Thi Hien Vu's Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the Thi Hien Vu group, consisting of Thi Hien Vu, Thi Mai Dao, Thi Hien Le, Thi Ly Dao, Thi Thao Nguyen by SEDA in Viet Nam. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 12 months of this loan, SEDA will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

After riding on a bus for an hour from Hanoi to Dong Anh, and then on the back of a motorbike for another half hour I finally reached Ms. Vu Thi Hien for her interview so that I could write this journal update. Ms. Vu, like many other SEDA borrowers used her loan for supplemental income, and in her case it is to raise cows. Her primary job, however, is as a kindergarten teacher in her local community.

I heard the school before I saw it. As I came around a corner I heard Vietnamese pop music blaring on unseen speakers. When I went through the gate of the school, all I saw were little faces peering out of classes to see what all the commotion was in the front court. I sat down with Ms. Vu on a bench near some playground equipment and started asking her questions.

Ms. Vu used her loan, that all of you lent her, to purchase cows to raise so that she can sell their meat at market. Prior to her loan her only income was from teaching. With her Kiva loans, however, she has increased her monthly salary by 1,000,000 VND (roughly $55). This is actually pretty significant when her salary from teaching is only 1,900,000 VND (roughly $112) per month. Furthermore, she has used her extra income to expand into another business which many of you may find unsettling, but is a way of life here: selling dog meat.

Ms. Vu is a perfect case of how microfinance can really help improve someone’s standard of living. Her increase in her income and her family’s life style is the reason why I keep going out to interview borrowers. It’s so rewarding to come across people like her and know that microfinance is making a difference. Below, I’ve attached a short video of Ms. Vu at the school. Unfortunately it is in Vietnamese, but I asked her to discuss her business and teaching. If I get it translated I will put a transcript in the comments section.