KIVA.org...go, do, make a difference

Confession: I have meant to write about this organization for a long time now but, frankly, have been too much of a bum. But recently we have been talking about education in Mexico, inequality, and now neoindividualism in my Spanish grammar class and it has gotten me thinking yet again about how blessed I truly am.

First off, a rant. We are surrounded by need, though we don't often recognize it. And we can sit for days on end talking about the root causes of poverty, societal problems, and grand solutions to try and aleviate the suffering in the world, but at the end of the day, none of this is empowering to the average person. Rather we are overcome with the largeness and complexity of the problem that we feel anything we do will be nothing more than a feeble and eventually futile attempt. But each of us is fully-equipped to make a difference in the life of another human being. I was searching and searching to find a particular passage in the Bible that speaks to what I am trying to express, but didn't find it. But basically what it boils down to is, if you see a need and are able to do something about it, do it. Don't wait for tomorrow, don't wish the person well, but take action immediately. What reason have you to do anything but that? What is more urgent or important than serving and showing love to another?

Last year in my Development and Society in Mexico class, our professor introduced us to an organization based out of San Francisco called Kiva. I was instantly struck by the power, and still further potential, that this organization has. A brief synopsis: Kiva.org is a website through which individuals can give microloans of a minimum of $25 to individuals for their businesses around the world. Often these loans are for things such as buying more livestock or products for their store. Kiva partners with microfinance institutions in the countries in which they operate and these institutions oversee the loans. The loans are then repaid over a specified period of time. The default rate for Kiva loans is impressively low: only 1.4%. Take ten minutes to watch this video on YouTube of a report done with the creators of the organization and learn about some of the effects that these small loans have made in the lives of a few recipients in Africa.

Impressive Outcomes
Some of the outcomes may not seem enormous (there are no Cinderella stories), but when you stop and think about them, they can be revolutionary. For example, in the video you will hear the story of a man who can now afford to send his children to school. Think about it! His children will have the education that he likely did not receive and have the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty, even if it is just a notch. And their children will have even more opportunities than they had. All because a few people gave this man $25.

Additionally, I would say that a majority of the loans go to women. In fact, microfinancing has its roots in providing opportunities to small and marginal farmers and poor women. Women in many countries around the world are still extremely oppressed, dependent on men who cannot or do not provide for them. Microloans are giving women opportunities to break free from this oppression and provide for themselves. I wish I could find the video for you all that our professor showed us in which one woman, I believe in India, was becoming politically active in her community and making incredible changes after being able to finally provide for herself. She didn't stop at just lifting her and her family up, but this one change in her life is impacting and improving the community around her.

And in a general sense, microloans are about empowering people. They not only empower the the recipient of the loan by not turning them into a charity-case, but also the giver of the loan by letting them make potentially life-changing differences in the lives of others. In another promo video I saw on YouTube one particular statement really struck me: Donations silence your conscience but loans change lives. As my Pastor Stover used to say, "Just stop and think about that."

Rebel Against Neoindividualism!
Sorry...I'm hyped-up on this article that I read (and for the most part, understood...in Spanish) on neoindividualism, consumerism, and the fragmented state of our society. But basically it was saying that we have reduced the value of a human being to their purchasing power in our society, to their ability of being a consumer, and if you aren't in the consumer-potential category, you are marginalized even further than you probably already are. We have become a society solely focused on our own desires, lacking social ties that create cohesion (and I don't mean just the U.S. mind you; this was written by a Mexican woman). Don't let that be you! Re-establish connections between yourself and other human beings, even if they live on the other side of the planet.

So, to sum up: go, do, make a difference.

Thanks for reading.