Hey Man, Can You Spare $25?

Perhaps some of you have noticed the little logo in the right corner, you know the one that says "Kiva: loans that change lives." I put it up around Christmas. My mom had asked for some kind of charitable donation as a Christmas gift this year, something like Heifer International. I don't quite remember how I found Kiva (Mary, I think). It's a person-to-person micro-lending organization. It's so awesome I can't clearly explain it, so go to www.kiva.org for the basics. What I love about it is how you can pick precisely to whom the money goes. If you want to support women expanding their clothing-making business in Ghana to pay their children's school fees, you can do that. And trust me, you'll have multiple choices. I personally focus on Central Asia (Team Tajikistan represent!), but that's just me. Another thing I like is that it pools money from multiple donors for a single loan. It's super-hard knowing that $600 or whatever could change a family's life, but how many people have that much lying around? Now how many people have--at some point in their lives--$25 they could spare? And the best part? You get your loan back at the end of the repayment period. That's right, after the loan is paid off, you get your $25 dollars back. You can take the money, you can give it to Kiva itself (to cover overhead), or you can lend it to someone else and start the cycle anew. It's like the $25 that keeps on giving.

In conclusion, micro-lending is awesome, Mother's Day is coming, what would Mom like more than making the world a better place (and maybe some flowers)?