Teen Voices - SHOUT (Sisters Helping Other Unheard Teens). Founded in 1988, Teen Voice's mission is to support and educate teen girls to amplify their voices and create social change through media. They do this through after-school journalism mentoring program, SHOUT!, and other publications, Teen Voices and Teen Voices Online. SHOUT! is the journalism mentoring program which results in the award-winning online and print magazine Teen Voices.

Teachers Without Borders

3305 Washington Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
617-524-8882

Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly is a national non-profit, volunteer-based organization committed to relieving isolation and loneliness among the elderly. Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly offer, to people of good will, the opportunity to join with the elderly in the celebration of life.

Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly believe in, and nurture, the philosophy that feeding the soul (with companionship, friendliness, and flowers) as well as the body (with good food) promotes both the physical and mental health of the elderly, enabling them to remain independent and avoid costly and impersonal institutional alternatives.

Mission

hopeFound is dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness among men and women by helping them to achieve self-sufficiency, and to secure and maintain permanent housing.

Vision

To become a recognized leader of innovative and measurably successful programs that help people overcome barriers to self-sufficiency and permanent housing.
 

Second Chance Shelter for Cats is a no-kill home-based shelter in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Jamaica Plain and a network of loving foster homes, friends, sympathetic veterinarians and feline rescuers, working to reduce the number of homeless cats in our backyards and on our local Boston streets. Second Chance are strictly NO-KILL. They believe that no one has the right to judge (as many shelters do) who is deserving of his or her own life. They euthanize only when a veterinarian concludes an animal is terminally ill with no hope of recovery. They are not staffed during the day, and receive no state, city or federal funding, and are purely run by volunteers who give their time and money for love of the animals.  They all work paying jobs during the day and care for the animals every evening. They use many private foster homes, so potential adopters must be screened first and come by appointment only.

Services | Sewing

Priyanka is a cheerful and hardworking woman of 23 years. She is married and the mother of a small son. She and her husband are raising their son together. She lives with her family in a small village of Alipurduar District.

She sews varieties of garments and is the only seamstress in her community. Microloans assist people like Priyanka purchase modern sewing machine and stitching material to enhance and continue her business, and help serve her community.

Xequemeya Group
Momostenango, Totonicapan,
Guatemala
 

Mrs. Feliza Gonzalez Mejia is married and has 2 daughters and 4 sons. She sells french fries in the center of San Francisco el Alto, Totonicapan with the help of her husband. He is an assistant bricklayer. Feliza buys her supplies in the center of Momostenago on the market days of Sunday and Wednesday, and also raises domestic animals such as cattle, cows and pigs, and sells them there.
She is the coordinator of this group of women from the Jutacah farming village, Xequemeya, Momostengango in the Totonicapan Department. They are women who have been working for the last 8 years, and have decided to increase their working capital. That is the reason why they went to the ASDIR of Pologua offices- to help finance their work and thus improve the quality of their lives. 

Tural Hasanli
Azerbaijan

Tural Hasanli is a 30 year-old man who runs his own cafe in Agsu city. He started his business only a year ago and despite this his cafe has become very popular because of the good quality service. Tural`s monthly income is 250-300 AZN. 

Tural bought this place and he is now ready to renovate it. He has applied for a loan of 1,000 AZN in order to improve his working place. Tural is working very hard to meet the needs of his two children. 
 

Byabasita Tukwatanise Group, Ibanda
Uganda

In Byabasita, Ibanda, business can blossom if one summons up those two, always-neglected, business winning factors: planning and hard work. He has been a wise planner and as a result, 42-year-old Ngabirano Willy is basking in the glow of his ten-year-old commercial agriculture business.

Willy has been banking on this business to cater for all his family's needs. That is a clear testimony that hard work pays. He also mentions good customer handling skills as a requisite factor that should not be glossed over if one is to fully succeed. This he says creates good rapport with his clients.

Willy has mostly been selling maize, beans, cassava and millet. His dream is to expand his business further with the acquisition of this loan. He also wants to see to it that all his children are all in good schools. With this loan, he wants to buy more crops like coffee that he will later resell, but he also wants to expand his trading activities beyond Ibanda town.

