
“Mao, 52 years old, is a fish seller with her husband. Their income is $7 per day. The couple has six children. Two children are studying and the other two are working, and the $7 per day provides for them for all. Every month, Mao has to spend $60 on food, $10 on electricity, $20 on school fees, $20 on transportation, and $20 on other expenses. She would like to request a loan of $500 buy a motorbike for her husband to run a motor taxi service. She has been selling fish for almost 10 years and most of the villagers are her customers. She hopes that her husband’s new career will help her family to gain more income, so that this couple will be able to send the rest of their children to study at a higher level.”
All up, Mrs Mao Kim only needed $500, but this is a huge sum when you earn $7 a day. As you might imagine, finding someone with faith enough to lend her the money when she only earns that much money, and lives in fairly basic conditions, wouldn’t be easy without the micro-finance offered through KIVA. 20 lenders just like us put in US$25 each to come up with the cash she needed. I’m sure it will make a big difference for her and her family.
I’m a huge advocate of KIVA. It feels good: it does good. Click over and have a gander if you’ve got the time and the inclination.
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’
Good job Bruce! I love this time of the month too, but mine came before I got an email so I have already re loan mine…woo hoo!
U2 Notjustnat – it’s a great way to do some good.
Just laughing at your blogs and stumbled upon this one. What a great idea. I just lent $25 to a lovely lady called Veronica. Thanks for the tip!
Salli
One of the genuine highlights of my month is to lend out money on KIVA 🙂
Hey Bruce,
Thanks for posting this stuff… it has reminded me that my work funds a program where we can start helping others on Kiva. Just donated my first $25!