Kiva: page 13 of 14
January 2011
15th January: Repayments this month included the final payments for Loan 26 (Julia Villagaray
Palomino), Loan 30 (Betty Federoso) and Loan 33 (Leonid Nosovskiy). The first of these was repaid several months early. Using the money in my account, I made my 40th loan to Mercedes Olivera Ramos who lives in Cusco, Peru. She is 40 years old and has two children. She works in a bookstore from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. She will use the loan to perform some home maintenance.
For my 41st loan, I chose Lourdes who is 38 years old and lives in her own home with her husband and two children. For the past seven years, Lourdes has been selling clothes by going door to door to her neighbours and friends. She always has detailed control of her sales, so that she doesn't make any losses. This is her ninth loan with which she plans to buy a larger quantity of merchandise, hoping to take advantage of the rainy season in her area to sell a large number of jackets.
The US$250 I have invested in Kiva has now provided 44 loans of $25 for a total of $1100 in loans!
36 loans have been repaid and 8 are still repaying.
February 2011
7th February: I received an email today about loan 34 to Felix in Peru. Having used his loan to buy and plant seed potatoes, he says that the plants have grown and are now flowering. This indicates there will be a good harvest. He has been applying fertilizer and using cultivation techniques.
16th February: With the February repayments in my account, I made my 42nd loan to Aurelia Ccahuana De Bohorquez, a retired teacher, 60 years old, who lives in Peru. She is married and has two children. She has a pension but also works as a journalist. She would like to have her house repaired and her loan will be used to buy construction materials such as cement and bricks.
There was not quite enough money in my account to make a second loan so I added US$5. That makes US$250 that I have invested in Kiva to date. I then made my 43rd loan to Emelda Serna who lives in the Philippines. She is 55 years old, married, and supports her family by operating two business ventures: buying and selling crabs and shrimp and buying and selling "nipa" (palm thatch). She plans to use her loan as additional capital for her businesses.
March 2011
16th March: This month, the final repayment was made on loan 36 to Clotilde Fernandez Miranda so 29
loans have now been fully repaid. The total in my account was only enough for one new loan so I made my 44th loan to Yolanda Carrasco Flores. She is 37 years old, married common-law, and lives in Peru. She has been selling refreshing drinks in her neighbourhood market for the past five years. With the loan, she wants to make some improvements to her house.
29th March: I received an email about Clotilde Fernandez Miranda (loan 36), the loan that became fully repaid this month. Clotilde said that her loan had helped her with the construction of her new home and, with the income she earns from teaching, she had no trouble repaying it. She is grateful to the lenders who made her loan possible.
31st March: Today I received an email about Elliot Akatunanura (loan 21). He says he purchased more and improved manure for his banana gardens. As such, his yields have been getting better with the result that he has been able to sell his bananas, which are a staple food in most of western Uganda, at a competitive market price. Elliot has generally been one month behind in his payments which means his loan goes in and out of delinquency. He has only one payment remaining which should come in next month to complete his repayments.
April 2011
17th April: A bumper repayment month... seven loans fully repaid: loan 21 (Eliot Akatunanura ); loan 27 (Chim Neam); loan 29 (Sousdey Sok); loan 34 (Felix); loan 35 (Jopeth Jay); loan 38 (Tenocra Yasin); loan 39 (Dedicación Acrotaipe Huayllas).
28th April: I received an eMail about Rosita Bancud (loan 37) who has one payment remaining. She says she considers the opportunity to obtain loans from Kiva lenders a big blessing for her business and for her family. She purchased livestock feed and saved some of the loan for future emergencies since she is already in her 60's. She would like to extend her thanks to Kiva lenders for paving the way to improve her family’s living conditions.
30th April: I received an eMail about Bright Future Employees, Kihihi Group in Uganda (loan 25) who also have one payment remaining. Kamali Moses, the leader of the group, says he is a very happy man, having used his loan to improve his home. He is a teacher and his plan is to be able to educate his children to higher levels of education. He is somewhat into agriculture but on a very small scale since most of his time is spent teaching.