Karla Argentina Aguirre Lopez
Nicaragua

Karla Argentina Aguirre Lopez is an enterprising woman who has her sales stall in the Israel Lewite Market; she sells bags, school supplies, slippers, shoes, umbrellas and soft-drinks. She is open for business from 7am until 6pm and she has an employee that tends to customers.
She is married and has two children one of whom is still school-aged.
She will use the funds to buy stock merchandise for her business: bags, school supplies, umbrellas, knapsacks, slippers and shoes.
Karla Argentina states that all the loans from Ceprodel have been used for her business. 

Razia Begum Asghar Ali's Group
Pakistan

Through
Asasah, a partner of Save the Children

Razia begum is very supportive to her family. Previously, she took a loan from Asasah. Her husband started a grocery shop by using the loan amount. Now she has applied again for a loan because she wants to expand his business by putting more grocery items in his shop.

Razia is a seamstress by profession. She sews clothes for neighborhood clients and for her relatives as well. She receives reasonable charges from them. Her earnings help her to share the financial burden with her husband. She lives in a city called Riwind, in Pakistan with her husband and five children: two daughters and three sons. Three of the children are attending school while the other two help their family financially by doing jobs in the factory. The children couldn't get an education due to poor financial conditions. Razia begum is hopeful that her husband will be able to increase his income and help his family to live better standard of life.

Manzooran Ramzan's Group
Pakistan

Through Asasah, a partner of Save the Children

Manzooran lives in a small city of Vehari Pakistan. She has three children who couldn't complete their education due to a lack of financial resources. Her husband is a painter. To help support the family financially, Manzooran does domestic sewing by receiving orders from her neighbors. She earns a reasonable income from them and uses this to pay for the utilities. 

She is applying for a loan for her son, who sells cosmetics products. He wants to increase the variety of products that he sells by adding more creams, lotions and other cosmetics products to sell from his cart. It will help him increase sales and hence his income will be improved which will help his family to better their living standard.
 

The FLAMECOS community group meets every 28 days at Collpani, a Pro Mujer office. Its president is Gregoria Quispe, 60, who has operated a business selling "chifleria" (a herbal medicine) for two years. She needs the loan to buy merchandise. Gregoria operates her business at the La Ceja market in the Bolivian city of El Alto. Her daughter helps her and they work there every day.

The other members of the community group have various sales, production and service businesses.

Virginia Gimena is from Oroquieta City. She is 51 years old. Virginia is married and has 3 adult children. To make a living, Virginia owns & operates a business in the services sector providing waste management services. She buys & sells junk & other waste material for local businesses and community members. Virginia has been engaged in her business for over 4 years and earns approximately 7,000 PHP a month for these activities.

In 2005, Virginia joined PMPC to gain access to financial services to help improve her living situation and to engage in business activities. Virginia has successfully repaid a previous loan of 14,900 PHP from PMPC. Virginia is requesting a new loan of 14,900 PHP to be used to purchase additional plastics & other recyclables to sell. This will be the 6th loan taken out by Virginia from PMPC. She plans to use the additional revenue generated from the business to improve the general living conditions of her family.

Paglaum Multi-Purpose Cooperative (PMPC)
Viet Nam
Through Thanh Hoa Poor Women (FPW), a partner of Save the Children

Son Van Commune in Dong Hai, Thanh Hoa is by the side of the river. The population is dispersed, and the people suffered many hardships. Group 03 Son Van Commune, Dong Hai has 7 members. Mrs. Le Thi Thuy Van, born 1984, is group leader. Despite of young age, she is very active. She heard about the Fund and encouraged her neighbors to borrow money to find ways to change their poor lives that have long been linked to agriculture. Her husband is Mr. Nguyen Hong Trung, born 1983, and they have a small daughter. With the money, they will buy pigs and chickens to raise. They also sell fruits in spare time. Each members in the group borrows VND1,626,900 (about USD92).

