Lend With Care

As part of our Global Learning work in school, the Councillors and I have looked in to ways we can help those in developing countries live better lives.  We have carried out many fundraising events over the years and the money has been sent to a variety of charities.  We found out last year about an amazing  online charity bank called Lend With Care.  How this works is that we as a school have our own bank account on the charity site which we pay into throughout the year after we fundraise for FairTrade and other global issues.  Schools will then sit together and look through a database of entrepreneurs who are seeking loans to help fund their businesses and collectively choose which businesses they would like to support.  As a school you decide how much you loan each business.  This money is not given, it is loaned, which means we get it back and as soon as it is back in the account it can be loaned to another business.

As a school we decided this would be the prefect way to help many people from all over the world improve their way of lives.  Take a look at the video below for a better idea of the wonderful work this charity does.

School Council and I have sat together today to choose some new entrepreneurs.  Take a look at who we have chosen below..

Fanny Pozo – Ingüeza Ecuado – Loaned £30

Fanny Pozo is 33 years old and single mother to a 15-year-old teenager and a 6-year-old child. She lives in Ingüeza, in the Espejo district of the province of Carchi. She has been a dairy farmer for the last 10 years. She currently has 4 cows that provide up to 40 litres of milk, which she sells for $0.40 cents a litre.  Fanny has requested a loan of $1,000 to be repaid over 12 months. With this money she will buy another cow which will enable her to increase her milk production by 10%, which will increase her income.  Fanny’s expenses include her household expenses, food and health bills, her children’s education and the vet bills for her animals. Her plan is to increase her income so she can have a better quality of life. Her main concern in life is her children and their future.

Chizenje Group - Zambia – Loaned £30

This is a group loan for the Chizenje group based in the Chipata district. There are 18 women in this group aged between 19 and 55. These women are married and have children who go to school. These women also look after orphans who go to school. The women of Chizenje group run small scale businesses like grocery and market stalls. They started their businesses for different reasons like being able to provide the daily needs for their families and pay school fees for their children and orphans. The group has successfully repaid their first loan and have now requested a second loan.  One of the women is Agness Mbewe. She is 40 years old and married with seven children who are still in school. She runs a market stall selling tomatoes and beans. She would like this loan to top up on her business capital and order more stock of beans, tomatoes and salaula (second hand clothes) for her stall. She has found parts of the Microloan Foundation business training useful, in particular how to conduct Market Research. She believes it will help her achieve what she wants for her business. Currently her family helps her with the day to day running of her market stall. Before she started her business she had difficulties in providing for her family but now she is able to, which makes her feel proud.

Patricio Malla - Catamayo, Ecuador – Loaned £15

Patricio Malla is a farmer from Catamayo in southern Ecuador. He also works for a cleaning company. Don Patricio is married with a young daughter. His wife sells fruit.  He has a 2-year-old daughter. He used to work as an agricultural day labourer before farming for himself.  At present he farms around one hectare of land growing maize. He usually tends to the land after having worked all day at the cleaning company. Don Patricio requested a loan to buy fertiliser and other inputs as well as pay two labourers he will hire after receipt of the loan.

As soon as we have our loans back we will be in touch to let you know who we have chosen to help next.  Watch this space for upcoming FairTrade fundraising for next year.  Excellent work Penygawsi, we are really making a difference to many lives and I am very proud of you all!

Many Thanks

Mrs Rees :0)