Marivic is a mother of three who runs a small street food stall/ cafe in Cebu, the Philippines - a place that we know and visit. She's been running her restaurant business for 18 years, opening 7 days a week, with around 30 items on the menu. Her monthly rent is 15,000 pesos (around £213) and she uses profits to pay school fees for her children as well as meeting household expenses. We've given her £50 to buy stocks of cooking ingredients to support the business, via Care International. We wish her well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/77429

Wednesday, 17 April 2024

We've given Marife in Cebu, the Philippines £50 to help improve her small family farm. She's a 47 year old with seven daughters, five of whom remain at home and in education. She is a farmer, growing Chayote, Onions, Squash, Cabbage, and Pepper, as well as banana and coconut trees. Currently their household weekly income ranges from about 4000 to 6000 (£56 to £84) according to the crops harvested, and the funds that we've provided will enable her to cultivate empty land into vegetable production and increase the family income. If she has a good harvest and returns the no-obligation loan we'll pass at least 100% on to other entrepreneurs via Care International.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/76634

Wednesday, 28 February 2024

We've made a donation to the Seven Sisters co-operative that employs around 40 women in the central Ourika valley near Marrakech in Morocco. The co-operative produces a range of argan oil products, and cleverly brings the argan nuts down from the coastal belt where they grow, to the Berber communities of the Ourika valley. The valley is a popular daytrip for tourists from Marrakech as only an hour from the city. The Berber communities there have been hit by earthquakes and floods recently (we met many families still living in UN-provided emergency tents a year after the last quake and saw houses that had been washed away by floods in recent weeks) and saw extreme poverty in some of the outlying villages. Tourism is everything to the economy of the Ourika valley, and traditionally the breadwinners have been the men of the household who work as hiking guides (it's famous for waterfalls) and in the many riverside restaurants and shops, though often they only find enough work for one or two days in a week. What we liked about this co-operative was that it brings money directly to the women of the community who work from home shelling the nuts to produce the oil and sell it direct, often to tourists paying what would be considered good prices, thus cutting out any 'middle men' in the process. Here's one of the women in the co-operative showing our son the process of de-shelling the argan nuts.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/jun/07/free-local-and-special-argan-oil-co-ops-booming-in-morocco

Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Carmela, a widow residing in Cebu province of the Philippines, is 55 years old and lives alone. She has two sons and one daughter, all of whom are married and live independently. She is a resilient entrepreneur and runs a small roadside stall/ cafe on her own, as she has for over 35 years. Carmela's stall is strategically located in front of a school, drawing a majority of her customers from college and high school students. She cooks a diverse menu of 11 items daily, including snack items like sweetcorn and pancakes, along with a selection of cold drinks. She sources her ingredients daily from local markets, and opens the cafe seven days a week from 4 a.m. to 8pm as the sole employee of the business. We've given her the equivalent of a day's income (£50) to help her renew some essential kitchenware, such as kettles, plates, spoons etc. We visit Cebu, and know this type of small street stall and how hard their owners work, seven days a week. We wish her well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/76308

Wednesday, 07 February 2024

It's the small things we do on a regular basis that can make the most significant difference. At the moment we're looking out for Palestinian sourced goods to try to get help to those who need it most - a surprising amount of Olive Oil sold in UK/ Ireland and the rest of Europe is grown in Palestine, as are things like delicious Medjool dates. We particularly liked the design on this tin, in solidarity with the farmers of the region, who, despite the humanitarian crisis, continue to provide for their families. 100% of profits from this particular brand go to provide food and water for those forced from their homes, to aid orphans created by the invasion and to provide medical care.
https://shop.pennyappeal.org/products/medjoul-dates-free-palestine-limited-edition?variant=41305622249628

Monday, 05 February 2024

We're a company founded by, and run by archaeologists, so happy to make a donation of £150 this month (via the Hurtigruten Foundation) to the The Kon Tiki Museum/Thor Heyerdahl’s Research Foundation for their project to return archeological material from the Kon-Tiki Museum to Rapa Nui. You may be familiar with the famous Kon Tiki expeditions of Thor Heyerdahl from 1947 onwards. Between the 1950s and the 1980s Thor was probably the guy that did more than anyone to popularise understanding about Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and the famous moai (monolithic statues that we have come to associate with the place. He was the first non-native to 'discover' hundreds of smaller artefacts and sculptures stored in caves on the island. With the best intentions, he purchased over 900 items for his famous museum in Oslo. Things have changed since the 1980s, and we now understand that it's not culturally appropriate to buy or take archaeological items that are fundamental to living indigenous cultures. We support the project since 2019 to return the items to Rapa Nui where they can be housed in a local museum. If only the British museum (and others) would follow such good restitution of important cultural items. The photo shows some of the items.
https://www.kon-tiki.no/expeditions/easter-island-expedition/

Saturday, 03 February 2024

We've donated £100 to support the 'Guardians of the Kelp' project via the Hurtigruten foundation. We're huge fans of kelp (anyone that loves it as we do can come diving off our Donegal shoreline into the kelp beds that the local grey seals love so much). This project is helping to maintain and restore Atlantic kelp beds and their important ecosystems, and we wish them well in their good work.
https://www.hurtigruten.com/group/foundation/projects/the-guardians-of-the-kelp-restoring-an-underwater-forest/

Friday, 02 February 2024

We continue to be shocked and alarmed by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the failure of many countries (including the UK) to call for an immediate ceasefire. We're appalled that thousands of children are being killed, and that there is catastrophic food insecurity and risk of death from disease in the camps created by Israeli attacks. We've donated again to the Red Cross Disasters and Emergencies appeal in the hope that there can be some relief to this terrible situation.
https://www.redcross.org.uk/stories/disasters-and-emergencies

Wednesday, 31 January 2024

Happy to say that we've been able to donate £100 to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (via the Hurtigruten Foundation). RSPB do great work connecting the general public with our native birds, helping identify them, educate and conserve them. We're particularly glad of the work they do in Wales with puffins and island sea birds, and we wish them well.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/

Saturday, 20 January 2024

Happy to support the Happywhale project with a donation of £100 for help them develop an Artificial Intelligence application to assist with their project to identify, track, and protect various species of whales around the planet. Happywhale is a website where members of the public can submit images of whales that they've seen (anywhere) and the system helps see if that particular whale is identifiable, and the information used helps develop whale science overall. Our donation was made in conjunction with the Hurtigruten Foundation, who we've travelled with to follow our interest whales in Northern Europe. We're also active members of our local marine life rescue, available to assist should any marine mammals be stranded in difficulty on the local coast.
https://happywhale.com/home

Sunday, 14 January 2024

Happy to help Article 25 this Christmas with a £100 donation. This charity does great work as the UK's leading Architectural NGO working in the Global South - connecting UK architects with aid projects in impoverished communities. They train and use local builders, and provide funds to construct schools, hospitals and housing. We were particularly impressed by their work constructing a child counselling unit in Lesotho using local materials and thatch. Often when external architects 'parachute' into a project they bring with them external designs and materials - but not here. Great to see the vernacular traditions of Lesotho reflected in this project - often the simplest and most affordable materials are those that are readily to hand (clay, thatch etc). We've visited Lesotho and been amazed by how the thatch tradition conditions there in an unsentimental and practical way - thatch is affordable, sustainable and often the right choice.
https://www.article-25.org/our-work/lesotho-child-counselling-unit

Saturday, 16 December 2023

Today we've given £100 to the Samroang education centre in Cambodia, managed by charity Children of the Mekong. It's an area that we know and have visited, and that we're keen to support. Physical access to school is difficult in some rural communities in Cambodia, with the cost of transport or the number of walking hours proving dissuasive. The Samroang project provides boarding and day schooling facilities for children from some of the poorest communities in Asia. The Centre provides full boarding which includes accommodation, tuition, extracurricular activities and various types of material support, to enable disadvantaged students to pursue secondary education. They have 68 boarders, and around 160 pupils in total. We wish them well!
https://www.childrenofthemekong.org/projects/samrong-education-centre/

Wednesday, 06 December 2023

Been happy to be able to support the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust again this year, with a £100 donation towards the rescue of Port Lockroy - one of the most remote heritage buildings in the world. Heavy snowfall has caused partial collapse of the roof, and urgent repairs are required. It's expensive even getting to a location like that, and not easy to do the work given the weather conditions. We wish them well, and support their aim to conserve the early heritage buildings of Antarctica.
https://www.ukaht.org/heritage/

Tuesday, 05 December 2023

We've today donated £100 to the UK charity Pipal Tree that helps keep girls in education in the poorest parts of Nepal. The charity does great work, providing tutors, backpacks and sanitary products to girls in the Dalit (so-called 'untouchable') community. Something as simple as lack of access to sanitary pads is often a reason that girls drop out from education at puberty there. They also run a small social enterprise and support deaf women who'd otherwise find it difficult to access training and education. We wish them well in their good work.
https://pipaltree.org.uk/

Friday, 01 December 2023

We've donated £1125 to the Medical Aid for the Children Gaza Appeal organised by Medical Aid for Palestinians. With your donation, you have helped provide life-saving medical care to young children experiencing extreme trauma. On behalf of the children of Gaza, thank you for investing in their future and giving them a chance of a childhood. We've been heavily criticised (via abusive emails, people cancelling holidays and asking for refunds) because of our support for humanitarian charities supporting the civilians of Gaza - there's likely a whole lobby out there attacking companies who donate to any charities that assist Palestinian people. We remain uncowed, and increased our donation for every vile email received. Hate will not win.
https://www.map.org.uk/

Wednesday, 29 November 2023

You may be aware that we regularly give support via Care International to working families in some of the poorest regions of the world. Sometimes that support takes the form of 'no obligation' interest-free loans that enable the recipients to expand their small businesses to grow and provide essential funds for families that work hard to help better their situation. As you'll see from this page, we support families all around the globe, including in the West Bank and Gaza where there have been horrific scenes following the recent attacks from Israel. We've no way to contact those that we support in Palestine (communication has been cut, and aid agencies have more important work to be undertaking there right now), or even any way to tell if those that we support have survived the recent attacks. We sincerely hope that they're OK. It's difficult to know how best to donate to help the people of Gaza right now, given that aid is being blockaded and controlled,  but one small thing we can do is to write off 100% of outstanding loans from everyone we support in the Palestinian Territories. The loans were always without obligation in any event, and we're happy to give any support that we can. We add our voice to the millions of calls for a ceasefire, hope for an end to the attacks, and for peace in the region.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-middle-east-67258466

Thursday, 02 November 2023

Mrs. Luong is 41 years old, married and has three children living in Quang Xuong District of Hanoi, Vietnam. Her eldest daughter is currently studying in college. Her second son is in 8th grade at a local secondary school. The youngest daughter is just a few months old. Her husband works as a construction worker and Mrs. Luong works as a factory worker in a shoe company; their combined income is only $394 (£324.39) a month. Mrs. Luong understands the importance of education and wants to ensure that her children have every opportunity to succeed, so we've given her £50 via Care International to help her purchase study materials and equipment for her children. Like Mrs Luong we understand the value in investing in education, and we admire her for providing her children with the necessary tools to excel in their studies, despite living on very low income. We wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/74076

Thursday, 26 October 2023

Today we've given £100 to Pipal Tree - a charity that educates the poorest girls in Nepal, keeping them in school, and preventing drop-out and child marriage. Pipal Tree is a UK based charity that is employing five local tutors in Nepal over the next five to ten years. Their aim is to provide extra tuition and learning support to girls who may be at risk of early school drop-out due to poverty. These girls are often from the lowest castes of Nepalese society (the so-called 'untouchables', though we're not sure we're keen to repeat that difficult term). Pipal are funding Community Learning Centres whereby children from the lowest castes and ethnic minorities receive extra tuition and help with homework, and that reduces drop out from mainstream schools. The tutors are college students from the same caste groups whose modest remuneration allows them to complete their own education. So, this is win-win for children and tutors alike, the tutors themselves becoming role models for the girls that they support. We wish them well.
https://pipaltree.org.uk/

Wednesday, 11 October 2023

Ahtsham Sahib is a 27-year-old resident of Lahore. He resides with his elderly parents, and he is their sole financial support. Ahtsham is unmarried and is responsible for their well-being. Ahtsham earns a living by operating a shop where he sells hardware and sanitary items. Additionally, for the past two years, Ahtsham has worked as a plumber, specialising in bathroom and kitchen fixture installations. He generates an approximate monthly income of just £73, all of which is dedicated to sustaining his family and business. To help him out we've given him the equivalent of a month's income and covered costs (via Care International), to enable him to purchase stock items for things like flush systems, tanks and pipes and to help him improve his small business and better support his family. We wish him well. We spend £hundreds a day on building contractors in Europe, so it's a nice change to be able to make a big difference to one individual's income in a place like Pakistan.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/73432

Friday, 29 September 2023

Mildred is a 45 year old widow with three children living in Cebu province of the Philippines that we know and visit. Her eldest child is now in employment, the middle child is in the third year of college and the youngest is in 10th grade at school. Mildred has her own school supplies stall/ store which is close to the local school. We've given her a no-obligation 'loan' via charity Care International to help pay her son's 3rd year college fees to reduce the risk of disqualification due to late fee payment, and also some funds to purchase reams of paper for her small photocopy business. If she's able, in time, to repay then that's fine (and we'll forward 100%+ to others), or if she has financial difficult there's no obligation to repay. Mildred is highly committed to supporting her family, and we wish her well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/73411

Wednesday, 27 September 2023

Today we've donated £50 to Blood Bikes Wales. Blood Bikes Wales is a volunteer-run charity that delivers blood (and other medical essentials) between blood banks, patients and NHS locations in Wales - it's an essential support charity for the NHS and invaluable for say patients living with cancer in rural Wales, particularly over weekends and holiday periods. Blood Bikes are the unseen angels of cancer care in rural Wales, working hand in hand with the Chemo Dept. of Ysbyty Bronglais Hospital, and other health trusts in Wales. Without their interventions and timely deliveries of complex temperature controlled blood products, drugs etc. patients could be left in medical need at a weekend or say a winter's night. If it wasn't for hearing how they'd helped a good friend we'd have had no idea they even existed - but we're delighted to now know that they do, and we wish them well.
https://www.bloodbikes.wales/

Sunday, 03 September 2023

Jean is 45 years old potato farmer. He lives with his wife and their three children in Nyabihu , Rwanda. All three children are going to a local school. Jean and his wife support up to 10 seasonal workers on their potato farm - they've decades of experience and grow Irish potatoes (!). We've given him £50 via Care International to try and increase his yield by expanding the area of cultivation - he hopes to produce 15 tonnes of potato rather than the typical 10 tonnes. Everything is done manually on the farm, without motorisation. The increased yield will help Jean improve sales and profits and a portion of the money will go towards caring for his family. We wish them well. If he's able to return any funds we'll give at least 100% to other entrepreneurs in developing countries, and record it on our page. If he's unable to make a profit then he has no obligation.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/71962

Sunday, 30 July 2023

Ali Raza is 22 years old young greengrocer. He is unmarried and lives in Kasur in Pakistan with his parents and three siblings. His sister is in education and both his brothers are looking for jobs. His mother takes care of household chores. His father works and makes around £66 monthly. Ali is a greengrocer and has been selling vegetables for two years. He has a small stall at the market, and his customers are people who come to the market for their shopping. He makes around £63 a month. Along with Care International and local partner the Akhuwat Foundation we're helping him increase stock to hopefully increase profitability and income. We wish the family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/72157

Friday, 21 July 2023

Pleased to have been able to support UK charity Say it Loud with a donation this week . Say it Loud support LGBTQ asylum seekers Pictured is Daphine, has recently been granted asylum in the UK! For some time, Daphine was afraid to speak about her fear of returning to her home country where she could have been targeted due to her sexuality. Say It Loud Club have supported her through counselling, social engagement, and educational projects until she had the courage and confidence to seek help from the Home Office. It’s been a long arduous journey for Daphine, who has waited more than 4 years for her case to granted in court! Happy to support such a good cause. Huge congratulations, Ambassador Daphine! Freedom at last.
https://www.sayitloudclub.org/

Saturday, 15 July 2023

Happy to support Breast Cancer Now today, with a sponsorship of our friend Zoe Taylor-Beech who is undertaking a 10 mile charity swim. This UK charity supports around 300 researchers in the field of breast cancer, and also those living with it. We've seen massive improvements in the outcomes and care for those living with breast cancer in our own lifetime, and we're happy to support any project that can improve things further. Well done Zoe on your huge swim!
https://breastcancernow.org/

Friday, 07 July 2023

Through Care International we've given £50 to help Vilma in Cebu province of the Philippines, that we know and visit. Vilma is 60 years old and happily married to Maximo Loguiber. The couple has five children, three sons and one daughter. Four of her children are married and living separately. Their youngest is now attending college and her eldest brothers pays all his younger sisters education fees. They are all living in a remote village in the town of San Fernando on Cebu island. Vilma and her husband have had a small street stall for the past eight years, selling affordable household items like buckets, baskets, plastic tableware. Three years ago Maximo had a heart attack caused by high blood pressure and is unfortunately now paralyzed. Vilma manages their business selling kitchen wares like plates, spoons, forks, kettles, cooking pots, hangers, buckets, basins etc to cover her husband’s medicine costs and their daily food expenses. Her business is open from 7 o'clock in the morning until 5 o'clock in the afternoon daily. She takes a bus once a week to Cebu city to buy stock from a wholesaler. We wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/71748

Tuesday, 04 July 2023

Mrs. Thanh is a 47-year-old Vietnamese woman who resides in a small village located in the rural Quang Xuong district. She lives with her husband, two children, and grandchild. Despite the daily challenges of living in a remote area, Mrs. Thanh and her husband have been able to support their family by engaging in the rice trade. They purchase rice from local farmers, process it into grains, and sell it to traders. For generations, Mrs. Thanh's family has been involved in buying rice directly from local farmers. They have established a strong rapport with the local farming community and are well-known for their fair trade practices. The couple acquires paddy from farmers, cleans and dries it, and then mills it into rice grains. They subsequently sell the grain to traders who export it to other countries or distribute it to various regions within Vietnam. We've given her £50 to help her purchase rice for processing to aid her community.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/71464

Thursday, 29 June 2023

Jean Pierre is 34 years old and lives with his wife and their three children in a rural part of Rwanda. He is proud that two of his children are going to school, and both he and his wife work hard to provide for them. Jean Pierre runs a grocery shop, and his wife works as a farmer growing traditional potatoes but she sometimes also helps him in the shop. They sell basic food items such as biscuits, pasta and cooking oil, pans, maize flour, sugar, rice, beans, and other household items. Through Care International we've helped the family invest in new stock in the hope that the increase to their income will help him to provide a better life for their family, and create a job for one person to assist in the shop.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/71546

Tuesday, 27 June 2023

Three years ago, during Covid (can it really be that long ago?) we helped Weneber keep her small shop in Cebu province afloat with a small financial donation. You can find information by scrolling down this page. Although she was under no obligation, since then, and now that times have improved, she's paid back what we gave her. We were moved by this as it really was a 'Covid donation' to help one family get through hard times and we didn't expect it. We've since passed that money on to others. As we've a relationship with her and her family, and know the town that she trades in, we've decided to support them once again by assisting with her son's school fees. The family work 7 days a week, with their small store open from 5am to 7pm and in the Philippines you have to pay for regular school costs. We're particularly impressed that right through the tough Covid period Weneber provided goods on credit to those who weren't able to pay at the time - it's these small acts of kindness that keep our world moving.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/70787

Saturday, 20 May 2023

It's Mental Health Week, and we're very pleased to be in a position to donate £100 to Kangaroos who support people with learning disabilities and their families, through clubs, activities and days out. Funding cuts of around 70% have threatened the activities of UK charities like Kangaroos, and we're happy to support them. They offer a wide range of clubs, activities and residential trips, including after-school clubs for ages 6 through to 12, weekly social clubs for teenagers and adults, Saturday and holiday trips to local attractions. They also offer residential stays throughout the year for ages 6 up. These are fantastic breaks provide members with independence, confidence and above all, a fun trip away!
https://www.kangaroos.org.uk/

