Her name is Tchotcho Anastasie Amakoue from Togo. I (along with others) have loaned her money to grow her business of selling cloth and sewing supplies. This has been taken from the KIVA site and explains her business:
"This is a woman who is married and the mother of four. Her husband is an auto mechanic. Her husband's income is insufficient to cover household expenses. Thus, to help her husband with these responsibilities, she does commerce in sewing supplies. Most of her customers are seamstresses and tailors. She has an inventory shortage and wants to resupply herself. To do so, she's requesting her first loan to buy 16 rolls of poplin, 10 rolls of guipure (heavy lace), 20 boxes of thread, and 15 boxes of buttons."
KIVA is an organization that facilitates the matching up of lenders and entrepreneurs. . In December, 2008 I made a loan to Mery Tidjani, also of Togo, to help her buy cloth and dress making supplies. She has repaid about 1/3 of her loan and is ahead of her repayment schedule. I used that repaid amount ( plus a little more) to make this new loan to Tchotcho. As she begins to repay her loan, I can turn that money into another loan to another entrepreneur. Since I have a love for fabrics of all kinds, I seek out those ladies with similar interests. It makes me feel connected to them. I encourage you, my readers, to research this fine program at http://www.kiva.org/. Its a great big "feels good" thing!
7 comments:
What a wonderful project! Good luck in expanding the help. dee
Thanks Jude! I spent about an hour or so looking it over this afternoon and I still don't know how I would pick one! I love the idea though! This should be something available in the US too! There are many who need help globally! Anyway, thanks for sharing!
Hugs!
See? This is why I posted this. I want my readers to consider participating. I agree, people everywhere need help. I just wanted to use my blog to help spread the word!
(hey)Jude
Jude, time for another reminder on Arts, eh? Choices reflecting interests makes sense. A connection makes one more of a stake holder than the essentially abstract concept of doing good. Of course, cloth would be involved, no doubt in bright colors as well. I saw that picture of Mery carrying a pile of brightly colored fabric on her head.
Closer to home, there are also organizations in this country with "gramin bank" programs - googleable.
Vanessa, I think another mention would be good. People forget quickly. As our own economy staggers, we can still help others.
Wonderful. I am thinking about doing something for Navaho children- when I lived in NM I went with the missionary to the reservation. I love my time with them. Prehaps if I would have stayed single I'd got teaching degree to teach there.
HI Linda, that sounds like a wonderful idea! In the meantime, KIVA is a quick and easy way to make a small difference!
Post a Comment