Sesawi A1 Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Sesawi A1 Group, consisting of Sem Tokael, Agustina Tokael, Thobias Tokael, Hana Lasbaun, Johan Takenen, Yesip Bana, Yafet Tasey, Kornalia Nenosaban by Tanaoba Lais Manekat Foundation (TLM) in Indonesia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 12 months of this loan, Tanaoba Lais Manekat Foundation (TLM) will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Hello Kiva Lenders,

Last week, on the 23rd of July 2009 our Kiva Field Officer and Kiva Fellow – Cissy visited Usapi Sonbai Village to get an update on Sesawi A1 Group. Usapi Sonbai Village is situated far from Kupang city so they needed for about one and a half hours drive to get into the village. The road in this village is bumpy and has not been asphalted yet. There are many coconut trees grow in this village.

When they arrived in Usapi Sonbai Village, they met Sem in one of the cattle group member’s house. Sem then followed the field officer and the Kiva fellow when they went to the house of the other cattle group member’s house to verify the loan. He then was interviewed at that house. Sem was nice and polite when he talk to the field officer and the Kiva Fellow.

Sem Tokael is the group leader of Sesawi A1 Group. He was born and grew up in this village. He has received a loan amounting to IDR 3,300,000 and the loan has been spent to buy cattle to be fattened over a 12 month period.

Sem is very happy for his dream has came true. He never thought that he will be able to receive the loan like this. This is the first loan cycle for Sem. After having the cattle, Sem has additional activity to look after and to feed the cattle. He hopes that the cattle will grow well so he can sell it at a good price. He is optimistic that he can get a large profit from the cattle selling in the next few months.

As a father Sem is responsible to meet all of his family needs. He works hard for that. He usually starts to work on the farm at 05.00am by cultivating his farm and feeding the cattle until at 09.00am and then he goes to Inpres Market to sell his agricultural products. It is situated for about 37 km from the village.

When the products have been sold, he returns to the village to feed cattle and goats. Even though he only earns small profit from the agricultural products, he is grateful for God still blesses his family.

Sem recognized that he has difficulty in meeting his family needs but he is not interested in joining some microfinance institutions which operate in this area as the interest rate offered is too high. Sem is worried that he would not be able to repay the loan with high interest rate.

As a farmer and breeder, Sem is quite busy but he usually attend Sunday Service at Church with his family every Sunday. He also sets his time to participate in church activity such as household devotion.

This far Sem does not face difficulty in financing his children’s education as the government has provided BOS Fund (School Operational Fees) for Elementary School.

Sem said the loan that he received is a blessing for him and family. Sem was speechless when our Kiva Fellow - Cissy showed him a copy of Sesawi A1 Group on the website. He and other group members were surprised that the lenders in the world are willing to lend their money to help poor people like them even though they are far away in West Timor. He really appreciates the loan provided by Kiva Lenders through TLM Foundation. He hopes that KIVA as TLM’s Partner will never stop to assist poor farmer like them.

Thank you Kiva Lenders!!!

TLM staff