On the Ground: Kiva

Our friend Debbi encouraged us to blog on Kiva.  Read below about Kiva. a leading micro-finance organization, from its website.

Kiva's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending. Kiva was born of the following beliefs: People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way. The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity. By connecting people we can create relationships beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another.

Read about one of the people who is trying to obtain a loan through Kiva.

Hilda Verónica Martínez sells AVON, ZERMAT Y ORIFLAME products door to door and in her house. She will use the loan to buy the mentioned beauty products now that she has lots of orders and she can’t miss this opportunity since her clientele are very punctual with their payments. This is the reason her business has grown a little more. Ms. Martínez is the mother of 3 sons who are all in school thanks to her husband’s help who is always takes care of the household expenses. This is the second loan that has been granted to Ms. Martínez. She feels very satisfied with the institution for its help which has let her grow so much in her business and in her family.  More from the Kiva website about Ms. Martinez.

 

Comments

[Marcia]

This was very interesting. Thank you for letting me know about Kiva. I've joined up because I, too, believe that microfinancing is a good way for people like me (not wealthy - but that is a relative concept because most Americans are quite wealthy compared to many places in the world) can help others in the world.