Did you know about this?

Now I know I'm behind in my blogging, but I felt I had to post this!

So here I am, googling "where to buy jasmine flowers in Richmond, VA" for this martini recipe I found for tomorrow night, when one of the links directed me to a woman who borrowed money to start a jasmine flower business.

Wha??

So now I'm curious, and I decide to go to the homepage, Kiva.org. It's a web site where you can participate in granting small business loans to individual entrepreneurs around the globe!

Did I do it? OF COURSE I DID! I am the big bad American loan shark who is financing the repair of a taxicab in Togo, the building of a personal shed in Tajikistan, the neighborhood bank in Cambodia, and a clothing retailer in Paraguay. It would make a great novel, don't you think?

Please meet my Loanees:


Gameli Dovi, 37, is married and the father of 2 children. He is a taxi driver in Kpalimé, a town situated about 120 km from Lomé, the Togolese capital. The outlay of money to repair his car doesn't allow him to save anything nor support his family appropriately. With this loan, Gameli wishes to upgrade his car's motor so that he can go about his work and better cater for the needs of his family.



Holdor Tursunov is a 53 year old man. He is married and has 4 children. Holdor received a consumer loan in order to build a shed. Holdor has been a client of our Fund since 2008. He likes our terms. Holdor is a driver by profession. He works at a collective farm as a driver. In addition, on the weekends Holdor uses his car to provide rides. His wife takes care of the livestock which also brings income to the family.



Twelve people living in Romon village in Takeo province comprise this village bank loan, and they will use the loan for various purposes.

Mrs. Kheim Sout is the 37-year-old village bank president. She is a farmer who owns a 1-hectare field of land to cultivate rice. She also breeds chickens in the house. Her husband, Mr. Duong Vanna, is a motor taxi driver. Although they try to work hard they still earn insufficient income to support their family living. Thus, Mrs. Kheim Sout decided to ask for a loan to buy more chickens and she would use the rest of the loan to buy piglets for breeding. She has two children, one of whom is employed in a garment factory while the other is attending the local school.

Five members in this group are applying for end-of-term (EoT) loans and the rest have monthly payment loans. Those receiving EoT loans are not required to pay any principal on the loan until the very end of the loan term. End-of-term loans are AMK’s main product because it is the most beneficial to Cambodia’s poor. It allows them to repay portions of the principal whenever they are financially able to. Most clients start to make payments many months before the end of the loan term. Almost all of AMK’s clients make their payments on time. AMK has a delinquency rate of only 0.09% and AMK has a default rate of 0% on Kiva.

Mr. Jorge is 28 years old, single, and lives in a well-known area in the city of Ita. He is in the business of the purchase and sale of garments such as jeans, t-shirts, sportswear, etc., on cash or credit. He started this business on the recommendation of a relative who is in the same business. At the same time he owns a brick workshop, located in his home, that he inherited from his father who was in that industry. The two businesses generate very good income owing to the fact that he purchased a truck of great capacity in which he transports his bricks to different construction sites in the area.

He needs a loan in order to purchase more garments as he wants to increase his stock of garments and thereby be able to offer more variety to his clientele. At the same time he needs to purchase adobe (the main material utilized in the production of bricks) in order to be able to satisfy the great demand that he currently has.

How easy! Thanks Kiva!

*** PS - Any of you lovely readers who want to tease me about this being one of my "do-gooder" things, please keep in mind that I WAS GOOGLING WHERE TO BUY JASMINE FLOWERS FOR A MARTINI RECIPE!!! ***