Yang Lon's Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the Yang Lon group, consisting of Yang Lon, Pilot Long, Mao Poun by Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), a partner of Save the Children in Cambodia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 8 months, Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), a partner of Save the Children will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Mrs. Yan Lon has found the loan of $400 to be very helpful in her business. She runs a one-stop shop for local wedding ceremonies; providing chairs, tables, and any other equipment that you would need. She used the loan to purchase some more speakers, tables and chairs.

One challenge that she has faced is that there are several other people in the area who run similar businesses, which makes the competition high. She said that the added equipment that she was able to buy made her more competitive but that she still needs more. Once she completes this loan she hopes to be able to take out another so that she can purchase a generator, which she says will really set her apart from the others.

She says that the other members of the loan, Pilot Loung and Mao Poun are doing well with their fishing. She also mentioned that her business is doing so well that she has been able to hire Mr. Long and Mrs. Poun during some of her busiest times. This, she says, has helped both her and them.

She has four children, all of whom are attending school. She hopes to continue her success, which would allow all of them to finish their studies.

I took a short clip of some of the equipment that Mrs. Yan Lon uses in her business, the link for that is below:

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To watch the video of our visit Here

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If you would like to read more about what it is like to be a Kiva Fellow check out our blog Here

Thank you for supporting a Kiva entrepreneur in Cambodia. My name is Drew Loizeaux, and I have been serving as a Kiva Fellow with one of Kiva’s partners in Cambodia, Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), for the last three months. Working alongside the fantastic staff here, and meeting many of the clients that your loans have funded, has been a tremendously inspiring experience. Without you, the Kiva lenders, none of this would be possible.

Working at HKL with everyone from management to field staff, I have seen first hand the dedication to fostering these relationships. HKL staff serve their clients with an amazing amount of respect and understanding that, in turn, creates a great level of trust between both parties. The Kiva model flourishes with this trust, because many important details of the lives and businesses of the entrepreneurs that would otherwise be missed are passed on to the lenders.

Before I became a Kiva Fellow, my favorite part of the lending process was receiving updates on the Kiva entrepreneurs who I had lent to. It was like a small window into their lives, and it made me feel like I was able to make the world better in some small but tangible way. As a Kiva Fellow, visiting with clients and finding out about the borrowers’ progress is still my favorite part of working with Kiva.

Many of you have received updates on HKL loans, but I know many others have not. We have been working extremely hard to get as many journals as possible written, but with current staffing and the number of HKL loans on Kiva, we have been focusing on the loans that are ending soon. In the next year, we anticipate that you will receive individual updates on a large majority of your loans. In the meantime, I would like to share the videos and journals for three of my favorite meetings with Kiva Entrepreneurs during my time here. I hope you enjoy them!

Soch Han and her family make bricks from the earth on their property. When I went to visit with them, they were removing the bricks from the oven. This activity made a very interesting video, which you can watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofLQtOnADko&_te=mj. Read the entire journal of our visit on her business profile page here: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=46326&_te=mj

Rom Chhoeuy sells fish and traditional fish paste at a local market. When I visited with her, I asked her what her hopes and dreams are for the future. When her kids realized that they were being videotaped, they were very excited about it and spent the whole time waving at me. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN-DBP1CLls&_te=mj. Read the whole journal on her business profile page here: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=53965&_te=mj

Khean Tol has many business endeavors, including farming, raising pigs, making baskets, and making rice wine. When I went to visit her, she was in the middle of making a set of baskets and was kind enough so show me how she makes them. You can watch video of this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNDJQrkc7UA&_te=mj. Read the whole journal on her business profile page here: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=47715&_te=mj.

On behalf of Kiva and everyone here at HKL, thanks again for your loan and continued support of entrepreneurs in Cambodia.

Sincerely,

Drew Loizeaux,

Kiva Fellow with HKL

Phnom Penh, Cambodia