GIVING A HELPING HAND

This little post is about our participation in the KIVA Organization.  We don't want to pat ourselves on the back for being involved, we just want to share with you a wonderful ideology about helping those who are less fortunate (and we are ALL very fortunate).
Aunt Peg's Jewelry uses a small portion of our gross revenue to help give others a HAND UP, not a hand out.

You can participate in this program by simply loaning $25.00.  That's it!  

This morning we added 3 people to our loan portfolio. Read their bio's, their needs are so simple:

LOAN AMOUNT REQUESTED:  $450.00

In this Group: Shahtykan Muratalieva, Gulbarkan Karataeva, Amanbai Januzakov, Kenjebek Jusupbekov

About the Loan

• Location:
   Tashkomur, Kyrgyzstan
• Sector:
  Agriculture
• Activity:
  Livestock
• Loan Use:
  To purchase a washing machine.
• Repayment Term:
  5 months (more info)
• Repayment Schedule:
  Monthly
• Currency Exchange Loss:
  Possible
• Default Protection:
  Not Covered

Shahtykan Muratalieva is the leader of this group. She is a resident of Tahskomur, a small mining town in the south of Kyrgyzstan. She is 32 and married. Her husband earns money by mining coal. Together they bring up four daughters. Three older daughters are at school and the youngest is preschool age (under seven).

Two years ago, with the initial investment of 2000 soms, Shahtykan purchased two goats for breeding in order to make additional money to cover family expenses. Now she earns about 6000 soms reselling livestock at a higher price after fattening. She hopes to obtain the loan because she needs money to improve the family’s living conditions. With money received from the loan she wants to purchase a washing machine. 

LOAN AMOUNT REQUESTED: $250.00

About the Loan

• Location:
   Lopez Jaena, Misamis Occidental, Philippines
• Sector:
  Food
• Activity:
  Food Production/Sales
• Loan Use:
  to purchase additional inventory and as working capital
• Repayment Term:
  11 months (more info)
• Repayment Schedule:
  Monthly
• Currency Exchange Loss:
  Possible
• Default Protection:
  Not Covered

Maria Aida is from the village of Sibula. She is 47 years old. Maria Aida is married and has eight school-aged children. To make a living, she owns and operates a business venture in the food sector making and selling food. While not the only means for generating revenue, the main source of income for the business comes primarily from selling dried foods in the local community. She has been engaged in her business for over eight years and earns approximately $125 a month for these activities.

In 2004, Maria Aida joined PMPC to gain access to financial services to help improve her living situation and ability to engage in business activities. She has successfully repaid a previous loan of 10,000 PHP from PMPC. This previous loan was used to purchase additional products to sell.

Maria Aida is requesting a new loan of 10,000 PHP which will be used to purchase additional inventory and as working capital. This will be her 8th loan from PMPC. She plans to use the additional revenue generated from the business to improve the general living conditions of her family. 

LOAN AMOUNT REQUESTED:  $650.00 (to buy a cow)

About the Loan

• Location:
   Kisii, Kenya
• Sector:
  Agriculture
• Activity:
  Dairy
• Loan Use:
  To purchase a dairy cow.
• Repayment Term:
  14 months (more info)
• Repayment Schedule:
  Monthly
  
  
  
• Currency Exchange Loss:
  Possible
• Default Protection:
  Not Covered

Samuel has been practicing mixed farming for the last twenty years in Kisii town in western Kenya. His mixed farm produces maize, millet, cabbages and milk, which are all sold locally. He mainly depends on the income from his farm to meet the basic needs of his family.

He recently repaid his previous loan from Juhudi Kilimo of 45,000 KES and has requested this loan of 50,000 KES to purchase a dairy cow. He hopes that this dairy cow will improve his milk production and that he will be able to provide his family with enough milk for both domestic consumption and sale. His major challenges have been poor weather conditions and low market prices for his products. He would like to acquire a motorbike in the future that will assist him in the transportation of his products to the market.

Samuel is 58 years old and married with 18 children who are between the ages of 5 and 30. Sixteen of the children are attending school.

Here is a little blurb about Kiva from their website:


Kiva's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.

Kiva was born of the following beliefs:

• People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way.
• The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity.
• By connecting people we can create relationships beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another.

Kiva promotes:

• Dignity: Kiva encourages partnership relationships as opposed to benefactor relationships. Partnership relationships are characterized by mutual dignity and respect.
• Accountability: Loans encourage more accountability than donations where repayment is not expected.
• Transparency: The Kiva website is an open platform where communication can flow freely around the world.

As of November 2009, Kiva has facilitated over $100 million in loans.

Thank you for reading this post, we truly love this organization. What a wonderful way to help others in need.