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Kiva + Me = Birthday Love

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Two weeks ago I celebrated my 21st birthday and as a present, I asked my closest friends to invest in an entrepreneur in any developing country using Kiva, my new found love. I discovered the awesome of this organization a couple of months ago when I made my first loan to Tarcila, a woman in the Philippines who makes and then sells furniture (blog post here). Ever since then, I've wanted to get more friends involved in it. And my birthday presented itself as just the perfect introduction I'd been looking for.

Shiyoen Chum groupThanks to the amazing generosity of my best friends of nearly 13 years (!!!), five entrepreneurs from all over the world have been given the chance to develop their business and potentially lift themselves and their families out of poverty. From the Philippines to El Salvador and from Cambodia to Peru, our entrepreneurs are involved in all sorts of different trades and industries, including baking, transportation, fishing, and retail! It's pretty awesome stuff.

But in addition to warm, fuzzy feeling of doing good, what I loved most about this year's present was that I learned something new about my friends along the way. After making their loans, I asked them to share their reasons for choosing whoever it was they ended up choosing...

LuciaMarisa chose Shiyoen Chum's family of fishermen from Cambodia because she wanted to invest in something that reflected health and nurturing. Val chose Aida who runs a motorcycle service in the Philippines because it struck her as a unique and innovative service. Carm invested in José, the baker from El Salvador, because she too is an aspiring baker. Cynthia chose on the basis of necessity, which Lucia's fruit and vegetable store provided for the members of her community. And finally, Gloria invested in Alejandra, who operates a buy-and-sell business, because she knew that Alejandra had to support three young children and would need the money to put them through school.

Honestly? Listening to these reasons was one of the most rewarding parts of this little initiative. Why? Because it gave me a deeper glimpse into who these ladies are and for me, it was an affirmation of how well these ladies know themselves, as their choices brought to the fore aspects integral to their personality.

So thus made my 2010 birthday! Who knew that this simple act of investing would reap so many wonderful rewards? 

Oh and did I mention that October is also Kiva's birthday month? A happy coincidence with wins all around : )

Thanks ladies for actually taking the time to actually educate yourselves about the organization, the process, and the individuals that you invested in! So happy to be on this microfinancing journey with you!

José Pedro QuinterosAlejandra Montejo Aida Navajo

 


 

Two weeks ago I celebrated my 21st birthday (legality all over the world, holla!) and as a present, I asked my closest friends to invest in an entrpereneur in any developing country using Kiva. At first they asked me if I was sure that there was nothing else I wanted. Believe me, this wasn't some kind of selfless act, I asked myself that question long and hard too before making the ask. I won't deny it I am absolutely the kind of person who loves being spoiled and showered with gifts on her birthday. But honestly, this time around, there wasn't anything else I could think of asking for. I'm priveleged enough to say taht at this moment, I have evverything that I could possibly need and that there's nothing more that I want. It's an odd but incredibly liberating feeling!

And so enters Kiva...my new found love.

I discovered the awesome of this organization a couple of months ago when I made my first loan to a woman in the PHilippines who makes and buys furniture (blog post here) and ever since then, I've wanted to get more friends involved in it. And my birthday presented itself as just the perfect introduction I've been looking for.

Now, thanks to the amazing generosity of my best friends Carmen, Cynthia, Gloria, Marisa, and Val, five entrepreneurs all over the world have been given the chance to develop their business and potentially lift themselves out of poverty. Investing in countries all over the world

More than that, what I loved most about this ask was that I learned something new about my friends along the way. After making their loans, I asked them to share the reasons for who they chose and that in itself was a wealth of learning. Marisa chose the fishing group because


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Chasing water(falls)

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Today the online world is buzzing about one thing. Water. Why? I'll tell you why.

