Wikipedia

I donated today to support Wikipedia.

kiva loan

I made a loan today to Gulnora Abdulloeva Pendjikent, Tajikistan because she was holding a big lion like I used to have as a child.

kiva

I made a loan to MARLENE JIMENEZ GARRIDO Group in Boliva today. They only have 4 days left and a lot more to borrow, I wonder if they will get it all?

kiva loans

I made five loans today, to the Kimho Mey Group, Mai Yum Sren Group Cambodia, Botir Shomurodov Tajikistan, Sao Khuy Cambodia, YOLANDA QUISPE DONAIRE Group
Bolivia. I chose them because they are going to expire in 4 days, and I have lots of Kiva credit that I want to use up before I leave next week.

homeless and coats

My housemate just told me that he gave away his coat last night. His winter coat that he has had for years. He said he saw someone sleeping on the street last night with just a thin blanket, and couldn't just leave him there. So he left his expensive winter coat on top of him, and walked away without even seeing who he helped. He probably won't tell anyone else this story, so I thought I would get it out there.

Lending to weavers

I didn't find any new Julia's today, so I searched Kiva on 'weaver' and found the CARMEN PARI Group from El Alto / La Paz, Bolivia.

Weaving and hand embroidery of sweaters for adults and children is one of the most common activities within the "Gaviotas" (Seagulls) association, which works in the center of Villa Tejada. In addition to this activity, some people also embroider tablecloths and sew macrame. All of the married women have found in Pro-Mujer the opportunity to create small businesses that allow them to earn sufficient income to support their families. The Gaviotas association wants to increase their sales to achieve greater profits, so it needs more capital to buy quality materials.

Kiva, Obama and Educationgeneration.org

When worlds collide - I joined a new Obama 'Kiva lending group' - barackobama.com that was just started by a friend. I made a loan to Juliana Odoko in Lagos State, Nigeria in support of the new group.

I also set up accounts and sponsored students for my 'facebook Obama friends'), 13 of them. I only friend people on facebook I know personally, btw. But very few people who I know personally actually know about this blog, I don't publize it.

I made a gift myself to Maria Ritz in Pakistan so she can continue her schooling. She wants to be a teacher and help support her 6 siblings. How about they all become teachers?

Been working on Obama 2.0 - change happening in America. I'm pretty excited about all of the things we've got going already.

Elsa from Juliaca

I made a loan today to Elsa from Juliaca, Peru.

Elsa is 46 years old, lives alone, as she is divorced and does not have children. She has been selling shoes for 20 years in one of the most well-known markets in Juliaca, Tupca Amaru market. What Elsa likes about her job is selling. She has always stood out for having the ability to convince others, which has helped her a lot in sales. Thanks to the good location of her stall her sales are very good, leading her to consider expanding her business. The difficult part of her work is having to remain at work during various hours of the day and the cold weather of this season. This is her 9th loan with Microfinanzas Prisma, and she has been punctual with her payments.

Obama 2.0

I'm pretty excited about the campaign moving in a 'volunteer in your own community' way. I'm excited how quick we got moving and organized.

I posted pictures and more text on my Obama blog. Here - http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/dreaming/gGxzvv

Helping Julia with a Kiva loan

Today I helped with a loan to Julia in PUCALLPA, Peru. She wants to increase the quantity of garments to sell. Same old, same old - more inventory = higher profits.

Kiva

Made a loan today to Juana Julia Bastos Garcia in Callería, Coronel Portillo, Ucayali, Peru. With this loan of S/. 3,000, which she will repay in 5 months, she will buy 4 tires, fix the motor, upholster the seats, buy 6 lights, shocks, etc

kiva of course

I made a loan today to Juliana Nartey in Kasoa, Ghana. She wants money to buy more oil for her palm oil business.

I'm also attending a local 'change is coming ' house party. There will be over 20 of us (who signed up, and at least 3 of my friends are going who are not signed up). The Los Angeles event (10 miles or so from us) has over 500 people signed up. We are FIRED UP AND READY TO GO.
As listed on the blog.

The goals of our get-together will be multi-fold, not the least of which will be to keep the grass-roots momentum going. I think that myself and many others view this as not only another political election, but as a progressive movement to really change some of the awful ways our country was run during the Bush administration.

