Thursday, November 20, 2014

Positive Things

Our current Kiva loan recipients
Since I often complain about things that are wrong, I wanted to highlight something that is right. Kiva is an amazing organization that give micro loans to individuals around the world in order to start or expand small business enterprises. Years ago I made a small investment in this organization and over the years, that small investment has been reloaned nine times. Today I had to smile when I got notice that part of the current loan had been repaid - 44 cents. For Americans, 44 cents is a trivial amount. We probably can find more than that in the nooks and crannies of our cars and sofas. However, for the group that borrowed the money, a small food market in the Dominican Republic, that is a tremendous amount. And the fact that we've had no defaults on any loans is impressive. Although I get nothing in return, I consider it my best investment.
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1 comment:

David said...

Cherie, the Kiva concept is indeed an amazing way to give those in third world countries a hand up. In my travels to Nicaragua, two of the young girls with our team set up a similar system to help those that did bicycle transportation. The workers had to rent the bike cabs and try to earn more than the rent was each month to survive. The fund had enough money to fund three loans and was set up for them to buy their cab and pay back the loan to be loaned out again. The funds were put under the umbrella of a local church and as far as I know that loan process is still going on. People in the third world countries, even though they are poor, are hard working proud people. Given just a little hope and a chance, they will succeed. Thank you so much for being a part of the Kiva project and making a huge difference in people that you will most likely never know or meet.

Have a great day in your generosity.

November 20, 2014 at 9:05 AM

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