Accepting loan nominations!

[Guest]

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[wannado]

I will be giving a talk about materialism later this month.  Such a fun topic!

At the end, I'll be talking about antidotes to materialism, which include focusing on what you have instead of what you don't have, recognizing and feeling gratitude for how fortunate one is, and focusing more on others and less on yourself.

As it turns out, Kiva lending very nicely blends all three of these elements, so I plan on giving a brief spiel about Kiva at the end.  As part of that, I would like to highlight a couple of recent Kiva loans that would especially encourage empathy and a feeling of gratitude in a typical (highly educated) American audience. In addition to having a good story, the borrower photograph would need to be attractive and high quality, suitable for use in a PowerPoint presentation.

I'd love to get some KivaFriends suggestions for loans that would be effective for this purpose.   (please don't bring up the photo release issue!--these aren't going to be published anywhere.)

Marsha

[Eli]

Please let me nominate Dominga Lupaca De Lupaca.  Ever since she stepped foot in my life, I have not been able to get her out of my head.

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=60456



Mrs. Dominga is 63 years old, finished high school, is married and has 7 children, two of which are girls, and has 3 granddaughters. They live in the Hyariquisana communtiy, Pilcuyo district, El Colloa Llave province, and Puno region. She is actually the secretary of the Lupkanas Communal Bank, which she decided to participate in due to lack of capital since her business was not doing well due to illness from being struck by lightning.

Initially she obtained a loan of $115, with which she purchased iron as springs, routers, electrodes, etc. to create of stakes, spikes, rings, and other items. With the loan of $350, which will be repaid in 4 months, she will continue investing in the purchase of raw iron, 1/8 electrodes, springs, and car parts, to make spikes, hatchets, stakes, and other tools. This activity allows her to stay close to her children and her husband.

She is very happy, because she has recuperated and her business is improving little by little, as well as her income, since she spends every Sunday selling her items at the Llave Fair. Her stand is located in Jiron Sucre, near the Santa Barbara Plaza. Her dream is to have more capital so she can make more agricultural tools, and that her grandchildren get an education.



Need I say more?

[mejane]

Marsha,
I just sent you a PM to one of my most favorite loans and it was to someone in Cameroon through GHAPE!!  I hope you will let us know how your talk goes.  Jane

[charity]

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=47266
Tabrey Beatrice
"Ma Beatrice is married to a polygamist. They are blessed with six children, all of whom go to school. Ma Beatrice could not afford to study in school when she was younger, which has made life very difficult for her. Because of this, it is hard for her to work and assist her husband in caring for the family. Additionally, her children are unable to study freely in school because of the fees. They also cannot afford three square meals a day.

Ma Beatrice was motivated to become a member of GHAPE by her husband, who became a GHAPE member in 2001. Since she joined, Ma Beatrice has successfully borrowed and repaid loans six times. The profit from these loans has helped her to pay her children's school fees and provide some basic needs, like food, for the family.

Given a new loan, Ma Beatrice plans to buy drugs, chemicals for the production of momo (which is used for washing dresses), and planting seeds. She knows her business is going to succeed because she has acquired some basic training in finance management and how to choose a good business from GHAPE. Also, she has been doing this business for several years.

She plans to pay her loan in 24 months. The first installment repayment shall be done on the fourth month from the date of disbursement. "

[charity]

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=39700
Raquel Tembe
"Raquel Tembe is 52 years old and native to the Matutuine district in the province of Maputo. As a child she was unable to attend school due to the distance between her home and the school, and being a girl in her culture with discrimination between sons and daughters she was only able to attend until the 3rd grade. She grew up with her parents.

At 19 years old she married and had 6 children. She has suffered great pains from the civil war between Frelimo and Renamo having been kidnapped by the enemy army, and even today the effects of the war continue in her memory.

Thanks to the access to credit she has been able to structure her life and without it her life would have continued to be very difficult. With her activity she is able to support a family of 8 people, between children and grandchildren. Despite having an official husband, he seldom helps the family due to his low monthly income.

With this loan of $1,125US she intends to purchase inventory both of new and different products following the necessities of her customers. It should be noted that by her great entrepreneurship she sells on foot at different markets each week in the district of Matutuine. In the future as her age increases she realizes that she is not going to be able to handle the various trips to sell at the markets so she intends to build a small commercial establishment in the village of Bela Vista."