  • Because nearly 1 billion people lack access to clean and safe water
  • Because every 20 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease
  • Because the water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
  • Because women in developing countries walk an average of 3.7 miles a day to collect water.
  • Because more people on earth have cell phones than toilets (Read this case study of India).
  • Because over 200 million hours of labour each day are consumed just to collect water.
  • Because investment in safe drinking water and sanitation contributes to economic growth. For each $1 invested, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates returns of $3 – $34, depending on the region and technology.
  • Because we should be outraged by these numbers and figures.

Need more reasons? Read here for some more hard hitting facts.

Now I've been watching videos and looking at photos related to water all of this morning as a way of getting myself inspired to write this blog post for Blog Action Day. And in almost all those videos and photos, there's a little snapshot of clean water flowing and all I could think to myself was, "Dear God, that water is beautiful". And it's something that we in developing nations take for granted every single day. And I'm not claiming to be the exception. I take extremely long and hot showers and yes, I leave the tap running more often than I'd like to admit. Let's face it, water isn't something I (or you) think about every day. We don't sit at the end of the day and thank any higher being for granting us access to this amazing natural resource. It's just there. And it'll be there tomorrow.

But then I watched this video from the good folks at charity: water and it made me think twice. What if our city's taps went dry? What would we do? It's a startling look at what people go through every single day and it's something that could so easily be affecting us.

So what are you supposed to do now that you know this? 

  • Take time to look at the water flowing out of your taps at home. You couldn't possibly imagine what it would be like to have to drink and bathe in contaminated, dirty water. Be thankful and be more aware next time you leave that tap running.
  • Educate yourself on the water and sanitation crisis that we're currently in the midst of.
  • This time be the educator and tell your friends.
  • Sign a petition to support the UN to bring clean water to millions around the world
  • Donate to non-profit organizations and charities that work to bring developing nations access to clean and safe drinking water.

 

 

The following is a list of organizations that you can learn from and get involved with to help fight against our water crisis: water.org, charity: water, Wine to Water, The Water Project, Circle of Blue, End Water Poverty, Water for People, Imagine H20, The Samburu Project.

 

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Tech for Change - September Round Up!

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Weeeee! September's been one helluva month! Tons of stuff going on in the non-profit world and as always, there have been some fantastic examples of technology being used for the greater good. Namaste to you too.

Every September, charity: water runs the September Campaign where they ask all those celebrating birthdays in that month to give up presents and instead, ask for a donation to help build a well in one of the developing nations that they're currently working in. This year charity: water celebrated it's fourth anniversary by drilling a well for the Bayaka people in the Central African Republic, bringing them the essential safe and clean drinking water that they need. Aside from raising an incredible $682,638 for the water project, charity: water effectively and impressively made use of the live-streaming technologies available to us today to show us how they conduct their work on the ground in this remote country. On September 7th, they broadcasted the live drill via their Facebook page, although with much difficulty. Take a look at the video below that explains the challenges they had to face during this live drill. There are so many things that NPOs and charities can learn from this example. Being open and honest about both their successes and failures, charity: water gives a whole new meaning to transparency.

Free the Children's annual 'We Day' brings together youth from all across Canada to celebrate and inspire positive change within their communities and beyond. One of the most impressive aspects of this year's campaign (aside, of course, from the actual day's festivities) was what they did with their Facebook page. Such a simple concept but it's potential is really très incroyable! For every 'like' that the page gets, Free the Children's sponsors have agreed to donate $1 to the organization. That's one click of a button that takes a person quite literally less than a second...could there be an easier call to action than that? The current 177,387 'likes' can answer that for you.

 

The week of September 20th was a big one as world leaders all convened in New York City for the 2010 United Nations Millenium Development Goals (MDG) Summit. Acknowledging the importance and potential impact digital media has to influence people around the globe, the United Nations Foundation partnered with Mashable and 92nd Street Y to host the first ever UN Week Digital Media Lounge. Described as "a place for bloggers to have exclusive in-person access to experts on issues like poverty, hunger, HIV/AIDS, women's health and climate change, the UN Digital Media Lounge was a unique and innovative way to include more voices to this ever crucial conversation.