CAMBRIDGE, MA -- September 23, 2002 -- The Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS) is helping Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Jos Ramos-Horta collect donations for his loan fund benefitting small business redevelopment in East Timor.

"It is a micro-financing scheme to lend money to poor people," explained Dr. Ramos-Horta, who is Minister of Foreign Affairs for the newly independent country. He said the fund lends from $100 to $600 in US dollar terms to each business to start businesses like dressmakers or shoe repair shops. Already the fund has issued loans to approximately 1,000 people, benefitting an estimated 10,000-20,000, and the repayment rate has been very good, he said.

Dr. Ramos-Horta said he started the fund himself using most of his $400,000 share of the Nobel Peace Prize, which he won for his efforts to end the violence and win independence for East Timor.

Donations can be made by making out a check to "Timor Aid JRH Micro-Credit for the Poor" and sending them to Timor Aid Fund, c/o MAPS, 1046 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02139. More information is available at www.Timoraid.org.

About MAPS
MAPS is a private, non-profit organization that works with and for the Brazilian, Cape Verdean, Portuguese and other Portuguese-speaking communities to increase access and remove barriers to health, education and social services through direct services, advocacy, leadership and community development. The organization was founded in 1970 and has offices in Cambridge, Somerville, Dorchester, Allston and Lowell.

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Copyright © 2002 Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers, Inc. All rights reserved.