Friday, 19 May 2023

Just Like Us is the LGBT+ young people's charity. As it's Mental Health Awareness week we've donated, with your support, £100 to this UK charity that we believe in. They provide training, resources, and ongoing support to educators and their students. The money will be used to help them establish supportive places for LGBT+ pupils - we we know really matters. Thank you.
https://www.justlikeus.org/

Tuesday, 16 May 2023

Mr Borey is a 29 year old cassava and rice farmer in Phnom Srok province of NW Cambodia. He's married and the couple have a 6 year old son. The family grow rice or cassava depending on season, and sell via the local middle-man - it's their only income. We've given him £50 to help him towards the costs of purchasing some extra land to better support his family and keep his child in school. We've lived in Cambodia and know it well, and we wish this family every success with their project.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/70385

Wednesday, 03 May 2023

We're really impressed by the work of the Welsh Dee Trust, who are an environmental charity that campaigns to keep the river Dee catchment area of North Wales free from pollution. We've donated £100 to hel with their staff time in organising events and education including river cleanups with local volunteers. It's hoped that their current campaign will achieve: • More individuals working towards identifying and fixing sources of pollution in their local waterbodies • Increased knowledge of sources of domestic pollution (and actions to take at home) • Improved coverage of water quality data across the catchment • Increased knowledge of local surface water drain networks • Less single-use plastic pollution in the environment We love the beautiful Afon Dyfrdwy / Dee and look forwards to seeing it protected using local volunteers.
https://www.welshdeetrust.com/

Wednesday, 26 April 2023

North Wales Wildlife Trust have been lucky to be able to buy a large tract of land at Bryn Ifan, Clynnog Fawr on the Llyn Peninsula. Bryn Ifan is south of Caernarfon, where the Llyn Peninsula starts to take shape. It lies on the north-eastern flanks of the mountains which include Yr Eifl, running down to the lowlands which head south to Porthmadog. Being close to the coast, it is highly affected by rain-laden south-westerly winds. We've donated £100 to their project to replant native trees there and to improve biodiversity on this landscape that is now public access as a nature reserve for all.
https://www.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/

Friday, 21 April 2023

Adam is a 22-year-old living with his family in Nablus City, located in the north of the West Bank of Palestine. He owns a tire shop which he established three years ago, where he sells a variety of tires and rims for different cars. With the strategic location of his store, Adam has gained a reasonable customer base. Currently, he earns approximately $700 per month and has two employees to assist him with the store. Along with Care International we're assisting him to purchase tires and rims in bulk from a wholesaler. By buying in large quantities, he hopes to receive a discount which will increase his profit margins. Adam is driven to provide for his wife and children financially, and plans to continue doing so long into the future. We wish him well, and for an improved economy in the West Bank. The money we've provided is an interest-free 'loan' without obligation (and we've covered administration costs) - if he is able in the future to pay it back we'll pass on at least 100% of what he repays to others. If he is unable to repay some or all of the loan, we'll write if off without question.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/69985

Tuesday, 11 April 2023

We're happy to be able to assist Darwin Vladimir in Peribuela, Cotacahi, Northern Ecuador, via Care International. Darwin is 26, married and has a child and has been arable farming for the past eight years, growing beans and corn on four hectares of land. He harvests twice a year and sells his produce on Thursdays at the local wholesale market. Along with others we're helping him buy agricultural supplies (sticks and wires for bean growing) and contract labour for harvesting. We wish him and his young family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/69625

Friday, 31 March 2023

Steven lives in Cebu province of the Philippines with his wife Florame and three children, who are aged between 6 and 10 years old. Together Florame and Steven make around 8000 candles per week, and they're typically sold directly from their stall to villagers celebrating the many local siestas. Florame has also started a small street-front stall selling general goods, and brings in around £15 to £37 in gross sales. We've helped them buy a sack of candle wax to melt and use to form candles to help aid their sales and support their family. The profit made will help them with daily household expenses. We know Cebu well and wish the family success with their enterprise.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/69789

Tuesday, 28 March 2023

Nathali lives in the La Esperanza district of Peru, is married with two children (8 and 10). We heard about her through Care International and admired her entrepreneurial nature. Not only is she a qualified beautician, providing home hair and beauty services, but she also has a sideline business making and selling Tamales in the local market (Mexican type food parcels baked in Banana leaf), and a second sideline business selling jewellery items like ear-rings etc that she sends to the city to be sold. She's generally out from 6am to 10pm running these three trades, and we've helped her out with some funds to help set up her own beauty salon in a room at home, and wish her and the family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/69594

Saturday, 18 March 2023

We helped Jhonny Jheison, a photographer with a young family in Tumbes, Peru set up his photography studio over a year ago. We're pleased to report with our help, and that of aid organisation Care International, his business is thriving and in the interim he has paid us back for the entire sum that we gave him (it was given without obligation). We've passed that money forwards to other entrepreneurs in developing countries (several shown here on this page). We're now supporting Jhonny and his family again as they expand their enterprise - to buy a new film camera and also baby/toddler clothes than can be used on the shoots (he sells packages of make-up/clothing/studio shots). We're confident that with our £100 and other funds via Care International he'll continue to make a success of his small studio, and support his two children (age 4 and 6). We wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/69448

Thursday, 09 March 2023

It's International Women's Day, and although most of the entrepreneurs we support in developing countries are women, it's a good excuse to support another woman who is working hard to support her family. Nudeuen is a 54-year-old single mother who lives in a remote area of Surin province of Thailand with her parents, an older sibling, and 20 years old child. Her family generally farms jasmine rice for sale and offers labourer services to make a living. Furthermore, she runs a street stall selling food as a side occupation. Nudeuen sells noodle soups, and is well known locally for her fried dumplings stuffed with quail eggs served with homemade sweet chilli sauce. She has been running this business for about ten years now after having learning her culinary skills in a traditional restaurant. She works hard and hopes to provide enough income to support her family and improve their living. At the moment it's a simple charcoal stove street stall, and via Care International we've given her £100 to help buy some tables and chairs to provide eat-in services (it's common to have semi open-air restaurants in Thailand). We wish her well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/69307

Wednesday, 08 March 2023

Latdawan ia 25 years old and lives with her younger sister in a rural part of Sisaket province in Thailand that we know and have visited. It's a rural area on the Cambodian border away from the main tourist centres. To earn a living and support themselves, both Latdawan and her sister work as rubber tappers (you see miles of rubber tree plantations there) and have recently opened a second-hand clothing stall to offer another income stream. Like many low-income families, Latdawan and her sister experienced financial difficulty during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were both unable to work on the rubber tapping farm during this time, and they are thankful that their parents supported them during this time to help them start a small clothing shop in front of their home. We've given the sisters £100 and paid costs (via Care International) to buy new clothing stands and shelves to help promote the business. Under the local scheme if the sisters are able to pay any funds back then we'll make sure that 110% is reinvested again (again without obligation) to support other small entrepreneurs in developing countries. We wish them well and admire their business idea - as well as the fact that we admire the sustainability of the secondhand clothing market.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/69285

Sunday, 05 March 2023

Ceferena's mini grocery shop business in Cebu province of the Philippines that we know and visit, helps her support her family and keep her kids in school. Her husband drives a public utility vehicle. Her grocery shop is open from 5 in the morning and closes at 7 in the evening. Along with Care International we're helping her re-stock fast-selling items like biscuits, candies, rice, corn, sodas, and other grocery items to increase her daily sales. If she pays Care back we'll gift 110% of the money to another small entrepreneur, or if she has any difficulty we'll write off the 'loan' as a gift.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/69047

Monday, 27 February 2023

We've donated £225 to the Disasters and Emergencies Committee to assist with the relief effort after the Turkey/ Syria earthquake this week. The DEC distribute their funds between 14 major charities to provide immediate assistance on the ground. It's impossible not to be moved by the harrowing scenes coming from the disaster zone, and we sincerely hope that as many as possible can be saved and protected.
https://www.dec.org.uk/

Wednesday, 08 February 2023

Mrs. Mesa is a 30 year old married woman with a six year old daughter living in the Phnom Srok District of Banteaymeanchey Province of Cambodia that we have visited and know. The family farm both rice and cassava. Along with Care International we're helping the family buy an extra field for 'wet season' rice production to make their farm more viable, and to help support their income. The new field will help, they hope, bring in around a tonne of rice per annum, which they can sell to support their family. We wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/68697

Sunday, 05 February 2023

28-year-old Ayesha Akhtar is a resident of Lahore in Pakistan where she lives with her parents and four siblings. Her father works and earns £73 per month. Ayesha has been working as a professional seamstress for five years. She earns £59 per month. Her customers bring their fabrics to her and she makes their outfits according to the designs they provide her. We've given her £50 to buy sewing materials to enhance her work and attract more customers. She will use the money to buy threads, beads, laces, fabric etc. We wish her well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/67798

Saturday, 24 December 2022

We're happy to help Jean Claude and his family in Rwanda this Christmas. Jean Claude is 29 years old and lives in the Ngororero District with his wife and their two children who both attend school. While he runs a small wholesale stall/ shop, his wife grows seasonal crops to feed the family and sells the surplus locally. Jean Claude has been running his wholesale shop for around three years. Like many shop owners, he started out small selling to individual customers and over time he has increased the volumes he sells and now operates as a small wholesaler. He offers a range of products that are likely to be stocked by other small-scale shop keepers, including staple products like rice, maize, beans and cleaning supplies. We're helping him (via Care International, a donation of £50) with stock such as beans, maize flour and soap to help his business grow, and to enable him to employ part-time assistance. We wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/67465

Sunday, 11 December 2022

We've donated £350 to City Hospice, Cardiff to help with their winter fuel bill. This year we've experienced the loss of a family member who, after several 'grim' experiences of palliative care in the hospital system and private care homes was finally granted a space in a hospice. We witnessed first hand the amazing work that these places undertake, and the gulf between the often undignified environment of a hospital ward, and the peace and caring space to be found in a hospice. The hospice movement is one that needs the support of us all, and we're grateful to have these caring, peaceful places available.
https://www.cityhospice.org.uk/

Thursday, 08 December 2022

We've donated £100+ to Designability for their 'Wizzybug' scheme which loans innovative electric wheelchairs to young children with disabilities. Remarkably, in the UK the NHS has no facility at all for electric wheelchair systems at all for the under 5s - this charity steps in to loan amazing 'Wizzybugs' to give young disabled children the freedom of movement. If a family can't afford their own specialist electric wheelchair then the state has none available. A fantastic scheme that we're delighted to support.
https://designability.org.uk/meet-wizzybug/

Monday, 05 December 2022

We've donated £100+ to Swansea Community Farm to help t hem buy fodder to get them through winter 2022. Swansea Community Farm solves social isolation and poor mental health by bringing people together to form a purposeful community that runs, develops and manages a city Farm. They keep rare-breed farm animals and we've helped them out with some funds for feed, bedding and health costs. Costs increase further in winter with no grass growing at charity projects like this, as their animals need to spend more time indoors sheltering from the colder weather. The farm is run by volunteers and we wish them well. As lifelong vegetarians ourselves we're strong supporters of city farm projects like this that engage people with animals that they might otherwise only encounter on a supermarket shelf.
https://www.swanseacommunityfarm.org.uk/

Sunday, 04 December 2022

We've donated £100+ to Article 25, a charity who design and deliver schools, hospitals, orphanages and homes in the poorest countries in the world - so adults and children have access to education, healthcare and dignified housing. Their current project is to provide accommodation for orphaned and disabled children in Tanzania. Disabled and orphaned children in Tanzania are some of the most vulnerable in the world. 98% of disabled children do not go to school and a recent BBC documentary, 'Forced to Beg - Tanzania's trafficked kids', showed disabled children, as young as three, trafficked alone to Kenya, and forced to beg. 8% of children in Tanzania are orphans and face life on the streets. Without adequate housing, schools and the love and care every child deserves, they face exploitation, violence, hunger and abuse. Article 25 are designing and delivering a beautiful, purpose built, children's village in Boma, Tanzania, for seventy orphaned children. Each of the 'cottages' has a 'mama', and is where the children can enjoy education, play, healthcare and love. Article 25 are also building a pre-school, the only one of its kind within a 1,000 mile radius, purpose built with disabled children in mind. It includes classrooms for 160 children, rooms for music, play, and physiotherapy and a sensory garden. We wish them well.
https://www.article-25.org/

Saturday, 03 December 2022

We've given £100 to The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. You may know the place - it's truly wonderful. We know it from school trips in childhood, family visits, and later from taking Masters students there to learn about Heritage Management from when Greg worked at Lampeter University. It's the most remarkable collection of buildings, and they desperately need funds to help conserve them. They rely on visitor numbers, which (of course) took a huge hit during the pandemic. We know as building conservators ourselves just how much work goes into protecting old buildings - and they have so many to care for, it must be an almost impossible task. If you've never been then DO GO - it is a fantastic day out and so much to see and do.
https://www.ironbridge.org.uk/

Friday, 02 December 2022

As you know, Under the Thatch has conservation of historic buildings at its core. Historic buildings in Antarctica are subjected to extreme conditions and they need regular specialist, conservation. Ice, wind and increasing rain batter the wooden walls and windows and make these buildings, which tell the early histories of climate science and discovery, extremely vulnerable. As we're so far away, and they're out of the mind's eye, it's easy to forget these structures, hence we've donated today £100 to the UK Antartic Heritage Trust. Most urgently this year is the need to repaint their Damoy Base, Historic Site and Monument No. 84 under the International Antarctic Treaty (pictured). We wish them well with the project and good work that they do.
https://www.ukaht.org/

Wednesday, 30 November 2022

Via Care International we've given Mrs. Hong of Hai Binh Ward, Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, £50 towards the cost of building a toilet for her family. She lives on a low income (a household income of around £289 a month from providing seafood to local restaurants). Her plan is to replace the old and unhygienic latrine to improve her family’s living conditions and their surrounding environment. We wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/67124

Sunday, 27 November 2022

Maria is 43 years old and has four children ages between 9 and 20 years old, living in Cebu province of the Philippines that we know well. A ll her children are studying in different levels. and we've given her £100 (and covered transfer costs) to assist with school fees. Maria used to work at the village hall until this year she decided to move on by starting her own food stall selling snacks and easy to cook dishes and barbecues. Along with partner Alan she sells snacks like 'buko' juice and fried bananas. We're happy to be able to support her family and wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/66984

Friday, 18 November 2022

Happy to support the excellent work of the Wales Air Ambulance with a donation of a hundred pounds. We've seen them in action ourselves lately doing an incredible job help, and apparently without direct government support. Given the complex and mountainous terrain of Wales, we fully understand the need for this vital service, and are proud to support what they do.
https://www.walesairambulance.com/news/a-247-air-ambulance-for-wales

Saturday, 12 November 2022

We regularly donate small amounts to our local food bank, and this week we've donated around £50 of 'treat items' that we felt might go down well, including a big box of mini bags of veggie Haribos for kids (it is Halloween, after all!). Being vegetarian ourselves we always ensure that everything donated is vegetarian, and most is also vegan, and we try and make a special effort in any food bank donations to try and include items that we don't often see in the usual collection points - so a few specialist sauces, luxury snacks and other treats.
https://valeofclwyd.foodbank.org.uk/?_gl=1%2Ay7m467%2A_ga%2AMTgwOTgxOTMzMS4xNjY2ODcwNjg1%2A_ga_E1KLKHP7YY%2AMTY2Njg3MDY4NS4xLjAuMTY2Njg3MDY4NS4wLjAuMA..&_ga=2.261764293.953809818.1666870685-1809819331.1666870685

Thursday, 27 October 2022

Happy to support Vanna in Battambang province of Cambodia (that we know and visit) with help for her small rice farm today. Vanna is a 36 year old married woman with two children, aged 15 and 11, both of whom attend the local school. The family live in the Sangke District of Battambang Province where she and her husband farm dry season rice each year for sale to provide the income for the family. They have their own paddy field on which they grow short term rice which is three hectares in size and from which they get a harvest of four tons of rice per hectare. The crops are then sold to a local middle man who buys direct from their farm. In order to expand their farming activity, they also rent a further four hectares of paddy field land from another villager at a cost of $200 (£174.91) per hectare. We're helping her with seed, ploughing and other general agricultural costs to aid her harvest. We wish her and her family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/66102

Wednesday, 28 September 2022

We've donated £200 to assist the Disasters and Emergencies Appeal for assistance with the terrible floods in Pakistan. We wish the people well, and the aid workers who are providing essential assistance - a thousand+ lives lost, and 6 million people in need of urgent help.
https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/pakistan-floods-appeal

Friday, 09 September 2022

Bertha is 57 years old and married with two children, living in La Esperanza, Peru. She has been working as a beautician/ hairdresser for 18 years, starting a small salon from her living room. She then taught her daughters hairdressing skills and they now also work for their small business that is open 7 days a week from 9am to 7pm. Bertha's main clients are her neighbours, family members and the general public and her average daily sales are s/ 150.00 soles (£32.28) with a profit margin of 20% of her total income. We're assisting her to purchase two new hair cutting machines (replacing broken ones) and to buy an armchair. We wish her well with the business and her dreams to later expand into larger premises in the historic center of Trujillo.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/65461

Friday, 26 August 2022

Ahlam is married with four children and has recently started her own beauty salon. She lives with her family in the town of Jenin which is in the north of the West Bank. Ahlam has around 10 years of professional experience, having recently set up her own salon having worked for others. She offers hairdressing and hair clouring, make-up and skin care. Via Care International we've helped her buy equipment and supplies for her new business and to help pay the annual rent. She expects the next few months to be very busy because it is wedding season. Once the business is properly running Ahlam hopes to take on an assistant. We wish her well with the enterprise.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/65041

Monday, 15 August 2022

Tourism can have a beneficial environmental impact, and it can also have a detrimental one. We've been happy to support the Eco Koh Tao project (run by Black Turtle Divers) in Thailand this summer, which works to restore and improve the amazing coral reefs around Koh Tao in Thailand. We've been regular divers on these reefs over the last decade and have seen the degradation caused by various things, but including from the impact of tourism. Lukas has been on a Marine Resource Management course, an Ecological Monitoring Programme, Coral Watch, Sea Turtle Ecology, Shark Ecology and Population Conservation, Underwater Naturalist and Dive Against Debris Courses, including weeks of diving on the artificial reef collecting data on the growth and health of the new reef that will hopefully inform ways to maintain and improve the adjacent original roof. This has included hands-on surveys of the biodiversity and assistance with the project to clear rubbish, and nurture coral fragments that have been damaged by boat anchors, fishing etc. We wish them well with the project, and look forwards to revisiting in future years to see how the coral has fared.
https://www.ecokohtao.com/

Sunday, 14 August 2022

The Covid pandemic has affected everything, everywhere, including animal sanctuaries across the globe. We're currently investigating the affects of the pandemic on animal care in Thailand (for a degree dissertation) and have been in touch with several of the sanctuaries there that rescue and care for Asian elephants. There is some degree of variation between the best and worst sanctuary (some really are primarily tourism businesses), but we have direct contact with and know Noi at Samui Elephant Home. We've seen her work this year, and know that she genuinely cares for the elephants in her sanctuary. Feeding them during Covid has been challenging (an adult can eat 300lbs of food a day), and we've helped her out with a donation to help grow food on her farm that can be used for the elephants until the tourism businesses are back on their feet. The daily visitors to the sanctuary form an important part of the income for these sanctuaries that protect these wonderful, if endangered creatures.
https://www.samuielephanthome.com/

Tuesday, 09 August 2022

A friend is cycling the Wild Atlantic Way of Ireland to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, and we're very happy to help with a £100 donation. We've had a couple of experiences of Macmillan's work this year, as we're sure many of you will as well, and we're utterly impressed by their professional and caring staff. They've been providing support to a good friend with secondary breast cancer in Wales (Cyffin's mum), and also to a relative in Stoke on Trent who required hospice care. It'd be hard to have more respect for this charity and its dedicated workers - they really do care, and they do such a fantastic job.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cyffin?fbclid=IwAR2hBIZu1e7mHof0OJr1qVOhEIiXz5sFPmokgXLYoxC9Y23dcyQYlJfNJ1w

Monday, 08 August 2022

The Covid closures has hit developing countries hard, particularly those with significant tourist economies that saw almost complete economic collapse in some areas. We know A-ki, from Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand. She has temporarily moved down to Koh Samui, a 'tourist island' in the Gulf of Thailand now that tourism is finally reopening. She makes bracelets and necklaces from coconut shell beads and sea shells, as well as some purchased stock (like metal beads) and touts them to tourists on the popular beaches, and sends money back home to her family. We've gifted her 60 GBP to help with buying stock and her general living expenses, and we wish her well. She's the loveliest person.

