family. Since she separated from the father of her two children she has had to assume the sole responsibility of the home and her children. Thanks to the support of some friends she was able to open a space to sell sweets inside an educational center. This business has helped her finance the studies of her children and the household expenses, but it is still insufficient to cover all of the basic necessities. Her and her children’s desire is to run her business and increase the variety and stock of merchandise that she offers with the intention of elevating her standard of living and offering a good and complete service to their customers. With this objective in mind she comes to you asking for a loan. Whoever has the will has the power and Doña Juana will rapidly realize her project with both of those qualities.

Margarita Bustamante Calderón – Margarita is an exceptional wife and mother as, although she cannot count on any income from her husband due to his bad health (he has a bad back and cannot move normally), she does the best she can to get through their problems and help him to recuperate. She would like a loan to be able to improve her small shop, and thereby increase their income and her beloved family’s quality of life.

Today, I’ve been feeling kind of down and discouraged about my work. I have been entertaining ideas on what needs to change, and that maybe I need to consider a different line of work.

I went to the Kiva site today to get inspired, and inoculate myself with a new dose of gratitude.

I visited the journals of each of the individuals to whom I contributed seed money. I read their thanks and studied their progress. I am just so very proud of them, and evermore grateful for all that I presently am blessed to enjoy.

My third loan is to Fatima Othman in Lebanon.

Her profile is here:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=23443

The reason I chose her is because I had been looking to make a loan to a woman in the Middle East. She was the only female in that regionn today that was seeking a loan, and she does tailoring. My family did tailoring when they came over from Russia and Poland. This commonality struck a familiar chord in me and made me want to help….

My second loan goes to Edith Ogbewe in Nigeria.

Please read about this sweet lady and her goals.

It humbles me to see what she can do with such a reasonable loan amount.

I’ve been fascinated with the whole concept at kiva.org for a couple of months now. What was it that was holding me back … laziness, selfishness, or worse, apathy?!

Today, I saw a story on Yahoo! about Kiva and how it got its start. I had a talk with my sweetheart man about this, and together we researched the clients and lenders. (He’s so protective, I know he would hate to see me get ripped off again.)

I knew that I wanted to do a loan to a woman, preferably someone in the Middle East working in the food business. (I love to feed people, and I have often toyed with the idea of starting a small business myself!) When I couldn’t find anyone meeting that criteria, I cast a wider net. Then, I found Julia.

Together, my sweetheart man and I talked about her profile, and I decided to do the loan! Yippee!

Within seconds, I saw my loan credited to her account, and since she was already so close, I saw her move to 100% completed – so exciting! I had to look up the local time in Ecuador to see if I thought she would be awake and knowing, seeing, feeling her dreams come alive!