Since, in november 2007, one of my daughters told me about Kiva, I am still very enthusiastic about this initiative. It is based on micro finance and Kiva made it simple for you and me to to lend a relatively small amount to entrepreneurs in developing countries. It feels as if one lends this amount directly to the borrower. You can choose the country, business and the length of the period in which the loan should be paid back. There are some risks of not getting back the money you are lending. These risks are mentioned clearly on the Kiva website www.kiva.org. In fact you lend to Kiva, Kiva lends to an organisation (the Field Partner) in the country of the entrepreneur, this Field Partner lends to the entrepreneur and is, in the end, responsible for paying back to Kiva. At the end of the lending period Kiva returns your money to your Kiva credit and then you can decide to reloan, donate or withdraw your money. Besides the risk that your loan may actually turn out to be a gift, you miss only the interest of the loan-amount during the lending period.
Payments to Kiva can be made by PayPal and/or credit card.
For people in Europe at this moment, $ 25 cost only about EUR 16.
I hope you will be as enthusiastic as I am. Make a loan, change a life and spread the word about Kiva.
My "Lenderpage" is my "Homepage" at Kiva
The "map" shows the places in the world whereto "my" loans went. If you click on a "loan"-symbol details will be visible.
The progress of paying back you can find here.
At www.kivafriends.org you will find a platform of and for more enthusiastic Kiva-lenders.
Roland de Boer