I Am A Micro-Lender – Participating in Kiva Loans

The more I mature (read "age"), the more I am aware of how fortunate I am.  I don’t have to look far to see someone whose life has more challenges, more worries, more insecurity, and less options than I have experienced.  I am forever grateful to our friend, H.E. Kamiya, for introducing us to idea of micro-lending through KIVA as a small, easy way to make a difference in someone else’s life.  With a click of a key on the keyboard, we can contribute as little as $25 to help fund a micro-loan for someone in need.  Over time, penny by penny, the loans have been repaid and once completed, we can relend that same $25 to someone else.  It feels very personal because we can read the requests, see a picture of the person, and choose who we want our money to go to.  When enough donors have committed to the loan, it is fully funded.  We receive updates on the loans progress.

Since 2010 we have contributed to 12 loans.  They are located in a variety of places and in various sectors.   

Believing that you get the “most bang for your buck” if you support and educate women, 9 of the 12 loans have been to women…women like:

Mairam a 57 year old woman in Tajikistan who used her money to expand her clothing shop so she could make sure her 6 children could finish university.

The women of a “Pro Mujer” group who would purchase wool to make and sell blankets in LaPaz, Bolivia.

MayJoy in the Philippines who bought fertilizer and farm supplies to assist in her rice farm.

We helped purchase a sewing machine for Zuhro, a single mother in so she can work from home.

And helped Ruzanna in Armenia purchase more land for her horteculture farm.

Not wanting to have too strong a gender bias, we have also supported a few men, like:

Teyyub, in Azerbaijan, who bought 15 sheep and feed 

and Alexander, in the Ukraine, who built a greenhouse with a previous KIVA loan and was requesting a second loan to build a heating system for the greenhouse as well as seed. 

We also helped Afrim, in Kosovo, buy a milk cow to make and sell milk products to support his wife and 3 children.

 

Today we opted to add a few more dollars to our portfolio to support Gladys who lives in a small rural town in Kenya.(Isn't she lovely?)

Overcoming many, many obstacles to improve her life she is finally in a place where she can pursue her education. We applaud her efforts and though the loan is for a long term of 5 years, we want to help her.  If you go here, you can read her story!

10 of our 11 loans have been successful with only one loan defaulting.  Sad to say, the default occurred when we decided to stay closer to home and support a young widowed woman in the United States, California specifically, as she tried to start up a little restaurant.

Being a knitter, I love the image of my life being a tapestry and the threads of the tapestry being all the people that have come together to create my life.  Some colors are more vibrant or more plentiful than others, but all of it makes up my experience of living.  I like to think I can also be a small thread in some other person's tapestry.