Author: Liam M

Hassen – Yemen

Liam M Middle East

Hassen is a 37 year old man who is married and the father of 4. He is the only primary source of income in his family. He needed this loan to be able to buy household needs such as an oven, refrigerator, and freezer. I thought this was an important loan to make because Yemen is going through conflict with the Islamic State.

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The Islamic State more known as ISIS is a terrorist group that are currently in the middle east. This week ISIS attacked 3 major cities in Yemen. These attacks include suicide bombings, mass beheading’s, and killing for fun. They say that they do it for their religion, Islam. This is where the root in the ‘Islamic State’ comes from. When I saw that this was happening in Yemen, I knew I had to make this loan.

 

#Helpingthosewhoneeditthemost

By: Brendan C and Charlie S

Who wants to be a Sulfur Miner?

Liam M Uncategorized

Have you ever thought of what you wanted to do when you grow up? These sulfur miners spend all day in volcanoes breathing in toxic gases, while mining sulfur to support their families. Many of the sulfur miners have suffered injuries including deformed backs,  spines, dissolved teeth, hurting of lungs, eyes, and throat. All the work they put in to carry 150 to 200 pounds of sulfur only gets them 11 US dollars if they are lucky. Just to get 11 US dollars they climb up a 9,000 ft mountain, climb down 3,000 ft into a crater, and back up and down the volcano with 200 pounds of sulfur. Most of the men don’t even have masks to protect them, so they have to wear rags to block out the toxic gas.

A man named Suwono who is 33 years old has been a sulfur miner for 9 years. He has a little baby named Reny who he would rather have get a education than follow his footsteps into a volcano. All of this has resulted in Suwono’s deformed back and working from 6:00 am to 2:30 pm. The average life span for a sulfur miner is 50 years which means Suwono has at least 17 years left before his death. Is this a job you would want?

 

By:Brendan C. and Liam M.

Where Children Sleep??

Liam M Uncategorized

The other day in Kiva Club we read a book called Where Children Sleep. This book shows kid’s bedrooms in different places of the world and gives details about their daily life and what they are dealing with. This book shows the life of people living in poverty, and people living it up with all of their money. Our reaction to seeing the comparison of a rich to a poor person was shocking. Another thing to do is think about your modern day bedroom and compare it to the children in this book.

This really connects to Kiva because it focuses on children and were they sleep, given their social status. Kiva is all about helping and giving what is needed to provide materials that people need to survive. This was a outstanding book, and was incredibly shocking to us. We were sad, shocked, and wanted to help all at the same time. It makes us feel that what we are doing, really matters.

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Living in a top-floor apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York, 9-year-old Jaime likes to play the cello, kickball, and study his finances on the Citibank website. His parents also own luxury homes in the Hamptons and Spain.
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This 4-year-old Romanian boy sleeps with his family on a mattress in a field on the outskirts of Rome. After begging for money to pay for tickets, his family came from Romania by bus. With no identity papers, his parents clean windscreens at traffic lights since they cannot obtain legal work. None of his family members have ever been to school.

By: Liam M

Fahed-Gaza, Palestine

Liam M Palestine

Fahed  is a man in Gaza, Palestine who is married has two sons and a daughter. He needed a loan to rebuild his house that was destroyed in the last violence that happened, the only thing they could find to have shelter was a small rental home to live in for now.

The battle between Palestine and Israel is terrible. People like Fahed and his family don’t have houses to live in. Many innocent people don’t have anything to do with this battle yet they’re the ones who are taking all the hits. This war has been raging on since 1922 and has caused a lot of problems for both sides of this war.

I hope to find more loans like this in the future because saving a family’s life and building them a new home that’s a great feeling to have. Also, knowing that it makes a great difference in the world.

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Mary’s Group- Kenya

Liam M Uncategorized

Mary’s group lives in Kenya which is a really poor country. She is trying to get clean water for her group because diseases like Ebola could spread and she has already lost her husband, and she does not want to lose her 5 kids.

The reason I made this loan is because Ebola is a really big problem happening in West Africa and is spreading quickly and these people don’t have the food or resources to help keep them alive so I really wanted to give them fresh water to drink.

This was a very hard because it was a 6 year term till we get our money back. But to help people in Africa that don’t have many resources and are losing population quickly from Ebola.

However, with the good parts out numbering the bad parts, I chose to make this loan.