Tuesday, 02 August 2022

Sitraton is 31 year old Rwandan potato farmer. He is married and lives with his wife and their three beautiful children who attend a local school. Sitraton supports his family's day to day household expenses by growing potatoes with the help of his wife. We've given him £50 to buy potato seed to help their small business, and we wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/64640

Wednesday, 13 July 2022

Ibraheem is from Gaza, he is 19 and lives with his family. Ibraheem runs a stationery store. He sells items needed by school and university students and he even has computers for use. Ibraheem estimates that he earns a monthly profit of around $400 despite working in a very challenging economic environment. Through Care International we're helping him increase stocks to better support himself and his family. We wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/63923

Monday, 27 June 2022

Hashem is from Gaza. He is 21 and lives with his parents and siblings. Hashem is a men's barber. He runs a small salon where he offers haircuts, styling, shaves, as well as skin care and colouring. Hashem earns a monthly profit of around $300. The economic situation in Gaza is extremely challenging and there are few sources of employment so this is a good business for Hashem. We've given him £100 (and paid admin) to help buy materials like shampoos and hair dryers. He hopes that this will enable him to work more efficiently and also to offer a better service to his customers. The business is particularly important as it is the main source of income for his family household. We wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/64114

Friday, 24 June 2022

Abdullah lives with his parents in Gaza. To help support his family Abdullah runs a grocery shop in his neighbourhood. He has been running the store for the past 3 years, since he was 19. He sells essential household foods, as well as cleaning and personal hygiene items and chocolates and crisps. We're helping him buy in bulk, which will entitle him to a discount. Abdullah is concerned that prices are rising and it might become more expensive if he delays, and we're happy to help. He estimates his monthly profit to be around $450.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/63965

Sunday, 12 June 2022

Celestin is 43 years old and lives with his wife and their six children in the Ngororero District in the Western Province of Rwanda. He and his wife are both potato farmers. We're helping him buy seed potatoes and compost to support his family business. Hopefully he'll achieve a harvest of around several tonnes of potatoes, earning enough to continue to pay his children's school fees as well as cover the family food, shelter, education, clothes and health care. We wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/63571

Saturday, 21 May 2022

Elsa Doraly is 24 years old and is a nursing and pharmacy technician. She is single, has no children, and lives with her mother in a rustic house (made of mudbrick and sticks), located in the district of Huamachuco, province of Sánchez Carrión, department of La Libertad, in the northern highlands of Peru. Elsa Doraly decided to open a small pharmacy in her town during the Covid pandemic, as she has experience as a pharmacy technician. For about a year now she has been running her own small pharmacy from 07:00 to 20:00 with gross monthly sales approximately S/3,500 soles (£740.36) with a profit margin of 35% after paying for the cost of medicines, purchase of materials, and payment of taxes. Via Care International and their local partner we've given her £100 (and paid administration fees) to help her buy further stock for her pharmacy, to hopefully increase her turnover and profitability. These small, locally owned and locally managed pharmacies are a lifeline in developing countries, and deserve our support, We wish Elsa and her mother well with their small business.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/63288

Thursday, 05 May 2022

Andres Geovanny is a smallholder farmer from an area called Rio San Juan in Nicaragua growing basic grains and organic ginger. He is married with two children. Via charity Care International and local partner organisation Doselva, and along with others, we're helping him acquire good quality seeds, organic fertiliser, organic fungicides and tools to plant ginger. The ginger will be planted in an agro-forestry system that maintains the forest canopy and does not contaminate the local environment which is a buffer zone of the Indio Maiz Biological Reserve which is one of the largest protected lowland forest systems in Central America. He will plant between 3-4 acres of land with organic ginger, and we wish him well. Andres is the first farmer/ entrepreneur we've assisted in Nicaragua, and we look forwards to working with others.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/63157

Wednesday, 04 May 2022

Happy to have been able to help Jorge Robinson, in the La Esperanza neighbourhood of the Espejo canton, province of Carchi, Ecuador today. Jorge is 29 years old, single and for 10 years he has been growing potatoes on 2 hectares of leased land. His products are sold to merchants and in local markets. His income helps him pay for his household expenses. We're helping him buy agricultural supplies and to hire temporary agricultural workers for harvest, and we wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/62636

Friday, 29 April 2022

We've donated £4000 to the Humanitiarian Aid Appeal for Ukraine organised by the Diasters and Emergency Committee. That amount will feed 80 families for a month. We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine against the invasion of their country, the multiple war crimes against them, and the hideous destruction of their homes, hospitals, and schools. They are in our thoughts daily.
https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal

Tuesday, 29 March 2022

It's difficult to know where to start in supporting the good people of Ukraine against the current invasion by Russian forces. We've considered the good work of the Red Cross, the Disasters and Emergencies Committee, and the many Polish based charities working with refugees there. In the end we thought we'd reach out to the people we know in the Ukraine to ask them about the situation on the ground, and we've decided to help a family that we know well. We've visited Ukraine a couple of times and have very good friends in the central Cherkasy region. Fortunately, being rural, it hasn't seen the worst of the attacks to date, but we're told by our friends that the air raid sirens are constant, that food is hard to get (and that they're running low), that shops have been marauded, and that they're too scared to travel on the empty roads for fear of being shot. They've no car (or driving licence) and there's no public transport that could take them out of the country. We've made an initial donation of €100 to help, and once we know that the transfer system is working OK to their local bank (and that cash is available) we'll consider further support.

Thursday, 03 March 2022

Gina is 48 years old hardworking woman living in Cebu (which we know well) in the Philippines. She is married to Fernando. The couple have two sons and two daughters. Two of her children are already married and live separately while the other two are still studying in college and in high school. She lives with her family in Cebu Province and her husband works overseas sending income home. Gina is a the owner of a small groceries store stall. She has been running her business for over 10 years. Two of her children help her in running the business. She offers retail and wholesale prices for her customers. She also gives special prices to her regular customers. Her store is open every day from 5 am and closes to 9 pm. Her average gross sales are 6,000 pesos (£86.41) a day. Her estimated working capital is 35,000 pesos (£504.10). We've given her approximately 10% extra working capital to add more stock to her store in the hope that she may better meet the needs of her customers, create more profit and employment, and income to support her family. We're very familiar with small roadside stalls like these, and the important service they provide, including temporary interest-free loans, small-batch product sales (eg washing powder for one wash), and food purchased on the day of consumption. We wish Gina and her community well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/61384

Tuesday, 15 February 2022

Jhonny Jheison is 28 years old, he is a professional photographer in Trujillo, Peru , and we've been supporting him foe past year. His partner is Kelly and they have two children. Their children are studying at a national school in the city of Tumbes. He lives in Barrio Los Jardines, located in the district of Tumbes. Jhonny Jheisonstudied professional photography and currently has a photography business set up in his family home. He has various photography equipment such as reflectors, lights, panels, cameras, furniture, clothes for photo sessions, among other things. His photo packages are from S/10 soles to S/350 soles (£1.92 to £67.36), depending on the type of work and the time it will take to complete the customers’ requests. His main clients are people who want to capture and preserve an important memory of their lives such as: marriages, baptisms, pregnancies, birthdays etc. In addition, he also provides services for companies: product photography and digital marketing services. For these services, he generates approximate monthly income of S/4,600 soles (£884.79), with a profit margin of 75%. Jhonny has his own motorcycle, which he rents out, generating approximate monthly income of S/560 soles (£107.71), with a profit margin of 80%. We're helping him improve his photographic studio, installing new spaces and more themes for photography sessions. He hopes to continue growing his business so that he can employ one or two people who can help him in photo sessions. He wants to attract more clients and create more jobs. With the profits obtained he will be able to provide a better quality of life for his family and continue to develop himself every day in his area of business. We wish him well!
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/61060

Wednesday, 02 February 2022

Mahmood Shabbir is 24 years old. He lives in Lahore, Pakistan with his sister and parents. His sister is a college student and his elderly parents stay at home. Mahmood Shabbir is the only breadwinner in the family and he works as an auto-repair mechanic. He has been doing this work for the past five years, after finishing his education. He repairs all car models and is apparently very good at his job. Recently Shabbir and his family have been experiencing hard times, so we've given him 6 weeks income to use to support his family and purchase spare parts used for repairing cars, to keep his business afloat and successful. We wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/60984

Wednesday, 26 January 2022

After the recent, terrible Typhoon Rai (Odette) in the Philipinnes, we were minded to support an entrepreneur again there. Clarita is married to Tomas who works as a pipe fitter. They have three sons all going to school: 4th-year college, grade 11, and grade 6. Clarita reports that thankfully her house was not damaged by the recent Typhoon that devastated so much of her area on 16 December 2021. Clarita has been operating a small roadside 'sundry store' business for about six years now. It is a tiny one-room 'shack' retail store that carries a wide variety of goods, including groceries. Her fast-selling items are bread, cold and hot drinks, hygienic products, rice, and vegetables. She sells around 1,500 pesos (£21.56) gross of goods a day, and we were impressed that she allows credit to workers who work in construction sites near where she operates her business in exchange for small weekly installments. We've given her £50 to help with maintaining stocks that she'll be able to sell to keep her kids in education and maintain a reasonable standard of living. We wish her and the people of Cebu well - we've spent months living in the area ourselves, and know well the warm-hearted and good-natured people that live there.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/60874

Friday, 21 January 2022

Diana Lizet is 31 years old and a single mother to two young children. She lives with her children in the Las Flores Human Settlement of Trujillo, Peru. Diana is described as 'an enterprising, strong, loving and kind' woman. For four years, she has dedicated herself to the retail sale of groceries such as rice, sugar, noodles, oil, cans of fish and eggs. She has a small store in her house, for which her business hours are from 07:00 AM to 07:00 PM, and her main clients are her neighbours. His approximate monthly gross income is S/8,960 soles (£1,702.83). We've helped her buy groceries for her business, such as bags of rice, bags of sugar, oil and eggs. When she sells them the profit will improve her household income, which is the only support that Diana has for her children. We wish her well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/60812

Wednesday, 19 January 2022

Loness, 50, makes her living from selling vegetables and farm produce in Dedza district in Malawi. She has five children. We've given her £45 (and paid fees) to buy maize to better support her family this winter; she'll resell it on at a profit. We wish her and her family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/60679

Wednesday, 12 January 2022

Mrs. Khanh is 59 years old and married, with three grown-up children living in Cam Thuy district, a mountainous area of Thanh Hoa province in Vietnam. Agriculture is the main business activity in her region. Her husband is a manual labour in the village. She has been selling dried food, vegetables in the local market for over 10 years. Mrs. Khanh sells potatoes, shallot, garlic and other vegetables to local people in her area. Since the pandemic, the financial burden has set on her shoulders because her husband's work is unstable. We've given her £100 (and paid costs) to allow her to purchase shallots and garlic to resell on the market to support her and her husband.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/60667

Tuesday, 11 January 2022

Thanks to your support, that we've match-funded, we're able to donate £1000 to the Afghanistan Crisis Appeal organised by the Disasters and Emergencies appeal (link above). Children are dying in Afghanistan this winter from cold and starvation; thousands of desperate families caught up in the political turmoil that they played no part in. We're fortunate to be in a position to help in a small way to provide healthcare and winter 'warmth' kits, and thank you for your support- we've noticed many UTT bookings now coming in with £5 (rather than the £2) donation box ticked - it all helps. We're blessed to have a dry roof and a warm home, enough food in the larder this winter, and wish the same could be said for all.
https://www.dec.org.uk/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAweaNBhDEARIsAJ5hwbeiZnhCkHlNviD74T2olYdSVZfWPylNvb_ll0CODLi9u_VHS-W8wXEaAiiHEALw_wcB

Wednesday, 15 December 2021

Happy to give £50 to Save the Children - remarkably this sum can feed a family of refugees in Yemen for an entire month - a sobering thought given we regularly spend a similar amount on dining out, just one meal. We admire the work of this charity and wish them well.
https://christmas.savethechildren.org.uk/fundraising/cjd210031947

Thursday, 09 December 2021

Mr. Chen Yorng is a 31 year old married man with two sons aged 9 and 4 years old. The family live in Battambang Province and he works every day as a construction worker in Battambang town to provide income for the family. We know the town and area; our own son was born while we were living in Cambodia. Mr. Chen Yorng has been a construction worker for the last 10 years. He earns $8 per day from this work. He has no motorised transport, so, along with others we're helping him purchase a Imotorbike to help him travel to work, to improve his transportation flexibility and to hopefully get more work to support his family. We wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/59298

Tuesday, 30 November 2021

Zaldy is a 37 year old single man, living with his parents in Cebu province of the Philippines that we know well. Since 2017 he's been self-employed running a small stall/ shop selling cable television packages and accessories. He also offers services like lamination, photocopying, printing, computer repairs and ID printing from his open-fronted stall on a main road in a village. Daily wages in Cebu are around £6 per day. If you've been to the Philippines you'll know the kind of stall he has - just a few metres square, directly open onto the road, open seven days a week for at least 12 hours a day. We've given him £100 to improve his stock of eelectronic supplies, headsets and microphones from Cebu city. Having more stock will mean he can sell more products and better support himself. We've spent months in the rural Cebu/ Philippines and know how essential this small IT stalls are for keeping the communities connected and online. We wish Zaldy well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/59315

Wednesday, 24 November 2021

Plant Mewn Angen - Children in Need Happy to have been able to help Children in Need with a donation today, as so many others are doing. We wish them well with their work with UK charities and community groups assisting children and young people in poverty, with disability and those experiencing trauma.
https://www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/

Friday, 19 November 2021

Muhammad Nazir is 39 years old, and married. He lives in Lahore with his wife and four children, all of whom are in education. Muhammed is a skilled cobbler/ shoemaker currently working in a workshop on daily wages. He earns around £91 monthly, which is not sufficient to meet his family's household needs. Along with his local partner Akhuwat we're assisting him to start up his own small shoe-making workshop and to buy soles, adhesive solution, buckles, and shoe uppers. We wish him well in his new enterprise and thank everyone who has helped support us with their donations when booking holidays Under the Thatch.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/59226

Tuesday, 16 November 2021

Today we've donated to help Polish charity Fundacje Ocalenie (that we know, and trust) with their work on the Polish border. You may have hear of the humanitarian disaster on the border between Poland and Belarus, with thousands of refugees and immigrants trapped in sub-zero temperatures. Kids are literally freezing to death, and most have few or no winter clothes. Most are apparently too scared to even light a fire to protect themselves as they are batted daily between Polish border guards (refusing them their right to EU asylum) and the Belarus authorities. It's a hideous situation, and nobody even knows how many bodies are out in the forests. The polish rescue charity that we're supporting provides all manner of assistance to refugees and immigrants in Poland, and is working in this emergency to try and save as many lives as possible.
https://en.ocalenie.org.pl/

Friday, 12 November 2021

Olga Lucia is 36 years old, single and lives in the Motilon sector of the Bolívar canton, Carchi province in Ecuador. Olga works in the cultivation of granadilla and onions on a hectare of family land. Her crops are sold in the markets for 12 dollars a box. We've helped her buy onion seed, farming inputs and wages to pay to harvest her onion crop. We wish her well, and thank those who have assisted us in making this donation.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/59007

Thursday, 11 November 2021

Abdul Rahman (34) lives with his wife and two infant children in Lahore. He is the sole 'bread winner' in his household , his wife takes care of the household and their children. Abdul iss a rickshaw driver. He has been self-employed for the past 12 years or so. He drives a loader rickshaw, carrying goods and items from one place to another. He earns the equivalent of about £81 per month. He sometimes struggles to pay for the food. His rickshaw is in a poor state, and we've given £100 (plus covered admin) to help him purchase a new rickshaw, which will allow him to work more efficiently and carry more goods. We wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/58976

Monday, 08 November 2021

Hapus cefnogi prosiect Yr Urdd heddiw gyda £100 Dros y misoedd nesaf, mae’r Urdd, ynghyd ag asiantaethau eraill yn cefnogi teuluoedd o Affganistan sydd wedi ffoi o’r wlad. I helpu’r teuluoedd setlo, bydd yr Urdd yn cynnal amrywiaeth o weithgareddau ar eu cyfer, o chwaraeon i addysgol. I gyfoethogi’r profiadau hyn ac i’w cyflwyno i ddiwylliant a thirwedd Cymru. Happy to have been able to support charity Yr Urdd today with a donatin of £100 to support them in their project to inrich the lives of Afghan refugess who have recently moved to Wales with daytrips to understand the rich heritage and culture of our nation. Every £1 helps if you'd like to support this project - follow the link.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/urdd

Wednesday, 20 October 2021

We've donated £1000 to Refugee Kindness, North Wales to help them continue the great work that they do. They're a Welsh charity based in the Wrexham area that supports displaced refugees and asylum seekers locally by providing household goods and support. With the distressing scenes this week in Afghanistan, we felt that this week was the right week to make a significant donation to recognise the plight of refugees and the good work that many do to support them. Take a look at their Facebook page to see how they're supporting refugees to help themselves - eg by providing training and sewing machines for individuals like Rokaya to start small seamstress/ sewing businesses. We've been really impressed by the suppor they give, and we encourage others to visit their page, make a donation/ buy a raffle ticket etc.
https://www.facebook.com/RefugeeKindness

Friday, 20 August 2021

Evelyn is a 43 year old married with four children in Cebu, the Philippines that we know and have visited. Three of her children live with her and attend school. Her husband is Alexander, a policeman. The family all lives in Cebu province. Evelyn set up her own small cafe - 'Cafe Meal Ya'. We've given her £100 (and paid admin) to help her grow the business. 'Cafe Meal Ya' means family members eating together. Evelyn rents the space, hires one cook and two helpers and is open from 6 in the morning to 8 in the evening. She brings in around 5,000 pesos a day before costs (£71.43). Our assistance will allow her to buy fresh ingredients needed in her everyday cooking as well as a contribution towards the cafe renovation. We wish her and her family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/56883

Sunday, 15 August 2021

Mrs Hoa is 26 years old and married. She lives with her husband and their two young children in Thieu Hoa district, a rural region of Thanh Hoa province. of Vietnam. Agriculture is the main business here. Her husband is Ky and they are both farmers, growing rice and vegetables for their own consumption and for selling in the market for profits. Mrs Hoa has also set up a small business selling clothes in the local market. We're assisting, along with others, through the Thanh Hoa MFI to help her buy more clothes to resell. She hopes the investment in her business will do well, and we wish her and her family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/56862

Saturday, 14 August 2021

Maram Abdul Haq is married with two young children. She lives with her family in the town of Nablus in the West Bank where she runs a store selling women's clothes. She has had the business for more than a decade and runs it with her husband and mother-in-law. We're helping her buy in new stock from Turkey for the summer season, specifically lingerie, clothing for weddings, and pyjamas. We're happy to be able to support the people of Palestine to help themselves through such small business ventures.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/54825

Thursday, 24 June 2021

Liliana Cujilema is from the small town of Pasaje in southwestern Ecuador. She is self-employed selling cosmetics, and her husband works as a full-time labourer at a local banana plantation. They have a son who is 7. Due to the ongoing health pandemic he currentky has only online classes. Liliana sells perfumes, deodorants, creams, shampoos, and makeup and makes around 365 USD a month in profit. She keeps the items at home and makes sales and deliveries to her customers each day. Liliana actually started the business around 11 years ago when she was just 18 and was studying part-time. We've given her £50 to help buy some more stock (ie bringing her around £50 of profit) to help support her family during this pandemic. We wish her and the family well - small-scale entrepreneurs like Liliana are the foundation of the world economy.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/55389

