Yet another thing stolen from Eastman, because she's that damn cool
So, Jessica Eastman, one of the most amazing and selfless people I know, posted a link to kiva.com, a website where you can make make small loans to people in developing countries. So far, I've made two $25 loans to two groups of women in Pakistan: one to help buy inventory for their families' grocery store, electrical store, shutter business, and repair a farm tractor; and the other to buy inventory and equipment for their clothing shop. I think it's pretty spiffy. The Kiva business model is that 100% of your loan actually goes to the people "on the ground." They ask for donations to help them keep going, and I donated, but it's cool to know that my the time the money gets to these women, it'll still be $25, not $25 less 75% administrative fees.
Since they're loans, they'll be paid back, so I'll either at least get my money back or loan it to someone else. Both of the loans I made are 12-month loans. Quite frankly, it's not like I loaned them a million bucks. Since I live with Ben and we're splitting living expenses, I have $50 to spare. Don't get me wrong, I'm expecting to be paid back (we accountants are kind of anal about that), but if they default on $25, I'm not worried. I really kind of think of it as a donation and not a loan because it's so small.
It's cool! Go do it!
Since they're loans, they'll be paid back, so I'll either at least get my money back or loan it to someone else. Both of the loans I made are 12-month loans. Quite frankly, it's not like I loaned them a million bucks. Since I live with Ben and we're splitting living expenses, I have $50 to spare. Don't get me wrong, I'm expecting to be paid back (we accountants are kind of anal about that), but if they default on $25, I'm not worried. I really kind of think of it as a donation and not a loan because it's so small.
It's cool! Go do it!