Social Justice reports that SUUS’s initial donation of $1,500 to the micro-lending organization, KIVA, is continuing to be loaned out, paid back and loaned again. Over a decade, our SUUS money has gone into 100 loans to people in 27 different countries, mainly small farmers working to become self-sufficient. They have also gone to women setting up home businesses to help raise and educate their children.
Recent repayments have come from two seamstresses’ groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and our most recent loan went to Ratiba, a Palestinian woman in the military-occupied West Bank, who is setting up a sewing business to support her family alongside her low-paid husband. These loans not only aid the survival of families but also promote the independence and self-worth of women in developing economies.
In these difficult times when the world itself seems to be burning up, it’s good to know that the generosity of SUUS members continues to make a difference to the lives of many people we never get to meet.