<p>I have been loaning money (0% interest) to poor businesses in the world through ww.kiva.org. Micro-financing. My first loan ($25) to a seamstress in Mexico has been paid in full. All my other borrowers are paying their money on time. This is her story,“Magda is married and has three children–two boys ages 9 and 13 and a 7-year-old girl. Her husband works for the Mexican Social Security Institute. Magda has been sewing for 14 years and has always enjoyed it. In the beginning, she only sewed for her own family. When her children started school 7 years ago she sewed their uniforms, and in time others began asking her to do some tailoring for them and she became known and made a business out of it, hoping to finance a good education for her children. Magda is asking for a $250 loan to stock up on cloth. So far she has only done sewing but now she would like to expand her business and offer cloth for sale.”</p>
<p>Thank you for posting this! I checked out the site, and I think it’s such a great idea. I just love looking through all the profiles and seeing what people are planning to do with their loan money.</p>
<p>I lent $25 to a merchant in Azerbaijan!</p>
<p>Thanks mollie…one new lender at a time. Now you are one of 83,328 lenders.</p>
<p>Saw your wedding plans. You are going to have a beautiful wedding.</p>
<p>I saw who you lent to…You will have to wait bit longer for his loan to get funded. White Males have tough time.</p>
<p>Two Kiva loans I’ve been part of have been paid off; a third is in the process. I think Kiva is such a good idea! I also gave a couple of small loans as gift certificates (not sure that’s the right term) to my nephew and son when they graduated from college. They chose the loan recipients and have been thrilled to watch their loans too being paid off. I hope Kiva becomes a regular part of their lives.</p>
<p>I have loaned to two women in Kenya–one bought a cow, one runs a grocery stand. Both are in the process of re-paying. We also gave several Kiva gift certificates to a colleague who has just retired–she is thrilled to be able to help people in this way.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for posting this, its such a wonderful way to help people. I just lent $25 to a woman in Cambodia.</p>
<p>It is sustainable peer-peer way of fighting global poverty. Unlike other charities where your money goes to a general pool, here you can ‘see’ who your are loaning to, you can read and feel the struggle this person is going through. It is sustainable because once your loan is paid, you can recycle the money. Women are the most exploited in third world countries. Their labor feeds the family. Almost 75% of the borrowers and loan recipients on Kiva are women.</p>
<p>A week worth of Starbuck can go a long way.</p>