Raúl

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Raúl by Microfinanzas PRISMA in Peru. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 6 months, Microfinanzas PRISMA will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Mr. Raul Galorza Alvarez is a farmer in the small village of Chires, a two-hour hike up the valley from Huayahuasi, Peru. He and his wife, Mary Luz (pictured here), have three children ages 24, 22, and 16. They all work together in the fields of potatoes and albergha that they own. Raul had experience with the first generation of microfinance (government-subsidized agricultural banks) 18 years ago but has not reengaged in microfinance until now. This is his third loan with Microfinanzas PRISMA and he says that it has gone well. He used your loan to buy fertilizer for his fields in expectation that it would increase his crop yield. He told me that this is his first time using fertilizer; prior to your loan it was out of reach for him. He plants 35 sacks of potato seeds and typically harvests around 20,000 kilos. Because the price for potatoes fluctuates, he says that some seasons are profitable while others have no profit. During planting and harvest times, he often needs extra help; thus, he hires peones (day-laborers) whom he pays 20 soles a day. Mr. Galorza Alvarez dreams of having a house in Huayahuasi (town at bottom of hill) or in Tarma (a larger town of 10,000 about 2 hour drive away).

I made a video of the journey to his village. You can view it on the Fellows blog here: http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2008/12/21/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-kiva-fellow/