How exciting! We have a new member of our Kiva team!

Hello and a big welcome to Andrea from Queensland. Andrea has already given a micro-loan.

A number of women have asked about the programme, so I’ll briefly run through it as best I can.

What is Kiva? Kiva is a micro-lending website, a way for us to lend directly to people around the globe. See a diagram on how Kiva works. Basically we make a loan to someone else through Kiva – and Kiva connects up with the people who want a micro loan.

Have a look at our members page, Our Kiva Team.

You can click on the word Members to see who we are.
And there are buttons to click for ease in joining.

Your loan of $25 is processed through paypal.

We have each, individually, given a loan of $25 to particular women. You don’t have to be a billionaire. On my lender’s page, I explain why I’m part of the Kiva programme.

Why don’t you join us? You don’t have to be a Red Hatter, you don’t have to live on the Yarra or anywhere near it (Andrea is in Woolloongabba!) you just have to be a woman who cares enough to make a loan of $25 to another woman in less fortunate circumstances than yourself. A woman who is trying to make a go of things. A woman who buys scrap metal for resale, a woman who buys bolts of cloth wholesale, turning them into shawls to sell from her stall outside a railway station and a woman who raises pigs for the market. It’s not a blanket or a bowl of rice.

You choose yourself who will receive your loan, you can browse through the many pages of Kiva to select. You aren’t tied down to the loans which have already been made. You just get to be part of a community of women care.

I do hope you decide to join us, we all look forward to seeing you there.

Our Kiva programme is kicking along nicely. Very nicely indeed. Meet the women who have received loans from us.

Mary Addai, 45 years old, lives with her 6 children and husband in Mampong, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Mary trades in food stuffs such as plantain, rice, yams, tomatoes, onions and cooking oil, buying from wholesalers in her community and from farmers in nearby villages to sell at the local market. She needed a loan to buy in bulk. Mary hopes to keep her children in school to higher levels. (Loan from Karen)

Bang Nguyen Thi’s Group. Bang is the group bank leader of these women in Dong Anh- Ha Noi, Viet Nam. She needed a loan to buy some pigs. Thoa Nguyen Thị will buy scrap metal to re-sell. Chí Nguyen Thị and Toi Nguyen Thị will also buy scrap metal. Nguyet Le Thị needed the loan to buy vegetables to sell in the market. (Loan from Maria)

Zarina M. Ashiq Group. Zarina is the group bank leader of four women from Kot Radha Kishan, Pakistan. Zarina will buy flour for the family bread making business. Gaman sells milk and will use her portion of the loan to buy a buffalo, Sheema and Tanveer each want to buy a buffalo for their animal sales businesses. Sakina will use the loan to buy cosmetics to resell. This is a group loan in which the members mutually guarantee each other. (Loan from Lisa)

Doan Thi Nhan. From Quang Xuong, Viet Nam. Doan raises pigs, and needed a loan of 10,000,000 VND (575 USD) to buy more pigs and to repair her pigpen. (Loan from Susanna).

All of these women have received their loans. We each lent $25 toward the total. It’s not much money from us to assist these women and our $25 was quite a lot to them. When our loans are repaid we have the option to take our money back (minus $0.75 for administrative costs) or to simply re-loan to someone else.

Why don’t you join us in the Kiva programme? Have a look at our Team Page.