kiva loan to Guatemala.

I made a kiva loan today to Guatemala.
Mrs. Sebastiana resides in the small village of Nimasac Totonicapán and is married with six children. She has a small store of daily items, photocopy services, and the grinding of hominy. With the income she has generated she has fed her children and is a professional, enterprising person. She visits the office of Asdir to ask for a loan that she will invest in the purchase of daily consumed articles and paper for the photocopier as there is increasing demand for copies since there is a school near the store.

Blogging for Kiva

The purpose of my blog was to record my actions on what I did that was positive and made things better in the world. Many of my posts are about my donations to Kiva.org, because I think they are really going to change the world. I blog about it a lot, because kiva loans are easy to do. Its not a charity where your money gets donated and you're not really sure where it goes.

With Kiva, you get updates on where your money is. You even get it returned to you. The concept that you can significantly change people's lives by just lending them money is so powerful that it will resonate with a lot of people.

And that's what is happening. I have been with Kiva since December 2006, and there is still more lenders than loans. The people who run Kiva were surprised that the business model they envisioned didn't happen because they got so many lenders. I believe that people are fundamentally good. People are skeptical about giving away money, but not so much about lending it. And $25 isn't a large sum to many people in the developing world. For $25 they can feel good. good returns.

I set the spark for Kivafriends.org, because I knew there must be other people like me wanting to share the Kiva experience and talk amongst ourselves. I suggested it on the yahoo group, Joe ran away with the idea and set up the board, and its got thousands of members and has done incredibly productive things, including other charities, helping kiva and kiva fellows, putting out yearly calendars, and much more. I meet with kiva friends on the boards and in chat and in second life and on facebook, and have done lots of good work with them.

I really like the fact that there is all this transfer of monies from the developed world to the undeveloped world without big banks getting a cut. It still feels so grassroots.

I'm a narcissistic philanthropist. I like to lend to Julia's.

This blog post is part of Zemanta's "Blogging For a Cause" campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

Kiva Loans to Central America

I made a few Kiva loans today to Central America.
To Jose Roberto Cerritos in Honduras (Activity: General Store), Raul Enrique Tian Salvador in Guatemala (Activity: Clothing Sales), Delfina Paztrana Lopez in Honduras (Activity: Beauty Salon), Hector Otoniel Amezquita in Guatemala (Activity: Retail) and Julio Cesar Lazo Lopez in Nicaragua (Activity: Construction).

Travelling and Tired

I have been away in Canada for a few days, and haven't been blogging. But I'm still trying to do good!

Today I lent to a Julia in Peru -

Red hair

I felt compelled to lend to this person. I think it might be the hair colour. Also her name - Nancy. She is in Lima Peru. I hope I get to meet her some day.

kiva

I've been busy doing all the things I need to before I travel for a few days to Canada.

Today I made a loan to Ana Julia Zeledon Franco in Managua, Nicaragua.

kiva loan to Honduras

I made a loan today to Honduras, to Iris Wuvaldina Bustillo. She's in Danli and has a store.

Kiva loans with Kiva Credit

I made a few loans today using Kiva credit. One was to Francisco Ramon Velasquez Cubas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Francisco has an upholstery workshop, located in the San Francisco neighborhood, a populous section of Comayaguela. I know where that is!

I also made a loan to Batzaya Lampirandorj in Tsetserleg, Arhangay, Mongolia, and to the TROPICAL Group in Boliva, and to the Benkadi (l’unité) Group in Mali
and to the The Good Friend Group in San Lorenzo, Honduras.

Lending to another Julia in Peru

I made a loan today to Julia in Ayacucho Peru. Julia appears to be very industrious.

Julia is a member of the Communal Bank Legión.
Julia is separated, 56 years old, and has 2 children. Julia sells a variety of clothing and shoes according to her clients’ orders; she sells to workers from various institutions, and also sells small items. In addition, Julia provides catering services for different events.
Julia needs a loan of 2550 PEN, money that will be invested in the purchase of shoes and clothing.
Julia dreams that her children’s ventures are successful, and that her last child finishes his studies.

