Hey all,

Beginning of the month means Kiva time. Given the total lack of commentary in December about my proposal to change the way these loans operate, I’ve gone ahead and allowed the $546.23 that this blog has loaned in the past year (that’s $716.23 in total revenue minus $170 donated to charity instead of loaned) to continue to circulate among existing loans. I plan on using the income from the blog to defray some travel cost, to allow me to attend some conferences if possible.

That doesn’t mean our project is ending, however. We still get periodic repayments as the loans are repaid to Kiva’s financial partners. This month we received about $50 in repayments, plus an additional $25 bonus that I got for buying Kiva loan cards as gifts. As a result, we were able to make the following loans:

Arturo – Bolivia

This client, Arturo, is a 46 year old man. He is married and works as an elementary school teacher at a school in the city of Cochabamba. Right now he lives in an area west of the city, about 10 km from the city of Cochebamba. He doesn’t own the house he lives in and rents it with his wife. They have two dependent children and the new loan from the institution will be used to do some repairs on it. It has a lot of wear and tear from the passing of time. Humidity from the constant rains in the city has damaged the lower part of the walls in the house. It is rainy season and the house needs maintenance. This will bring them peace of mind during the rainy season.

Srey’s Group – Cambodia

Srey is 35 years old and married with six children, five of whom are dependents and still in school. She lives in a rural village of the Kandal province’s Sa Ang district, earning a living through farming rice and planting taros while her husband catches fish to help earn income to better support the family. Together, they can earn about KHR 22,000 per day from the current business and can save about KHR 4,000 each day for their future needs.

Srey is just joining with VisionFund Cambodia this cycle, while the other member has been with VisionFund Cambodia for one cycle. Now, Srey is leading her group of two to request a loan of KHR 160,000 each. As the leader, Srey will use her portion to buy materials such as a latrine bowl and sewage and tile draining, for construction of a proper latrine. She hopes this loan will help her family have a proper latrine for use.

Joseph – Kenya

Joseph is 37 years old, married with one child. He is a farmer who grows vegetables. He also owns rental houses, which he rents out to customers. He has been in business for 10 years. Through the help of Faulu Kenya, he has increased his farm yield and increased his rental houses. He requests a loan of 106,600 KES to buy stones, sand, and cement for building rental houses.

If you’re interested in seeing our track record over the past year for loans, I’ve made the data available online.

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