Wednesday, 23 June 2021

Mr. Hieng Heng is a 32 year old married man with two sons aged 10 and 2. The 10 year old attends school. The family lives in the Sangke District of Battambang Province where he farms short-term rice each year as the source of income to support the family. Mr Hieng Heng grows short term rice and with this variety he can get two harvests per year. All of his crops are then sold to a local middle-man who buys direct from his farm. He now wishes to take the next step and expand his farm to the next stage by purchasing an additional 5000 square metres of paddy field land, which should increase his crop by two tons of rice per hectare and thereby increase the family income. Along with others, we're helping him make that purchase, and we wish him and the family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/54894

Saturday, 19 June 2021

Geovanny Abad is from a rural community called Entierros which is located in southeastern Ecuador. We've given him £100 (and paid administration) to help him with his coffee smallholding. Don Geovanny has doubled his land to two hectares, and we're helping him buy a coffee pulper and a water tank. We wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/55358

Saturday, 12 June 2021

Mr. Kanha Chea is a 37 year old married man who lives in the Morng Russey District of Battambang Province of Cambodia that we know. He and his wife farm wet season rice each year as their source of income. Mr. Kanha Chea has been a farmer for over 10 years, farming wet-season rice each year on his four-hectare paddy field and getting a harvest of 3 tons of rice per hectare. In order to maintain the current crop levels we've given him £100 (and contributed to administration costs) to help with ploughing and harvesting costs. We wish me and his family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/54980

Wednesday, 26 May 2021

Ángel Benito Escobedo Rojas is 24 years old. Single, he lives with his parents in their home built of rustic adobe material, located in the Cajabamba district or Trujillo, Peru. With the help of his mother, Angel opened a small stall selling soft drinks (water, minerals, juices and yoghurt drinks). His business hours are from 07:00 am to 7:00 pm and his average sales is around S / 10,000.00 soles (£1891.35) with a profit margin of c25%. Life has been tough in Peru during the Covid pandemic, and we've given him £100 (and paid admin) to help him restock/ bulk buy to help keep his business running and to help carry him through to the post-Covid world. We wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/54669

Monday, 17 May 2021

Jhonny is 28 years old and he lives with his partner, Kelly in Tumbes, Peru.They have 2 children and live in a house inherited from Kelly’s parents. Jhonny is a professional photographer and has a studio set up in his house. He takes all kinds of photos in his studio, at home, in the field, on the beach or any other place that his client requests. Jhonny attends 2 events away from home on a daily basis and the rest of the work is done at home. His partner supports him in the business by applying make up on clients for a more professional quality of the photos. Jhonny has various outfits for women, men, children and babies which people use to get dressed up in. His average monthly income is S/6,140 soles (£1229) with a 70% profit margin. With the support of IDERCV and Lendwithcare, he has been able to get ahead and re-dedicate himself to his main business as he has been selling groceries during the pandemic to make money. We've given him £100 to decorate his photography studio. He wants to be able to fulfil his customer requests, increasing his income and in turn the popularity of his work. Jhonny wants to continue to add more services and with the profits generated to be able to cover the expenses of education and household services. We wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/53772

Monday, 26 April 2021

Marivic Quindao and Jimel live in the village of Cantuod, Balamban in Cebu province that we know and have visited. Living with them are her four siblings and one nephew. Marivic rented a space near the main road in the village of Buanoy where she sells various food items such as vegetables, spices, food seasonings, noodles, dried fishes and some grocery items. Marivic has been renting the space for 6,000 pesos (£89.06) a month. Her store is open around 5 in the morning until 9 or 10 in the evening. She mostly manage the business alone but in the afternoon after her siblings are done with their work, they helped in the store. Marivic purchase her stocks in the town's public market almost everyday in order to replenish her lacking products. Her daily average sales is 4,000 pesos (£59.37) but she earn more during weekends. We've helped her with working capital for her business, to restock her store with food items in order to help her family. We wish her and her family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/52920

Friday, 26 February 2021

Idaneth Subong is 44 years old and married with six children, five of whom live with her in the village of Abucayan, Balamban in Cebu province. We know and visit this area. She is married to Rolando, employed by a local firm. Idaneth runs a small general store business and she also has a shop/stall where she sells different kinds of health, beauty and hygiene products. Because of the economic impact of Covid 19, some of her customers are experiencing difficulty in repaying what they owe for their purchases. We've given her £100 (and paid fees) to help save and develop the business, and tide her over to more stable times. These small stalls/ shops are the life-blood of the rural Filipino community. We wish her and her family well - and thank the UTT guests that made this possible.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/52543

Monday, 22 February 2021

Mrs. Phandy Heak is a 47 year old farming widow with four children ranging in age from 27 to 10. The older two children now have their own jobs while the younger two still attend school. The family live in the Phnom Srok District of Banteaymeanchey Province where she farms both rice and cassava each year as a source of income for the family. We've visited this area. Mrs. Phandy Heak has been a farmer for over 20 years farming wet season rice on a plot of land 1.5 hectares in size from which she harvests 3 tons of rice for sale through a local merchant. In addition, she also has a separate plot of land, also 1.5 hectares in size, which is used for growing cassava and from which she gets a crop of 10 tons of cassava root. Along with others we're helping her buy and plant a further half hectare of cassava to help better support her family. We wish her well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/52157

Wednesday, 27 January 2021

Llangranog has a special place in Under The Thatch’s heart and so we were happy to help fund the creation of a community orchard in the seaside village. The project will plant about 20 trees including Welsh Heritage fruit trees where possible and these will be mixed with cherry trees and hopefully some young grafted trees from local stock. We wish the community well in this fantastic project, although we can’t imagine anything more beautiful than the village already is.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/perllanaullangrannog?utm_term=Xj5qkMwm5

Monday, 11 January 2021

Shahbaz Ali is a 23 years old resident of Bhasar Pura, Kasur in Pakistan. He has a family of five members that includes himself, his parents and two brothers. One bother is in education, another earns £45 a month and Shahbaz supports the family with his £75 a month. He sells 'ready to wear' women clothes on the roadside or in makeshift stalls, and also sells fabric. As it is time for the winter season he wants to have fabrics and clothes to sell for the cold season, and we've helped him restock. Covid-19 has caused hardship in communities like this, and we're happy to be able to support Shahbaz and his small business.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/51573

Saturday, 26 December 2020

Mubeen Majeed is a resident of Jalal Park, Lahore. He lives with his parents and five siblings. Mubeen offers washing, dry cleaning and pressing services to the people of his locality. He has been running this business for 2 years and earns about £89 a month. Mubeen wants to buy a washing machine and spinner to expand his business further. We're helping him and his father purchase the new machines; Covid numbers were high in Pakistan and we're happy to be able to assist such small family businesses get back on their feet.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/51489

Sunday, 20 December 2020

Rowell Ofqueria is 35 years old and lives with his partner called Reabie. They have a 7 year old child and the family lives in the village of Suba, Bantayan in Cebu province that we have visited. They live a simple life on a small island, using solar panels to light their home. Rowell fishes and farms seaweed to support his family, actively cultivating seaweed on a 45 day harvest cycle. Small seaweed plants are grown in bamboo blocks that he makes himself, and once harvested it is dried in the sun. The dried seaweed is then sold to traders. We've donated to allow him to grow and harvest further seaweed 'plants' to better support his family.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/51431

Friday, 18 December 2020

Cindy Nicole Chávez Cando is 19 years old and lives in Ibarra in Ecuador. For the past two years she has been selling fruit and vegetables at wholesale and retail markets. She would now like to grow vegetables for sale and we've helped her buy onion seeds, tomato plants and pepper plants to grow, and later harvest and sell direct at the markets. Cindy works with her aunts who buy agricultural supplies and sell them to local farmers to generate extra income. She will sell her own harvested crops to diversify her production to help her business. We wish her well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/50873

Tuesday, 01 December 2020

Mr. Chet Choy is a 27 year old married man with two children; a daughter of 6 who attends school and a son aged 1. He lives with his wife and family in the Ek Phnom District of Battambang Province of Cambodia that we know and have visited. He has been a farmer for the last 5 years. Mr. Chet Choy and his wife are farmers growing wet-season rice on their one-hectare plot of land from which they get 3 tons of rice per year. In order to increase their income, after the rice has been harvested, they use the same land for growing watermelons and these also are sold to market through a local middle-man. In order to cut down on costs as well as optimising the farm we're assisting him to purchase a walking tractor so that he can plough the land on time as well as saving the current rental costs for hiring a walking tractor. We wish him and his family well, and thanks those who have donated when booking holidays Under the Thatch.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/50672

Sunday, 22 November 2020

Eva Gamboa is 51 years old, married with eight children. Five of her children have graduated college while the remaining three still attend school. Her husband is Miguel who works as a seafarer. The family lives peacefully in the village of Luray I, Toledo city in Cebu province of the Philippines, that we've visited and know. Eva has been operating a small cafe in a rental unit near the main road in the village of Sangi, Toledo for the past two years. She decorated the cafe herself to make it more attractive and customers can dine-in comfortably inside the cafe. She serves breakfast to lunch and closes when all their dishes are sold-out. During the pandemic months her cafe was closed and she was only allowed to open her cafe in September. She employs one full time colleague who has been working for her since she started the business. Two of her sons are also helping in the cafe. Together their daily average sales is 5,000 pesos (£78.20). We're helping her pay the tuition of her three children; one child attend 2nd year college while the other two are senior high students. Her children in turn help in the cafe during their vacations. We're also helping her purchase cleaning materials like floor disinfectants and hand alcohol during this pandemic. We wish her and the family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/50580

Saturday, 21 November 2020

Rubila Sarabeth Vasquez Castro is 55 years old and divorced with three adult sons. She lives in her own house in the district of Trujillo, province of Trujillo, department La Libertad, in the north of Peru. Rubila has a small general store that she has run for 15 years. She purchases everyday items in bulk in wholesale markets and rents a market space, open from 6am to 2pm. Her sales per month are around S/730 soles (£158) with a profit margin of 20%. She also has an additional income from renting out rooms in her house. We've helped her diversify her stock as some of her best-selling items (toys) are no longer selling well post-Covid 19. Now she's building stocks of rice, sugar, kitchen utensils, cleaning products, disinfection cleaning items, hand sanitizer etc. We wish her well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/50146

Sunday, 01 November 2020

Jacinta Romero Villanueva is a small-scale businesswoman in Huamachucho - Sanchez Carrion - La Libertad - Peru. Jacinta is 25 years old and married to Virgilio. Her husband works as a motorcycle taxi driver. They have a 1-year old son. Jacinta's lives with her family in her parents’ house. Her parents gave Jacinta some of the ground floor of their home to open a small store two years ago. She set up a general store/pharmacy, selling mostly to her neighbours. She works daily from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm with monthly gross sales of S/5000 soles (£1072.58) per month with a profit margin of c35%. We've given her funds to help improve the working capital of her small store. She will use the money to buy milk, oil, tuna fish, eggs, energy drinks, rice, sugar and noodles. The profit from her business will go towards contributing towards her family’s household economy and provide a better-quality life for her son. We wish her and her family well.

Sunday, 25 October 2020

Today we donated to the Irish Blue Cross as we admire and value their good work. It's been a tough year for charities like the Blue Cross as they haven't been able to get out and fundraise in the usual ways - so happy to help them in a small way.
https://www.bluecross.ie/

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

I'm sure many of you are aware of the dire situation in the Greek refugee camps as they head into winter, and in particular the awful fire that destroyed the makeshift homes of thousands on Lesvos this week. Thousands of families are living on roadsides, in fields, even graveyards and have lost all their possessions. We've found a small way to help - by sending personal hygiene items via a UK collection network (thanks to Yorkshire Aid who will collect our Amazon parcel). We're sending a few hundred nappies, and 'hotel size' shower gels, soaps and toothbrushes. You can help too - details at https://www.facebook.com/chooselove/ Although we often provide these 'hotel cosmetics' at cottages we've always had an uneasy relationship with their environmental impact - but here, in this use, they can be life-savers in maintaining good hygiene.
https://donate.helprefugees.org/campaigns/moria-emergency/?fbclid=IwAR3LmzkMRi__43QBNIwasFSxS3QVejptLgfdK6gP-YI3K_Q7gthweOxyHiI

Friday, 11 September 2020

Emily lives in Lilongwe, Malawi. She's 39 years old and married, with three children. Her husband runs a small business and Emily sells second hand clothes. She started her business with the aim of supporting her family with their basic needs, such as food. She has been running her business for 15 years and three of her family members work with her. Her goal is to educate her children, construct a house and purchase goats. We've enabled her to bulk purchase bales of second-hand clothes, thereby increasing her profitability. Thanks to those who donate when they book a holiday, we wish Emily and her family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/49528

Saturday, 05 September 2020

Muhammad Ramzan is 32 years old cobbler from Basti Wanika, Kasur, Pakistan. There are seven members in his household that includes his wife, two daughters, and three sons. Three of his children are getting education while two are not yet of schooling age. Muhammad is a cobbler by profession and has been self-employed for almost 10 years. He earns around £92 per month making men's shoes. We've helped him buy materials in buld, including purchasing soles and adhesive solution, buckles, and shoe uppers. The investment will help him increase his productivity and a rise in his family income. We wish him well and tank those who contributed to UTT donations whilst booking their holiday with us.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/49407

Wednesday, 02 September 2020

Fahad Ali is 25 years old and lives in an area of Kasur called Kot Murad Khan in Pakistan. Fahad has not married yet, so he lives with and cares for his Mother. To earn an income, Fahad runs a small business making environmentally friendly jute and fabric bags. These bags are becoming more and more popular locally for packing groceries such as lentils and rice, and he has a growing customer base. To make the bags, Fahad buys jute fabric rolls, cuts the fabric into pieces and then sews the bags as per the required dimensions. So far, Fahad has been very pleased with how the business has been growing. He earns around £75 per month, but he would like to increase his income by growing his product range and offering different types of bags. In order to take his business to the next stage, we're helping him buy jute fabric in bulk and experiment with different bag designs to offer new products and grow his income. We wish him well and admire his project which also aids the environment.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/49390

Friday, 28 August 2020

Vivien Rivera is 56 years old. She is a married and lives with her husband Roy and their three children in the village called Pungtod, Oslob in Cebu province - a place that we have visited in the last eighteen months. All her children are married and been living separately. Roy is a seafarer but stopped working three years ago. Vivien on the other hand has been operating a general store in front of their house to help her husband in dealing with their living expenses. For over 20 years now, Vivien has been managing her store where she sells wide variety of consumable goods such as rice, corn, canned goods, condiments, noodles, powdered drinks, biscuits, chips, cold drinks and a lot more of other items. She also offers animal feeds, school supplies and household cleaning materials. Her store is open daily from 5 in the morning until 6 in the evening. She was being helped by her children before while her husband was away working. Three years ago, Roy decided to stop working and now he is helping Vivien in the store. All their children are married and had their own home separately but due to the pandemic, her children and grandchildren are temporarily living with them to ensure their safety because her children lived in city where COVID-19 positives kept on increasing. She offers credit to some of her valued and trusted customers. We've helped her pay for extra stocks of popular products to help her assist her family during the pandemic.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/49124

Thursday, 13 August 2020

Samoeurt San is a 38 year old farmer with three children: two daughters and a son aged 14, 12 and 9, all of whom currently attend school. The family live in the Ek Phnom District of Battambang Province which we know and visit. She and her husband have been farmers for the last 15 years, farming short-term rice and green beans for sale. They have a plot of land of three hectares in size upon which they grow short-term rice and get a crop yield of 3 tons per hectare. After the rice has been harvested, they then use the same plot of land to grow green beans which can be harvested after 90 days. The green bean crop amounts to 900Kgs per hectare of land. Along with others, we're helping the family buy an additional hectare of land upon which to grow short-term rice and beans and better support their income. We wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/49056

Sunday, 09 August 2020

Ghulraiz Parvaiz is 36 years old and lives in Baar Colony, Lahore with his wife and three children. Two of his children are studying and getting an education. To earn a living and support his family, Ghulraiz is a master tailor by profession. He has been a tailor for the last 12 years and earns about £78 per month. His customers mostly come from the local area. Ghulraiz realized that his income is not enough to meet the high costs of living due to the high inflation with his limited income. We're helping him buy fabrics so that he can sew a variety of different clothes and earn more. This investment in his business will help him earn more to meet his family's basic needs and live a financially stable and happy life with his family. We wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/48798

Thursday, 23 July 2020

Asif Ali is from an area called Chaki Piyara Lal which is in the area of Kasur in Pakistan. He is single and lives with his parents and one sister. Asif Ali struggles to support his family and we're happy to help sponsor his small enterprise. For the last two years or so he has been working as an embroiderer. He crafts fancy clothes using needle and sells to retail shops. He earns around £75 per month on average. With his current low earnings it can be hard for him to even provide two basic daily meals for his family. We're helping him buy fabric and silma sitra material (pearls, stones and yarn) to increase his family income. Thank you.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/48632

Saturday, 18 July 2020

Mrs. Savin Pich is 33 years old and has been a farmer for few years. She lives with her husband in Morng Russey district of Battambang Province, an area that we know (having lived for months in Cambodia). They farm wet season rice for sale which is their source of income for their family. Along with the local microfinance partner, we're helping her buy a hecatare of land to double her crop of rice. Helping people to help themselves is essential in the post-Covid world, and we wish Savin Pich well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/48380

Sunday, 14 June 2020

We make small, regular donations every week to the Northern Ireland Battery Hen Rescue as we keep rescue battery hens ourselves and know the their plight. If you buy anything via Amazon.com you too can donate - even free of charge - as Amazon will donate 1% of purchase value via smile.amazon to charities of your choice - you may choose this charity, or there are hundreds of other options. The retail goods are the ame price - but 1% will go to a good cause.
https://www.nuthousehenrescue.co.uk/default.html

Sunday, 07 June 2020

Through the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology), we are happy to sponsor a cuckoo called Valentine and have been tracking his progress back to the UK. To find out more about the BTO's cuckoo project and how you can get involved click the link below.
https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/cuckoo-tracking

Tuesday, 19 May 2020

We have donated £50 to the Medical Detection Dogs charity who are looking for funding to train dogs to detect coronavirus in passengers arriving at UK airports. Six dogs have been earmarked for the training; Norman, Digby, Storm, Star, Jasper and Asher. Good luck, dogs!
https://www.medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk/dogs-could-join-the-fight-against-covid-19/

Sunday, 17 May 2020

Eulogio Llamos is a 64 year old married man with three adult children who runs a market stall with his wife Fe, 66. They have a stall in Toledo city in Cebu, the Philippines, which we know from a recent visit. The family lives in a village called Ibo, Toledo where they have a smallholding, though the fruit they supply is largely from wholesalers. The couple has been selling bananas, apples, mangoes, watermelon, oranges, pineapples and other seasonal fruits for the past 26 years on stalls that are open every day from 5 in the morning until 8 in the evening. They don't employ anyone to work with them and so they work every day. Their income also helps support their children and grandchildren. Maintaining fresh food supplies in this crisis is essential in developing countries like the Philippines, and we're very happy to support the family in buying more stock to help keep their business alive, and to keep fresh food getting to the people who need it most.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/47881

Monday, 27 April 2020

Vincent Nkinamubanzi from Ngororero in Rwanda is a 53 year old married man with 4 children, all of who attend the local primary school. He operates a wholesale shop in Ngororero City selling a wide range of products. Meanwhile his wife is a farmer but also helps out in the shop when time permits. Like so much of the developing world, Rwanda is hit hard by the Covid 19 Crisis, and we’re happy to support Vincent and his family. Vincent has been a shopkeeper for the last 8 years, selling rice, beans, maize, maize flour, sorghum, soft drinks, sugar, salt, cooking oils, household items like pans and plates, cleaning items, and non-perishable food as well as construction materials like cement. The money that we (and others) have given will allow Vincent to maintain supplies to his customers – access to food and supplies is essential in this crisis. It will also help Vincent to continue to employ his two staff.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/47771

Sunday, 26 April 2020

We are proud to support The Cinnamon Trust, the only specialist national charity for the terminally ill and people in their later years and their much loved, much-needed companion animals. Especially important during this worrying COVID19 period, elderly or ill pet owners become very worried about their ability to care for their pets feeling that their only option is to rehome them. This is where The Cinnamon Trust's national network of dedicated volunteers step in to offer support, enabling owners and pets to stay together. They will walk the dog for a housebound owner, foster pets when owners need hospital care, feed the cat, even clean out the birdcage or litter trays. The trust always needs new volunteers, and even if you can only spare an hour a week they would love to hear from you.
https://cinnamon.org.uk

