Deam Ya

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Deam Ya by Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL) in Cambodia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 10 months, Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL) will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Deam Ya was not at home when I arrived but I was able to speak with her husband who was home.

He is a rice farmer and has been working on the same land since 1979***. He farms in both the dry season and went season and used his loan to purchase fertilizer, mainly to be used in the dry season. The dry season is the harder time to grow rice and having fertilizer is very important to assuring success. On average, he can make about $500 per season. I asked him why he did not use the loan for the moto taxi like the Kiva profile had and he explained that the fertilizer seemed to be more of an urgent need.

This season (dry) seems to be going well so far which is good because the previous season which ended in November, (rainy) did not yield a good crop. In meeting with several rice farmers in the area I found that most people said that the rains were inconsistent and just did not provided enough water for the last season.

Deam has 3 children, 2 daughters and 1 son, all of whom are grown now. Her husband says that he likes making rice and would like to continue doing so for as long as he can.

***1979 was the year that the Khmer Rouge, led by dictator Pol Pot fell and people were allowed to start businesses again. For the previous 4 years under Pol Pot’s regime most of the population had been forced to farm for rice and give their harvest to the government or just work on government farms.

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