Yesterday I got an e-mail from Kiva with the heading, “Good news; you’ve been repaid!”  The loan in question was for $25, and I then had a choice between getting my money back or the pleasant task of choosing another recipient for my largesse. I decided this time to re-lend the money to a group of Guatemalan women.

Kiva is a non-profit organization that facilitates microfinance loans to small enterprises around the world. My $25, always part of a larger pool, had already assisted a group of four farmers in Sudan; and then Claudia, a woman in Huancayo, Peru, who started a little Internet café in her home and is now expanding to an in-town location. Kiva loan recipients have a terrific record of repaying their loans, and Kiva facilitates recycling the loans once they are repaid. Shades of Ben Franklin, who developed a similar program of his own to help young men start businesses of their own.

Lending money through Kiva is both easy and personal. Most loans are repaid within a period of six months to a year. Biographies and photographs of loan applicants are posted on the Kiva web site, along with descriptions of their proposed projects. Lenders, from more than 50 countries, but most from the U.S. and Canada, know exactly where their money goes, and receive reports from the field whenever a payment is made.  Lenders, too, may post their pictures and personal notes on the Kiva web site if they want to.

Operating money for Kiva comes from donations made expressly for that purpose. A new lender will be asked whether he or she would like to give $2.50 to the organization for operating expenses, and enough people do to keep it going.

Kiva’s “field partners” are established microfinance institutions in various parts of the world who oversee the work, receive funds from Kiva, and distribute them to the individual recipients.

I’ll quote from the Kiva site to describe my new choice of recipients, as theirs is a fairly typical story. This is a translation from Spanish by a young Guatemalan volunteer.

“This group of women comes from Chuichijojche, a community located in the high mountains of the Nahuala municipality, which is covered by plantations of corn, bean, wheat and potato. Nahuala is known for its winters, where heavy rain and thick clouds fall over the municipality.

“The Chuichijojche group has been working together for five years. This creates a very special dynamic within the group, creates an environment of trust, and it also sees to it that the years don’t pass in vain. You notice this trust in the cheerfulness of the group at the repayment meetings. This positive feeling that is abundant in this group is based in the most essential foundation — responsibility. This group has been able to stay together for such a long time because they are responsible women who pay on time.

“All of the group members sell traditional Guatemalan dresses. They sell fabrics, long skirts, traditional hand-woven and embroidered blouses and hipbelts. The women sell their goods at the main markets of the plain, such as Solola, Xela and Totonicapán. They already have regular buyers. A few of them work as street traders or tend to clients in their homes. The women not only have assigned buyers, but also have craftspeople who sew for them on demand. Many of them also already have a group of craftswomen they buy from directly.

“The group members believe that the credit has supported them because they can purchase more typical clothing wholesale and thereby increase their profit. They all think that, without the loan, they wouldn’t be able to get ahead. Because of this they are excited about breaking the taboo of coming together for a group loan.

“The biggest challenge facing this group of women is coping with both their businesses and their domestic chores. Many say that looking after their children and husbands and also keeping up with the housework is an additional job.”

Kiva’s field partner for this project is Friendship Bridge, which now specializes in helping rural poor women in Guatemala by giving them access to credit and other services related to health, business development, and education. Friendship Bridge was already known to me, as it has been doing this work for a number of years and has presented programs in Aspen.

Kiva so far has funded projects in 43 countries and made loans of more than $34 million. The current repayment rate is 98 percent.  Making a $25 loan is within the means of many American school kids, and is certainly within the means of groups of kids, in school or out.  It’s a good way to connect youngsters with less fortunate families, and with life in a wider world.

You can visit the Kiva web site at www. kiva.org.

Connie Harvey’s e-mail address is cmharve@gmail.com.