I almost forgot to mention this:
www.kiva.org
What is this? It's an organization that facilitates making loans to individuals in developing countries, so that they can start or expand businesses. The loans are quite small (by Canadian standards) - can you imagine going to the bank and saying "Can you lend me $500 so I can double the capacity of my business" in Canada? But all the same, they have a huge impact!
Capacity-building, people, capacity-building. PBS did a doc on the organization, and here's some feedback from some of the lenders: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/uganda601/lenders.html
By the way, all you need is a credit card, and something like $25.00, to get the ball rolling.
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Hi Katrina,
Thanks for blogging about Kiva. You've given your readers a unique chance to connect to something worthwhile, in a practical way. In Canada, one could easily spend $25 on double-doubles and a Boston Creams in one month (a habit I'm trying break)! Yet, this is all it takes to help someone escape poverty!
It's so cool! Our lenders can now make their profiles public, allowing people to see their loan portfolio, loan statuses and even a mini bio/link to blog. Imagine the dialogue that is now created between lender and borrower!
Regards,
Tim (volunteer with Kiva.org)
tim@kivavolunteers.org
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