[charity]

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=25116
Laurence Kinyanjui
"Lawrence is 27 years old, married with one child, and lives in Kitengela. He also takes care of his niece and nephew, whose mother died of malaria while she was pregnant in 1998. He supports them from his rural home in Thika. Lawrence was employed at a shop in Karen and, from this employment, he got the idea to open a milk bar. He started the milk bar in November 2006 from the little savings he had from doing casual jobs at construction sites. He had saved $176, which he used to rent a room and buy 3 liters of milk for Ksh 20 (USD 29 cents) each. He then sold each liter for Ksh 30. It reached a point where he could sell 50 liters of milk each day. He then bought a used freezer at a cost of Ksh 14,500 (USD $213) from the small savings he had remaining. He then started selling groceries including eggs, flour, sugar, rice, and other things. Lawrence also sells kerosene, which is sold and measured by the use of bottles. Lawrence is requesting a loan of $1,100 to purchase a kerosene pump. If he gets the pump, he will get more customers since he gets a lot of them, even now when he does not have a pump (most people in his area are dependent on kerosene because they do not have electricity). With this loan, Lawrence believes that he will be able to support his family and dependents very well without any difficulties whatsoever. The total cost for the pump is Ksh 70,000. Lawrence expects to repay this loan in 12 months."
and his journal entry:
"After receiving his loan from his kiva lenders and purchasing a kerosene pump ,Laurence lost two relatives who succumbed due to injuries gotten during the post election violence,yet again when he returned to his business station he was immediately informed of his sisters death during child birth,this stressed him so much that he has not been operating for the last one month,.When i visited him early this month he told me that the world was against him ,i advised him to go for counseling he told me he will try ,Please play for him.He promised to start repaying his loan in two months time."

[charity]

Below I posted three of the borrowers whose stories have particularly stayed in my head.  I don't know if you are looking for stories quite so sad, but they sure invoke empathy...

I haven't taken the time to figure out how to post the pictures here on KF, so I just put in a link.  Unfortunately only one of the pictures is a pretty good one. 

[Sengbe Pieh]

Here are the photos to the stories Charity posted. I share the loan to Tabrey Beatrice with Charity & many other thoughtful Kiva Lenders!

Tabrey Beatrice

                                                               

Raquel Tembe

Laurence Kinyanjui

[waywardcats]

At the end, I'll be talking about antidotes to materialism, which include focusing on what you have instead of what you don't have, recognizing and feeling gratitude for how fortunate one is, and focusing more on others and less on yourself.

Marsha,

This brought to mind one of my favorite entrepreneurs, curiously enough she is from GHAPE (great minds Jane?).  This one one of the first loans I joined on Kiva, and is probably responsible for my addiction.   



Born in 1966, Regina Anong is an unemployed widow with six children. Although she attributes her unemployment to her lack of education, she is appreciative of the fact that she is alive. Her desire is to give her children love and education. She states that she feels better each time she provides something small for her kids. Her inability to get investment capital to generate income motivated her to seek a loan from GHAPE. Using her previous loans, she succeeded in providing her community a source of food, meat, and manure.

Given a loan, she plans to buy piglets, pig feed, and seedlings and to pay for labor to clear farm land and help with hoeing. This investment will increase food supply in the community and provide income to her family. She is planning to use the profits generated to sponsor her children in school and to meet the basic needs of her family.

-Kerry-

[Alphecca]

