Kiva century
I just made my 100th loan to Kiva entrepreneurs. I started loaning in March 2006 when I had a bonus from work and nothing I wanted to buy at the time. Each month I would do four loans, until the bonus was used up, which lasted for about eight or nine months.
After that the loans started being repaid, and I used that money to make other loans, so although I contributed about a thousand dollars to start with I've actually loaned 2,700 dollars to 104 different people. It's not been without problems, since there were 3 defaulters, and one NGO which was not passing on the full loans to the businesses so the money was refunded. But I still feel this is a really good use of money, providing loans to people to do what they want, and not forcing solutions on them which might not be suitable for their circumstances. And, of course, since the majority of the money comes back to me, I can keep on doing this indefinitely which makes it a better use of the money than a simple donation.
The hundredth loan? Aukisitina Paia and her pancakes.
After that the loans started being repaid, and I used that money to make other loans, so although I contributed about a thousand dollars to start with I've actually loaned 2,700 dollars to 104 different people. It's not been without problems, since there were 3 defaulters, and one NGO which was not passing on the full loans to the businesses so the money was refunded. But I still feel this is a really good use of money, providing loans to people to do what they want, and not forcing solutions on them which might not be suitable for their circumstances. And, of course, since the majority of the money comes back to me, I can keep on doing this indefinitely which makes it a better use of the money than a simple donation.
The hundredth loan? Aukisitina Paia and her pancakes.