Light up a life: A family fishing business making college dreams a reality

This holiday season, you can light up a life by making a loan on Kiva, or giving the gift of a Kiva Card to someone you love.

Flordelisa is a fisherwoman living in the Philippines. Ignited by the desire to send her children to college, she searched for a way to provide access to a good education. The solution that brightened her entire family’s future: a Kiva loan supported by lenders around the world.

When she worked for someone else, Flordelisa struggled to earn enough to pay for school fees. She decided to use a Kiva loan to purchase her own pump boat and start a family fishing business.

Now, she and her husband are both entrepreneurs. The family’s business is thriving and they are able to employ 5 additional people to help them maintain operations.

Most importantly, “I was able to send my children to high school and later on to college,” Flordelisa said.

Flordelisa dreams of purchasing 2 more pump boats to continue expanding her business.

“I am proud to say to other people that, in life, you need to have hard work and perseverance to reach your dreams,” she said.

And we are proud of all the Kiva lenders and borrowers, like Flordelisa, who choose to light up each other’s lives and their communities each day.