The Business of Lamb Chops

To celebrate Cybershopping Monday, I lent $25 to Casinaldo Torres Moron, a sheep farmer in Peru. He will use the money to improve the quality of feed, which will allow him to produce bigger sheep and sell them more quickly. With more money flowing in faster, hopefully, Moron will increase the size of his backyard flock, put more food on his family's table and repay my loan within a year. I did my little dabble in international banking through Kiva.org. Browsing the website was a bit of brain-power overload with so much to pick from. I could have started with a favorite country, or a gender-specifc request, or a specific type of project. In the end, I clicked on the last page of project requests and there I found Moron's sheep project. Instantly I knew it was the right one for me. I have a weakness for sheep. I spent my summer between high school and college living on my grandmother's farm. My grandfather had died and things were falling apart. My family, moving to the farm, put it back together. Sadly, we arrived too late to fix the small flock of sheep. A dog pack had repeatedly gotten loose in the flock and run the animals. Some died from fright. Others from injury. By the time the dogs were gone, only five sheep remained. The tiny rag-tag flock quickly learned to follow my voice around the yard. I felt like schoolyard Mary. They, no doubt, felt like they might be fed. For them, the terrible time of dog packs was over. And like a sign of faith in a better future, one summer day, a ewe gave birth. Little Jergens joined the flock. I left for college and my parents gave the flock to a neighbor. I like to think that Jergens went on to live a pretty good life for a sheep--one filled with green pastures and protected from dogs. Though, eventually, I am sure he became lamb chops for someone--after all, he was livestock. With my business loan to Casinaldo Moron, I hope his sheep will eat a bit better on their way to being grilled into lamb chops. The Moron family and their sheep both deserve a good life. Check me out on Kiva at kiva.org/lender/florrie1756 That'll link you to any projects I fund, though right now, it's just one.