Helping others

We'd mentioned this before and no one took a stab at it; time to ask again.

One of Uncle Rodrigo's rare acts of humanity was to introduce us to Kiva.org, which lets ordinary folks make microloans to businessfolk in developing countries.

At this point, 485 businesses are seeking money. We've got $250 back from earlier loans (no defaults!) so, to cover Kiva's 10-percent overhead, we can make 9 loans of $25, or a smaller number of larger loans.

Why not flip through and make us some suggestions? It's actually kind of fun to figure out who is likely to succeed and help them get there. Realize, of course, a 6-month loan may ultimately do more good (because of later reinvestments) than an 18-month loan.

So far, we've helped:

Melecio Peñafiel, an Ecuadorean tailor;

Wilson Morocho, a furniture maker in Ecuador;

Umid Ismoilov, a Tajik vegetable trader;

Muhabat Muratova, a bedding saleswoman in Tajikistan;

and Mavjuda Juraeva, a Tajik woman who bought an inventory of children's clothes.

Who's next? Please help.