Guatemala

No Shoes for Guatemalans?!

Eli S Guatemala

How would you feel if you didn’t own a pair of shoes?

Many Guatemalans never have any shoes they can wear. They walk around on their bare feet on the dirty ground. The Emmanuel’s Group is a group of women who want money to make shoes for people who aren’t fortunate enough to have any.

Juana is a 39 year old with three children. She is a part of the group and wants to make as many shoes as she can, but also wants to use money that she raises by making and selling shoes to get her children an education. She didn’t have her own education when she was a girl and knows what her children will be missing out on.

I think this is a good loan because for us, shoes are just part of everyday life, but for the people of Guatemala, a lot of people don’t have access to them. It’s not fair to the Guatemalans.

Borrower image

Eli S.

Think You’ve Got it Bad?! Try Living on One Dollar a Day!

Mathew L Guatemala

Allowance is a thing that most kids have. It’s when you get a little bit of money for doing chores around the house.

What if there were adults that got less money each week than you do?

In the country, Guatemala, some adults in a village get one dollar a day. So, if you get more than $7 a week, you probably make more than these people.

Image result for poverty in guatemala

Does anyone ask you what you’re going to be when you grow up? If you answer police officer, firefighter, or a nurse, it’s possible. That’s not the case for these people.

Most people in this village are forced to be farmers. Even kids as young 10 years old are farmers. If you want to be something else, it may not happen.

How can help? Well, we have Kiva. For other people, there are other loaning sites that are visited to help people in need.

What can we loan for? From our $25 Kiva loans, people can pay for a child’s education. One loan pays for a kid to learn and to get a better job in the future.

If we want to improve the world’s poverty, we can start anywhere. Our blog helps the world, one loan at a time.

By: Mathew L.

 

 

Las Girasoles Tecpanecas Group of Guatemala

Nicolas Haub Guatemala, Loans we did make, Why We Kiva

The Las Girasoles Tecpanecas Group is group of women in the rural Guatemalan city of Tecpan. This is a group of women who work hard to meet individually set goals.

There are 9 women in the group who all have a different businesses such as, food sale, agriculture, weaving, selling clothing, and the sale of cosmetics. They call themselves the “Las Girasoles Tecpanecas” or the Tecpan Sunflowers.

Las Girasoles Tecpanecas GroupThere are many reasons I made made this loan. One reason I made this loan is the average annual income in Guatemala is only $5,300.! Compare that to how much your parents make in a year. In fact most people spend more than that on a car in America.

Another reason why I made this loan is the loans at risk rate and the default rate are extremely low. The loans at risk rate and default rate show whether similar loans in the area where not paid back or not paid back at all. We will also be paid back monthly over 10 months. This means we will get paid back a little bit over 10 months which means we won’t have to wait a long time to get our loan back.

The final and most important reason I made this loan is for people like Dolores (one of the women in the group). Dolores is 68 years old and is practically the sole source of income for her family and is responsible for paying for the education of her kids by owning and running a small food business. With the loan she hopes to buy spices and rice to expand her business.

This is why we Kiva. We Kiva to help women like Dolores and their families make a better life for themselves.

By: Nicolas H.