Kiva: meet Shirley Macedo Garcia

Meet Shirely Macedo Garcia, who will receive my sixteenth Kiva loan.

Located in San Martín, Peru, she is an upholsterer and will use this loan to buy rolls of fabric, and different colors of thread to make the upholstery.

Ms. Shirley belongs to the Communal Bank “Las Decididas II” in the Tarapoto District, San Martín Region and the San Martín Department. She is married and she is 57 years old. She is the mother of 2 children, 1 child is still studying and is attending university.

With the first loan of de S/. 300.00 Nuevos Soles, based on a friend’s idea, she now works on upholstery in her home with the help of her sewing machine. She works with her husband.

Currently they work in the same business and the clients’ requests come to the home daily. With this loan of S/2,000.00 Nuevos Soles, she will expand her business by buying rolls of fabric, thread for sewing the upholstery for the furniture, a moto-taxi and motorized vehicles. She is proud of her work.

She feels like an accomplished woman therefore she is grateful for the opportunity offered by the Manuela Ramos Movement, so she can develop as a woman and businesswoman.

There's a Kiva button over on the right of this blog.  Kiva is microfinance - you usually get your loan back, and then you can reloan it.  The recipients are the working poor, entrepreneurs; it's hugely rewarding to know a little from here can mean so much there.

I've been undertaking Kiva loans for over two years, and it's a great charitable enterprise.  The borrowers' stories are a fascinating window on other parts of the world and other lives.  I often, but not always, choose people engaged with textiles in some way, reflecting my own interests.  As it happens, I've just had some chairs reupholstered, so this loan seemed apt.

Minimum loan is $25US, so not a large amount.  Worth doing. Click here to see people needing loans.

Kiva: Meet Nieva Salabe

One of my great daily pleasures is reading the newspaper - generally the Sydney Morning Herald in paper form, the New York Times online.  On my recent holiday away, it was great fun to read the local newspapers in each district, and get a perspective on local concerns and activities through them.  You can see why I chose Nieva Salabe for my latest Kiva loan.

Kiva is an avenue for lending to the working poor.  I first learned about it almost two years ago, and since then have done fifteen loans - some are now paid back, the rest are being paid back.  When I'm repaid, I recycle the money to lend again, as well as putting in more from time to time.  While I most often have chosen women who are engaged with needlework/fabric, due to my own interests, I've also lent to grow flowers in Cambodia, sell fruit and vegetables in Peru, and other things.  It's a window on other worlds, and chance to make a difference through the brilliantly simple idea of microfinance.

Here's more about Nieva:

Nieva V. Salabe, 51, is making sure that her family has enough provision for their daily needs. Married to Jose Salabe Jr., a driver, they are blessed with three children. She makes sure that she helps her husband earn income so that their family can have a better life. She has been selling newspapers for many years.


Nieva has been a regular member of Center for Community Transformation* (CCT) for several years now. She regularly attends their weekly fellowship meetings and pays her weekly dues consistently. Because of her good repayment performance with her previous loans, she was able to borrow 12 times from CCT’s Cooperative. She is consistent in paying her dues because she used the money she borrowed to buy more stock of different newspapers for her business. Her business lets her earn a profit of PHP 14,000 per month.


Now with your help, she would like to apply for a PHP 38,000 loan. This amount will be used as a source of added capital to her expanding business by buying more newspapers to sell.

She dreams that her business will continue to grow so that she can help her children achieve their ambitions in life.


* All CCT community partners / clients are organized into fellowship groups that meet on a weekly basis. A fellowship group is composed of 15 to 30 community partners. The fellowship groups gather each week to study the Word of God, build social capital, and pay Micro Finance loans.

It's not at all difficult to lend via Kiva - do try it.  Minimum loan is $US25, plus a suggested 15% of your loan to support Kiva's own costs.

Kiva: Karomat Roziqova

Kiva's just had a great policy change!  Now, as the working poor repay their loans, the lenders receive back their funds (rather than waiting till the end of the loan period).  I've had enough paid back from Tajikistan, Bolivia and Pakistan (link to my lender page on Kiva) to be able to lend again - turning the money around to work again for someone else.  This time, my fifth loan, is to Karomat Roziqova in Tajikistan.

Why her?  Another needlewoman, a tailor, using her craft skills to support her family.  This is what I learned from her Kiva page:

Karomat Roziqova is a resident of Rudaki district. She's married and has a child. She embroiders cloth. To ensure smooth operation of her business, she would like to take out a loan to purchase beads and threads. She plans to repay the loan within 15 months. Her business brings in a decent income and so she is trying in any way possible to develop it.

There's a Kiva link over in the sidebar - why not click on that and see if you'd like to participate too?  Minimum loan is $US25, so it's not much, and it's a loan, so you can turn the money around and around again to help, as I've been able to do with this loan.  Microfinance is such a satisfying game to play! (In case you wonder, when it is paid back you can withdraw it if you wish - I prefer to keep playing).

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Kiva: the Volver a Empezar Group

Kiva is microfinance, an easy way to lend directly to the world's poor and help them improve their lives. Among the many choices, I'm biased towards textiles and women, so my latest loan is to this group in Bolivia. Their name seems to translate generally as "start again". I'm aware of all the basic services I take for granted and they do not. Reading the stories of Kiva's borrowers is such a fascinating window into other people's worlds and lives.

About the Volver a Empezar group:

The center of Alto Lima is located in the Ballivian zone in the city of El Alto which is where the "Volver a Empezar" Association is found. They work with great responsibility with their payments and internal activities. Within the group, many of the women lack basic services in their homes. For example, doña Verni cannot rely on potable water that should be supplied by public water basins. What's more, like many others, she cannot rely on gas services and must buy gas in tanks. Lamentably, she lives in a zone where distributors of these tanks do not pass very frequently which is why she has to go to busy streets in the hopes that one of these trucks will pass by. She longs to be able to rely on these services in her home. The main activity of this group is the weaving of sweaters, scarves, and other pieces of clothing, in Alpaca wool that they later sell in the "16 de julio" market in the city of El Alto. Currently, they want to be able to increase their production so that they can sell their products to handicraft shops. It is for this that they need more capital for the acquisition of raw materials to make their sweaters. They have the security of increasing their income, in this manner they will also be able to improve the quality of life for their families.

Who are they?

Bertha Blanco, Reyna Apaza, Karen Quispe, Reynaldo Sinka, Martha Arroba, Emiliana Ramirez, Julia Ronquilla (not pictured), Gregoria Cora, Feliza Capajaña, Tomasa Calle (not pictured), Julia Quispe (not pictured), Lucia Mayta, Feliza Tola, Veneranda Sinka, Hilaria Mamani, Cristina Mayta, Nelly Villca.

You can lend as little as $US25. And, when it's paid back, you can lend it again to another Kiva borrower - it's a loan, not a donation. This group still needs several thousand dollars, so why not support them?

Of my earlier loans:

• Moriya Nabieva has paid back 60%
• Shamshad Iqbal's group has paid back 42%
• Cielo Group has paid back 33%

There's a Kiva link over in the sidebar with another business if you'd like to support a different one.