perhaps me and rav4 are more boring than the rest of the world but we decided to siam the traffic from the rest of the world by coming home from suntec before 9pm.
even though we already tried to leave early, i was stuck on the bus in orchard area for like 15 minutes before i even hit the expressway..
how come so many people like to go out and squeeze with other people?
on a drizzling night somemore?
hmm..
don't understand..
instead, i came home and logged into my laptop.
did something i've been promising myself for quite some time.
i helped 4 entrepreneurs from kiva by loaning them a small amount of money each.
here they are.
Cee, as she is popularly called by her numerous customers, is a 42 year-old local restaurant operator. She is married and blessed with three children. With income from her business, she has provided for one of her children to graduate from senior high school. In her restaurant, she prepares and sells local foods like “banku” - rice with stew. Banku is prepared from milled maize grains and is taken with hot pepper or soup. Apart from this, she also prepares pastries like meat pies and cakes. Cynthia says that the prices of raw materials have gone up significantly and she needs the support of a loan to enable her to meet her production expenditures. She wants to use the loan to buy more raw materials like bags of maize, flour, margarine, sugar, meat, fish, vegetables, and firewood. Cynthia is a member of a group called Success Trust Group. In this group, members guarantee and provide support to one another to repay the loan. Her picture was taking when she was visited at her business site.
Khurshed Rahmatov is 20 years old. He is a young boy with a great desire to get ahead in life. Khurshed has been running a pharmacy business for 4 years together with his loving mother, pictured in the photo. Currently he is working in the city polyclinics in the dispensary.
Khurshed loves his work; he likes to help people and is ready to consult with the patients purchasing medicines in his store and those who could not find the required goods in his store. During all the years of his work, Khurshed was dreaming of opening his own drug store and saving money for this. He hopes that someday he can realize his dream.
Now Khurshed has requested $ 600 US Dollars for a term of 5 months. Khurshed is a client of IMON and has a positive credit history. Now he promises to repay the loan promptly and thanks everyone supporting him.
Mukaramakhon describes herself as a enterprising girl with the goal to achieve successes in the future. She decided to start a sewing business to help her family with household expenses a year ago. She started out helping a woman who ran a tailoring shop. Being very nimble, she learned tailoring and soon began running her own business at the tailoring shop. It has gone very well since then, and she has been able to grow the business.
Mukaramakhon is requesting a loan of $600 USD to purchase materials so she can fulfill her customers' requests. The end of the year is fast approaching, and that is when demand is at its highest. She plans to repay the loan within 12 months. Mukaramakhon and her family are very grateful for your support in helping grow this business and move ahead.
Rawad is a 26-year-old man who lives in Aley, Mount Lebanon. For the past 16 years, he has been working as a barber.
Rawad is now requesting a loan in the amount of $1,000 via Al Majmoua in order to decorate his shop. Notably, this is the third loan that he has sought, and he states that he always repays his loans on schedule. His prior loans have helped to support his business operation, which he started because he wanted to be on his own from a professional standpoint. In the future, he plans to open another shop.
loaned them a small amount of money through kiva.
http://www.kiva.org
i think it's meaningful to help out entrepreneurs in third world countries because ultimately they are the ones who will help their families/villages break through poverty cycles and really make a difference in their societies.
i've been telling myself i must give back to society once i make a little progress in my own entrepreneurial pursuits, but just didn't find an organization that makes me want to help.
well now that i've found kiva, there's no excuse any longer.
merry christmas, world! :D
there are 2 days of each year i know will be 2 of the happiest days of the year fer me.
the 2 days exams end.
yes, i hate exams that much.
when i have the inspiration and mood some day, i'm gonna launch a lengthy tirade against exams.
for now, let us just celebrate life and the end of exams.
"Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
