Give a Little-Micro Loans Change Lives.
Money has been tight since I was laid off last October. Like most Americans, I have been struggling to make ends meet. I happen to believe in karma, if you do good things, good things will come back to you. With so much suffering going on in the world, wondering what you can do to help others becomes an overwhelming thought process. A while back I came across an article about Kiva, a micro-lending website. Through Kiva’s website, individuals can lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.How does Kiva work? I think they can explain it best so I pulled this off the website.
Choose an Entrepreneur, Lend, Get Repaid
1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our micro-finance partners worldwide.
2) Kiva’s micro-finance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur’s chances of success.
3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.
4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.
You can lend as little as $25. Basically people like me choose to loan whatever they choose to give, the money is pooled together and distributed to the individual (or group of individuals) so they can begin their business ventures and start enriching their lives.
These are the people I helped:
The group is called the Manos Juntas (Hands Together) Rumichaca Alta. There are 14 members that live in the District of Rumichaca in Peru. They applied for a loan through Kivaso they could buy supplies for agriculture (seeds, corn, barley) and animal husbandry (young guinea pigs, poultry, cattle) and raw materials for those engaged in hand crafts (clay, machinery and such). When I went to the site and started researching entrepreneurs to lend to I saw they were just $25 away from receiving their loan. I decided I wanted to be that person who donated that last $25. It was exciting to think that the group would be receiving news the next day that their loan had come through and I had a part in making that happen! The next day I received an update, the group had been notified and the money was in the process of being distributed. I know tiems are tough for a lot of people but compared to these folks I was living in a lap of luxury. Could I have used that $25? Sure! But to me $25 is a couple subway rides or a meal out, $25 means a lot more to these Peruvians than it does to me. I encourage you to check out Kiva and read what it is about. Trust me, it feels great to know who you are helping and how much it means to them.
