Kiva loan

I made a loan today to Maria Julia in Nicaragua.

Maria Julia is a 64-year-old entrepreneur who really enjoys her work. She makes her living selling tortillas, beans and firewood. She started in this business over 25 years ago in order to provide an alternative source of income for her family since they didn't have any monthly income to cover their daily expenses. Through the Fundación León 2000, she has been able to receive funding and thus improve her business every day. She hopes to continue building her business as it's her only source of income. Maria Julia plans to use this loan to purchase products for her store such as corn, tortillas, firewood and beans, among other items.

Kiva loans

I made 2 kiva loans today - one to Sonia Valenzuela in Chili, the other to Julia in Peru.

Humane Society

I renewed my membership to my local humane society today. They do such great work taking care of unwanted animals. They recently found 250 cats in a hoarders house and are trying to deal with them.

Helping out Julia's

I made 3 Kiva loans today to 'Julia's. One was in Peru - Julia Nélida. She wants to start a vet clinic in Peru.

I also made a loan to Julia Nyambura Njiiri in Kenya so she can add more stock to her used clothing store.

I made a loan to Julia Nora Calderon Fajardo in Nicaragua so she can buy more stock for her store, with the loan she is going to get four quintals of rice, beans, sugar, a large jug of oil, a case of soap and corn among other products like: glue, earrings, lipsticks and hair clips among others to generate higher profits.

Baseball

I donated to a local high school baseball club on Saturday. They were at the farmers market trying to raise money to play their sport.
Way better use of their time than drugs or gangs.

Kiva loans

I made 4 kiva loans today, chosen from the ones needing the most funding. Since there were no Julia's.
I made a loan to Rafel Barrios in Costa Rica for his karokee bar.
And to Luz Rojas in Costa rica for a sewing machine.

I also made a loan to an anonymous man in Lebanon and Charles Schelhouse in the USA.

Snacks for Vets

I brought some snacks to the volunteer office at the Veterans Hospital yesterday. The regular - noodles in cups. They give them out to vets who come in for appointments and don't have any food. In the past they would sometimes steal from the PX and end up in jail, several a year.
I've been supplying snacks for the last couple of years, about $20/month worth and it was just mentioned that no one's gone to jail since. I think its really good return for my money!

kiva loans to Julias

Made a few loans to Julia's today.

• 

  Loan
  Julia Betsabe Gomez Menacho
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  Julia Narcisa De Jesús Chauca Angul

kiva loans

Made a few kiva loans to Julia's and people in Honduras.

• 

  Loan
  Julia Rosa Huayhua Huillca
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  Julia Adelaida Gonzales Loor
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  Luz Estela Ledezma Martinez
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  Luis Antonio Garcia
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  Olga Zepeda Amador
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  Juana Marina Castro Torres
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  Esteban Ramirez
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  Emperatriz Moran Campos
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  Greysi Ramirez Turcios
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  El Cubulero Group
  $25.00
• 

  Loan
  Eiby Melissa Hernandez

Empowering women through reading

I just made a donation to help female literacy. They are trying to raise $4,000 by Dec 22nd for 5 new Girls Learning Centers.

They provide mentorship, health & safety information and a safe space for self-expression. LitWorld Girls Clubs for literacy create a network of girls worldwide using literacy for power and social action, and girls use their newfound skills to convey issues of health, information, safety and inspiration to other young women in their community.

Kiva loan

Just made a Kiva loan to Gantumur in Mongolia.

Gantumur Tsolmon is 45 years old and lives with his wife and three children in a house in the Selenge province of Mongolia. His oldest daughter and son both attend university, and his youngest son attends a local high school. Gantumur's wife helps him with his business. He operates a vegetable trading business, where he plants and grows a variety of vegetables on his own three hectare field to sell to dealers in the local markets.

He also owns a bee farm, which consists of 19 beehives. During winter months, he keeps his bees in a special cellar, and in May he travels through the countryside to pasture his bees. When he has gone to migrate his bees, his children and wife are responsible for growing the vegetables. He started his vegetable planting business in 1992, and has since built a stable operation. Since 1998, he has been producing honey.

