Thursday, February 24, 2011

Kiva loans to Honduras

Made a few loans to Honduras today.

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Friday, February 18, 2011

Clothing stores

I used up some Kiva credit today and made 14 loans to 14 different countries - all to women involved in clothing sales.

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Thursday, February 17, 2011

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.
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Monday, February 07, 2011

Kiva loans



I made 2 kiva loans today - one to Sonia Valenzuela in Chili, the other to Julia in Peru.
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Saturday, February 05, 2011

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.
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Tuesday, February 01, 2011

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.

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Monday, January 31, 2011

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.
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Thursday, January 27, 2011

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.
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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!
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Saturday, January 15, 2011

kiva loans to Julias

Made a few loans to Julia's today.
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Tuesday, January 04, 2011

kiva loans

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

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Thursday, December 09, 2010

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.
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Wednesday, December 08, 2010

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.
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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

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.
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Monday, November 15, 2010

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
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Sunday, November 07, 2010

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.
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