Leonilde Da Graces

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Leonilde Da Graces by Hluvuku-Adsema in Mozambique. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 16 months of this loan, Hluvuku-Adsema will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Last week I had the great pleasure of meeting with Leonilde da Graces to discuss her kiva loan. Leonilde took out the loan to help finance the start up costs of a small shop that serves essentially as a general store. This was a very big ordeal for Leonilde as running this store will be her primary source of income after she retires from teaching in the fall. Right now she has one employee that works at the store. Leonilde has been teaching at a local elementary school for the past 35 years. That's right, 35 years! WOW!

Her home and her store are directly across the street from the school where she currently teaches. In the future she would like to sell snacks and school supplies to her ex-pupils. After looking around her store and home Isabel took me over to her school. To my surprise the 50+ fifth graders were queued up, ready to sing for me. They sang a song in Ronga, one of the many indigenous languages in Mozambique. Fortunately I was able to record their performance, and here it is for you viewing pleasure!

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