We’re not allowed to eat peanuts at home because poor Master8 has to go to hospital if he so much as sniffs at one (it seems) but I still like to know there are people out there enjoying peanut butter and satay and boiled peanuts. Sigh.
Here’s what the application for the group said:
This group consists of seven women who live in the same district and who are united by good social and economic relations. Marame has been the group’s representative since its creation. She is 61 years old and married with nine children, four boys and five girls. Her eldest son is 40 years old and her youngest is 20 years old.
Marame is an active merchant who sells peanuts. Her new loan of 400,000 Francs CFA will enable her to purchase five tons of peanuts for 275,000 Francs, and 20 baskets of mangoes for 100,000 Francs CFA. The income she earns from her business will allow Marame to pay for the food and health expenses of her family.
And here’s what Kiva says about itself:
We are a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.
We’re big on helping people through Kiva in this house. The kids sit at the computer with us and we look at the pictures and read their stories. Sometimes, sure, we lend to someone who is simply lucky enough to share a name with one of the kids – Little Miss6 is renowned for it. But sometimes, often, their stories and situations are so touching we can’t help but lend and wish we had more to offer.
With Kiva, we lend $25 towards an individual’s loan, with other Kiva co-conspirators making up the rest, and the repayments trickle back to our Kiva account, allowing us to lend the same money out again and again. We’ve put in only $443 over the years (we started with $100 and began adding $1 to $20 a month where we could) and we’ve made $2575 in loans to 103 people in 51 countries around the globe.
The people we help are using Kiva because the traditional banking system doesn’t see value in lending to them. If you want to have a look at this great organisation to see if it’s something you might be interested in, Kiva has free trials available, so you don’t even need to put your own money up. Here’s a link: KIVA FREE TRIAL.
To the 153 people who have joined Kiva through Big Family Little Income, this month’s repayments are in – so log on and find someone else to lend that money too!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
When not typing away over here and checking his stats every two minutes Bruce Devereaux hangs out at his ‘BIG FAMILY little income’ Facebook Page.
’raising a family on little more than laughs’
Yay. We’re KIVA lovers here too. I started a tradition with my brothers and neices and nephews that on their 15th birthday they get a gift voucher for a KIVA loan rather than cash or toys or whatever. They all look at me like I’m the boring big sister or aunt when they receive it, but the way they mull over their first loan choice is amazing – where can I do the most good? Whose lives do I help to change? The idea was that they could pull the money out after their first loan was repaid but none of them has yet – they’ve all chosen to reinvest. Lovely to do it as a family.
Long time listener, first time caller :). I don’t normally comment on blogs but I just wanted to say how awesome it is that you have brought 153 new people on board to Kiva! I always enjoy you posts about the people you are helping. We do it with our kids – helping out and having fun!
This looks great. I have never head of KIVA until now. It sounds fantastic and I will certainly be considering it for me and my childen. Just wanted to check Bruce – do all the funds go directly to the peope in need? Mine (funds) are limited so I just want to know that some well paid admin staff are not taking their cut prior to those on the ground who really need t. Ta and keep up the blogs – a great laugh often and something to think about too.
Hi there Flutebelle 🙂 All your funds go to the person you lend to. Funds for Kiva admin are donated separately on a ‘if you want’ basis. I haven’t contributed much to this side of things myself, but I throw a couple of dollars every six months or so. The money we provide is usually loaned out with an interest component, but the interest goes to the organization who take and manage the loans, not us and not Kiva itself. This is my understanding of the process.