Congratulations Sabina - My first Kiva lender to fully pay back loan

Today I received an email with good news. One of my Kiva lenders Sabina Kumah (Good Shepherd Enterprise) has fully paid back her loan within the 10 month repayment term.

Congratulations to Sabina and I hope that her business continues to thrive.

How to make a difference in less than 10 minutes per day - Part 1 - Get Informed

I wanted to use this series of posts to show that it is possible to make a difference just by devoting a small amount of time each day.

Part 1: Get informed

In order to know what the issues related to global poverty are and where you can make a difference, you need to get informed. This may be stating the obvious, but I wanted to include everything and you need to start somewhere to be able to make informed decisions. There are many ways that you can do this and there are many sources of information available including:

• Books: there are a large number of books that are both inspirational and informative. I have created a list on Amazon of some books that focus on ending global poverty through microfinancing, education, health and social entrepreneurship (list of books about ending global poverty). There are obviously many more available to choose from based on what you are most interested in.


• Websites: there are many websites related to the various issues of global poverty. Most charity organisation websites have detailed information about the specific issues that the charity deals with such as Kiva.org. There are some links on this page, however, there will eventually be more and I will post lists of sites as I discover more.


• Blogs: I have listed blogs as a separate item because even though they are obviously websites they often serve a slightly different purpose. I do not have too many blog links to list yet and I will add them as I find new ones, however, one I have found that is worth visiting is Riches for Good.


• Newspapers

In addition to informing yourself by using the Internet and buying books you are also sending a message, and that is that the topics that you are searching for and reading about are of interest and deserve of attention. The more hits that websites receive and the more sales books have all contribute to raising the level of public interest and hopefully media interest in global poverty issues.

Well, that's it for the first part, there is nothing ground breaking but it is a starter and I hope to complement what I have written by adding links to blogs and websites that I discover over time.

Kenya Crisis: Support Kofi Annan

A presidential election tainted by vote-tampering - now Kenya’s future hangs in the balance, with over 600 killed and 250,000 made homeless. We need to act fast.

Through Avaaz.org you can add your voice to thousands of others around the world in an attempt to influence global decisions.

read more | digg story

Book Review: Three Cups of Tea

The book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin is a wonderful and inspirational read. I was fascinated to read about how Greg Mortensen, after making one promise to a village to build them a school, was able to go on through perseverance and determination to eventually build 50+ schools in Central Asia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, provide support for teachers, initiate public health and conservation projects and positively affect the lives of thousands of children. He was able to make a significant difference in regions where governments were continually failing to deliver.

In a time when many people often associate Muslims with terrorism and extremism and the policies of most governments for dealing with terrorism focus on military measures, it was refreshing to read about someone committed to promoting peace through education. Greg's efforts are amazing and the results he was able to achieve on a small budget working tirelessly to get funding would put to shame most countries third world aid programmes. He overcame at times insurmountable problems, even putting his life at risk, to complete the projects he started and fulfil the promises he had made.

It was fantastic how Greg took the time and effort required to learn local cultures and their languages and adapt his way of working to these cultures, eventually becoming integrated and accepted. One is left with the impression that Greg genuinely wanted the villagers to feel that it was they who were building the schools for themselves. I definitely believe that he was successful in achieving this goal.

Basic education is one of the best tools that the world has for fighting poverty and promoting peace, it is also a right of every child (UN Rights of the Child) to go to school. Greg Mortenson and his team of helpers have done an amazing job and after reading Three Cups of Tea I truly believe that they have made life better for thousands of children by providing them not only with education and schools to learn in, but also health services and other public facilities.

Three Cups of Tea is an enlightening book that highlights how one person really can make a difference, and how big a difference they can make. In the book Greg quotes one of his favourite sayings from Mother Teresa, which sums up this philosophy well.

What we are trying to do is a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

Links related to Three Cups of Tea:
Three Cups of Tea
Central Asia Institute
Pennies for Peace

Kenya's aid need

The violence in Kenya that resulted from the countries elections has created a humanitarian crisis that will only become more acute if the violence continues. An article by the BBC reports that 255,000 have been forced from their homes (UN warns Kenya aid need may grow) and that there is a growing risk of malnutrition.

The fragile nature of microfinance businesses and their location within communities that have been affected by the violence has most likely had an affect on these small businesses. According to Kiva.org and information they have obtained from their partners business is NOT running as usual (Kenya's humanitarian crisis).

It is sad to see that one of the most successful African nations has been affected by the spread of violence amongst its people. I hope that the main parties politicians and people with influence are able to avert any further violence that threatens the country. I also hope that the country can recover as quickly as possible so that business does return to normal, that people can return to their homes and the tourists continue to visit and thus support the country.

Some websites where you can find more information about what you can do to help include International Red Cross and the World Food Program.

Good news from Iraq

Amidst all of the terrible headlines from Iraq about violence, killings and suicide bombings there was one small glimmer of good news that I came across the other day. The article was on the BBC News website and is about a US Marine who has initiated the funding of a football league for children in Falluja (read the article here). The charity founded to support the intiative is called Operation Ultimate Goal.

I think that this is a great initiative and anything that can be done for children that have lived through what many Iraqi children have experienced is positive.

The goal is to get the league up and running by the end of January 2008. I wish them all success with the charity and the football league.

Interview with Kiva.org president Premal Shah

An excellent interview with the president of KIVA that explains how it all started, how they work and how microfinancing is helping small businesses in the developing world.

Lending to businesses in the developing world - KIVA

KIVA is fantastic organisation that utilises the power of the Internet to enable individuals to loan to small businesses in the developing world. Through KIVA you are not giving money but loaning it using the principles of microfinancing, with loans being administered and managed locally by microfinancing organisations that are partnered with KIVA. Their website www.kiva.org describes exactly how the loan process works and what KIVAs role is in that process.

There are several things that I like about the KIVA model:

1. When choosing a business that you want to loan to you can see who represents the business and read a bit about them and what their plans for the money are. It adds a very personal dimension knowing exactly who you are lending to, as well as a high level of personal choice because it is you who is deciding what you want to support.

2. Business journals keep you up to date and give you a sense that you are actually making a difference. Some journals are updated more than others but they are great for keeping you informed about progress.

3. Lending to businesses is helping to build the community and often there are unforseen benefits that become apparent as businesses develop. One of the businesses that I lent to was Raising Chickens in Mozambique where the growth of the business has lead to a source of meat protein being easily available to the local community.

I found out about KIVA at the beginning of 2007 and I am pleased to say that all of my 4 loans now have over 50% repaid, with one of them Good Sheperd Enterprises about to reach 100%.

There are very many benefits of microfinancing and KIVA has successfully made it possible for us to make a direct impact on the lives of many people in the developing world.