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Posted: Monday 6 September 2010

Runners Help Alleviate Poverty

Kirsty Gray and Hannah Todd

 

 

Two S5 pupils, who are members of the J8 group at Hutchesons', ran the Glasgow Ladies 10k in May to raise funds to invest with Kiva, an online microfinancing platform whose mission is to connect people through lending to help alleviate poverty.

"Kirsty came an amazing 104th out of almost 11,000 runners, 'Says Hannah Todd, who came 1172nd. With more than £500 raised, they spent their summer holiday deciding which specific groups and enterprises in the Third World they would lend to.

"We chose three causes to loan the sponsorship money to," says Kirsty, "all of which are now doing well and paying back ahead of schedule. We plan to reinvest the money in other Third World entrepreneurs through Kiva."

Find out more about Kiva.

Srey Pom Ku, from Cambodia

Mrs. Srey Pom Ku, the leader of the group, is a widow with a child who is just 3 years old. In order to increase her income to improve her family's living conditions, she decided to ask for a loan to buy piglets and pig feed for pig-raising.

Jimena Suarez Ordoñez, from Bolivia

Jimena works for a dispatch company. She is a 32-year-old single mother, with two fifteen15-year-old daughters, Abigail and Lorena, and a little boy, Juan, who is 2. She is a very responsible person and although she works, her income is very low. She needs the money to be able to extend her home, which is currently very small. That will mean she can give her children a better place to live and so improve their quality of life.

La Fe 6,7 Group, from the Dominican Republic

Dioselina, the coordinator of her group La Fe (The Faith), is excited to be taking her second loan after having successfully repaid her previous loan and expanded her business. She plans to use this loan to invest in her business running a colmado (general store) by purchasing rice, flour and sugar to sell. She will use the profits to provide for her children's basic needs, including purchasing notebooks.

Tags: Charity, Community, Ethos, J8

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