KIVA KIWIS

Paula in Christchurch

loaned to  Libia in Ayacucho, Peru.

Libia is married, 40 years of age

and has 5 children. Every day  she sells vegetables wholesale in the Nery Garcia market. Libia has used her loan to buy tomatoes and onions so as to expand her business. She says her dream is to develop her business and for her children to become professionals.  Libia is now repaying Paula.

Anna Cleal is the first New Zealand Kiva Fellow. A Kiva Fellow is someone who travels to and lives in the host country of one of Kiva's partner microfinance institutions. For a minimum of ten weeks they are immersed in the local culture, working with the microfinance organisation's loan officers, and conducting interviews with their client entrepreneurs, working to capture and convey their lives and the impact of the Kiva loan.

The Fellows journals, photos and videos are regularly uploaded to Kiva.org, and we’re republishing Anna’s on this website here. You can contact Anna through her lender page here.

Latest word from Anna: “ I'll be back in New Zealand (Auckland) from September 2nd until 12th and happy to chat to any of you who are interested.  Here is a video that was made for me by one of the guys at the Microfinance Institute where I worked.”

Kiva Kiwis started in Oamaru, New Zealand, to encourage and enable Kiwis the world over  to support the working poor in developing countries by making loans to them through an organisation called Kiva. You can join us on Kiva here, and, if you want, contact us via email.                   

                                                              Cheers, Finn. Team Captain.

This short film by Kieran Ball shows the process of a loan being made, and gives you a behind-the-scenes look inside Kiva too. Thanks Kieran.

Kiwis the world over lending the working poor the bootstraps to pull themselves up by.

Raf in Christchurch loaned to Flora Pingcas. Flora runs a store from her home in Bohol, in the Philippines. She is forty five years old, married, and has five children. She used the loan  to buy stock such as sugar and oil, so as to increase her sales.  She is now paying Raf back.

When people first find out about Kiva there are some questions they frequently ask. Here are some of those:

‘Does Kiva take a cut?’  No all the money you lend goes to the entrepreneur. If you want you can you also make a donation to Kiva to help them cover their operating expenses, but that’s optional.

Do the borrowers pay interest? Yes- otherwise it wouldn’t be possible to keep lending. Click here to find out more.

Does the money really get to the person?’  ‘Does it make a difference?’ Well..click here for some videos of what happened when some reporters set out to answer just those questions.

As at the start of May 2010 we have 246 team members, have made 2975 loans (an average of 12.1 per member), to the value of (NZ) $183,636.

Below is a live feed from Kiva showing a person or a group currently seeking a loan. To lend to them just click on the photo and you’ll be taken to their page on Kiva.  If you refresh this page you’ll see another listing.

The name ‘Kiva’ come from  Swahili where it means  "agreement" or "unity" .

(To see it full size click on the arrows in the bottom right hand corner.)