Foodie Friends – October Update

The Foodie Friends team has continued its mission of empowering fellow foodies to improve their lives .  Here’s what has happened:

• We have made a new loan to Gonchigsuren Gunjidmaa for her meat trading business  in Mongolia.  Gonchigsuren is a 43 year old single mother who lives with her father and two children in Khar-khorin, the capital city of the ancient Mongolian empire.  She purchases meat and other animal products in bulk from herders in the countryside and transports it to Ulaanbaatar, the largest city and capital of Mongolia, where she sells it. Gunjidmaa started her meat trading business in 1995 by selling out of a rented stall at the market in her town. She operated there for 10 years before suffering a major injury that kept her from work for two years. In 2008, using the knowledge, experience and good supplier relationships she had built before her injury, she restarted her business. She is requested a  loan to purchase more meat and meat products for her business.
• Nancy Kaku has repaid 25% of the loan for her fishing business in Sudan.  There are 9 months left on the loan term.
• Maria Cristina Yupanqui Chambilla has repaid 25% of the loan for her catering business in Peru.  There are 4 months left on the loan term.

You can learn more about micro-finance at Kiva.org.   You can loan as little as $25. Check back next month to see what we are doing!

**The Foodie Friends team is called Cooking for Kiva as of June 2010