Name: Moses Andal Business Name: Medical Clinic Location: Kibera slums, Kenya Description: Moses Ojwang Andal is 58 years old, married, and has 5 children. He is also looking after his nephew whose parents died of HIV/AIDS. Moses is a retired military officer and a registered clinical officer. He lives in the Kibera slums where he has been operating a medical clinic since 1998. Two years before his retirement in year 2000, Moses obtained a loan of Ksh 100,000.00 (US$1,540) from a local bank to purchase the basic equipment and instruments for the clinic and was able to repay the loan within 8 months. Moses offers services such as curative, family planning, laboratory, referral, and delivery, and also deals with emergencies. In late 1998, fire broke out in the neighborhood, and his clinic was not spared. Yet, this did not destroy his ambition of continuing with the medical profession. Moses used part of his employment benefits of Ksh 150,000.00 (US$2,200) to revive the clinic by buying the most necessary items such as a stethoscope, biceps, gloves, drugs, a weighing machine, etc. The clinic progressed well and has been employing 6 staff members from the community. Moses has approached Action Now Kenya to help him replace some of the equipment in his clinic that is now worn out. He needs a new glucometer, a blood pressure machine, two trays and drugs, all of which will cost US $250. He believes that having these machines in good condition will help in better diagnosing illnesses of his patients, and allow to give them the right treatment. Moses shall repay the loan over a period of 10 months. His loan was dispersed Aug 20, 2007. Journal Entry: Feb 4, 2008 Moses Andal bore the blunt of the post elections violence by having his clinic looted and then having it razed to the ground.. At the moment if you visit Kibera you will always find him at the site where his clinic used to be. At the moment he is trying to figure out if he will be able to start another clinic some where else. He is praying for peace to prevail so as to know the way forward. Journal Entry: Jul 22, 2008 Its back to business for Mr. Andal after his clinic got burned with everything inside it. He has now managed to rebuild Rosade clinic slowly but still lacks a lot of items for his work. So far the clinic has three rooms but the rest of the requirements will be bought slowly so that he can get back to his business. Best wishes to Moses and his business. Good luck

No other words are sufficient to describe the courage and dedication of Moses to bring medical services to his community.

[cpbailey]

This loan goes into detail about many things that we just take for granted and aren't available in the community!  Like running water, cars, electricty and paved roads.

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=2060

In the same town, a woman who lugs water for her farm UPHILL.  She wants a well closer to her home...  And just for fun, research how much water each cow and pig needs.  Then add for her family of six!

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=4519

Colette

[Alphecca]

Name: Martin Abimana Business Name: Tailoring Location: Karenge, Rwamagana, Eastern Province, Rwanda Description: Martin is 42 years old, married with three children and two adopted orphans from the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Martin has been a tailor with his workshop for 27 years. He makes different clothes for both women and men in the area. He makes school uniforms for primary children. He has 15 sewing machines and employs 5 people in the workshop. He is training young girls and boys who never had a chance to continue with school to sew for a skill in life. He earns about $250 (monthly) from the sewing workshop. Besides sewing, Martin has two milking cows, which earn him about $35 from selling the milk to his neighbors. He is requesting a loan worth 504,495 Frws to buy more sewing materials for his workshop.

[Alphecca]

We absolutely cannot leave this thread without a special commendation of Regina!

Name: Regina Jose Business Name: General Store Location: Catembe, Maputo, Mozambique Description: Regina Jose was born August 1, 1956 in the Chamanculo neighborhood of Maputo. Her parents abandoned her when she was 5 and she went to live with another woman and was raised by that woman's mother. At the age of 13, she lost this second mother and went to live with her older brothers until she was 19 years old. She studied through the 7th grade. She also had small businesses. When she was 30, her older brothers died and she lived with her nephews. She learned to weave textiles, and she made cloth and towels for sale. Later, she left this activity to sell drinks instead. She also tutored children from grades 1 through 5 in her home, and was able to save enough money to build a stand where she carries out her business today. She lives with 8 people, 6 of whom she supports. She learned of Hluvuku through a neighbor. Because she is disabled and cannot move about easily, she took advantage of the fact that one of the loan officers works in the area and she applied for a loan. She has applied to buy inventory for her business. In the future, she hopes to build a hair salon and to buy a car to make transportation easier. As a disabled person, she moves with the help of a small cart and some transport vehicles will not accept her onboard. Journal Entry: In the future, Regina would like to buy a new wheel chair, as the one she has is broken, what made Regina stay home for the last one and a half months. The government unfortunately does not help her getting a new chair, so Regina is considering using her next loan to buy it.  Regina’s dream is to one day have her own transport, either a car, a minibus or a truck. As Regina is disabled and has to move with a wheel chair, many public minibuses won’t take her in and Regina sometimes can’t even make to Church, something she loves to do.

[wannado]

Hey guys!

Thanks so much for your nominations.  What great stories!  Feel free to nominate some more, because I just got the good news that my proposal to integrate Kiva into the global curriculum at my daughter's school has been accepted!  So it looks like I'll be making a presentation to the kids and faculty about Kiva, and I'll be able to highlight more loans in that presentation than in my materialism talk.

Marsha