Some time ago she introduced me to the micro-financing organization Kiva. Straight from their website: Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.
This past weekend I hung out with Louanne and her husband Paul a couple of times. On both occasions either one or the other was wearing a Kiva t-shirt. I was so inspired by their socially conscious clothing choices that I finally wandered over to kiva.org this afternoon and lent out my first chunk of money to a woman who makes cheese in Peru to support herself and her six children.
This was in the thank you email from Kiva: We believe this is one of the best ways to empower our neighbors, giving them opportunities to become economically independent, improve their standard of living, and alleviate poverty for themselves and their communities.
Yep. Sign me up for that. Wait. I just did.
1 comment:
Welcome to the Kiva family!
I was talking to my sister today, as my nephew is turning 8 on Sunday and I need present ideas. I asked what he wanted last weekend and he said "Auntie, I just want to help people." It wasn't followed by a list of toys and electronic devices.
I gave him KIVA gift certificates for Christmas and birthday last year and was feeling like a one-trick pony. I mentioned that to my sister and she tells me that he checks his email all the time waiting for the updates from his "people" and gets so excited that they are able to pay the loans because they are doing well.
So, the kid is getting more KIVA certificates. He may never get anything else. If I am the one trick Auntie who nurtures compassion and a genuine spirit of caring for people - then, I'll gladly suffer that fate. Not a bad trick!
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