Project #1 - Micro Loan for Sapnah in Indonesia through Kiva.org

[hotcouponmama]

So, I've been fascintated for awhile by the Micro Loan notion of lending to women in 3rd world countries, so I thought I would try this as our first formal project.

Sapnah, 35, is a mother of 5 children. She sells vegetables in front of her house, earning $15 a day. Her husband, Narudin, works as a steel trader and earns $5 a day. She is a member of MBK and asks for a loan of $75 to expand her business. She agrees to repay this loan within a period of 12 months.

Sapnah.jpg

OGD funded her 1/3 of the loan amount, and at the same time, someone else funded this woman, so her entire loan request has been fulfilled. I'll be interested to see what this does, and if it gets entirely repaid, we'll reuse the funds for another woman. Plus we made a nominal donation to Kiva.org, which was founded by some folks who went to school in the town next to mine. Pretty cool organization if you haven't seen their site yet.

And I figured, this gal is selling veggies! She'd fit right in here at OGD

[derketchup]

That's awesome!

[hotcouponmama]

I think it's cool that she is the bread winner in her house. I think that's what caught my eye. She earns 3x what her hubby earns, so she's the main contributor in their world.

What is amazing to me is how far little bits of money can go to help these folks. $75 wouldn't even be a blip on most of our radars, yet it's enough to take her business to the next level.

[suzy24]

I love kiva.org! We give regularly to them. It's such a great way to give and really feel like you are making a difference in someone's life. We've never had a problem with our "loans" being repaid so far!

[kristen.c]

I've never heard of anything like this before- very cool!

I can't imagine being the breadwinner at $15 a day.

[hotcouponmama]

Micro-lending has gotten lots of attention. There was a guy who kind of got microloans going - he got a nobel peace prize recently. And this group has lots of big names championing their cause - Bill Clinton, Oprah, etc.

On many countries, the women are capable of more earning, but the banks won't lend to them, so if we can do something to support a few women where such a nominal amount makes such a gigantic impact, then I'm all for it. If the money comes back, great, and if not, it was in our budget to give away anyway!

[suzy24]

What can we do to help?? How can we help fund the project by using OGD??

[hotcouponmama]

Originally Posted by suzy24

What can we do to help?? How can we help fund the project by using OGD??

I need to put some more links in, but like the HHH thread at HCW, similar thing - Heidi and I are taking some of the ad revenues and putting it into good works that fit each board. So the links you find in this section specifically support OGD projects. We're hoping that the power of a collective internet community can make some good things happen for people.

[jujubee]

This is really awesome! What a great cause for Organic Grocery Deals members to support!