Serena Update

Remember Serena? I was excited to lend to her because she was my first loan in the US, she goes to SJSU, and she's a yoga instructor. She was requesting a loan to help her pay her school fees to get her personal trainer license.

Unfortunately the yoga studio that Serena was working out of closed it's doors, but due to some additional training she was able to get, she was able to work independently until she was able to find anther studio to work out of in Palo Alto.

And, even through tough times, Serena was able to make all of her loan payments on time. Extra kudos to her for having her stuff together :)

February Loans

Patricia is an owner of Maxwell's Senior Care Services. She immigrated to the united states in 1996 from England and has managed to go from working as an RN to managing her own company which helps to care for the elderly here in the south bay. She already has one part time employee to help with caring for her clients, and with this loan intends to hire a part time office administrator to help her build a website and increase her marketing efforts. Within three years she plans to have two full time employees.

Cynthia sells fish in Ghana. She has a junior high school education, and is working to put her children though school. With her loan of $500 she intends to expand her business to begin saving for her children's future school fees.

January Kiva Loans

The month of January is nearly gone, but fret not. Two Kiva loans were given out in due time. both of them went to Cambodia, merely by chance. They are as follows:

What caught my eye for this first loan was the first sentence: "Mr. Yun Sokun is a good father who has given birth to six children." Yes, I know this is just a silly grammatical error, but thought it to be quite humorous so that is how they won my attention. Yun Sokun is hoping to open a grocery store with his loan to help his big family live more comfortably.

My second loan went to Chiv Chroep. She sells fabric to people who are either redecorating their homes or making furniture to sell. She is requesting a loan to help her build more inventory so she can sell more goods for more of a profit. I chose to lend to her because she reminded me of my first loan that went to Koffe in Togo. I lent to him because he's selling cement to other entrepreneurs and therefore doing more good for the economy than the average person. Like Koffe, Chiv Chroep is selling to other entrepreneurs and therefore growing the economy from a greater vantage point.

Stats on Giving

From Mint.com's blog. Some interesting stats on giving.


budget planner – Mint.com

December Kiva Loans

If Palestine is a country or not depends entirely on who you ask... so I asked Kiva and found Fatenah, a grocery store owner in the country of Palestine. Thank you Kiva for answering this question and helping me find my first December loan.

Fatenah has increased her business substantially through previous loans and has been able to help her husband start a business of his own, though she is still the main provider for her family of 8. She has requested this loan of $3000 to help her prepare for a busy holiday that is fast approaching.

The second December loan went to Mariam in Tanzania.

Mariam requested one loan of $150 to help her grow her restraunt business. currently $1 is 1,300 Tanzinian shillings... definately taking advantage of exchange rates for this one. Mariam is a single mother of three and works 13 to 16 hours a day.

Lisa Kristine

While exploring wine country over the summer, I ventured into a little photography studio in Sonoma which turned out to be the highlight of my trip (beside the Roche Chardonnay I discovered, of course). Lisa Kristine has made a life for herself by traveling the world and taking the most amazing photographs. I had seen her work before, but only in small doses. Walking into this studio was a much more enveloping experience. I was surrounded on all sides by huge, vibrantly colored images of people and places that I cannot wait to see for myself. She does an amazing job of capturing an image, or a lifestyle which many of us have yet to see, and will probably never fully experience or understand: yet in that image my heart is there... or very badly wants to be there. I love her work, I think she is amazing. So next time you're in Sonoma (or Santa Fe, or Sausalito) check out her gallery (The website is cool... but doesn't compare to being there...).

The Hunger Site

I know I've talked about The Hunger Site before... But just as a friendly reminder; It's so easy to go to the site once a day and click to give a donation to help fight world hunger, fund breast cancer research, promote literacy, or help many other causes. If you want to do more than click, you can brows the stores which are full of free trade items, and items that help local economies, or go to the 'do more' section and pay a midwife's salary for one week ($25) or buy food for families in need (starting at $1). There are so many options and so many amazing resources you can provide for people who do not have the options that we have here. In the spirit of the holidays, lets do a little giving :)