What Kiva Is:

Kiva is an international nonprofit organization - based in San Fransisco - that has been around for over a decade now. It’s grand mission is to connect people through lending, so that many who are currently in poverty can receive the help they need. Kiva supports people looking to create a sustainable future for themselves, their families, and even their communities.

How We Participate:

As lenders, we crowdfund with others the loan in increments of either $25 or more. The borrowers repay loans and we use the repayments to either fund new loans, donate, or withdraw for use again in our company. And so the circle goes again!

Who We Funded This Week:

Oyo R is a 56-year-old married woman and mother of two daughters. To make her living, she has been selling vegetables such as kale, carrots, chilies, tomatoes, etc. for seven years. Her husband is working as a driver in the Tangerang District. Today Oyo and her family have no access to a toilet in their home and must rely on the river for bathing. Because they want to improve their living conditions for their family, Oyo requested a loan in order to build a clean sanitation facility at their home to provide them access to sanitation. It helps prevent the spread of disease by providing access to clean drinking water and sanitation. Mrs. Anis lives with her three children in Krembung, Sidoarjo Regency on Java Island in Indonesia, one of the most populous places in the world. Where she lives, like in many other developing nations, water needs to be treated before drinking. Most Indonesians boil water before they drink it, or a smaller crowd, buy water from refill stations, which is not always reliably safe. At a community gathering, where the outreach team from Nazava was invited, Mrs. Anis learned about a better way of getting safe drinking water. Nazava Water Filters filter well, rain, and city water so it becomes safe to drink without boiling and without using fuel or electricity. Since Mrs. Anis fulfills a leading function in her neighborhood, she took the opportunity becoming the sales representative of Nazava in her area. This loan allows her to buy 70 filters and sell them on consignment to her own community, making safe drinking water available to roughly 350 people. Riziki is a small entrepreneur in the Kenyan coastal region, married and has four children, three of which attend school. She runs a retail shop, which she’s had for 10 years, selling household food products such as wheat flour, maize flour, and sugar. She faces a challenge of transportation in her business and hopes to boost her business. Riziki requested a loan, which she will use to purchase stocks of sugar, rice, maize flour, and wheat flour. She currently lives in a house that has neither electricity nor piped water and her greatest monthly expense is school fees. Mrs. Hằng is 36-years-old, married woman with two children, one attending primary school and the other secondary school. She lives in the Quang Xuong district, a rural town in Thanh Hoa province. She has had a retail business selling dry food and general items for nine years now, her family is a low-income household, and her business is unstable. Hằng does not have enough money to continue sending her children to school so she requested her first loan to pay for books, school supplies, a bicycle, and general school fees for them. With her business profit, Hằng hopes that her family will remain happy and she will continue to keep her children educated. Rogelia is a hardworking mother supporting her three children. She is married and has a general store business in the Philippines. She requested a loan to pay for materials and labor to construct a sanitary toilet for her family. Rogelia knows that by using the sanitary toilet , she is reducing health and hazard risks to her family and neighbors as well as promoting overall environment protection.