During the past 12 years he has gained a lot of agricultural experience and knowledge of both his businesses. The family sells their seeds and honey during the warm months. They pickle their vegetables and sell those during the winter months. All family members are very hardworking people. Gantumur is a modest and experienced business man and says, "we work very hard during all warm months." He is requesting a 3,500,000 MNT loan to purchase a large amount of seeds while the price for such products is cheap.

Days without posts

Sorry about not posting, my life has been consumed with too many things that need higher attention - my research career, and getting the hobby businesses big enough to provide health care and money to people who need it - including my financial partner who just lost their job again. I lost 1/2 of my salary funding and have bureaucracy holding the rest of it back for a few months (or less we could hope). But I"m not complaining, I'm still affording my house and lifestyle and donating what I can. I'm just not having time to blog about it.
But some noteworthy things -
Twice now in the last month I've been asked by someone to put some gas into their car- at the gas station. They were obviously living in it an on hard times, and both seemed really shameful in even having to ask. And they might have only asked because I happened to be talking to them, I make a point of acknowledging people in public like that. Its good to feel part of community, and it can totally change someone's day or point of view. just to do small talk amongst all of us. But yah, now there seems to be people who are pretty desperate. Hard times in the USA. I keep doing what I can. Even if I'm not so good at blogging about it.

kiva loans to Julias

Made a few kiva loans today.

Receipt

Loan

Julia Justina Mayorga Ortega

$25.00

Loan

Ana Julia Rodríguez De López

$25.00

Loan

Julia Tagbo

$25.00

Loan

Ana Julia

$25.00

Picking Olives

I went and picked olives at Cal Tech on Friday. I figured I would give them the hour I usually spend on exercise and another I could spare. And I found out why olive oil is so expensive. Its really hard work picking olives!
The school started the program a few years ago to pick the olives from all the trees and turn it into olive oil and sell it to raise money for student activities.

Picking olives is also a dirty job.

kiva loans

Made 3 new Kiva loans today

Loan

Hishigmaa Dulamsuren

$25.00

Loan

San Pedro Sur Group

$25.00

Loan

Julia Del Carmen Medina Caceres

Kiva loan

Just made a kiva loan to Armenia.

Artur Sargsyan is single and currently lives with his mother, brother, and sister-in-law. After having served in the Army, Artur needed to find his way in life, to make a stable living, to have his own place, and plan for a family. He decided to import elegant ladies clothing from the US. He is renting a shop in “Hayastan” trade center and has long-standing customers, offering them both good service and quality clothing. Artur has applied for a loan to purchase new inventory and expand his business.

Long Way Home

A friend of mine posted about his friend who is helping out in Guatemala, so I donated to the project and am promoting the idea.

Here's a video

Mateo Paneitz went to Comalapa, Guatemala, in 2003 as a Peace Corps volunteer. Peneitz's desire to help this impoverished, predominantly Mayan community didn't end with his tour though. He sold his car in the USA to raise funds to found the non-profit Long Way Home to create better employment and education opportunities in Comalapa. A popular park has already been created, but the goal now is to create a mixed academic and vocational school.

The construction of the school is part of the solution - it.s built from recycled waste such as car tyres and bottles. With mountains of waste available for re-use, the project is already providing training and employment.

Please vote for the project here (for free) to help him win $20,000 for the project.
And you can donate directly to them here.

Kiva lending

Was out of town attending a few science conferences, trying to make the world better by figuring out how to best find genes to cure diseases.

Today I made a Kiva loan to Rafaela de los Ángeles Salgado Hurtado, a teacher in Nicaragua looking to make her home better.

Walk For a Breast Cancer cure

I helped out another friend today, she is walking to raise money for breast cancer.

Helping friends

I sponsored a friend for AIDS walk. I was her first sponsor, so if you want to help out and surprise her, please do. She's a nice kid who can't always afford to feed herself, and likes to help others.