Alive, not sure if I'm well....in the meantime, I've been paid back...many times

well, that was a long hiatus from maintaining my blog...I'm very bad at creating habits, like writing regularly...but I'll try again..

I've also been slack in my Kiva giving as well. Tonight, I was determined to start to knock some stuff off my "To-Do" list. One item, was to re-lend any repayments on kiva as well as give my normal monthly amount (which is several months late...but I digress...) anyway, I noticed that I know have received 20 successful repayments!! So I was pretty psyched about that. 20 loans, 20 repayments. I have several loans in "raising funds" and in progress, but 20 successful cycles made me happy.

I've been lending on Kiva since Nov 2006, so about 18 months. No defaults yet either. 2% delinquency, but heck, such is life.

Other milestones I'm looking forward to, is 100 loans made, but that seems to be some time off in the future.

If you haven't joined the micro lending, I'd recommend getting involved.

3rd Re-Lending, July, August loans

I recieved my 3rd repayment from

“Katiuska Gonzalez”

and her pharmacy business (Thanks!!)

I’ve since re-lent the money.

Anyone who has read my previous posts, knows that I’ve pondered different lending patterns to attempt to help a few more people. I have not chosen a set pattern…but I have tried to honor my original aims, which was 4 businesses a month. I was on Holiday for July, so I was slack, but today, I lent out to 4 for July and 4 more for August. Busy day for Lending!!

Check out my lender page if you are curious

See more progress on: Offer a Microloan to someone on the Kiva site

Re-Lending for the 2nd time, Beauty of a micro loan in action!!!

Borrowed part of that title from an entry posted by someone else on this goal. I hope they don’t mind.

This is only my 2nd loan that has been repaid, so it is very exciting to get money back and lend it right back out. The “lending-chain” gets longer!!!

Abberratos is the business that paid me back (Well Done!!) and the funds will be reused to loan to “Mavzuna Abduvalieva”|http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=12712

See more progress on: Offer a Microloan to someone on the Kiva site

Drink More Coffee, Support Local farmers in Africa at the same time

We have just passed the 60th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball celebrating the moment when he was moved up the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. I was reminded of a segment I saw on TV regarding Jackie’s son, David, who now lives in Africa. He has married an African woman and has become a coffee farmer. He has started a cooperative of local coffee farmers, called Sweet Unity Farms, and is working toward direct distribution of global marketplace, thereby allowing the revenues and profits of the coffee industry to reach the farmers in Africa.

Anyway, I just bought my first bag of whole-bean Tanzanian. $15 bucks with shipping & handling, pretty much what I pay for my coffee anyway, except now I’m putting more money in the hands of farmers in Africa doing the hand picking, instead of distribution companies. There are many ways to help affect the world, some of them as easy as buying coffee, so next time you need to replenish your supply, check out Sweet Unity Farms.