Stand Up and Do Something – Good Return.

I’ve been very lucky to receive lots of opportunities via my blog. It’s allowed me to learn new things, meet some amazing people, go to some fabulous events and even make a little money.

I blog because I enjoy it, but I am always aware of how lucky I am to be able to do something I enjoy, be at home with my kids while they are little, and earn some income too.

Money is a powerful thing and contributing to our family finances makes me feel good in ways I never thought it would.

Being lucky isn’t a bad thing. It’s not something I feel guilty about, or something I wish I wasn’t, but it’s also not something I take for granted.

And being ‘lucky’ means I have an opportunity to share it around a little.

Yesterday a media release popped into my inbox. I get a lot of them, and mostly they are not really relevant to me, or my blog. But yesterday was different. Yesterday I read this media release and decided to do something.

Good Return is a non profit organisation set up to help people in the Asia Pacific region access small loans to start a business and help themselves, their families and their communities break the poverty cycle. You can read more about them on their web page.

During the month of March Good Return is focussing specifically on helping women. To celebrate International Women’s Day their goal is to ‘inspire Australian women to share their good fortune with a woman living in poverty in the Asia Pacific’. They would like to fund 200 women in the region who need a small loan… and I am going to help.

There are several ways you can help Good Return, but I have chosen to contribute to a loan.

Pabitra – Nepal

As the wife of a subsistence farmer, livestock is how Pabitra (26) can help the household budget. She has applied for a loan to invest in a goat rearing enterprise, whose income will be invaluable if she and her husband are to cover their normal outgoings. Goats are versatile animals, that require little maintenance but breed fast, and provide both meat and fibre. Pabitra believes that with a few months of good husbandry, she will have mature animals for sale in the market, and in the long run, a viable goat meat enterprise.

Pabitra needs $250 to set up her business, and I’ve contributed $100 towards her loan.

When her business is up and running and making a profit she will repay the loan, and I can choose another loan to contribute that money to. (You can also choose to withdrawn your loan repayment or make a donation in other ways).

I’d really love to see the rest of Pabitra’s request met, so please consider contributing to her loan, or one of the other loans.

Let’s see how many loan requests we bloggers and blog readers can meet before the end of March and how much of our ‘luck’ we can share around!