Kristrun

At last I’m done with this goal!!! :)

However, this does not at all mean that I’m leaving Kiva, as long as some kiva borrowers want my money… I’ll keep lending it :)

Today I finally found a country on kiva that I had still not lent to. This time I lent to a lady opperating a beauty saloon in Iraq...

This borrower is 46 years old, married, and is the mother of four children. Her husband is retired and his pension is $250.

She has experience of twenty years in this business and nine years ago she established her own shop. She has received three loans including this one, and has made all the repayments in a timely manner. As a result of these loans she raised her income and became capable of getting more customers.

Here you can view my Kiva profile to see what projects I’ve supported so far.

Since this goal to expand my comfort zone requires at least one challenge every month I decide that this months challenge would be to participate in the Stockholm Model United Nations (SMUN).

I guess most of you don’t know what I’m talking about but here is a short clarification:

A Model United Nations conference is an authentic simulation of the work in a UN committee such as the Security Council, or other regional and international organizations, such as the African Union or the WTO. A MUN conference is structured as a scenario based simulation, meant to educate and train the participants in fields of civics, communications, and multilateral diplomacy. During a three day Model United Nations conference, students take on roles as foreign diplomats and participate in simulated sessions, representing the country appointed to them.

I was given the role to represent Ecuador and the topic we discussed in my committee was “Improving the Lives of Women in Afghanistan”. This was a great experience, which definitely required me to step out of my comfort zone as I had to learn a lot of new rules and procedures at the same time as I had to argue my case (in quite formal and diplomatic English) in front of a 60-people committee. At first this was extremely difficult and I was really stressed to start with, but slowly I became more confident and relaxed.

I think I might even consider doing something similar again later :)

Just made another Kiva loan, this time to Imad in Palestine... which is then the 42nd country that I make a Kiva loan to. I’m getting close to finishing this goal – only one country to go now :)

Imad, 35 years old, is married with three children. All his children are currently in school. Imad’s main activity is selling fruit and vegetables. As of now, this is his only source of income.

This is the first time that Imad has requested a loan from Ryada. This loan will let him purchase more fruits and vegetables to sell and therefore improve his business by being able to provide a larger variety of goods.