kiva — Main feed — Love Your World

Every year for Christmas, my grandma gives each of her grandchildren some Christmas money. Every year she tells us to spend it on something special. I always had a hard time thinking of something special. For most of high school, I was not a spender at all. I bought food and that was most of it. It wasn’t because I was broke or even that I was saving for anything in particular, but I didn’t see a need to buy much. In grade 11 or 12, I was introduced to Kiva and I finally found my “something special”.

Kiva is a way to give microloans to people around the world who are in need. It can be for medical expenses, household expenses, education expenses, business expansion expenses, or other expenses. You can also choose what category of people you give to (eg. women, single parents) or which country you give to. The best part? It is not a donation; it is a loan. They have a 96.8% repayment rate. Each individual is working to repay you and once they have, you are able to reloan those same funds to someone new. And it is so easy! The minimum loan you can give is $25, which is around the same price as a gift exchange gift.

Why is this needed? As illustrated in the documentary “Living on one dollar”, banking systems can be very difficult institutes for the average person to benefit from in most third world countries. They usually require documentation that individuals don't have. They also often have extremely high interest rates and individuals can become stuck in debt and not able to get themselves out. This can also result in individuals losing everything in order to try and pay those ever climbing debts.

I should also note that this plays on the empowerment piece that I have mentioned before. By providing someone with a loan instead of a donation, you are empowering them to invest in their quality of life. When someone’s quality of life goes up, it benefits everyone (them, their family, and their community). They are also then able to take more pride in their work as they are better able to pay back the loan.

If you know me at all, you know that I love people. That is what I am most passionate about, so for me, giving loans to those who need it is my something special. What I think is really great about Kiva is your ability to invest in someone who is passionate about the same things that you are. For example, if you are passionate about the arts, you can invest in someone in that category, or if you are passionate about supporting women, then you can invest in women.

Kiva has been really great because of my rhythm. Every year between Christmas and the new year, I log into Kiva and add my Christmas money to my kiva credit. By that time, many of my loans from the previous year have begun to be repaid. I get to explore the Kiva pages and find people who I want to invest in. It is a great way to either end my year, or start a new year. Are you interested in investing in real people? Check out Kiva here: https://www.kiva.org/