Julia in Boliva

I made a loan today to Julia in Alto, Boliva for 14 months. She wants to borrow money for personal reasons, to work on her home. I'm glad I can help her and her family. I've borrowed money to own my home.

Its amazing, the MFI she is with has been on Kiva for 25 months and has a ZERO delinquency rate. Dr. Yunnis was right, the poor do pay back at greater frequencies than the rich.

Dream Act

I bought a few buttons today to support the Dream Act. This is the act that will let undocumented people who were brought into the USA as children, become citizens. We've already paid to educate them, so we might as well let them pay taxes! Lots of very bright talent going to waste. Please consider signing the petition and supporting the Dream Act.

Helping Julia's

I made a loan today to Julia in Lima Peru, she wants capital for her business. I made the loan through kiva.org

Let's Get Cookin!!! Donorchoose.org

I made a donation today through donorchoose.org that was selected by a few kivafriends. I want to support them, and of course they chose great projects.
I chose Lets's Get Cookin for my first support. This project will fund a microwave and supplies for 4th and 5th graders with disabilites to help teach them life skills. Like cooking.

US Postal Service Food Drive

I left a few cans in my mailbox today, to participate in the National Association of Letter Carriers and the U.S. Postal Service National Food Drive. Apparently they collected 73.1 million pounds of food last year. What a great drive. Big thanks to all our wonderful postal employees.

Supporting Julia in Peru

I popped into Kiva this morning to try to get in on a loan a friend is on (mentioned on facebook) and it was full, but I found a Julia in Peru to lend to.

Julia is feeding people in her home, and wants to start a small cafe. Kiva has helped her with money, as well as training. She's in Lima, so there is a chance I might make it to her cafe someday.

Cancer

Today I sponsored a friend in a Cancer Relay for Life Charity event.

I try to sponsor all my friends to encourage them, but today was meaningful because I had a few skin biopsies yesterday and am hoping they come back negative. So I'm sitting here with stitches and band-aids. I am a cancer survivor and have a family history of it and have the pale white skin/red hair risk factor. Cancer is especially meaningful to me.

I have a hunch that a cure for cancer might come from the Canadian Cancer Society. They might sponsor an innovative project with significant results. Feel free to donate through my friends page and we can see...

Afganistan Mother's Literacy Program

Taken from the email they want us to send our friends. They need 4 more people to donate TODAY to remain on Global Giving.

I just donated to this great project on GlobalGiving called '100 Mothers Literacy Program'. The best part is that you can pick exactly who and where you want to help. And with regular progress reports directly from the people working in the field, you can see exactly how much good you have helped accomplish. Spread the word, and join me in supporting this awesome cause.

Kiva

I made a kiva loan today and bought some gift certificates but there is a problem with payal. Not sure if its gone through. Must remember to check.

Southern Poverty Law Center

I'm making my yearly donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center because I like the work that they do. They keep a tab on hate crimes and hate groups. And they themselves are hated, I've received some of my rare hate comments about my donation to that group. Someday perhaps I'll talk about my strange hate comments.

Kiva

I made 2 loans today - to Juliana Ihuaku in Nigeria and to Jose Marcial Garcia in Honduras.

Any Soldier Raffle

I purchased a few tickets in the Anysoldier.com raffle. There are some wonderful things available. I hope I win! I think that ruby/diamond bracelet will look wonderful on my arm.

If I win the patriotic items I'm going to donate them to the VA volunteer group. They can do their own raffle or something.

Grocery store in Nigeria

I made a loan today to Juliana Bello in Lagos State, Nigeria for her grocery store.

Helping Julia's

Today I got to lend via Kiva.org to Julia Evardo in Talibon, Bohol, Philippines and to Julia Nisnisan in Southern Looc, Plaridel, Misamis Occidental, Philippines.

I always wonder if they see the lender sheets and notice we share a name.