Thursday, 16 April 2020

Weneber Ermac is a 43 year old female entrepreneur who lives with her husband Ermest and their three children in the village called Lusaran in Cebu province. We know the town. Her eldest is now teaching at a private school, her second child attends 1st year college and youngest is 2 years old. Back in 2004 the couple started a grocery store business. They sell a wide variety of groceries, bread, household products, footwear, ready to wear clothes and more household items. We've friends who work in NGOs like Oxfam, and we're very aware how the Covid 19 crisis is impacting rural communities like this. We've helped Weneber renovated her shop. Currently she employs two regular sales ladies and one baker. Her store is open everyday from 5 in the morning until 7 in the evening. She sells variety of consumable products for people and animals. She also sell various farm inputs and household items. She will buy construction materials like concrete blocks, steel bars, cement and other materials needed. We wish her and the family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/47869

Wednesday, 15 April 2020

Marlon Artajo is a 34 year old shopkeeper who manage two stalls in the public market of Balamban in Cebu province of the Philippines. We know the market there - just simple open stalls of a few square metres. He is married to Jeresa and they have one child aged 11 months. They all live in a village called Vito nearby. Marlon's original stall sells mobile phone accessories, top-ups, and a simple photocopy and print service. He recently opened a second stall right next door with a barbers shop. We admire his entrepreneurial energy (wages there are around just £6 a day) and we've given him £45 (plus covered admin. costs) to enable to buy more stock for the shops, and better support his business. We know the good people of Cebu island, and how hard they work, and we wish Marlon and his family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/47324

Sunday, 01 March 2020

We sponsored a friend (Rosie Harrison Gallagher) to walk 80 kilometres in February 2020 in aid of Women's Aid (Ireland). The weather was shocking, and Rosie isn't an experienced walker, but she believes in this cause, and we can share her passion for the good work that Women's Aid do on a daily basis.
https://www.womensaid.ie/

Friday, 28 February 2020

Emelia Armecin from Tuburan, Cebu, Philippines is a married woman with three adult children. All of her children are married and been living separately. She is now 58 years old and husband Joelito is 61. They both live in the village of Putat which is in the town of Tuburan in Cebu province and manage a mango farm (just 50 trees) and are now building a small roadside shack/ store to sell fishing supplies and petrol. Her store is near the sea where fishermen pass by, and were helping her complete the store, buy fishing supplies, petrol and animal feeds. Emelia hopes her new business will progress for her to continuously earn income and deal with their everyday needs and provide help for her child and grandchildren. We wish them well!
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/46738

Monday, 20 January 2020

Aimable Nahimana is a 33 years old, single potato farmer In Rwanda. He lives with his parents and siblings and he is responsible for all the household costs. He lives with his family in the rural village in Rubavu District. The area where he lives is well known for the high quality potato crops. Aimable started farming potatoes 10 years ago, helping his parents and now he employs several people. In the future, he would like to become a wholesale potato distributor. We're helping him buy potato seed and fertiliser to help better support his family. We wish him well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/46398

Sunday, 19 January 2020

Jesabil Quiaot lives in Lamac, Pinamungajan, Cebu, Philippines - an area that we know and visit (last in Cebu in Spring 2019). Jesabil is a 24 year old married woman with three children agesd 5 years old, 1 year old and 1 month old. Her husband Michael James works and Jesabil cares for the three children and manages a store where she sells animal feeds, vitamins and medicines. We know how challenging it can be to raise little ones and run a small business from home. We've helped her improve stock of products such as animal feeds, medicines and vitamins. For now she is earning between 300 to 600 pesos (about £ 4.51 to £9) daily since she only just recently opened the business. Jesabil is hoping that her business will grow so she could earn more income to deal with their living expenses. We admire her spirit, and wish her well!
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/46941

Saturday, 18 January 2020

We've donated the money required to cover a cleft-palate operation on a child via charity Operation Smile, Ireland (c€180 ). They work in many developing countries helping adults and children born with this common birth defect, and changing lives for the better. This relatively simple operation can change a life and outlook for an individual, and we're more than happy to help. Thanks guys - together we're literally helping 'put a smile' on someones face for 2020.
https://www.operationsmile.ie/

Saturday, 21 December 2019

Ranilo Arda is a farmer who is focused in growing beautiful flowers in the village of Babag II in Cebu province, near Cebu city in the Philippines. We were there earlier this year. Ranilo has set up a small flower farm on his father's land to support his family (partner Irish and their two daughters ages 9 and 3 years old). The farm is about 5,000 square meters and employs up to five seasonal workers in the busy harvesting period December to February. We've given him £90 (and paid administration costs) to help with the farm inputs to assist with this year's harvest and wish him and the family well. Thank you for your support.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/46151

Monday, 16 December 2019

Abida Bibi, aged 40, is a resident of Sabir Basti, Kasur in Lahore, Pakistan. There are a total of 7 members in her family. Four of her children are studying and her husband is a farmer. Abida Bibi supports her family financially by selling buffalo milk. She has been rearing one water buffalo for the last 10 years and earns around £55 per month. Her husband owns four acres of land where he grows wheat and rice. In his free timehe labours and earns around £60 per month. We've contributed £100 (plus admin costs) to help enable her to purchase an additional buffalo. Having this additional buffalo will enable her to enhance her milk output and increase her earnings. This is vitally important in helping her family to become more financially stable and improve their standards of living. We wish them well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/46001

Saturday, 14 December 2019

Muhammad Sarfraz is 29 years old and married, with two children in Chah Buland, Kasur Pakistan. Sarfraz sells seasonal fruits such as bananas, grapes, apples, etc. by using a push cart in the main road. He has been selling fruits like this for the ast five years to support his family. He earns about £90 per month which is not enough to manage all of his household expenses, and needs to bulk purchase. We've given him £100 (and covered costs) to enable him to buy apples, oranges and grapes in larger quantitiesfrom the local fruit market. With this bulk purchase, his costs will decrease and he will be able to better support his family. We wish the family well, and thank UTT guests for their assistance.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/45665

Monday, 02 December 2019

Ricardo Lequido is a 44 year old farmer who lives in the village of Valencia, Alegria in Cebu province of the Philippines. We were there ourselves earlier this year. He is married to Josephine and have four children, two sons and two daughters. Two of his adult children are working and the other two are attending school. He finds farming business a good source of income as long as he works hard and have funds to finance his farming expenses. Richard grows cabbages and spring onions and aims to soon start planting aubergines. We've helped him with farm costs (water, seeds etc) (£100) and we wish him and the family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/45295

Monday, 25 November 2019

Nancy Castro is 46 and lives on the outskirts of the city of Loja in southern Ecuador. Her husband has a truck and works transporting stone material. They have three children; two of whom are already married and live independently while the youngest is still studying. Doña Nancy works selling 'Tuppaware' type products for the home. She sells them at a large market and also directly to her customers’ homes. She makes a profit of around $370 per month on average (that's about £285). December is a big sales month for her, so we've helped her increase stock, and hopefully that will bring in more income for the family at Christmas. We've donated £100 (and paid administration costs) thanks to the generosity of UTT guests. We admire people that set out to help themselves, and we know that sometimes just getting a small 'leg up' in the world can make all the difference. We wish Nancy and her family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/44979

Tuesday, 05 November 2019

Timotea Firmeza, 59 year old is married and she has 4 adult children. She lives in the village of Poog which is in Toledo city in Cebu province of the Philippines, where we visited earlier in 2019. Her husband passed away 2 years ago in a road traffic accident. She lives with her two unmarried children, their partners and 8 grandchildren. Timotea used to work as a house caretaker for many years in Cebu city but now she has a small business selling clothes, bags, umbrellas, towels etc. We've given her £100 to increase stocks and better support her family, and we wish her well. Thank you for your support!
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/45058

Thursday, 31 October 2019

Young Mirei (age 10) has NEVER had her hair cut - and it's over 1.5m long. We know the family well, and have huge admiration for Mirei's project. She has a close family member affected by Multiple Sclerosis, and has chosen to raise funds to support the MS Society. Happy to start the ball rolling with a £50 donation to her brave project - young people can change the world! Do consider a donation, even £1/ £2 can make a difference!
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mirei-haircut-mssociety?fbclid=IwAR1gigQpcCTWqTx1gh6XY0VZYt2bEXkNjwyO3gYJc30JtNitZ6bk6UBLgSQ&utm_campaign=pfp-share&utm_content=Mirei-Haircut-MSSociety&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_source=Facebook&utm_term=vj5a5rWx

Monday, 23 September 2019

Emily Conde is a 47 year old business woman who manages one stall in the public market of Lutopan, Toledo city in Cebu, Philippines. We visited earlier this year. She is married to Jerome and they have two sons and one daughter. Her eldest graduated college in Marine engineering and is ready to work in a shipping company this month. Her two other children are in grade 11 and 10. The family income comes from Emily's success running her stall. For the past 16 years she has managed the business herself. She sellsrice, corn, sugar, monggo beans, salt and garlic, animal feeds, farm fertilisers, poultry eggsand charcoal. Her stall is open everyday from 8 in the morning and closes at 6 in the evening. So basically she does everything in the stall for she did not want to hire a worker. If customers will buy one sack or more, he call motorcycle driver to help in lifting and give them tip. All of her products to sell are directly delivered at her stall. In a month, she can sell 100 sacks or more of her rice and corn, making around £1 per sack profit. We've given her £100 (and paid admin. so she gets the full £100) to help her increase stocks and improve the stall. We wish her and her family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/44462

Saturday, 21 September 2019

Meet 'Beaker' one of half dozen ex-battery hens we rescued yesterday from her ‘enriched cage’. LOOK AT HER CONDITION. It angers us that greed leads to this. We’ll keep her image on our phones and show it to anyone we see buying the battery eggs in the supermarket. Want to help or adopt your own?
https://www.bhwt.org.uk/

Saturday, 14 September 2019

Fabien Nsengimama runs a small grocery stall in Sovu, Ngororero- Birembo Branch, Rwanda. They sell products as varied as beans, spaghetti, biscuits and other household goods like body oil, shoes, and slippers. Fabien is 20 years old, married, and they have a baby girl. Fabien sells to small clients in his neighbourhood. Along with others, we're helping him increase his stock including soft drinks, cakes, samosas, and other foods. He rotates with his wife in the shop and they also grow potatoes. So when he is in the plantation, she sells in their small shop, and vice versa. They earn around £240 a month and we help our assistance will help boost their family income. Thank you for helping Fabien and his family.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/43293

Saturday, 27 July 2019

Our friend Elvis the Boxador (yes, he is our friend) helps out at his local 'Wag and Company' as a friendship dog - it's a registered charity enabling visiting dog teams to build meaningful new friendships with older dog lovers across the North East of England. We've seen the difference his poochie-visits make in his local care home, and we're happy to donate to support the project and help with the organisation. Keep up the good work, Elvis! Elvis can be seen 'working' at Rosewood Care Home in Gateshead and the residents, naturally, love him!
https://www.wagandcompany.co.uk/

Wednesday, 26 June 2019

Jum'aa Abu Reeda is 23. He is married with a young son aged 3. He lives with his family in Qusra near Nablus in the 'West Bank' of Palestine. Given that it's 'Eurovision week' we felt it appropriate to support a Palestinan family through a micro-loan donation. We're giving Jum'aa £100 via Lend With Care charity (and covering their admin costs), and he'll be able to use the money to improve his business. Any money he is able to pay back we'll pass on to another entrepreneur in a developing country, or via our regular charity donations. Jum’aa runs a shop selling household items as well as small dometic appliances. He established the business around five years ago. Prior to this he had worked briefly as a construction labourer. However, he changed because he wanted a business with more profitable opportunities and something for which he could depend upon on himself. Among the items he sells are cutlery, plates, cups, bedsheets and even small cooking stoves. We're helping him buy extra stock for his store, specifically plastic tables and chairs, rugs, and even more electrical items for the kitchen. We wish him well, and we hope for peace and prosperity in Palestine. Click the link to find out more., and see his shop.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/41773

Monday, 13 May 2019

Anwar Dar Ahmad is a 48 years old. He is a smallholder farmer and lives with his family near the town of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, Palestine. Given the latest attacks on the people of the West Bank, we felt it appropriate to reach out and help in a small way by supporting a farming family. We've donated £100 to help Anwar develop his tomato-growing business. Anwar has four children. He has been farming for the past 20 years or so. He owns two acres of land, on part of which he has greenhouses which permit him to grow tomatoes out of season and in a controlled environment. Along with others (via Lend with Care) we're helping him buy 400 tomato plants, compost in bulk, frames for the plants and sheeting to aid temperature control in the greenhouse. We wish him a successful season.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/41776

Friday, 10 May 2019

Gulfam Ali is from a suburb of Lahore in Pakistan. He sells embroidery to earn the bread and butter for his family (his elderly parents, one sister and himself). His parents are receiving regular medical treatment. Gulfam sews beautiful women's clothing, known locally as 'Silma Sitara' work. His fulltime work brings him a monthly income of approximately £107. This only just covers the family expenses, so we've helped him purchase fabric, pearls and embroidery stones to sell higher-priced 'Silma Sitara' and hopefully provide a better living standard for his family, and improve the medical facilities for his parents. Thank you for supporting this family.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/41251

Thursday, 04 April 2019

Ariel Pantollano is a father of three children. He is married to Fe and both of them run a general store in the town of Balamban in Cebu province in the Philippines. We were there ourselves in February this year; it's a beautiful part of the world, but with very low wages. The family sell basic commodities such as eggs, canned foods, noodles, powdered drinks, condiments, biscuits, chips and sweets. Ariel is 34 years old while Fe is 33. They have three children ages 1, 2 and 6 years old. Ariels' store is particularly useful locally as it allows credit to customers who are weekly or monthly paid. His sales are about 6,000 pesos a day (c£87). Through the local co-operative we've helped him restock his store with more saleable items. Ariel will continue his business and sustain what he is earning and better support his family. We know these small roadside stalls well from our own travels, and supporting them keeps families in their communities. Thank you for your support.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/40360

Tuesday, 02 April 2019

Carmen Paccha is 30 years old and lives on the outskirts of the city of Loja in southern Ecuador. She is married with three children. Her husband helps her on their smallholding and also works as a builder when he can find work. She grows vegetables on a plot of land gifted to her by her parents, and sells the veg to wholesalers three days a week. She earms around $200 profit per month (about £150, or €175) from selling vegetables. We've helped with her farming inputs so that she can hopefully produce a better harvest and better support her family. THANK YOU.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/40594

Saturday, 09 March 2019

Erika Pazmiño is 22 years old and from the smal town of Catamayo in southern Ecuador. She's a seamstress, and thanks to YOUR help we've been able to assist her in buying a new industrial-quality sewing machine. She makes school uniforms and specialist sports clothes for her local community. Erika has grown her business, sometimes employing assistants, and is now the secretary of her local Textile Association. Her small company makes around 400 USD profit a month, with which she supports her family. We wish her well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/40534

Wednesday, 06 March 2019

Luis Joaquin Chávez Yaselga is 31 years old and a farmer. He lives in San Blas de Urcuquí in Ecuador. He and his ex-partner have one son. He has been farming from a very young age and has 20 years experience in this business. We're happy to be support him in his small farming venture, thanks to your generosity. Your support will help him in 2019 with farming inputs, buying twine, hiring labourers, maintaining the land with a tractor, and other farming expenses. With this extra help he will hopefully achieve a good price at harvest and be better able to support himself and his family. Thank you!
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/38969

Tuesday, 12 February 2019

Mr. Mon Met is a farmer from Bovel District, Battambang Province., Cambodia. He is 32 years old and has one child, aged 10 years old who is at school. He grows wet season rice for sale every year on his nine hectares of land. We're helping him this year with his farming costs. Mr. Mon farms wet season rice (in what would be called 'summer' in the UK). As his rice paddy has no irrigation system, he only plants one harvest per year, which takes 6 months before he is able to collect his produce of 2.5 tones per hectare. The middlemen buys the harvest directly from his farm. We're helping him with ploughing and threshing costs to enable him to better support himself and his family. We know the Battambang area, and wish him and the family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/39468

Monday, 11 February 2019

One child is dying EVERY TEN MINUTES from malnutrition / preventable disease in Yemen (says the UN), yet Europe seems more obsessed with Brexit than providing meaningful aid. We've made another small donation today, and ask others to consider doing the same. It's a ghastly, and preventable situation that should horrify us all.
https://donations.unicef.ie/donate/yemen

Saturday, 15 December 2018

Holly Hedge Animal Sanctuary is a Bristol based independent charity that rescues and rehomes unwanted, abandoned and often mistreated cats and dogs. They receive no funding from the government or National Lottery and rely on the generosity and goodwill of their supporters to keep their kennel and cattery doors open. They rescue and rehome around 800 animals each year finding them loving and responsible new homes, and we're happy to have been able to help them with a donation. Many of our customers come from the Bristol hinterland, and it felt like the right choice for our donation this week. The dog pictured is called Pip and is looking for a home - could you help?
https://hollyhedge.org.uk/our-animals/rehome-a-dog/pip/

Monday, 03 December 2018

We've made a Christmas donation to the Wildwood Trust - who are working to try and save the red squirrel from its prediction extinction in the UK. They breed squirrels in captivity, and release them in an appropriate and managed way in nature conservancy areas in North Wales and on Anglesey. We think they do great work and are happy to help. We also learned that baby squirrels are called 'kittens'! red squirrel numbers are estimated to be down to around 10 000 in Wales (that's low) and we'd love to see them get back to where they used to be.
https://wildwoodtrust.org/wildwood-kent/news/baby-red-squirrels-wildwood

Thursday, 29 November 2018

Universal Aid for Children, Ukraine is a charity that supports children leaving the Care System of Ukraine. Although children in orphanages often (and rightly) receive charity support, we like the fact that this charity has a specific focus on supporting teens as they graduate from orphanages into adult life. We've family members who work daily with such vulnerable kids in the UK, and we know that it's a crucial time to get a good start in life. We've decided to sponsor one individual, Nikita, for 6 months as he makes his way in the world. The monthly sum that we send him will give him a monthly stipend, and assist with getting secure housing, education and medical supplies. Nikita is going to college to study as a welder, and cares for his grandfather (who is poor health). At weekends he works as a labourer for a renovation company. We wish him well, and will post updates via the Under the Thatch Facebook page of his progress. Thank you for making this sponsorship possible by holidaying Under the Thatch.
http://www.uacukraine.org/index.php/component/spsimpleportfolio/item/118-nikita

Friday, 09 November 2018

UNICEF estimate that a child dies from malnutrition in Yemen every 10 minutes. Unfortunately we don't have the power to stop the UK (and other) governments selling the arms to Saudi Arabia that are directly influencing the humanitarian crisis there. We're appalled by the irony that while UK/ European governments are pumping public money into arts projects to (rightly) commemorate the 1918 Armistice, some of those countries also benefit hugely from the taxes paid on immense arms sales to places like Saudi and Israel, with weapons used against civilians. The tax profit (in part) from these arms sales is used for arts and other projects to remind us of the futility of war. This doesn't seem right, and we urge everyone to write to their politician/s to prevent the sale of weapons to regimes who have been proven to use them inappropriately. In the meantime 400 00 children are at risk of death from acute malnutrition, and all we can do is shout..and send a small amount of aid. We're not comfortable using a distressing image like the one shown. But it's a recent and real photo, and we want the world to wake up to the Yemen crisis. If you're able to also make a donation, no matter how small, we encourage you to do so via the link or https://www.unicef.ie/our_work/emergency/yemen-crisis/
https://www.unicef.ie/our_work/emergency/yemen-crisis/