 

The St. Joseph of Nahuinpuquio Village Bank (loan group) is loacted in Huancavelica state. This community is located on the highway to Huancayo, where "La Morenada," a traditional Carnaval dance, brings community members together. There is a lot of commerce and agriculture in the region; local produce is exported to Huancayo and other cities.
Maria Victoria is married and has five children. She sells potatoes and vegetables in the Acobamba and Izachaca Markets. She says that before FINCA (Kiva's Field Partner) came, there were no loans for the people of her village, or if there were, banks asked them for property titles or other financial guarantees. With the help of her FINCA loans, Maria Victoria buys more vegetables in Huancayo and earns more. Her dream is to open a dry goods store.

Amna baji is a 48-year-old married lady who resides in the city of Borewala in Pakistan. She owns a two-room brick house which she has been living in for the past 5 years. Amna baji is an uneducated lady, but she knows the importance of education; in fact, she believes that knowledge takes a man or woman from the earth to the sky. Her husband's name is Ashiq Hussain, and he is a policeman who works at the police station nearest to her community. Amna baji has two kids: one son and one daughter. Her son works in a factory, while her daughter is in the 3rd standard.
Amna baji has a medicine sales business. She has 6 years of experience in this business. Specifically, she buys medicines from the wholesale market, and she later sells such medicines to medical stores. She has already successfully repaid one prior loan from Asasah (a microfinance institute of Pakistan). Now she is applying for another loan to expand her medicine-selling business.

El Bancomunal Los Claveles de Morenita is located in the Huancavelica district of Yauli, Ambato. Amidst the trees and pastures, lie the chozas, adobe houses made with straw. The countryside is beautiful and there are plenty of domesticated fowl in the area, hens and chickens. The principal activity of the community is the production of mantas pullas - colorful belts made of synthetic fiber and also with Alpaca wool.

Hussein David, age 28, is married with a one year old daughter. He sells spare parts, which he started one year ago. He opens his business from 2am to 7.30pm daily and is able to make a monthly profit of about $146.
Hussein has taken out 1 previous loan from Tujijenge Tanzania to increase capital for his business. He hopes to get a new loan to help increase business. Hussein will share this loan with his subgroup members selling clothes, soft drinks, beer, and clothes.

Maimuna Hassan, 51 years old, is a widow with four children (ages 28, 26, 24 and 20). She has operated two businesses - a retail shop and used clothing sales - for two years now. Working from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, she is able to make a monthly profit of about $95.
Maimuna took out one previous loan from Tujijenge Tanzania to start the used clothing business. She now hopes for a new loan to increase capital for both businesses.

In the picture, Maimuna is third from right middle row with a black scarf.

Nasira Quasim is 42 years old, and her husband is 50 years old. She resides in a two room brick house in the city of Kasur, Pakistan. Nasira make decorative embroidery and sells flour for a living. She has applied for a loan of $1,200 in order to expand her decorative embroidery business. She has been joined by several other entrepreneurs to form a loan group: Violet wants a loan for her paint business; Hamidan wants a loan for her shuttering business; Naziran wants loan for her cycles business; and Shaheen wants a loan for her animal food business. The loan funds will be distributed among the group members, each of whom will invest in their own businesses. The members mutually guarantee one another's loans. If one member does not repay, the other members are responsible and will make up the difference. 

Dona Georges Djidonou was born in 1975 in Aguegue, in the district of Oueme. He is married to Felicienne Kpatinvoh, a hairdresser. Georges has three children, all of whom attend school. He has lived with his family in Ekpe, in the commune of Seme-Podji, for eight years. The couple shares the family's responsibilities and expenses. George stopped attending school before high school. To support his family, he sells a variety of products, such as canned sardines, tomatoes, milk, peanut and palm oil, eggs, pasta, soap and plastic bags. His boutique is located in his home. He has had this business for five years. A seasoned client of ALIDe, he has already received and repaid three previous loans. He has requested this fourth loan to strengthen his business and improve sales which will increase his income.

Bridge over Troubled Waters
Boston, MA

Bridge Over Troubled Waters's prevention, intervention, and education services. Serving 2,433 youth ages 14 - 24 each year, Bridge offers a comprehensive range of health, educational, career and housing services. Bridge is the only agency in the Boston area to provide a continuum of age-appropriate services.