[This is part of a series of posts that will extend through the entire year of 2009 twice monthly according to my original post "My pledge to Kiva for 2009". To view all of my Kiva projects, take a moment to check out my Kiva lending page.]
This week’s Kiva Pledge Update is a special “Father’s Day Edition”. I typically keep personal matters out of my blogging and social media life, mostly because I want the focus of my online activity to be on the issues at hand and not my personal life (no matter how interesting or uninteresting it may be). Also, because privacy still carries great importance to me. But I digress… This week I decided to do something different because, to be honest, I saw the two as being inseparable for this special occasion.
As many of you know, I am traveling to Peru, Cuzco and Machu Picchu on Wednesday for vacation. I really am a firm believer in giving back to the places that give something to us. Whether it be inspiration, love, friendship, faith, or a myriad number of values, when we receive something freely I believe we are indebted to give something back. For me, my life is eternally indebted to Africa. Africa is my life. For others, it may be someplace else in the world. My father taught me this philosophy of life through a strong foundation of faith when I was young and it is something I live out in my life the best I can.
The Kiva updates you have been reading every two weeks is a meager display of my belief in this philosophy and the idea of being a living sacrifice for those in the world who are less fortunate. I don’t consider myself a weekend advocate of the poor, but an ardent lifetime believer that we have a duty and obligation to do something, anything, about those less fortunate in this world. I’m one of those who believes we should be losing sleep over the abundance of extreme poverty in this world.
Through Kiva’s awesome micro-lending programs, I give to those in Africa who are in need of small loans. Ever since discovering Kiva I’ve been a huge fan of their work and blessed that I have the opportunity to give though their programs. This week, in honor of my father and in recognition of the beauty of Peru, I am lending to a group of entrepreneurs in the country I’m about to visit. This is my way of giving back to Peru and the beauty I will (soon) be sharing with you in pictures. Dad, thanks for being an inspiration to me on this year’s Father’s Day. This is the best gift you have given me and I hope my life can be an inspiration to others.
Without further ado, here’s this week’s Kiva Pledge Update…
I am supporting the San Luis de Huancapi Group in Peru, a businesswoman from Gudele, Sudan who sells bread and charcoal and is requesting a loan to open up a bakery.
According to her Kiva business page:
The members of the “San Luis de Huancapi” are from the district of Huancapi, Province of Victor Fajardo, which is located 4 hours outside the city of Ayacucho. The principle activities of the region are raising livestock, commercial enterprise and agriculture.
Ana is a single mother of an 8-year-old son. Ana has a store in her house where she sells basic groceries. She also sells gelatin desserts that she makes herself. She needs a loan of 200 soles that she will invest in buying groceries. Ana’s dream is to expand her business and she dreams that her son will become a professional.
Alicia lives with her partner and she does not have children. Alicia sells cosmetics from catalogs. Alicia needs a loan of 200 soles to invest in a new business of making picarones (sweets made with flour and sweet potato). Alicia’s dream is of expanding her business and having a pharmacy.
Georgina lives with her parter and she has three children. Georgina sells gasoline in her district, a business that she has developed little by little. Georgina needs a loan of 1000 soles to invest in buying gasoline. Georgina’s dream is to expand her business and to secure the future of her children.
Stay tuned for the next Kiva Pledge Update on July 5th.
