Making New Loans

     I'm back again . . . I know it's been awhile since I've posted a kindness story.  I've been doing acts of kindness here and there, though not with the consistency (not that I intended to) that I had last year.  I've got some thoughts germinating for a 2014 project, so stay tuned for that.  In the meantime, here's a quick story from today.
     I've written before about one of my favorite sites, Kiva.  This is a site that facilitates making micro finance loans to borrowers all over the world.  For as little as $25, any of us can participate in a loan being made to a person, usually in a 3rd world country, who might not otherwise have access to capital.  Lending organizations on the ground actually make the loan, and Kiva serves as the intermediary to aggregate contributions from and repayments to tens of thousands of lenders like you and me.  It's truly an amazing site.
     This evening I participated in two new loans.  The first was for an 18 year old man in Palestine who has opened his own small store to do maintenance on electrical machines.  He's borrowing $1900 to buy tools for his work and he'll be repaying it over 28 months.
     My second loan was for a woman in Armenia who sells perfumes to local people to help support herself and her 2 children.  She's borrowing $750 to buy more stock to resell.  She'll be repaying the loan over 26 months.  
     I've now participated in 15 different loans.  Eight of those have been fully repaid and all the others are paying back on schedule.  In fact, the default rate on these loans is something far less than 1%!  How amazing is it that any of us can easily participate in helping people all across the world?!
     By the way, a great holiday gift to consider is to give someone a Kiva card.  Kiva will send them a notice of your gift and then the recipient goes on line and chooses a loan they want to help fund, using the money you contributed.  This gets others involved in making loans and making a true difference.  I did this for both my children last year.  Check it out.

Two More Loans

     Regular readers of this blog will know that I have many times written about one of my favorite sites, Kiva.org.  Kiva is an organization that aggregates small amounts of money from thousands of people and facilitates the use of that money to make micro loans to hundreds of thousands of hard-working people in third world nations.  Through this site, I've already participated in 8 different loans, 2 of which have been repaid in full and the others are all being paid back right on schedule.  This evening, I used some of those repaid funds to make 2 new loans.

     My first loan was for a 38 year old farmer in Zambia.  This father of eight grows fruits and vegetables which he sells in a nearby market.  He wants to borrow money in order to buy a water pump which will enable him to expand his production and create a more predictable harvest since he'll be able to irrigate even in the dry seasons.  Believe it or not, right now he has to water his crops by literally carrying buckets of water to his fields.  The pump will make this process more efficient, allowing him to expand the area that he can farm.

     The other loan I made tonight was for a woman in Tajikistan.  This woman is trying to start a new business sewing and selling women's gowns and dresses.  She's completed a course in starting a business and is now raising the capital necessary to buy a sewing machine and fabrics.  My contribution will help her to raise that capital.  She'll be paying the loan back monthly over a period of 14 months.

     How cool is it that virtually all of us can make a material difference in the lives of people half way across the globe?  And these aren't people needing or looking for handouts.  They're hardworking, enterprising, people who just need small amounts of financing in order to start or to expand their businesses.  And by the way, the default rate on Kiva loans is a fraction of 1%!  I just love this organization and love participating in these loans.

What's a Kiva Card?

     I've written multiple times this year, including a couple of weeks ago, about the amazing organization Kiva.org.  This is the organization that helps aggregate and distribute funds from thousands of people to create micro loans to thousands of small borrowers in third world nations.  Incredibly, in 2012, Kiva surpassed $380 million in loans to over 940,000 borrowers in 66 countries, all while maintaining a 99% repayment rate.  Traditional banks only wish they did as well.  

     Well I recently learned about a great way to spread the Kiva "opportunity" to help even more people.  Today I bought "Kiva cards" as gifts for my son and daughter.  It's incredibly simple to do and yet incredibly powerful as well.  You can buy a Kiva card as a gift for someone for as little as $25.  The card can be mailed or e-mailed to the recipient.  When the person receives the card, they simply go on the site and use that money to participate in making a Kiva loan.  The reason I'm so excited about this is that it gives Ben and Hannah a chance to experience the process of choosing a person to lend money to, helping to make that loan a reality, and then seeing the repayments come in over the ensuing months.  Hopefully this will start them on a path to making many more loans on their own.  What a great way to get people hooked.

     I love things like this because of its "leveraging" effect.  I'm giving a gift to my kids.  At the same time, they're giving a gift to someone across the globe, who in turn will be better able to take care of their own family.  And perhaps most importantly, my kids are getting a firsthand lesson on the power of kindness.  Can't beat that.  Gets me thinking about giving Kiva cards to many more people over the coming year.  What a great birthday gift, "thinking of you" gift, or celebration of anything gift.

Great Gift Idea

     How 'bout this for a great gift idea?  Give someone a Kiva card so that they can begin making micro loans to hard-working people across the globe.  Let me explain.

     I've written numerous times about the organization Kiva that helps to aggregate small funds from thousands of people to make loans to hard-working people in mostly 3rd world nations.  Through this site, I've already participated in 8 different loans, all of which have either been paid back in full or are paying on time.  Well, Kiva also makes it easy to give others the opportunity to make loans through a Kiva card.  For just $25, you're basically donating money for your gift recipient to use to make a Kiva loan.  In this way, others can start making loans and experiencing the amazing impact virtually all of us can have.

