Saturday, September 27, 2008

Kiva: Jenny Chagua Gabriel

Most Christmases I've written a Christmas letter to put in with the cards, telling some of the year's stories and experiences.  While I'm not writing it yet, it's around now that I start thinking about it, and what the year's stories, experiences, themes might be.  One theme is certainly Kiva, participating in this microfinance venture to support entrepreneurial people from poorer countries.  What better way to celebrate spring holidays than adding another Kiva loan to my portfolio?  Meet Jenny Chagua Gabriel from Peru:
Look at that embroidery - isn't it beautiful?

Here's more info about Jenny .  Jenny is 31 years old and lives with her parents in their house. She us a responsible young woman whose heart is filled with gratitude towards her parents. This is why she has spent more than five years embroidering the cotton skirts that are traditional in the area where she lives. She decided to launch this business because of the high demand for her work, due to its high quality. She works full-time, and for each skirt she uses many beautiful colors to achieve just the right combination. With a lot of hard work, she completes her custom orders on time. Jenny thoroughly enjoys the ability to independently work from her own home. Jenny works hard for one reason: to improve her quality of life and that of her parents. She is requesting this loan to buy fabric and thread in bulk, and thus increase her productivity. It looks as though she may be a source of employment for many people in the future, since because of the growing demand for her products she will be able to contract employees to do some of her embroidery work.

Jenny's loan is fully funded - with the recent changes to Kiva, and the return of your investment as each repayment is made by each entrepreneur (instead of at the end of the loan term), loans are being funded all the time.  Just look over here and see who you can help - minimum loan is $25US, which isn't much (even if our dollar has sunk a bit against the American dollar).  This is my sixth Kiva loan this year, and I'm now lending with a combination of repayments and new investment money - my portfolio's here .

Kiva's another one to think of if you have Christmas presents that you do with a goat or toilet or such from Oxfam or World Vision's gift voucher catalogues.  There's a permanent link to Kiva over in the sidebar.

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