The Ordinary Mystic

Ever thought you’d like to contribute something to others in developing nations, but weren’t sure you trusted how the money would be handled, or how much of it would actually reach those in need? Maybe you aren’t sure that just giving someone money to feed them for a day is the best way to help.

Well, there is another option - and it’s based on the same idea that helped win Muhammad Yuman and the Grameen Bank the Nobel Peace prize in 2006.

It’s called microfinancing.

Out of a desire to help people in need, Dr. Yuman created Grameen Bank for the purpose of providing small loans to millions of impoverished families.

Now, a group of people have leveraged the internet and created a means for people like you and I to provide microloans to impoverished people in order to assist them in bettering their lives. More than just charity, these microloans help people create or grow their own self-sustaining businesses and thereby provide for their families. Think about it - microcredit can actually be a force for social change.

The website is Kiva.org, and through this website you can use your credit card or PayPal account to lend to someone in the developing world who needs a loan for their business - whether it be raising goats, selling vegetables at the market, or making bricks. The site provides pertinent information on each person requesting a loan and you decide whom you will lend to. Afterwards you can get updates on how the business is going. When the loan is repaid you can turn around and lend to someone else. As little as $25 can go a long way.

Here are a couple of videos about Kiva - the first is an interview with Bill Clinton and the second is an introduction to a Frontline story.

A few days ago I made a loan to Margaret Nakanjako, an entrepreneur in Uganda. At that time she still needed another $150.00 to complete her loan request of $575.00 and I was going to include in this post a suggestion that other readers might want to join in lending to Margaret. However, within 24 hours others had already signed up to provide the balance of the loan. Wow! Now Margaret can continue to grow her retail shop where she sells various household goods.

So you can be a micro-lending financier like Muhammad Yumun. Some other positive aspects of this venture:

• It cuts through the bureaucracy hindering people trying to get a loan, and helps them avoid local predatory lenders.
• You can affect the lives of a multitude of people through reuse of your loans.
• One caller to a radio program about Kiva even suggested that in war-torn lands you could possibly help people who would otherwise become insurgents be productive members of society instead (could this actually help bring about peace in the world?).

This is a pretty exciting way to get involved and help others who are much less fortunate. But in a more far-reaching sense, this is another way that selfless actions can increase the level of peace and prosperity in the world. There is positive energy here, so it can’t help but produce positive results, and it works in cooperation with the natural tendency of the human spirit and the universe towards growth and increased well-being.

This is indeed an opportunity to change the world - as the people at Kiva say, one loan at a time.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 at 10:30 am and is filed under Uncategorized.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.