Thursday, 08 November 2018

Jeneffer Flores is mother of three children aged between 12 and 23 years old in Bogo City, Cebu, Philippines. She has been separated from her husband for about 10 years. She has been working as a village treasurer for 5 years. To earn an additional income, she also sells food items in the city of Bogo in Cebu province. She sells affordable noodle dishes and frozen foods. Jennefer wants nothing more than to provide a better quality of life for her children and to give them all to highest education. Jennefer sells pre-packed dishes in large plastic containers. Her regular customers are market vendors, sales ladies, pedicab drivers and small store owners. She has been in this business for the past four years now. She earns between 500 and 1,500 pesos a day (about £7 - £21). She also sells snacks like steamed buns, coconut juice and fried peanuts. She wakes up early to cook her daily dishes and her children help her in preparing the ingredients. She used to hire pedicab drivers to transport her products. But now she has her own vehicle. Jennefer knows how to drive so she recently acquired a single motorcycle on credit and has also purchased a side car. We're helping her pay for the side car and to pay for the tuition and school projects of her second child. We wish her well - and may even pop by to say Hi as we'll be in the Philippines ourselves soon!
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/37601

Wednesday, 03 October 2018

Marietta is married to Roy (both 52), and they live in San Regemio, Cebu. Philippines. They've one adopted daughter, after having unfortunately having lost their son to illness, age 16. They run and manage a shop near a sea port and it is their main source of income to deal with their living expenses. The couple manage a shop stall where they sell food items such as cup noodles, biscuits, chips, bottled water, hot and cold drinks, powdered drinks, hygiene products etc. She purchases most of her stock from the big stores in Bogo city because the prices there are much cheaper. Her shop is open 24 hours a day at the Hagnaya port. The couple work shift duties to manage their business hours. Most of their customers are passengers and ship workers. They have been in this business for 20 years now. Her daily sales range from 3,000 to 5,000 pesos (about £42 - £70). Along with others, we're helping her purchase 12 sacks of quality rice that cost roughly 33,000 pesos (about £462). She will use the rest of the funds to restock her shop with more items such as cup noodles, biscuits and bottled water. We wish the family well.
https://lendwithcare.org/loans/37603

Tuesday, 02 October 2018

Ali Raza is 23 years old. He lives in Lahore, Pakistan with his parents, three brothers and one sister. He pays for the educational expenses of his sister and one brother. Ali supports his family by stitching men’s clothes and he earns £131 per month. His father also works and earn £125 per month. Ali’s income is not enough for supporting his family and saving up for his future to have a family of his own. Ali Raza really wants his siblings to have the best opportunities in life. We're helping him purchase fabrics and sewing materials to help him bring prosperity to his family.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/37371

Monday, 17 September 2018

Mr. Pheak Krahn is 27 years old, he has been as farmer for over four years in Ma Nork Village, Talos Commune, Cambodia. He grows his wet season rice paddy on a farmland that is five hectares. He collects three tons of crops per hectare to sell on the market. It takes a period of six months for the rice paddy crops to get ready for harvesting. As the rice paddy are harvested the crops are sold directly to a local merchant. We're helping him buy further land to expand his wet season rice paddy farming. With the extra plot of land he expects to get around one more ton of rice paddy to sell on the market and thereby help his family. We wish him well.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/36377

Monday, 17 September 2018

Living in the locality of Islam Abad in Lahore, Pakistan, Waqas is a 25-year-old man who works as a tailor. His family of 8 is dependent on him. He has parents, four sisters and one brother. Three of his sisters are still going to school. His father works and earns £63 per month. Faced with rising costs and increasing expenditures, Waqas earns barely enough to make end meet. He earns £114 per month. He sews gents and readymade clothes. He is determined to educate his sisters and wants to improvise his business. We're helping him buy fabric and sewing supplies to improve the family income.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/37133

Thursday, 30 August 2018

Mr. Sambath An from Prek Norin, Cambodia is 30 years old and has two children, age 7 and 2. Only his older child is currently in school. He has been a farmer for over 10 years and at the moment he cultivates rice crops on two hectares of land. Once those crops have been harvested he grows green beans on the same land and he yields around 800 kilograms per hectare. To enable him to produce more rice to sell, he also rents another plot of land (around two more hectares). This costs him $300 per year. We're helping him buy an additional hectare of rice paddy to grow this dry season rice, and to help his family.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/36333

Thursday, 30 August 2018

Emily is 31 years old and divorced with two children, living in Mangochi, Malawi. She sells groceries. We've helped her buy additional inventory so that she might better provide for her family. She has been running her grocery stall for ten years now, and with more capital she should be able to better support herself and her children - we wish her well.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/36586

Thursday, 16 August 2018

Honeylyn Nasataya is a 41-year-old, married with two children age 8 and 13 years old. Both of her children are attending school in the town of Bogo in Cebu province in the Philippines. She is married to Vincent Aris who is a 41-year-old seaman. Honeylyn started a business in 2011 selling organic honey. She rented a small space in the town centre where she also sells other products like food snacks and cold drinks. She has since expanded her business to sell cosmetics, lotions/beauty and wellness products. On a daily basis her sales are between 800 to 1,500 pesos (£11 to £21). She hires one of her relative to help her in the shop. To diversify her income further she hopes to start printing airline tickets and we've helped her to install an internet connection and buy two printers. We wish her well.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/36249

Monday, 30 July 2018

Dang Van Toan is a 28 year old farmer from Moc Chau, a rural district in northwest Vietnam, where he lives with his wife and 5 year old daughter. He and his wife farm 4000 square meters of land where they produce plums and rice, which are sold to the local community. They make a profit of about $134 a month. We're helping them buy farming inputs to run the farm and hopefully increase yield. If they're successful in producing more plums and rice they can buy further land and hopefully further improve their lot. We wish them well.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/36238

Sunday, 22 July 2018

German Quito is a small-scale coffee farmer from the small town of Palanda which is in the province of Zamora Chinchipe in southern Ecuador. He is married with five children, the younger three attend school and still live at home. Don German has around 30 years of experience of farming independently. Before this he worked as an agricultural labourer on local farms saving his money until he could afford to buy his own plot of land of around one hectare. He now has around two hectares. We've helped him to pay two labourers to help him harvest two hectares of coffee bushes. He estimates that his monthly income averages around $500.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/35298

Friday, 13 July 2018

Mrs. Poch Thoun and her husband have been working as farmers for over 20 years in Sdey Steng Village, Talas Commune, Cambodia. We've helped them buy a plot of land to grow rice, and improve their family income. They grow long-term rice on 10 hectares of land and this enables them to collect a yield of three tons per hectare to sell on the market. Having this extra land will allow her to harvest an extra two tons of crops and have a more stable income. We wish them well.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/36007

Monday, 09 July 2018

Constance lives with her family in the suburb of Johannesburg in Norton, Zimbabwe. She is 33 years old and is a mother of four. Two of her children are going to school and the other two are still too young. She has a flea market stall at Norton shopping centre in which she sells clothes like jeans, jackets and t-shirts. She restocks her products from Mozambique, usually once a week. With this business she has been able to pay the school fees for her children as well as providing bus fare to and from school. She started this business 3 years ago, and we've helped her restock to further improve trade, and support her family. Thank you UTT guests.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/35336

Sunday, 01 July 2018

Mr. Mao Thon is 51 years old and lives in Ansong Sok Village, Prek Norin Commune, Cambodia. He has been a farmer for over 20 years. He and his wife have a hectare of rice and 10 hectares of sweetcorn. Through his farming he creates 10 seasonal jobs. In the rainy season he catches and sells fish to make extra income for his family - around $10 a day. We've been able to help him develop his maize farming, buy diesel for the tractor, and to employ local labour. Thank you UTT guests!
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/35388

Tuesday, 26 June 2018

Robert Madrid, 45 year runs a small retail business in the village of Ibo, Toledo city, Philippines. He is married and has three children aged 11, 14 and 17 years old who are all still at school. Robert opened a business two years ago selling animal feeds, vitamins and medicines. He rents the premises the for 8,000 pesos a month. His shop is open everyday from 6:30 in the morning and closes at 7:30 in the evening. He has one employee. We're helping him buy in a higher volume of animal feeds to meet the demand of his fast growing customer base, so that he can better support his family. We wish him well, and thank the UTT guests that have made this possible.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/35244

Sunday, 17 June 2018

Loreta Maravilles is 54 years old, with four children. Two of her children and four grandchildren lives with her in Poblacion, Dumanjug in the Cebu province. Loreta runs a market stall that sells vegetables, spices and food seasonings. At 4 in the morning Loreta wakes up and opens her stall as she has regular restaurant owners who purchase their ingredients at dawn. She buys most of her spices in Carbon market, and her vegetables from Mantalongon, at the Barili market. Twice a week she goes to the Carbon market and purchase spices like onions, garlic and tomatoes. She pays about 8,000 pesos (about £114) per purchase. For her vegetables, she has a regular supplier who delivers directly to her stall once a week. She has been running her business for 30 years now. On average she earns 6,000 pesos (about £85). She is helped by two of her children and her grandchildren whenever they don’t have classes. Her husband Agustine manages their 3 hectares of farm land where he grows maize, eggplants, squash, tomatoes and okra. He hires two full-time workers who help him take care of his crops. Some of his harvested crops are sold directly to his wife’s stall and the rest are sold at Carbon market. We've helped the family buy farm materials and to pay the salary of the two farm workers. We're happy to help this hard-working family, and thank UTT guests for their support.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/34875

Sunday, 17 June 2018

Mohammed Allan is 21 years old. He lives with his parents and his four brothers in Kufr Aqab near Ramallah. We've been watching, in despair, the outrageous recent attacks on Palestinian civilians. These people need much more assistance than merely economic aid, but great buildings are built from small bricks, and we're happy to support another young entrepreneur there. Mohammed owns a greengrocer shop. He started his business a year ago and he now sells many kinds of fruit and vegetables to local customers. He pays 300 dollars a month in rent for his shop. Along with others we're helping him increase stocks and to renovate his small shop. His monthly profit is around 600 dollars (c£450).
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/35165

Saturday, 09 June 2018

Maria Delilah Alvarez is a 49 year old woman married to fisherman Manuel (51). They have one child age who is 10 years old and live in a village of Arpili, near Balamban in Cebu province of the Philippines. Maria Delilah has, up until now, been a housewife. Now that her child is able to take care of herself, she has decided to start a small business selling consumable goods and educational supplies. She has found a vacant stall near a local elementary school and the rent is 2,500 pesos (£36) a month. We're helping her furnish and stock the shop. She hopes to have it ready for the opening of the new school term, and we wish her well.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/34986

Sunday, 03 June 2018

We couldn't resist the warm smile of Sokun Hing from Prek Norin, Cambodia, and are happy to help him help his family through support for his farm business. Mr Sokun is 30 years old and has two children, aged 1 and 3 years old. He and his wife grow wet season rice on five hectares of land. When their rice has been harvested they will also grow green beans on the same land and get around 800 kilograms of crops per hectare to sell. In order to farm their rice and green beans we're help[ing them buy farm materials such as fertiliser and diesel for the tractor that helps them plough and harvest. We know Cambodia well, and wish this family the very best.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/34867

Wednesday, 30 May 2018

Mary Tembo ,46 years old, lives in Kafue, Zambia. She is married and has four children who are in school. She runs a 'nthemba' (small grocery stall) selling salt, eggs and ice blocks. We've helped her increase her stocks of soap, containers for making ice blocks and eggs for her stall. Her customers come from her neighbourhood. From the profits of her sales, she hopes to see her business grow into a larger grocery stall that will enable her to build a house for her family. Mary was not able to contribute financially to her family before she started her small business. Now she is able to support her children - and we're grateful to UTT customers for being a part of that.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/34680

Saturday, 26 May 2018

Maria Theresa Vidal is a 37 year old married woman who works as a civil servant in Cebu, Philippines and also runs a small water delivery business with her husband. She has one child who goes to school in Tunghaan. Her husband, Enefer, is 38 years old and manages their water delivery business. The couple also own a car that they rent out £7.80 a day. At night Enefer delivers a total of 40 gallons of water per week to seven different households. For this he earns 600 pesos (about £8.50) a week. He purchases the water by the gallon from his trusted water refilling station. He delivers at night since their car is rented out for the whole day. Enefer wants to increase his deliveries to earn more income. We're helping them buy a second-hand vehicle to use for their water delivery business. Maria Theresa hopes their business will continue to grow in the future so she can provide a better standard of living for their child.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/34863

Thursday, 24 May 2018

Mr. Ratha Nhol is 34 years old and he has been a farmer for over 10 years in Reachdoun Koe Village, Prek Norin Commune, Cambodia. He currently grows rice on 11 hectares of land. As well as rice farming he also grows green beans on another three hectares of land. Along with others, we're helping him purchase good quality seeds and diesel for his tractor to plough the land, and some money to employ others to cover the harvesting costs (he rents a thresher to harvest his rice crops). We wish him and his family well, and thank UTT guests who've made this assistance possible.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/34738

Sunday, 13 May 2018

Betty Gaadza is a 48 year old widowed mother of three children. She lives in Chitungwiza in Zimbabwe. Betty runs a business selling blankets, duvets and various products in Mozambique. She restocks materials from Harare town, Zambia, and at times Namibia. She has one employee who helps her in carrying and selling blankets and duvets. Along with others we've assisted Betty via Thrive Microfinance to restock more materials for her business. We wish her well, and thank the UTT guests that made this possible.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/33456

Saturday, 05 May 2018

Today we've supported the work of Welsh charity 'Hazina' in Tasmania - they are a non-profit making organisation (UK Charity) working with the aim to alleviate poverty, ensure clean and accessible water supply for the population and the agricultural needs, improve education, progress the women’s situation and work towards sustainable business activities in the village of Bangalala in the Same distinct of Tanzania. We know Marit, who owns UTT Gwel y Mynydd, who volunteers for the charity, and are happy to support her in the good work that Hazina achieves. Photo - some of the girls now schooled thanks to Hazina.
https://www.hazina.org.uk/

Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Khaled is 20 years old. He lives with his parents in a town called Kofr Aldan located near Jenin in Palestine. He has been working in construction since finishing high school. He was not able to continue his education because he couldn’t afford the fees so he had to work to help himself and his family to cover their expenses. To support his family, Khaled decided to start his own business and he wants to open a café in his town. He plans to offer hot and cold drinks, light snacks and he also plans to have some billiard tables for his customers to use. We've helped him, along with others, bu the furniture needed for his café. He wants to be able to generate a stable income for his family and would like to be able to afford to go back to college and finish his education.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/34354

Friday, 20 April 2018

Don Kevin Tocto is a 20-year-old entrepreneur who has been running his own video shop for 3 years or so. He lives in the quiet city of Loja in southern Ecuador. He is also studying at the university. His business started with his own savings and a loan from his aunt. When he started, there was little merchandise and the money he earned was not enough even to cover his basic expenses. Nowadays, his business has grown considerably. He has added some other items such as garments, bazaar products, and collection pieces as well as some technological, audio, and video products, making the store a nice shopping place for his clients. The main difficulty he faces is that has not been able to find someone he can trust to help him in his business, so sometimes, he has to close his shop to meet his academic obligations. His income is $2,580, leaving him an approximate monthly profit to live on of $604. Don Kevin requested help to buy video games on wholesale and (along with others) we're happy to help.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/34129

Monday, 16 April 2018

We're huge fans of the wonderful Danny Minnie's Restaurant in West Donegal (Ireland)- somewhere that often pops up in the Visitor Book comments for our guests staying at UTT Donegal Cottages. Every year they have a Coffee Morning to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society - it's a hugely successful event that attracts hundreds of people to taste the amazing cakes their pastry chefs make - and last year over €2000 was donated to charity. Danny Minnie's put on the drinks and the lovely location, and we donated €120 to help with ingredients for making some of the delicious cakes they lay on. We've yet to hear how much they helped raise but the place was packed out, great craic and the cakes were FABULOUS! Thanks for helping us help the important work of the Irish Cancer Society.
https://www.cancer.ie/

Monday, 02 April 2018

Under the Thatch are so pleased to be able to help raise £3000 to fund plastic free New Quay. Our donation will help promote the village's new Plastic Free status to visitors, residents and businesses alike in a clear and consistent way so that everyone knows New Quay is an 'avoidable single-use' Plastic Free Community. It is a cause that is close to our heart as we have properties in and near New Quay and aligns closely with UTT's core values.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/plasticfreenewquay

Sunday, 01 April 2018

María Loayza is from the coastal province of El Oro in southern Ecuador. She is married with two children who are both in school. Doña María is a florist. She offers floral arrangements and bouquets, both natural and artificial works made from foam as gifts for weddings, piñatas, and christenings. Doña María works from home, and along with others via Care International we're helping her decorate and remodel her flower shop so that she can attract more customers and better support her family.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/33949

Thursday, 29 March 2018

Ninfa Delicia Chuncho lives in the city of Loja in southern Ecuador. She is a widow with three adult daughters and two adult sons all of whom are married and independent. However, she has two grandchildren who live with her. Doña Ninfa has been running a food market stall in one of the municipality markets for the past ten years or so. Prior to that, she used to sell food as a street hawker, but her customers encouraged her to apply for a stall at the market. Doña Ninfa feels proud to have given her children a good education and even helped to cover her grandchildren’s education. We're helping her buy ingredients in bulk for her food market stall. This includes several sacks of rice, sugar, flour and cartons of cooking oil.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/33930

Monday, 26 March 2018

Estela Victoria Vicente lives in the small town of Catamayo in Ecuador. She has four adult and independent children. Doña Estela has run a restaurant for the last 35 years or so. She provides breakfasts and lunches to workers employed in a local sugar factory. She works from 7 am to 6pm. Her daughter and an assistant help her from Mondays to Fridays. On Saturdays and Sundays she only works with her daughter. When she started the restaurant was quite small but it has grown because of the custom from the sugar company - she has around 100 customers each day and she has bought all her own chairs, tables and other furniture and equipment. Doña Estela earns a net profit of around $305 each month. We've helped her buy her ingredients in bulk, which saves her money and helps her increase her small profit. We wish her well with the business.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/32916

Saturday, 24 February 2018

Rosemary from Kalomo in Zambiais widowed and has five children who are in school. She runs a small grocery stall in her community selling washing soap, assorted sweets, sugar and roasted ground nuts. She started this business about 12 years ago so that she could sustain the livelihood of her family. Along with others, we're helping her increase stocks for her shop. If the shop is successful it will help her pay her school fees, and to save to eventually build her own family home. As she is widowed she is the sole 'breadwinner' for the family, and we're very happy to help.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/32548

Friday, 02 February 2018

Mrs. Be Thi Trang is 21 years old. She lives in Song Cau ward, Bac Kan, Vietnam. She has opened a shoe shop in the market to earn a living and to support herself, her parents and her daughter. The development agency that is assisting her project reports that she has had to live extremely frugally in order to be able to support her family, and in particular to pay her daughter's tuition fees. Along with others, we're helping her invest more money in stock to increase her turnover and profitability. We wish her well, and thank the UTT guests who have made this possible - helping a family to improve their lot.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/31847

Friday, 26 January 2018

Fabian Vallejo quinteros is a single father to his young son. He lives in Atuntaqui, Equador and cooks food in a coal oven for a living. He has been doing this for 15 years and with the income he earns from this business he can cover his and his son’s costs of living. Along with others we've helped him buy an industrial cooker, and tables and chairs for his business. Fabián has more or less 30 regular customers who come for the type of food he offers. He works in the evening and night. He has plans to renovate the building and improve his service, with the aim of increasing the number of regular customers. We wish him the very best in improving his business to assist in bringing up his son.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/32238

Wednesday, 24 January 2018

Pov Chan is 36 years old and has two children, aged 2 and 8 years old. They live in Doung Chenh Village, O Char Commune, Cambodia, and the eldest child attends school. Pov Chan runs a business selling general store items in bulk to his customers. He needs to buy new stock every week at the local market in order to provide for his customers in other districts. He also needs to buy new stock every day from the Cambodia-Thai border. He uses his own minivan to deliver the stock. He buys and sells items such as soft drinks, water and other items. He hires 2 employees to assist him in picking up and dropping off the stock. Each of them earns up to $8 a day from this work. He earns around $40 a day from his business and this is the main source of income for his family. We've helped him increase his stock and improve the viability of his business, and family income.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/31999

Sunday, 07 January 2018

Winnet Ngwendere is a young woman aged 28 from Glen Norah, a suburb in Harare. She is married and has three boys. Winnet sells small items in bulk like phone batteries, chargers, covers and other phone accessories. She sources her stock from South Africa and China, and along with her husband they rent a shop in central Harare. Her business is mostly wholesale, selling a substantial amount of stock, but at a small profit. The business means that the family can send their children to a good school. We've helped Winnet to start to stock mobile phones as well as accessories, which she will source from Dubai. Selling this stock on will enable her to keep her boys in school and support her family. We're happy to help, and thank UTT guests for making this possible.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/31409