     This evening I purchased two such cards to be delivered as gifts.  I was even able to have the cards e-mailed to arrive on Xmas day.  There aren't many better gift ideas than that!

Sewing for a Living

     It's so hard to imagine the challenge that most people around the world face as they try to make a living to support their families.  This evening, I was reading about a woman in Columbia who is a single mother and sews to provide for her family of 6.  Apparently the motor on her sewing machine is dying, and she is trying to borrow money to get it fixed as well as to purchase supplies.  Through Kiva.org, I decided to participate in making a loan to her.

     The loan to this Columbian woman is the 8th loan in which I've participated this year.  All are to people in 3rd world nations who are working hard to provide for their families.  Every loan is being paid back exactly on schedule, and one has already been paid back in full.  Sometimes people just need a chance.  Kiva helps to give these people that chance by creating the mechanism for people like you and me to provide support.  These contributions truly are loans, not handouts.  It's a great way to truly make a difference.

Making Another Loan

     I'm proud to say that I participated in my 7th international micro-loan this evening.  This time, I helped a farmer in Peru to buy some fertilizer.  He's a 47 year old man who has 6 children.  On his farm he raises cattle and guinea pigs and chickens.  The organization I do this through is called Kiva.  All of my other loans have been paying back right on schedule and one has been fully repaid already.  

     If you've never checked it out, I'd encourage you to take a look at Kiva's site.  It's easy to participate in a loan for as little as $25.  What an amazing way that almost anyone can help to make a difference for hard-working people in impoverished 3rd world nations.  As your money gets paid back, you can either pull it out, or redeploy it back into another loan.  These people are not looking for handouts - just small loans that help them to expand their businesses and to achieve self-sufficiency.  Isn't that what everyone wants?

Another Loan

     This evening I got a notice from Kiva, the organization I've been using to participate in microloans around the world.  The notice gave me the details of the repayments that had been made on the loans I've previously made.  I was thrilled to see that all 5 of my loans are repaying on schedule.  When the money gets repaid, I can use that credit to reduce my outstanding position, or I can re-lend that money toward another loan.  That's, in fact, what I decided to do.

     I made a loan to a woman in the Philippines who is working hard to support her family of 7 children.  She has 2 jobs:  she has a general store and she also has a motorcycle transport business.  For her transport business, she's borrowing money to buy spare parts.  She's trying to get $500 which she'll then pay back on a monthly basis.  I was happy to be a participant in that loan along with a number of other lenders.  

     Every time I go to the Kiva site I get excited.  It's such an amazingly simple way of aggregating small amounts of funds from lots of different generous people in order to make a meaningful difference in the lives of strangers in poor countries across the world.  These are people who are working hard to support themselves and their families and simply need a little assistance.  Assistance that will be repaid as well!  For as little as $25, any of us can help people to help themselves.  How great is that?!

Making Another Loan

     Yesterday I received an e-mail from the organization Kiva.  This is an organization I wrote about a couple of months ago that simply amazes me.  Put as simply as I can, it's a site that aggregates small amounts of money and facilitates making micro loans (and collecting repayments) for people all over the world.  If you've not looked at this site, do it now.  Truly amazing.

     Anyway, the e-mail that I received was showing me the repayments that had been made on the 3 loans in which I'm participating.  I contributed just $25 to each of 3 different people and, together with many others, we were able to fund loans that could be the difference between success and failure for people trying to build tiny businesses in 3rd world nations.  The repayments come back to me as credits in my account.  Today, I applied those credits, and added a little more to fund a 4th loan.  This one was for a woman in an Asian country called Tajikistan.  She is applying for a loan of $875 to buy more cattle that she raises for her business.  How cool is it that I'm actually helping individual people around the world to achieve a greater degree of self-sufficiency and perhaps an end to their poverty?  

     I don't know who had the idea for Kiva, but it's a brilliant one for allowing so many people to participate at small amounts of money, and track both the impact of the loans as well as the repayments.  Anyone who is pessimistic about the state of the world should spend more time looking at sites like these. Very life affirming.

Making Loans Around the World

     Today I made loans to help a woman in El Salvador buy supplies for her small cafe, a woman in Mongolia buy more stock for her wallpaper retail business, and a woman in Kenya buy material for the shop from which she sells clothing in local markets.  Pretty amazing.  How did I do it?  Read on.     

     A good friend recently turned me on to a pretty amazing website (Kiva.org) that facilitates the process of enabling almost anyone to make "micro loans" to people all around the world.  A micro loan is a small loan typically provided to a poor person who wouldn't normally have access to traditional sources of financing.  These loans are usually used to assist people in growing their small businesses, helping them to break out of the cycle of poverty and gain greater financial independence.  You can read all about how this works, see pictures and stories of borrowers, contribute to loans and even track repayment schedules all on the site.  Truly remarkable.

    People often say that technology is making the world smaller and smaller.  We can instantly see and talk to people who are literally halfway across the globe.  Technology is also making it easier than ever before to spread kindness around the world.  How else would I be able to directly help finance a small business in a tiny village in Africa while sitting at my computer at home?  What a great way to truly understand that we live in a global community and that we absolutely can make a difference.