Due to some good last minute bidding on the auctions I had up, we ended up with $337.40 in profits from this batch of auctions. That means that we have $354.14 to loan out this week and when we're finished, we'll be at the $1000 mark for loans made. We're definitely happy about that and hope we can continue to add money to this project with weekly auctions.

I hope to find some time this weekend to start making more loans, but now it's time to start wrapping all of the items that sold...

Thanks to the kindness of Broken Arrow as mentioned in the previous post, we had enough to make another loan. This one we made to:

Mary Meredith



Mary is a single female of 22 years old. She lives in the small Samoan village of Moamoa. Mary says that she wasn’t a very good student while in school. And so rather than continue, she asked her mother if she could attend sewing courses. She went to these courses for two and a half years. And although she didn’t complete her full course, she felt comfortable that she had built up the skills and knowledge necessary to start her own sewing business. She admits that since then she has learned a lot from experience. She joined SPBD to get started and with her first loan, she purchased a sewing machine. She is now requesting a second loan that she will use to buy materials for her sewing. Mary’s ultimate goal is to become a professional tailor.

I have 9 more auctions ending tomorrow which appear will bring in about another $100 or so (let's hope last minute bidding increases that)

Just a quick post to extend special appreciation to

Broken Arrow. He won prizes worth $20 in two of the blogging contests and decided to donate the money to this cause. That raises the total we have to lend out to $41.74 meaning that we can make another loan before the next round of auctions end on Friday. It was a really great gesture and we both appreciate it a lot.

I made two more loans today for $25 each bring the total number of loans to 25. That leaves $21.74 in the bank meaning I won;t be able to make more loans until the next set of auctions finish (they are already up and will end Friday). Here are the latest two loans made:

Agnes Lawer

Nkurankan, Ghana is a large marking centre for the people of the Yilo Krobo District of Ghana. Madam Agnes is a resident of Nkurankanand manufactures beads. She is also a client of Kraban Support Foundation and is however seeking a Kiva loan of $900.00 to help her improve her business.

Tep Sarin



Tep Sarin is 40 years old and lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with her husband and child. She works at her small laundry shop and earns about $2/day while her husband earns about $3/day operating a mototaxi. She will use this loan to repair her home so that it will not leak. In the future, she wants to buy a stand in the market to sell vegetables. Her goal is for her children to graduate from university.

Today I made another 2 loans and still need to make a couple of more when I have a bit more time to look. Here are the two most recent, again, both for $25. I actually have to set a time limit when I visit because I could spend a few hours reading thier stories...

Alice Wuala



Alice Wuala is married with three children. She attends Inkiito Baptist church and she is the treasurer of the Enanyor group. She started her business years ago, and her retail shop business has been doing well. She has managed to stock her shop with most of the necessities. She is now able to take of her family without much struggle. She trained through the WEEC programme, and this has helped her a lot. She now knows the importance of saving and putting the profits back into the business. Alice Wuala is grateful to her trainer and she is a good example to women in her area. The demand for goods in her area is now increasing, forcing her to expand her retail shop by stocking it with different types of goods to meet the demand. She would like to be given a loan of USD450 to buy more stock, and she is willing to repay the loan on a monthly basis.

Long Sothear



Long Sothear, who is 34 years old mother of 5 children, lives in Prey Veng province, Cambodia. She makes around $2.5/day by growing a variety of crops in the field. Her husband is a construction foreman and generates about $4/day, which is a potential for their household. Sothear hopes the loan will help her in investing more seeds to grow and another part is to repair their house in order to protect it from leaking during the rainy season. In the future, Samnang would like to own a grocery store at the market.

I placed up 8 auctions last week that ended today which brought in a profit of $209.74 for this project. Add that to the $12 in the bank and there is $221.74 to use for new loans.

I went through and made $25 loans to the following four people:

Selau Finnety



The land is a gift from God, but making it productive it is up to the people to use it - this is what Selau believes. She is married with one son and is a strong and active young lady. She started with a small loan from SPBD and used it to buy weed killer and fertilizer for her farm where she grows taro, banana, taamu, yams, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Three days of the week she delivers her farm produce to the market. Her husband helps her in her farm and they are very happy to work because it gives them more income. They are looking forward to obtaining another loan to buy a second-hand pick up truck for delivering their produce to the market.

Susitina Sanele



At twenty nine years old, Susitina is just starting her family. She has a one year old daughter and a husband who works part-time as a taxi driver. Besides having good baking skills, she recently started an elei printing business (a traditional Samoan way of printing fabrics) using a small loan from the SPBD microfinance program. Her business is steadily growing and she is planning to expand it by purchasing more textiles and additional stencils to increase the variety of her designs. She is looking forward to a time when she becomes really successful with her elei printing business so she can also invest in her other passion – baking.

Ear Sreyneit



Mrs. Ear Sreyneit, 24 years old, lives with her husband and two children in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She makes her living by selling a variety of fruits such as mangoes, yams, grapes, and oranges at the local market. She typically makes around $50/day in revenue. Her husband, meanwhile, helps by driving a car to buy and transport fruit from a plantation, which is far from his village, then selling it to retailers at the market. This couple hopes to use the loan to purchase a car to transport their fruit from a plantation and the rest will be used for the business. Sreyneit is thinking about being a wholesaler one day.

King Tonou



Mr. Tonou is 40 years old, married, and the father of three children. He has been in rice agriculture for 10 years. His wife sells kitchenware. Mr. Tonou received his middle school diploma and was also trained in rice agriculture. He is currently the technical specialist in rice agriculture that assists the other farmers in his solidarity group with their fields. He began working in agriculture by helping his parents, first by raising pigs, and then with rice. He was able to plant his first plot on rented land with a loan from his father, but this year he did not have the necessary funds to plant, and therefore had to leave his plot empty until the next harvest.
The loan and his income will allow Mr. Tonou to better care for his children’s education, both are currently in school. He will also eventually be able to improve his family’s home and health. While he is able to properly feed his family, Mr. Tonou cannot afford the hospital fees or medicine when they become ill. He hopes to one day be able to build a house on a plot of land that he currently owns because since they are now living in his mother’s house.

I have enough in funds to make another 4 donations ($121.74) which I will do over the next few days. I also plan to put up another 10 or so auctions this week to keep the ball rolling...