Wednesday, 20 December 2017

Yolanda Maigua is 48 years old. She lives in the Cotacachi district of Ecuador. She is a widow and lives with her daughter and granddaughter, whom she supports financially. Her daughter is studying at university. Yolanda has been making and selling handicrafts since she was 29 years old. She sells necklaces and shawls between 5 and 15 dollars (bags go for between 15 and 30 dollars). Through her business she earns around $200 a month. We've helped her buy accessories like coral and plastic rosary beads to make into necklaces and earrings, and to repair the roof of her house which had been damaged by heavy rains. She hopes to increase sales of her crafts to allow her daughter finish her studies and to improve life for her granddaughter in 2018. We wish her all the best.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/31600

Saturday, 16 December 2017

We know Cambodia well (our son was born in the capital), and we love the Cambodian people, who seem to be almost universally good-natured and kind. Sinoun Chhorn lives in O Korky Village, Oda Commune, Cambodia. She is 32 years old and she has been a farmer for several years. Currently she and her husband farm maize on around five hectares of land. They can farm their maize twice a year. and it takes them around 90 days to harvest the crops. We've helped them buy fertilizer and diesel for their tractor to enable them to plough the land to cover their harvest costs and help their family. Thank you, UTT guests, for helping this family to help themselves.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/31432

Saturday, 09 December 2017

Yahya Daoud is 57 years old. He lives in Al-Sheikh Radwan neighborhood located in the Gaza strip in Palestine He is married and has five sons and two daughters. Four of his children are married and three still live with their parents. Yahya started up his own business almost 10 years ago now. He owns a store selling furniture. He buys his stock from wholesalers and then sells it on the local market. He currently earns around $500 per month. We've helped him buy in more stock including beds, closets, desks and dining furniture. With this investment he can increase his earnings and become more financially stable, and help his son to get married. We're grateful to UTT guests for their support.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/31067

Sunday, 03 December 2017

Clara Phiri lives in the Nyimba district of Eastern Zambia. She is 38 years old, married and has three children who are in school. With friends she also helps look after a small group of orphans. Clara runs a grocery stall selling bathing soap, washing soap, cooking oil and candles. We've been able to assist her top up her business capital and order stocks for her stall. With more stock she hopes to increase profits, and help her family. Thank you UTT guests!
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/30913

Monday, 20 November 2017

Ihab is 20 years old. He lives in Thnaba, which is located in Tulkarem in Palestine with his family. His family owns 7 acres of farming land where he has installed a green house, where he grows cucumbers. His father and brothers help him with his farming activity. He has been doing this for 4 years now. Along with others we've helped them buy farming products such as fertilizers and seedlings in the hope that they'll be able to increase the family income from c$800 per month - we wish Ihab well; it's great to see young people starting businesses!
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/30975

Saturday, 11 November 2017

Ontiness Ngwira is based in the Lundazi district of Eastern Zambia. She is 39 years old married and has three children who are in school. She runs a market grocery stall selling washing soap, bathing soap, batteries and salt. Along with others, we've helped her order more stocks of cooking oil, soft drinks and soap. Currently Ontiness is helped to run the business by her relatives but hopes to employ someone in the future if her sales increase. We're happy to be able to help her support her family.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/30699

Tuesday, 31 October 2017

Annabella Navarro lives in Mainggit, Toledo, Philippines with her husband Michael and their three children age 5, 3 and 2 years old. Michael is a computer technician, fixing computers in the locality, and they also together set up a small business making computer workstations to sell locally. Together with the MFI, Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative we've helped them buy materials (wood, varnish, vinyl etc) to help expand their business, and wish the family well.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/30615

Friday, 20 October 2017

Cristian Ramírez is a small-scale farmer from an area called Trapichillo which is near the small town of Catamayo in southern Ecuador. Don Cristian is married with two young daughters, the eldest has recently started school. When he started farming independently he only cultivated a few hundred square metres for fear of failure. However, he now farms around two hectares. These are planted with maize and beans and are sold directly at the farmers’ markets in Catamayo. Along with others, we're helping Cristiano employ a labourer to help with the harvest and hiring machinery to plough the land ready for the next sowing. Thank you UTT guests!
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/29483

Sunday, 15 October 2017

Hamdan is 26 years old. He lives in the Rafah district of the Gaza strip, Palestine. He is married and has three children, all of them are under 18. Hamdan owns a shop selling livestock feed in bulk. His store is located in a strategic location near the commercial area in Rafah. He sells multiple kinds of stock including feed used to fatten livestock and birds, and household essentials such as barley, corn, flour, sugar and salt. He has eight years’ experience in this field and also has good marketing skills to help persuade customers to buy his goods. He sells his inventory to local farmers. His monthly revenue is $450. Along with others, we've helped him buy more stock so that his business will grow and he can attract more customers, helping his family.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/30489

Friday, 13 October 2017

Yousef is 24 years old. He lives in Beit Lahya located in Gaza (Palestine) with his family that consists of his father, mother, his two brothers and one sister. Yousef owns a small grocery store (65 square meters). He sells many kinds of household goods including household cleaners, perfumes and makeup. He started his business one and a half years ago and his two brothers work in the store with him. We've helped him buy more stock to expand the shop, including cooking oil, nappies, sugar, flour, rice, shampoo and packet soup. Yousef hopes to increase his sales and by investing in his business he will continue to help his family in their everyday needs. We're happy to help.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/29948

Wednesday, 27 September 2017

Aliness Lungu is 38 years old, married with four children and lives with her farmer husband in Nyimba district, Eastern Zambia. She runs a small grocery stall selling washing paste, batteries and bathing soap. She has had this business for five years now. We've helped her restock her stall with items like cooking oil, sugar, candle and soft drinks. Her business is growing, and she now wants to stock more household goods. We're happy to be able to help her contribute to the financial well being of her family.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/29891

Sunday, 24 September 2017

Shorouq is 29 years old. She lives in a village called “Kofor Tholth” located near Qaleqlia in Palestine. She is married and has six children. Shorouq owns a nursery, which she has been running for three years. It has three classrooms for the children and a small room for Shorouq and the other four teachers. Her monthly revenue is approximately $700. Along with others, we're able to help her to move her nursery to a bigger place that fits the children and has a big yard for the children to play in. She plans to increase the number of children who can attend because she is experiencing high demand from parents who live in the local area. She will use the money for building repairs and to decorate the nursery, buy tables and chairs for the children and to pay the annual rent for the premises. Shorouq works hard to make sure the children have a positive experience and a great learning environment and she hopes with the new nursery mean that more local children receive a nursery education. The faces of the children at Shorouq’s nursery have been blurred out for protection purposes.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/29842

Friday, 15 September 2017

Mrs. Seng Hun is 28 years old and she has a child aged 2 years old. She lives in Rohal village, Rohal commune in Cambodia. Presently she and her husband cultivate dry season rice on a 17 hectare farm. They harvest this twice a year and their farm yields around three tons per hectare to sell. The have used their own tractor to plough the land over the last two years which helps cut down costs. To ensure that they can continue to farm their rice on time as in previous years, they have applied for help with diesel for the tractor and to cover harvesting costs. Together with Lend With Care we've been happy to help.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/28468

Wednesday, 06 September 2017

Jean Baptiste Mbangutse and his wife are farmers in Mudende Sector, Rubavu District, Rwanda. They have 5 children. One is in secondary school, three are in primary school and another one is going to start next year. To support his family’s day to day financial needs he grows Irish potatoes. He has been in business for 8 years now. Through his potato farming business, he has created temporarily employment for 56 people in his neighbourhood. He wants to expand his potato business but does not have the funds, so together with his local micro-finance institute and others we've helped him to buy seed and equipment to improve his crop. He looks forward to increase his Irish potato harvest by 2200 kilos every quarter. His long-term aim is to open a potato crisp factory. We're happy to help him help himself.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/29388

Thursday, 31 August 2017

Haider Ali makes school bags and rucksacks. He lives in the city of Lahore. He is 20 year old and single. He lives with his four brothers and parents. Three of his brothers are going to school. He sells the bags he makes to retailers in different markets. He visits the markets with a sample bag and gets his orders. On average, Haider Sahib earns around 18,000 rupees (about $171) per month. His household expenses are hardly covered by his income. He wants to expand his business so he has requested a loan in order to buy the materials that he uses in bulk such as fabric, zips and threads. He will buy all these items from Shah Alam market, and cloth for the bags from Azam Cloth market. He is hopeful that he can increase his earnings through this expansion. If his business grows properly, Haider Sahib might be in a position to hire one employee and will be able to take more orders from retailers. We've helped him buy materials to sell more bags, to expand his business...and we wish him and his family well.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/29364

Tuesday, 22 August 2017

Milena Camila from San Antonio, Ecuador is 20 years old and has a 2-year-old daughter. She finished her studies, and with the help of her mother and brothers they started a business making ribbons, accessories and tiaras for little girls. Through the internet she has taught herself countless designs that are appreciated by businesses throughout Ecuador. Her products are even sold in catalogues. We've helped Milena buy more ribbons accessories and threads so that she can produce more stock and support her family. Every month Milena makes around 700 tiaras and 300 hairclips. She loves her work and hopes to go to university soon. She would love to study fashion design, as now and again she also makes outfits for her little girl.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/29113

Wednesday, 16 August 2017

Our friends, Rick and Rich (Rich designed the UTT logo!) were getting married in Newcastle, with their amazing dog Elvis the Boxador as 'best man'. Elvis wanted to raise some money to help the dogs he'd left behind when he was rescued at Brysons Animal Shelter - and we were happy to support their work with a £100 donation. We've supported many dog/pet rescue charities over the years...but only support those with an anti-kill policy. The small, independent shelters of Great Britain are often the best places to support.
http://www.brysons.org.uk/

Wednesday, 26 July 2017

Elsa Belia (28) is a farmer who lives with her family in a village called Nug-as in the town of Alcoy in Cebu province of the Philippines. She has two children who are both attending school. They grow chili peppers, onions and cabbages, and employ four labourers (including Elsa's brother). Along with LendWithCare we've helped the family with a loan to buy agricultural materials for their farm, and to employ more labour. They hope to plant a second harvest of chili peppers this year using the money provided by us (and others).
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/28495

Thursday, 13 July 2017

Idaneth Subong is a married woman, 40 years old with 5 children aged between 18 and 4 years old. Four of her children are attending schools in different level. She is married to Rolando who is 49 years old and they all live in a village called Abucayan which is in the town of Balamban in Cebu province in the Philippines. Idaneth runs a small stall/shop which sells different kinds of cosmetics. She employs one worker to help in the shop which also has a photocopying service. Along with Lend With Care we've helped her expand her business by increasing stock. Hopefully this will bring a more stable income to help support her family.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/27629

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

Like everyone...we were horrified by the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in London. We've made a donation to The Kensington & Chelsea Foundation who will provide emergency and ongoing support to residents and their families. People have lost their homes, their loved ones, and we can all help in some way. We only wish we could do more.
https://www.thebiggive.org.uk/

Saturday, 17 June 2017

Ikrami is 19 years old. He lives in Rafah located in Gaza strip with his family that consists of his father, mother, five brothers and three sisters. All his family is financially depend on him. His family owns a small grocery shop with an area of 13 square meters which was originally part of their house. Ikrami started working on the shop in 2014. The shop specialises in frozen vegetables for example carrots, corn and chickpeas and also chicken and fish. His monthly revenue is $430. The shop is located in a strategic neighborhood called “Saudi Neighborhood”. Ikrami has a good number of customers. His father worked as a construction worker but he stopped working because his permit expired. Ikrami has requested a loan form Reef Microfinance organization to expand his grocery store. He wants to buy 136 kilos of different kinds of fish, a refrigerator for the shop, 90 kilos of frozen vegetables and other items. Ikrami hopes to attract more customers and to increase his income so it can better cover his family’s needs. UTT was happy to help him with a small business loan, interest and risk free, via Lendwithcare.org
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/27605

Thursday, 01 June 2017

Bridge2aid in Tanzania - we donated €100 to help Jeanette in her project to volunteer project in Tanzania "This year I will be taking part in a Phase 2 programme with Bridge2aid in Tanzania. Those of you who have been do supportive in the past will know that we volunteer in rural parts of east africa training local health workers to deliver emergency dental care and oral health education. Phase two will involve me taking part in a team of Uk dentists and nurses training regional dental officers how to deliver the bridge2aid programme , thus empowering tanzanian dental professionals in their own right to take the training to their rural health officers into more remote areas than we as uk volunteers are currently able to access. Three quarters of the world’s population has no access to the most simple dental pain relief, leaving billions to face a daily battle with pain in the toughest of life circumstances. Bridge2Aid believes the impact of untreated caries on people’s lives is huge – and demands attention. There is a simple, affordable and effective way to make access to pain relief possible – train rural Health Workers to safely extract infected teeth and relieve pain. This is what we do. Bridge2Aid empowers Health Workers who are already established and well respected members of rural communities, providing them with the skills, experience and equipment to help those in need. Training is carried out by volunteer dentists and dental nurses who spend approximately two weeks in East Africa with Bridge2Aid participating in a Dental Volunteer Programme. Since 2004, 3.1 million people in East Africa have been given access to safe emergency dental care because of Bridge2Aid’s training programmes. We need your support to help us train and equip more Health Workers in developing countries. Help us eliminate dental pain and suffering to improve quality of life in a growing number of rural communities."
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jeanette-grimley

Wednesday, 26 April 2017

Today we've donated £200 to the East Africa Crisis Appeal - and thanks to the BIG GIVE match funding programme that has been doubled to £400 In South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, drought and conflict have left millions of people in immediate need of food, water and medical treatment. More than 16 million people in the region do not know where their next meal will come from and children are at the risk of dying from starvation. - See more at: https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/dec-launches-east-africa-crisis-appeal.html#sthash.WcR6N0HC.dpuf
https://www.lendwithcare.org/

Friday, 17 March 2017

Lady Lima is a 23-year-old micro-entrepreneur. She is a single mother of a 5-year-old girl and they both together live in Catamayo, a canton in the province of Loja, Ecuador. She has been working in the preparation and sale of food for eight years. At the beginning, she used to sell her products as a street vendor. Later the Municipality assigned hawkers and street vendors a place for them to work during the evening so that they could develop a more stable business. She prepares food during the day and sells it in the evenings. She started working with her mother and now she administers the stall by herself because her mother had to retire. She is pleased because she has grown up with her business. Now, she even has formed a sellers’ association n order to better organize their sales and not to compete against each other. She has been able to raise her daughter via the income from her small business, as she gets no other financial support. She also helps her mother and siblings. She usually sells an average of $ 900 per month which leaves her a profit of c$ 350. We've helped her buy more raw materials for preparing meals, allowing her to buy in bulk and increasing profitability and productivity. She will also buy new tables and chairs with the money from ourselves and others.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/26110

Monday, 06 March 2017

Mom Rong Mrs Rom is 32 and has three children, she lives in Preytoteng Village, Otaki Commune,Cambodia . One child is a toddler, the other two are at school. She and her husband have three hectares of land on which they grow naturally irrigated, seasonal rice. Their present yield is consistently around four tons per hectare, and is supplemented by the rental of six more hectares from local villagers. Renting land is expensive (around $150 a hectare) and provides no capital benefit. To reduce rental costs, improve their overall profitability and create a long term asset, the family wish to buy an extra hectare of naturally irrigated paddy. We, among others, via Lend With Care, are happy to help them achieve this goal.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/25957

Wednesday, 01 March 2017

Muhammad Sajid is 29 years old and single. He has two brothers and four sisters, all of siblings are adult, married and live independently. Sajid lives with his elderly parents in Lahore, Pakistan. He and his father run a greengrocers’ business. They sell various seasonal vegetables from a vegetable stall in the wholesale market. Their primary customers tend to be small vegetable vendors and vegetable shop owners and at times, individual consumers as well. Sajid and his father make a monthly sum of 20,000 Rupees (approx. $192). Both he and his father work extremely hard to earn a living for their family. He now wants to expand his business and has requested for a loan. He will buy larger quantities of vegetables like potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes etc. from the farmers’ market. He hopes that with more vegetables to sell he can increase his overall income and make a better living for his family. We're happy to help.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/25971

Tuesday, 14 February 2017

Sughran Bibi is 49 years old and married, living in Lahore, Pakistan. She operates a small business where she makes and sells artificial flowers. She has been working in this business for almost 10 years and makes an average of 12,000 Rupees (approx. $115) in a month. She mostly supplies the flowers to retail shops in Anarkali Bazaar in the city of Lahore. She has two daughters and a son. Her elder daughter helps her in the business while her son of age 18 is a salesman at a retail shop. He makes a monthly sum of 10,000 Rupees (around $95). Her husband old and is incapable of work anymore. Sughran wishes to expand her business and we've helped her buy raw materials to make artificial flowers. Thanks to the generosity of UTT guests we've been able to help this family help themselves.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/25983

Monday, 06 February 2017

Emily Siaboc is a 36 year old. She has four children ages 17, 15, 13 and 11 years old. All of her children are attending local school. Her husband is Venerando is 40 years old and working with the construction site. Emily has been in food vending for the last 8 years now. She sells ice pops, ice candy, bananas and other homemade delicacies. She buys all her products from a trusted supplier near her home. Emily sells her products in front of a school during the day and in the afternoon. We're happy to help her improve her stall and help her family - thanks to UTT guests
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/25638

Monday, 23 January 2017

Pal Thouk from Poy Wat Village, Changha Commune, Cambodia is 34 years old and currently grows rice eight hectares. He has three children, aged between 13 and 3 years old, the older one is at school. He collects his rice crop once a year, normally the yield is two tons and half per hectare. He rents another villager’s tractor to plough the land at a cost of around $60 per hectare. Apart from the expense he often has to wait until the tractor to rent is available and sometimes he falls behind and has harvesting problems. Together with Lend With Care we're helping him buy a walking tractor to bring efficiency to his farming activity. Thank you UTT guests!
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/25236

Friday, 30 December 2016

Waris Maseeh is 46 years old and a resident of Badami Bagh in Lahore city, Pakistan. He started a school in his neighbourhood, and makes about 30-35,000 Rupees (around $334) every month. Waris is married and a father of five daughters, aged between 17>23, and a son, who is 19 years old. Two of his daughters teach at the school, while two of them are still completing their education. His second eldest daughter, aged 22, helps out with the household work. Waris is looking to improve his school facilities by opening up a fully functioning computer lab. His son who has recently completed his education will run the computer lab. Waris lacked an adequate sum to invest, so we (via charity Lend With Care) have helped him buy good quality computers and other accessories for the computer lab. His son and daughter will help run the lab and provide better quality education to the children. Thank you to UTT guests for helping us make this possible.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/25260

Thursday, 29 December 2016

Nai Phin is 34 years old and she and her husband have been farmers for many years in Svay Chrom Village, Bovel Commune, Cambodia. We know Cambodia well, and have a special softspot for the country and her people. Nai and her family have a rice farm of eight hectares where they grow dry season rice. They normally have 3 tons per hectare and sell it directly to their local middleman. They have used their own tractor to plough the land for the last 5 years. Nai and her husband applied for a loan to cover their farming costs and a part of the loan is to help them buy a cow. We're very happy to help through the donations that we (and UTT guests) have made - thank you!
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/24650

Friday, 23 December 2016

Lester Gonzaga is 25 and lives just outside the small town of Catamayo in southern Ecuador. Don Lester grows short cycle crops such as maize, tomatoes and beans, but also cultivates passion fruit or maracuya. He used to help his mother with farming and after completing secondary school started farming himself on land provided to him by his mother. He started growing maracuya on one acre of land. He has extended production and currently has around one hectare of land planted. The short cycle crops produce a more steady stream of income. He supports his mother and siblings with the income he earns. We're helping him pay two agricultural labourers he employs to help him on a temporary basis, to buy agricultural supplies and to buy some tools that he needs. Thank you for your help.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/24018

