Give A Little Bit
Continuing this week’s theme of giving here at 365Things.org, I want to offer you the opportunity to consider helping someone you will never meet, never speak with, and never know. Someone who doesn’t even live in this country.
Now, before you leave… stop for a minute and think about the people who helped you when you were first getting started in life. Maybe your parents come to mind, or your high school english teacher, or maybe it’s your first boss. Whomever you are thinking about right now, think about this action as an opportunity to repay that debt, by helping someone else create some more.
What? Help someone by creating more debt? OK. Here’s the deal: The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize went to Muhammad Yunus, “for advancing economic and social opportunities for the poor, especially women, through their pioneering microcredit work.”. What is microcredit? Put simply, it is the giving of very small loans to people who might not be able to access funds from typical sources, to start a business and improve the way of life for them, their families, and their villages.
Kiva.org is an organization that does an excellent job of finding and matching needy entrepreneurs with folks like you and me. You can visit their website, find a loan candidate, sign up, and track that person’s progress as their business grows. And you are only one of a number of people who loan to one individual, so your risk is minimized. More importantly, you become part of something bigger. And you’ll feel good. Really good. You can start with an investment of just $25.
When I say very small loans, I mean very small. $850 could help a mother in Latin America start a small sewing business. $300 might be just what a young woman in Peru needs to help grow her citrus fruit business.
Now, remember, these are loans, not gifts. Which means, in all likelihood, your money is repaid, in full.
Kiva, started by husband and wife team Matt and Jessica Flannery in 2004, has an impressive track record, and displays its results right on the front page of their site. This week alone, Kiva’s lenders have made over 8000 loans, to the tune of over $635,000.
Personally, I made a loan to a woman in Guatemala to help her buy materials for her weaving business. And you know what? I feel pretty good about it.