KIVA … update APRIL, 2011
You may remember that I’ve been enamored with KIVA for a long time. This is a service that specializes in micro-financing to deserving entrepreneurs the world over. For the mere LOAN of $25 I can join with others and make it possible for a person, or a group of persons, to start a small business.
At Christmas time in 2008 I invested $50. That was the amount it cost me to loan to a couple in Cambodia and to a woman in Togo.
Then my children gave me $100 for my birthday in 2009 and I loaned to 4 others.
These three represent Bolivia, Peru and Sierre Leone.
Now I can hardly believe how this has “snow-balled”. At last count I have enriched the lives of 33 needy entrepreneurs without loaning another dime of my own money. I have merely reinvested when the loans have been repaid although I have the option to withdraw my money if that were my choice.
It’s a win-win situation and so different from the handouts that some people have come to expect. I have a blank map of the world and, as I write in the countries where my loans go I receive a history lesson as well. Now I can locate such exotic places as Azerbaijan and Tajikistan and visualize my $$ going to work there.
I find this a very fulfilling venture and I know that at least two of my blogger friends, AC and Philip, think so too.
I hope you will check out the KIVA website. I’ll bet you’ll get hooked just as I have.
At Christmas time in 2008 I invested $50. That was the amount it cost me to loan to a couple in Cambodia and to a woman in Togo.
Then my children gave me $100 for my birthday in 2009 and I loaned to 4 others.
These three represent Bolivia, Peru and Sierre Leone.
Now I can hardly believe how this has “snow-balled”. At last count I have enriched the lives of 33 needy entrepreneurs without loaning another dime of my own money. I have merely reinvested when the loans have been repaid although I have the option to withdraw my money if that were my choice.
It’s a win-win situation and so different from the handouts that some people have come to expect. I have a blank map of the world and, as I write in the countries where my loans go I receive a history lesson as well. Now I can locate such exotic places as Azerbaijan and Tajikistan and visualize my $$ going to work there.
I find this a very fulfilling venture and I know that at least two of my blogger friends, AC and Philip, think so too.
I hope you will check out the KIVA website. I’ll bet you’ll get hooked just as I have.
posted by Ginnie at 5:15 AM
5 Comments:
It really touches me when I get a note from Kiva to tell me that my helpee has been able to repay $1.25 or some such. It makes me realize how lucky I am to be able to blow that and more without thinking -- and I'm not one of the rich ones by a long shot. I think I have to ante up a bit more and help someone else.
I remember you telling of Kiva before Ginnie. I think it's really amazing. Exciting too to see your money going to such deserving people!
Love Di ♥
I think it is terrific, and I may join - so I can get a loan - LOL
About tulips; they are delicate, but if you re-cut the stems when you get them, plunge them into fresh, tepid water and give them fresh water everyday, they should last 7-10 days.
Yes, I have been a KIVA sponsor for several years. And we have a local Money Exchange that has had a few hundred dollars floating around for a few years... We give the money and it gets paid back by some, not by others... but we never expect it to return. It is always amazing that when it does, there is usualy someone with a need within the week.
The difference is - this might be money to get to a brother's funeral or to put tires on a car. Or to pay someone's way home.
I remember this from a post of yours last year. Thanks for the reminder. It sounds very worthwhile.
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