Cromrades,
We have done a great thing today. We have stood in the face of great economic disparity, and unflinchingly taken a tiny step toward reducing it. The cry went up, Cromrades, and we answered it to the tune of 2 Kiva loans.
The first, to Gulshan Mammadova in Azerbaijan:
Gulshan needs 2000 AZN to purchase new merchandise (cleaning solutions) for sale. She sold only food products at her store, but now wants to also sell cleaning solutions because these goods are in demand among customers. Gulshan is married and has three children. She is an IDP (Internally Displaced Person) from the city of Fuzuli and now lives with her husband and children in the Fuzuli region. Gulshan is 32 years old. She has had this food store for six years.
And the second, to Godeffroy Edgar in Benin:
Godeffroy is married and has three children. He specializes in making and selling soap in Cocotomey. To distribute the soap, he takes it to pharmacies, supermarkets and sales outlets. In order to meet client demand, he is asking Finadev for a loan so he can increase his working capital and contribute to household expenses.
Two loans of $25 each were made on behalf of the Crommunist Manifesto. The loans are scheduled to be repaid in 20 and 12 months respectively.
Thanks to everyone who helped pick these loans. I’m looking forward to doing this again next month.
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eee! I’m looking forward to reading the updates. (And to next month for another excuse to spend way too much time browsing Kiva!)
And you just missed the contest for the 6 million.
PS
Welcome to the team
There was a contest? A contest of what nature?
I would like to contribute to this, but I found them asking my password and stuff. Is there a secure web site where I can give my CC info, without risking getting nine miles of spam?
Well you’re essentially talking about PayPal, which is what I use. They’re kind of dicks, though. If there’s a better service out there, use that.
I feel compelled to point out that I’m not passing the hat or anything for this project – it’s just what I plan to do with the revenue that the site generates from traffic/ads.
If there were a Team Crommunist, I’d join in a heartbeat.
Well the good news is, you’re already on the team. This whole website is a Crommune.
Crommunity? You are so stuck in the sixties! The preferred nomenclature today is “Intentional Crommunity” if you don’t mind!
Kiva basically only uses Paypal, even for credit card processing. (Which is a big deal for me, because I hate Paypal.) It IS possible to fill your Kiva account with a check, but only for US$1000 or more. From Kiva’s FAQ:
The FAQ is here: http://www.kiva.org/help
Kiva rocks! For those interested, there is an Atheist, etc team http://www.kiva.org/team/atheists
and a blog http://atheist-monkey.blogspot.com/
Go team!
I have been neglecting my own Kiva account. If you’re planning on keeping this rolling, I might be convinced to withdraw my money, donate it to you, and you can do all the heavy lifting of making a difference in the world. Then when people ask me what good I did in the world, I can say “ask Ian”.
I will definitely be keeping this going, at least until I have dire need for the blog’s income or I find something else I wish to contribute to. If you’d like to join this site’s fund you’re welcome to. Alternatively, you could start your own thing with your readers and we can have a friendly competition. Having people to say “yo dude, where’s the money at?” is a helpful way of eliminating the impulse to procrastinate.
At lending milestones there is a competition to see who can guess the closest to the date that we hit the milestone. This time we hit 6 million on Jan 5th. One of the lenders guessed that day and won 350 in gift cards.
There are also loan-a-thons as well, one occurs in Spring Equinox (iirc) and another at Hallowe’en.
Oh, neat. Well I’ll pay attention for the next one!