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...

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 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...

Lots to update - first I have moved this blog to its own blogging page from my personal finance blog since I will also have entries here listed on the

microloan website that we are building.

Last week was extremely busy on the sites, and even though I didn't update, a lot happened. All the auctions ended and all the people have paid which brought in an extra $337 plus the $100 from buy it now auctions making the total for distribution $437. That gives us enough to give out 17 loans with a bit left over. We have already made 13 loans and I will make another 4 write after I finish writing this entry.

Unfortunately with everything going on I wasn't able to list any auctions last week so there won't be any new income for a least another week. I am hoping to list another 10 auctions or so although I don't think this next ones will bring in quite as much money. Still, every dollar helps and hopefully we can add another couple hundred to the pot.

As I mentioned before, I will be slowly placing all the stock that I had from my old eBay business on auction with any profits made going to Kiva. I had four auctions that ended today that all went very well. After did ducting the cost of the items, eBay fees, PayPal fees, etc. the four items look like they will turn about a $250 profit (I won't know the exact figures until everyone pays). That means that I will be able to give out 10 more loans from the profits of these sales with a few more auctions ending tomorrow.

I will be spending the next couple of days listing more auctions - hope to get another 10 or so up if possible. Just need to make sure to put aside the time for getting them up.

Most payments for the auctions that just ended should be coming in by PayPal, so I should be able to help fund some more loans in the next couple of days.

I placed 10 items up for sale on eBay to begin this project in the $20 challenge. I figured that the sale of these items should raise a few hundred dollars and get the ball rolling on this project fairly quickly. It didn't take long to record the first two sales (buy it now) which netted $100 in profit which I have started to use to pass out loans to people on Kiva.

The first loan went to Gurbat Jafarov who had the following story:

Gurbat is an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) from the Armenian-occupied territory of Azerbaijan Gubadli. He started his business five years ago selling clothing, bags and other apparel items. The business has been growing and he is requesting a loan to increase his stock.

The minimum amount that you can loan is $25 and that is what I have decided to do for each of my loans as I begin.

At this point in time I am finding that the most difficult part of giving up to loan money is that there are so many people that deserve it that it is hard to pick. Basically I am just randomly looking through the listings and donating to the first ones that I come across.

I'm sure that over time I will refine the system a bit, but for now that is the way that I am choosing.