Kiva Update

I sold two paintings yesterday (Untitled 23 and Untitled 35) which was great for me...but what got me even more excited and happy was that meant I was able to make two more loans through kiva.og (3 total since I have committed to 10% of my sales to help entrepreneurs in developing countries):

So here are the three people and their projects that I am helping fund (So amazing and makes me sit back and wonder at each of our impacts when I see how making the painting led to helping someone around the world build a better life while someone else is enjoying my art in their home - priceless!):

1. Sevil Qurbanova was born in 1955. She lives in Aksu. She is married and has 2 children. She sells clothing on the central market. In 2005, Sevil took her first Normicro credit. This is her third loan application. Sevil plans to use the money to expand her business.

2. Rosa Ponce: Senora Rosa sells clothing door to door. Having a fixed group of clients, her deliveries are monthly. Many of her clients buy on credit, so part of Rosa's job is to identify the clients who need to pay and then make the collections.

3. Fadia Al Sayegh is a married woman living in Sharoun with her family and her 4 children. Fadia used to sell cosmetic products from door to door. When this activity ended, she started knitting and doing crochet, skills she learned from her mother at age 15. She either sells her work at home or she passes her creations to a woman in charge of selling them. Fadia needs to buy the necessary materials and accessories to sustain and gradually develop her small business. Fadia is part of a group with 5 other women from the same village. Her group's name is 'Al Eman' which means faith. The requested loan is for this group of self-chosen women, living in vulnerable conditions, mostly in rural areas. Group lending is based on incremental increase of loan amount and group solidarity to guarantee repayment. The strength of the group loan is that it encourages a collaborative approach in the borrowing community. The group loan is a very powerful tool towards the economic empowerment of women.