Made another Micro Loan on Kiva.org to group of working ladies in Paraguay - Pay It Forward
This week, I made another micro loan on Kiva.org.
I usually make a microloan to individuals, but this week was different.
This committee was formed thanks to Reinalda Ocampos Oviedo, who lives in the city of Independencia.
You can read about them here: http://www.kiva.org/lend/293142
These happy ladies were glad to form the committee of rural ladies, called "Virgen de Fátima” committee. Most of these ladies have their own businesses, whether that be general merchandise, chipa (typical cheese and starch based dough in Paraguay), or crafts. Others sell lottery, and some work as maids or cleaning women.
This is a united and hard working group and the ladies are constantly getting together and doing things to help each other with loan repayments. They’ve completed previous cycles, so they manage this system. Since they feel so united, they have requested another Kiva loan in order to continue working together, proving that lenders are a great help.
Ofelia sells art, something she learned from her parents who used to sell pitchers, vases, other vessels, and small sculptures. This is why she’s known the basics of this business, the types of customers, and the areas where demand is greatest since she was young.
She has turned this into her means of supporting herself and her family, but she would like to beat the poverty that some of her family finds itself in. She is asking for this loan to buy more art for resale which will help her financially.
Kiva.org is the COOLEST site ever. You can help people around the world with small $25 micro loans. Most of the time 20-30 people on Kiva.org make up a group that finances through their individual micro loans to provide the seed money to small entrepreneurs around the world who can really use the money.
The loan disbursements and repayments are administered by reputable financial organizations around the globe. When your micro loans are repaid, you can go into your Kiva account and re-loan them out again.
Check this site out. You'll be glad you did. I've been participating in this for years, and have a 100% repayment for the 24 microloans I've made so far.