I plan to facilitate a discussion on what we can do locally to help bring about the change we all want, and not just wait for Washington.

I hope that by getting people together, even if we did not know each other before the event, we will leave with some of the same warm feeling we had during the election, knowing there are many others like ourselves out there willing to actually walk the walk ...

Kiva

Made a loan today to Julia Carlos Alonso in Huaraz - Ancash, Peru. She is going to use this money to increase her product line in her store that she started for $25 US.

I met with a (new) science collaborator from Brazil today. She told me that Julia is now a popular name there, several of her friends have children called that. I don't know many Julia's. But I am finding a lot on Kiva!

Kiva

I made a loan to Julia Gutierrez De Caceres Group in Ayacucho, Peru. This group has 21 members and are beginning their 7th loan cycle. I'm thinking they are pretty reliable! Julia is a 53-year-old widow with two children. She has a stand in the newly-opened Americas Market, where she sells alfalfa and vegetables. She will use her loan to offer a wider variety of products.

Kiva - loan to Julia in Peru

I made a loan to Julia Ore Pozo in Ayacucho, Peru. She wants money to buy shoes to expand her shoe business. Her dreams are to own a permanent shoe stand.

I wonder if anyone else chooses Kiva loans based on the names of the entrepreneur matching their own? Am I a narcissistic philanderer?

Food bank

I donated some money to a few of our local food banks today for the holidays.

Los Angeles Regional Foodbank to pay for 220 meals (it was $55, what a deal!). And to
Union Rescue Mission where I also signed a Christmas card.

The food bank in LA had to turn away thousands of people at Thanksgiving because they ran out of food. I'm starting to see more people on the streets, and its going to get worse.

My own situation got worse this year, my household lost about 80% of its income for about 4 months. But we are back up to 70% of what we got last year, which is enough to pay the bills and buy some rice and beans. We tend to eat cheap so we can help others eat. Its also healthier!

Lots of Kiva loans

There were 1666 loans to choose from on Kiva today. I found two to Julia's - one to Julia Magaly Briceño Medina in La Esperanza - Trujillo, Peru. She is looking for a loan to purchase more inventory, clothing and candy. She is setting up a store in her house.





I also loaned to Julia Aurelia Par Par in Totonicapan, Guatemala, she makes traditional clothing. I love this picture with her loam. I am a weaver myself, I do tablet weaving. So its great to lend to a Julia who is a weaver in Guatemala. I wish I could purchase from her.

Education Generation and Food Drives

I suggested a food drive happen at my gym (Curves, go 6 days/week!) for our local holiday food drive. I've run into a few of the ladies who go there (its a woman's gym) helping sort and distribute food for the Foothill Unity Center, and I know we'll get a good response with donations. Curves usually does a food drive in all their gyms in March and its pretty successful. Food banks are really hurting this year - less donations and more need. Think about passing on some of your excess if you have any.

Education Generation (the new online non-profit to help kids in developing countries get educated) has a few students that need funding by Dec 20th. I donated to Amos Ouma, Fredrick Oyugi, Kennedy Ouma, Josephine Owuor, and Michael Oumo, all promising students from Kenya. You can help them too for $20. And helping a student ends up helping the family which helps the village and the townships and then the entire country. Its supporting the brightest and most ambitious students.

Kiva loan to Julia

I made a loan to Julia in Peru today.

Mrs. Julia belongs to "Banco Comunal "Espíritu Santo" of the Centro Poblado de Chimbo, District and Pronvice of Yunguyo-Puno. She is 34 years old and the mother of 6 school-going children, she is married and her husband works in the Valle de Ite where he grows chili. Both later sell the chili for a living. With the first loan from Manuela Ramos of S/.500.00 nuevos soles, she bought a small pig to be fattened and then sold in order to repay the loan. She has been working with the "Banco" for 1 year. Presently she buys chili in Desaguadero and sells it in Moquegua. With the loan of S/.1500.00 nuevos soles, to be repaid in 5 payments she will buy a "quintal" of chili.

loans to Julia

Back in the country, I made 4 kiva loans to Julia's.

Julia -
Julia -
Julia Irene Cardenas Melendez -
Julia Ore Pozo -