Improving the world one person at a time!

Every time I travel to a place with people less fortunate than myself I always leave wishing I could do something more to help them and their community. About two years ago, I discovered that I can - through Kiva. Kiva is one of the most noble companies I know. Their mission is to connect people through one-to-one lending for the sake of alleviating poverty throughout the world. Instead of letting my money sit in a bank account earning 1% interest, I decided to invest in people around the world. So, how does it work?

Take Lucia, for example. Working with her family in Peru, they make a living selling red meats and wool from sheep and alpaca. It costs a lot to ship to the markets for sale so they applied for a loan to buy a car to speed up and increase business. Along with 26 other people from seven countries, I loaned Lucia $25 toward her car. She has since bought the car and repaid the loan. Now I can loan that $25 to someone else in need.

Over the past 2 years, I've loaned money to 21 people around the world in countries such as Ecuador, Kenya, Tanzania, Peru, Cambodia and more. Only two people have defaulted on the loans, seven have already repaid their loans and 11 are still in the process of repaying. Every day I remind myself how fortunate I am to have such a great life. And now, thanks to Kiva, I can also feel great about the fact that my money is helping to improve the live's of others around the world.