International Service

Micro Loans 2011

Micro loans are very small loans that range anywhere from $100 to $3000 or more. The people who apply for a micro loans are from countries where credit does not exist, so in order to start a business or even build a wall, you can only build what you can afford at the time. The banks do not give loans this small mostly because there is very little profit for them to make off of the loans and the people who typically want such a small amount are considered to be high risk clients. The great thing about these loans is that it gives people the capital they need to start a small business, keep a business running, or even buy livestock and seed, whatever they need. They then pay the loan back in small increments.

What Boston Rotaract’s plans are for the micro loans is to raise enough money to fully sponsor one or two loans. For the actual lending process, we are going through Kiva, http://www.kiva.org, which is a non-profit organization that helps establish links between lenders and those they are lending to. The great thing about Kiva is that when the loan is completely repaid, we get the option of re-lending the money we just got back to somebody else. So not only are we helping the initial recipients of our loan, but we are going to keep the process going indefinitely. In the end, we hope to have helped as many people as we can be successful entrepreneurs.

Past Projects…

Guatemala 2010

In August ’10, Boston Rotaract, turned its international focus on:

The Boston Rotaract Club partnered with Catherine and Will Reyes of Rhode Island and the Rotaract Club of Guatemala Sur to complete a project geared towards water, sanitation, and hygiene.

In the mountains high above Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan, many families do not have access to safe, clean drinking water. This region has one of the highest incidence rates of childhood diarrhea, due mainly to its contaminated water source, but also complicated by sanitation issues and bad hygiene practices.

Our group traveled to Guatemala to deliver soaps, vitamins, and shoes, and to install water filtration systems in rural communities.

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Peru 2009

C.E.P. Corporación educación popular (Association for Education of the Ordinary People)

A private school founded by Father Tumba to benefit poor, underprivileged children in Trujillo, Peru. The children receive free education, school materials, and lunch. What was once an empty, dusty terrain is now a thriving school complete with classrooms, cafeteria, playground, a garden, and even a beautiful mural. Boston Rotaract’s Kaitlyn Winegardner and Christina Stromberg visited in June, July, and August of 2009 to deliver 3 editions of English text books and CD-roms and volunteer at C.E.P. doing construction work, painting a mural, and assisting in the classrooms with the children.