Kiva is an organization that let’s you find individuals throughout the world and loan money to them so they can improve their lives.
I just loaned $25 to a farmer in Azerbaijan who needed $700 total (other people around the U.S. and the world have loaned the rest) to buy12 sheep and enough food to feed them. Over the next 18 months, he’s going to sheer them and sell their wool then kill them and sell their meat and, with the money he earns, pay me and everyone else who loaned him money back and keep some of the surplus so he can buy more sheep. Every week or so, he writes up a report about how the operation is going and I can read about the good my money is doing. It’s economic development and it helps this man and his community. In 18 months, I get all of the money back and I can loan it out again, and again when I get it back, and continually do this, each time helping another person.
Kiva is a non-profit and they survive purely on donations, so all of the money you give goes to the person receiving the loan. They work with local banks to make sure that the loan is repaid. At the specific local bank that gives the money to the farmer I was talking about, they have a 0% delinquency and default rate: no one has ever been late or defaulted on their loan at this bank.
What’s funny is that I feel great now– better than if I’d spent the $25 on a shirt or a meal or something like that. I feel like this could revolutionize the world, seriously, and I encourage you to give it a try and help out your own farmer or store owner or whoever.
Here’s a video of Bill Clinton explaining Kiva. It’s quick and does a great job.
