I made a Kiva loan this morning to Señora Milena in Peru. I just love her business and her story. She makes traditional brooms, and now is expanding her business and refining her product. I would love to have one of her brooms. Perhaps if I go to Lima I will get to meet her. Its funny, the only other women I know in Peru used to be the Minister of Health. And might be again, she's pretty young. Maybe she would come with me to meet Milena.

I was not going to lend anymore today to share the loans (Kiva is still running out of loans all the time, and can't get them up fast enough). But I had to make this loan. María Antonieta Candia is from Boliva (one of my sister's favorite lending countries) and she is a caterer, my grandmother's profession. My grandmother was an immigrant who had a very hard life but worked hard and ended up quite successful - she started a catering business in her home that got quite successful, she sold and it still exists today in Montreal. She catered for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and we have a great picture of them. Maria even looks a bit like my grandmother.