Life of Joy

When I started lending through KIVA, I looked at the lender pages of others and found quite a few people who seemed to have done great work in the world. Some of them had lent to 30, 50, or even 100 people. Some had lent even more. I decided that I wanted to lend to at least 300 people all over the world. "When I do that," I thought, "I will have had a tremendously powerful positive impact on the world".

So I'm at 291 292.

Just 8 loans away from meeting this goal, and it took me about 5 years: I made my first loan on December 18, 2006.

It feels really good.

Both are Latinas working hard to take good care of their families.



Salome Avila Lapa is a member of community bank Obreras, which means "worker" in Spanish. With the help of her three children, she works as a distributor and supervisor at a local gas station in Ayacucho called Repsol. Frequently, Salome makes requests to a distributor in Lima to refill her pumps, and a truck comes to her store the following day to fill her order.
The loan of 2000 soles (~$675 USD) will be invested in her business by purchasing more gas to attend to her customers' needs. Salome is currently saving her money to be able to pay the bills she has acquired from her recent diagnosis of osteoporosis. She does not want to leave these bills for her children and wants to take care of them while she still can.




Hedy is a 23 year old widow with an 8 month old daughter. She is living with her mother who helps her with her business, a restaurant. She used to be a farmer but she gave it up because the seasons were not profitable enough. Since then, she has prepared food for people traveling over the Paucartambo bridge. Her mother helps her with the daily duties which include making breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They wake up at 4:00 a.m., go to bed at 11:00 p.m. and are very tired when their day ends. One of the biggest difficulties is the rise in cost of chicken because if they raised the menu prices, they would have no customers and would be left with the extra meals. Consequently, they only prepare 10 to 20 plates per day, earning back 50% of their investment. As a single woman, Hedy has to work in order to provide food and clothing to her daughter, and to offer her a prosperous future that includes the necessities for an education. With this loan, she thinks she will invest in glasses and new tables to provide more comfort for her customers.

To see a short MSNBC clip showing how KIVA works, click here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/20569267#20569267

My portfolio of loans by country:
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