Hello Cromrades,

Once again it’s time to throw our money at a problem and see if we can’t make someone’s life a little better. Sadly (?), the loans that you suggested were already fully funded when I checked (less than 48 hours after you made the suggestion, I swear). So I just went with our general theme of prioritizing African women, and then going on an ad-hoc basis for everything else.

Here’s the result:

Mbalu – Sierra Leone

This is 44-year-old Mbalu. She is married and has three children aged 24, 21 and 16 years. She has one additional dependent who serves as a sales assistant. In 1991, Mbalu established her groundnut, pepper, and plastic shoes business to enable her to help her husband provide for their family and to achieve her dreams for the future. Working seven days a week and 12 hours a day, she earns about 1,700,000 SLL every month.

Mbalu would like a loan in the amount of 5,000,000 SLL. Mbalu has already received and successfully repaid two loans and now requires a new loan in order to buy slippers, groundnuts, and bags of pepper. She hopes that this loan will enable her to increase her monthly profits by approximately 400,000 SLL.

Samaher – Palestine

Samaher, a young married Palestinian woman and mother to one son and one daughter. is a conservative person who prefers not to have her photo published online, so her husband appears in her Kiva profile photo, pictured in his store that sells vehicle spare parts. For the past three years, Samaher’s husband has been buying and selling vehicle spare parts, a profitable project and the family’s only source of income. Because they also need more support to cover the family’s needs and costs, Samaher is requesting a USD loan from FATEN to help her husband purchase more spare parts to resell. This will increase sales and improve the family’s income.

Luvuno – Kenya

Luvuno, a married mother of five children, lives in Samburu, Kenya and has been selling goat meat at the market to butcher shop operators for five years. With a small amount of capital, she started buying goats to raise in her yard, fattening and then selling them. She is supported in this business by her husband. Luvuno’s business has gradually grown, and now her main customers are not only neighbours but also restaurants and businesses that sell special meals. This has helped her business growth as customers always refer new buyers to her.

Luvuno’s main challenge is having enough working capital to buy more goats for resale to increase her income, which her family depends upon. For this reason, she is requesting a Kiva loan to buy more goats.

Moeurn – Cambodia

Moeurn, 54, is married and a mother of three. She and her family live in a village in the Dambae district. She has been planting cassava for several years. Moeurn also sells coffee to make additional income for the family. On average, the business earns her around 30,000 Cambodian Riel. Moeurn’s group consists of two members and both have been with VisionFund for one loan cycle. They are now requesting another loan since their first loan ended. As a leader, Moeurn will use her portion to spend on land preparation such as plowing and to buy fertilizers. She hopes this loan will help to expand her business and allow her family to live in better conditions.

Pierre – Rwanda

Pierre is 41 years old and is married with three children. He sells rice. Pierre is a leader of this group, which is called “C 7849 TUZAMURANE” in the local language. In the photo, he’s the one who raised up his hand. He works from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, except on the weekend, every week. Pierre has 7 years of experience in this work. Pierre has requested a Kiva loan via Vision Finance Company in order to cultivate large quantities of rice for resale. With any profits, he will be able to reinvest in his business and save money for his future.

For the month of October, we made $46.38, and loaned $50.
For the month of November, we made $65.81, and loaned $50.
For the month of December, we made $44.76, and loaned $50.
For the month of January, we made $58.59.
For the month of February, we made $57.33 and loaned $125.
For the month of March, we made $78.68 and loaned $125.

Total amount loaned so far: $400
Total loan funds repaid: $63.17
Fund balance: $2.69

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