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Help people, help yourself: Kiva
Oct. 4th, 2012 10:06 pmI've been very grumpy for the last 24 hours. I made the mistake of watching the presidential debate, and I've been pissed off and hating Romney ever since. (Previously I only disliked him.) He was so rude, refusing to stop talking, talking over the moderator, arguing with the moderator, not to mention the usual stuff like lying and saying whatever he has to to make people like him. But no, people aren't calling that rude. He was "aggressive", which is a good thing! I swear, my dislike of the general public and everything has grown so much. Is this what we want? People who refuse to follow the rules? People who talk over other people? (I shouldn't be surprised. Bully is as bully does.)
Anyway. This post wasn't supposed to be ranting. I've been doing enough of that in my head the past day. (And just typing that up has me all angry again, grrrrrr.) This post is about Kiva, the microloan group.
One of the loans I made had a payment, so I went to the site to see how much credit I had. Just over $10, so I looked into donating it back again. I found this woman, who for some reason reminds me of my mother (my mother isn't Asian, but the shape of the face and body are similar, and the shirt? and the way she's standing? Hair? Not sure, but it really pings me). This woman is working as a librarian in her local school, as well as raising livestock and mending clothing on the side. Why? So she can "save enough to pay for her children’s education".
I forgot donations are usually $25 and I had only $10 credit, but I covered the difference myself. And it made me happy (until I started this post :P ).
Kiva is an amazing group. Say you start with a $25 "donation". Within the stated time period (generally a year), you get paid back. Kiva has a 98.96% repay rate for the 264,217,700 loans it has made. It's nearly certain you will get your $25 back.
So once you have the $25 credit, you can either take your money out and keep it, or loan it out again.
The woman I donated to tonight is getting a $2,150 loan ($25 from a bunch of people). Two thousand dollars wouldn't change a life here in America, but elsewhere it can make a massive difference.
I'm able to invite people and you will get a free $25 to donate if I do. No charges, no strings. If you'd like an invite, please leave a comment with your email address. I have comments set to screened, so no one else will see your address.
Anyway. This post wasn't supposed to be ranting. I've been doing enough of that in my head the past day. (And just typing that up has me all angry again, grrrrrr.) This post is about Kiva, the microloan group.
One of the loans I made had a payment, so I went to the site to see how much credit I had. Just over $10, so I looked into donating it back again. I found this woman, who for some reason reminds me of my mother (my mother isn't Asian, but the shape of the face and body are similar, and the shirt? and the way she's standing? Hair? Not sure, but it really pings me). This woman is working as a librarian in her local school, as well as raising livestock and mending clothing on the side. Why? So she can "save enough to pay for her children’s education".
I forgot donations are usually $25 and I had only $10 credit, but I covered the difference myself. And it made me happy (until I started this post :P ).
Kiva is an amazing group. Say you start with a $25 "donation". Within the stated time period (generally a year), you get paid back. Kiva has a 98.96% repay rate for the 264,217,700 loans it has made. It's nearly certain you will get your $25 back.
So once you have the $25 credit, you can either take your money out and keep it, or loan it out again.
The woman I donated to tonight is getting a $2,150 loan ($25 from a bunch of people). Two thousand dollars wouldn't change a life here in America, but elsewhere it can make a massive difference.
I'm able to invite people and you will get a free $25 to donate if I do. No charges, no strings. If you'd like an invite, please leave a comment with your email address. I have comments set to screened, so no one else will see your address.