Sunday, 06 November 2016

Elara is a Mastin puppy found dumped near our cavehouses in Galera, Andalucia. A hunter found her in an irrigation ditch and then tied up outside an old cave in the pouring rain. Friends who live in Galera went to her rescue. They've ound her a loving home in the UK with a single Mum, who has experience with Mastin dogs and now have to raise the money for puppy & rabies shots, wormer, microchip, kennelling and transport to UK. We've donated £100 to help. We know them personally, and trust them 100% to make sure this poor pup has a good life. If you can donate anything to help, get her to UK that would be kind xxx PS: Elara is one of Jupiter's moons.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/elara?utm_id=107&utm_term=4W9vgAr9g

Sunday, 06 November 2016

Jean-Claude Nshimiyimana from Hindiro Sector, Nyabihu District, Rwanda asked for help to re-stock his shop. He lives with his wife and their 3-year-old daughter. He has a shop where he sells things like cooking oil, salt, sugar, rice, mineral water, juice, tea, soaps, shoes, body oil etc. He chose to sell these products and many others because in the region where he lives, it is helpful to the community for them to be able to get these things close to them. With the funding that we (and others) have provided he'll be able to buy more products including sodas, assorted cookies, breads, and children’s shoes. On average he can earn about £153 per month after paying his expenses. He employs 3 people who help him in these activities and with increased capital he hopes to create work for more employees who would help him to get the goods and deliver them when necessary.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/23636

Wednesday, 02 November 2016

Didier Ntubareyose from Nyabihu District, Rwanda is a grain dealer who wanted help buying more cereals in bulk for selling in his shop. He also wanted to purchase a second grinder so that his customers can grind flour in his shop. He lives with his wife, his son and daughter. His children are still attending primary school. He wants to sell even more cereals in the future so that he can save money for his kids’ school and health insurance. He has been in this business for 6 years. In two years time he thinks he will have an annual stock of 80 tons of cereals, and we were happy to help.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/23445

Sunday, 18 September 2016

Tarseem Irshad is 28 years old and lives in a locality of Lahore, Pakistan called Data Nagar. He lives with his wife, elderly mother, and one sister. He is the only person earning an income in the household. His sister is going to school. He is a photographer and filmmaker. He records wedding ceremonies and other events. He also does video editing and mixing on a computer. He has been doing this for the past 3 years and earns on average about 20,000 rupees per month (about $192). He uses all his earnings to manage household expenses (utilities and food and clothing). His computer is not working properly. Terseem Sahib wants to purchase a new computer with a faster processing speed as well video editing and mixing software license. Along with others (via lendwithcare.org) we've helped him out. Thank you!
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/23237

Monday, 12 September 2016

Tsitsi Mudzivare started a business selling babywear, cosmetics, jewellery, perfumes, bags and various accessories, which she stocks from South Africa and sells in her native Harare, Zimbabwe. The business is situated in the Harare Central Business District and she employs a girl who assists her in selling as well as restocking. Tsitsi is a married mother of three children. We've helped her boost her stock, adding more variety to meet the needs of her various clients. These include jewellery for weddings, and a new range of cosmetics. When she sells her stock she'll better be able to support her family. Thank you for your help!
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/23252

Friday, 09 September 2016

Orn Saing is 49 years old and has three kids, aged between 11 and 29 years. She lives in Poy Kdoeurng Village, Preah Net Preah Commune, Cambodia. Her youngest is at school while her older is already working. Orn farms wet season rice over 2 hectares. To strengthen her working capital in preparation for a new planting season, she has taken a loan to buy another plot of land of around one hectare to increase her produce. Next time she could be farming rice in her own 3 hectares of land, thanks in part to us providing funds (along with others). She will hire ten villagers to help her on both planting and collecting the crops.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/22545

Tuesday, 06 September 2016

Mrs. Bui Thi Ly lives with her husband and their 10 year old child in an old house in Xom village, Nam Son commune in Vietnam. They are a traditional farmer family, earning a living through growing rice on a 1400 sq. meter plot of land and raising 2 buffaloes and 30 chickens. Her monthly income is around 95 USD. We've provided £595 (and paid for all administration) so that Mrs Ly can buy materials to improve her farmland and crop. She plans to buy a bicycle for her child to get to school with the additional income from the next harvest. We're happy to help.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/22682

Monday, 15 August 2016

Tsitsi is a hairdresser from Zimbabwe. She is a 33 year old who has three dependants who are all still in school. She is married and lives in Tynwald South, a suburb of Harare. As well as being a hairdresser she also does cross-border trading to help support her family. She has taken a loan of $600 to improve her salon with mirrors, chairs and redecoration. She will also increase her stock of hair extensions, hair relaxers and other hair products that her clients need. We are happy to help!
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/22080

Thursday, 07 July 2016

Muhammad Aslam is a fancy yarn weaver. He is married and has one son and one daughter. One of his children is old enough to get an education. Aslam-sahib lives with his family in Badami Bagh, an area of the city of Lahore. Although he works hard to support his family, it is really hard to manage all of his household expenses. Aslam-sahib is the only earning member of his household. He makes fancy yarn which he then sells to shopkeepers. The yarn is later used for necklaces and other jewellery items. He has been in this business for the last 14 years. He earns about 19,000 rupees (about £139) per month. Aslam-sahib wants to help his family by expanding his carpet-weaving business. With increased income he hopes to provide a better life for his family. We were happy to help.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/21988

Tuesday, 05 July 2016

Pos Dan is 32 years old and lives in Dambouk Bun Village, Anlong Vil Commune, Cambodia. He farms rice on a land size of two and a half hectares. He grows wet season rice. Growing wet season rice allows him to collect around three tons of crops per hectare to complete market demand. The middleman buys all of his crops from his home after his crops are harvested and collected from the field. When he gets free time from his rice farming activity he works for other villagers; for example carrying their rice sacks, or he works as construction worker. He earns around $8 a day from his extra work. To farm his wet season rice he asked for funds to purchase seeds and pay for the ploughing cost of the rice paddies (one hectare costs $60). We're happy to help.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/21686

Tuesday, 28 June 2016

Sreymao Phan is a farmer from Bovel District in Battambang province in north-western Cambodia. We're familiar with the area of Battambang and its wonderful people. For the last five years or so she has been cultivating rice and cassava. She usually harvests around two tonnes of rice. She has a separate larger area of land measuring around four hectares where she grows cassava. She can usually harvest around 80 tonnes of cassava root. She has been renting an additional three hectares to increase the area she has under cultivation. She pays a total of $750 per year to rent the land. Sreymao requested a loan in order to pay for the costs of ploughing her land. The machinery costs $80 per hectare. She also intends to cover the cost of the annual rent, and pay 10 labourers to help with the harvesting and planting. However, the vast majority of the loan it to buy fertiliser and seeds. We're happy to provide money to help her develop her farm.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/21550

Friday, 17 June 2016

We recently hired local DJ Alec Downie to DJ for a wedding party at utt's La Veranda. Alec cares passionately about the conditions of dogs and cats in Andalucia, and works tirelessly to aid their lives. He offered to work for free in exchange for a donation to a charity he helps with - Spayathon - which tries to reduce the number of dogs and cats in distress by offering free spaying to stray and other dogs and cats. By doing this they manage to reduce the number of animals suffering in the Andalucia region and we were delighted to help. We've seen their work first hand, and they really make a difference. Click the link if you'd like to help, or could help rehome a dog or cat from them.
https://www.facebook.com/andalucia.spayathon/

Tuesday, 14 June 2016

UTT regular and friend Audrey Gillan is spending her Bank Holiday weekend in Calais helping out at the Refugee Community Kitchen there. If we weren't in Spain with a newborn baby we'd go and help out ourselves...but as we can't we've given her £100 to buy essential foodtsuffs that the kitchen has asked for (spices, lentils etc)...and the local Asian shop from where they'll be sourced has kindly also offered a discount. Many thanks to Audrey for volunteering, and to all the good people who help in the kitchen there. They cook around 1500 meals a day (and rising) on limited means, helping people to help themselves.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RefugeeCommunityKitchen/

Friday, 29 April 2016

Poeurt Chan from central Cambodia has been earning a living from farming for the past 40 years. Presently she has grown cassava on around five hectares of land. She harvests after around ten months, generally collecting around 20 tons per hectare. A merchant buys her cassava roots directly from her farm after the cassava has already been chopped. She also hires around ten people to assist her in both planting and chopping the cassava. Poeurt requested a loan in order to pay for ploughing the land (one hectare costs around $40) and to help her pay for labouring costs. We were very happy to offer her a £200 interest free loan and cover administration costs.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/20742

Thursday, 28 April 2016

Besita James from Malawi (Africa) is 26 years old and has one child who goes to school. She runs a small business selling groceries and household products. She required a loan in order to buy more body lotions, soap, sugar, salt, bread, snacks, cooking oil and rice for her business. She started the business to enable her to pay for accommodation and clothes for her family. Her business has been running for 6 years and in the future she hopes to be able to use her profits to open a shop at the local market and to buy a plot of land to build her own house. We lent her £186 and covered administration costs.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/20545

Thursday, 21 April 2016

Mrs. Ha owns a small business that sells general items in Lam Luu village in central Vietnam, where she lives with her husband and their two children. Her eldest child does casual work and her younger child is a high school student. Mrs. Ha started her business 14 years ago. Back then her store only sold milk, candies and biscuits. But now it’s growing well. Mrs. Ha tries to diversify the items she sells. She sells shampoo, detergent, sauces, spices, rice, plastic buckets and many other things. Mrs. Ha has applied for a loan to boost her current selling business and we've given her £150 interest free. The loan will be used to repair her store and restock it with new ranges of general items. Mrs. Ha will return the loan within 24 months, and we'll then pass the money to new projects.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/19445

Saturday, 09 April 2016

We met Ared and his friends on the street outside the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They make their living by selling books on Cambodia to tourists who visit the Palace complex. All three have physical disabilities, but rather than asking for charity (which would be completely acceptable in Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in the world) they print and sell books on the street with a smile. We admired their entrepreneurial spirit, and gave Ared c£50 to allow him to purchase or print more books from which he could profit.

Sunday, 06 March 2016

Charity Chileshe is 39 years old and married with four children, who are in school. She lives with her family in the Chipata district of Eastern province Zambia. Charity runs a stall selling different types of cosmetics, like face powder, lipstick, nail polish and perfumes. The income from her stall, along with that from her husband raises funds for her children’s education and to improve the living conditions of her family. We've loaned her £75 interest free to buy more stocks of powder, nail polish, perfumes and eye liners for her stall. Her ambition is to provide quality education for her children and provide the daily necessities of the family. She hopes she can generate more income from her business so that she can build her own stall to work from.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/19423

Sunday, 28 February 2016

Mr. Heang Howurn grows paddy field of wet season rice in Boeng an Lok villahe, Cambodia. We’re out in Cambodia ourselves at the moment, and daily impressed by the warmth and kindness of the Cambodian people. Mr Howurn collects two and a half tons of crops per hectare for sale on the market. As well as around nine tons of cassava roots per hectare from his general farmland. To get more cassava roots for sale on the market Heang rents another plot of land that is around six hectares. The renting cost for this piece of land is around $200 per hectare. He uses his own tractor to plough his farm. He has been doing this for the past five years. Using his own tractor helps him cut down the cost for renting a tractor and he is able to plough the land on time. To get a strong working capital on his rice and cassava farming he asked ‘Lendwithcare’ for a loan in order to purchase materials, diesel for the tractor to plough the land, money to pay for renting the land and cover the labour costs of harvest. We’ve given him an interest-free loan of £75 to help him achieve his farming project this year.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/19206

Saturday, 27 February 2016

Sugarcane is the main source of income for farmers living in Man Duc commune in Vietnam. Mrs. Bui Thi Mai and her husband are sugarcane growers like others in the village. They own a field of 4500 square meters and take care of their sugarcane plantation on it. Sometimes they raise livestock like ducks or chickens. What they raise depends on their local region’s demand. Mrs. Mai wants to borrow a small loan to start a new sugarcane crop. The harvest day for her current crop is just a few weeks away. The loan will be used to buy young sugarcane trees and fertilizer for this year’s crop. We've loaned her £150 and paid the admin so all the £150 goes to her.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/19293

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

Vayness Mbewe from Malawi is 24 years old. She is married with 2 children who depend on her. Vayness owns a grocery business. She would like to use her loan to buy more groceries, fish and rice to stock up her business. She started the business to be able to provide food and clothing for her family. She works by the side of the road and has been running her business for eight years. Her husband helps with the activities of the business. She plans to open a much bigger grocery business and also build a house for her family. Previous loans have enabled her to reduce the levels of poverty in her home and she has also bought a car. We helped complete her requested loan to support her and her family.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/19126

Monday, 08 February 2016

Daisy Laboga is a 31 year old married woman. Soon she’ll give birth to her second child. Her eldest is studying in elementary level. She is married to Biane who is 38 years old. They all live in the village of Sudlon 2 which is in Cebu province in the Philippines. Daisy and Biane are both engaged in farming. This has been their source of income for the past fifteen years. They mainly grow crops including aubergines, beans and cucumbers. Their harvested crops are being delivered to the Cebu city public market. The profit they earn from the past harvest has been very helpful for them especially in building their house, although it is not totally finished yet. Daisy currently employs two workers to help them in taking care of their crops. Daisy has requested a loan from the MFI, Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative, in order to buy tools and materials for their farm. She has been a member of the organisation for six years and completed several past loans. Daisy hopes for a regular and good harvest to help with the costs of raising her second child. We're very happy to help her help her family.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/18831

Saturday, 23 January 2016

Parveen Bibi is 29 years old and married. She has a son. Her husband sell fish and earns about 9,000 rupees (around $87) a month. They live in an area called ‘Muhala Doshera Ground’ in the city of Kasur. Her son is not of school age yet. Perveen stitches shawls used in winter and sell them to people in her neighborhood and in Kasur market. She buys all her fabric and sewing supplements from ‘Kasur’ and earns approximately 7,000 rupees per month. She has been running this business for the last nine years. Their household expenses are often high so they have to spend all of their earnings in managing their household expenses. Parveen wants to buy clothes in bulk to get a discount. She wants a loan to do a bulk purchase to get the discount. The bulk purchase will increase her profit margin.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/18794

Monday, 18 January 2016

Zeeshan Ali is 20 years old and lives in Singh Pura, which is an area of Lahore in Pakistan. He is single and has two brothers, one sister and mother. Two of his siblings attend school. His elder brother works and earns 14,000 rupees per month. Zeeshan runs a traditional embroidery business locally called ‘Silma Sitara’. His finished clothes are commonly worn by ladies on special occasions such as wedding events or festivals. He started this business about two years ago and manages to earn 12,000 rupees (around $115) per month. He receives orders from retailers from different markets, especially Anarkali Bazar. Zeeshan Sahib visits the retailers, who provide him with the designs they want, and then he buys the necessary clothes and beads from a local market. He wants to raise his income and needs some running capital to invest. He requested an interest-free loan to make a bulk purchase of the materials that he uses; specifically, chiffon clothes, pearls, stones, and fancy yarn in greater lengths and quantities. Thank you for helping us help Zeeshan with his business.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/18711

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

Mrs. Ha is a drink seller living in Phung Chi Kien, Bac Kan. She is 36 and married with one child age 15, who is attending high school. Her husband is a salaried driver with a monthly income of 160 USD. To gain more income, Mrs. Ha sells some popular types of drinks in a rented store near her house. Among the drinks she sells the most are coffee, hot tea and soft drinks. Mrs. Ha is determined to make her business grow bigger to get more income. She plans to buy 20 coffee makers, 50 big glasses and 50 smaller ones. She also intends to buy 20 kilograms of coffee powder.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/18171

Friday, 01 January 2016

Mrs. Linh is 22 and living in Group 12 of Phung Chi Kien. Her kid is nearly one and her mother-in-law is 53. Mrs. Linh’s husband helps her a lot with caring for the baby and with the business as well. Mrs. Linh hires a store where she provides haircut services. Her customers are mostly residents living nearby. She started this business just one year ago. Mrs. Linh has asked for loan to buy two new hair rinse tables and other necessary equipment. She also intends to buy shampoos and hair gel etc. The loan will greatly help her with her investment. Mrs. Linh will pay the loan back in 24 months.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/18169

Friday, 01 January 2016

Bibi Khatoon lives in Hussain Park, an area of Lahore. She is 50 years old and married with one son and one daughter. Both of her children are getting an education. Her husband works and earns 15,000 rupees per month. She decided to start her own business about five years ago. She thought she should also earn, so she can contribute income in managing household expenses. She sells unstitched cloth used to make women’s clothing, as well as ready-made clothing from her home to women who live locally. Bibi Khatoon earns a profit of around 5,000 rupees (about $48) per month. She wants to expand her business and applied for a loan which she will use to buy more clothes of the latest designs from wholesalers. The loan is for 20 months.
https://t.co/ebwWamJ8dU

Friday, 01 January 2016

Mavis has asked for a loan so she can restock her stall with clothing and shoes before the festive season. One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity. Mavis Denga is aged 35 with 3 children. Her husband Jacob Mutoredzanwa installs and repair baking equipment. Mavis and her husband reside in Budiriro, a suburb in Harare. Mavis is a cross-border trader and she mainly crosses to Tanzania and South Africa. In Tanzania she restocks clothes for men and women, babywear and jewellery. In South Africa she restocks kitchenware. She has been in this business for many years and this has improved her way of doing business. She joined Thrive with other business ladies and named their group Aim Higher. They went through the business trainings to enhance their business knowledge. Mavis has been aiming higher from the day they formed their group. She has received her fourth loan and she has utilized the previous loans well. The last two loans she took on an individual basis as other group members dropped off along the way. She managed to increase her business value and diversified her lines of products. She does mobile selling and her profits helped her purchase a business vehicle. This has helped her increase her mobility and efficiency to customers. Currently she is selling from the boot of her car, moving from place to place. Most children and parents enjoy festive season and spend much of their incomes and savings for the year on clothes and food. Mavis has found this consumption as an opportunity to grow her business. She is planning to capitalize on this relaxation in spending habits. She wants to go and restock clothing for both young and old and shoes from Tanzania in order to address the demand during the festive season.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/17880

Friday, 18 December 2015

Mrs. Chenda Van has been a rice farmer for ten years. Her farm land is sixteen hectares. She grows wet season rice. She collects around three tons of crops per hectare to be able to meet the market demand. Since she farms her rice paddy in a big land she invested in buy her own tractor to plough her land. She has been using her own tractor for farming for the past ten years. Using her own tractor helps her cut the farming cost and she is able to farm on time. She is applying for a loan in order to buy commercial fertilizer, insecticide, weed killer, diesel for the tractor to plough the land and cover the harvesting cost during collecting the crops.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/17878

Wednesday, 09 December 2015

Zeeshan Anwar is a seamstress. He is 21 and lives with parents and and one sister. He lives in Badami Bagh in the city of Lahore. His sister is studying. Zeeshan and his mother are running the business of sewing readymade clothes. He visits market to buy fabric and sewing supplements as well to get orders of work. His mother at home cut the fabric according to different sized and then stitches the clothes. Together they manage to earn 14,000 rupees per month. They are hardworking and motivated persons. Working hard to provide good education and living standard. Zeeshan requested a loan in order to purchase fabric in bulks. He hopes they could sew more clothes and earn better. He promises to pay back the loan in 17 installments.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/17061

Monday, 16 November 2015

Rashid Ali is applying for a loan so he could purchase mobile accessories and mobile cards. He has been running mobile phone shop from last 12 years. Rashid Ali lives in Lahore in an area called Badami Bagh. He is 22 years old and single. He lives with his parents, 4 brothers and two sisters. Two of his brothers of age 19-21 support their household by working and they earn 21,000 rupees per month collectively. He runs his shop in rented place (rent is 6,000 rupees). He sells cell phones cases, batteries, chargers, hands free cables, data cables, mobile pouches and calling cards. His customers are passersby and people lives around the area. He earns 12,000 rupees per month. He thinks there is demand for more products but he has no money to invest as he has been using all earnings to cover household expenses. He has applied for a loan. He will buy calling cards, used mobiles, mobile casings, and chargers from the main Mobile market.
https://www.lendwithcare.org/entrepreneurs/index/17805

Thursday, 09 December 2010