Friday, January 9, 2009

My West African Store


THIS is the coolest thing ever.

Through Kiva, I lend $25 to, say, Antoinette Worou from West Africa for her general store. (which i did.)

She buys more supplies, makes a profit and pays me back the $25.

I've helped a hard-working woman entrepreneur from a third world country better her business, which in turn gives her kids a better life and education, for ZERO DOLLARS.

My dad and my sister have been doing Kiva for a little over a year and they always get paid back. They choose to then reinvest in a new business owner, but you don't have to.

(Stop looking at Robert Pattinson over there and focus.)

How cool is that? You choose who you want to loan to...


Maria's roadside fruit business in Peru...










Ana Maria's house-repair business in Nicaragua...



Felicitas from Peru who has 9 kids and a clothing business (obviously)









I just love it - especially now when the economy sucks and no one feels they can afford to donate to charities - you're still doing a great thing, but you can be repaid if you choose!!!!

Anyway- if you're interested, Intel is sponsoring the Small Things Challenge  , an awareness campaign that even the smallest effort on the part of one person can effect a huge change in someone's life.

Just go to that link - They are sponsoring both Kiva and Save the Children. (I clicked on "join the Intel group" at Kiva - that takes you to the gallery of business owners who need loans.)

Loan to a hardworking person in need: $25
Amount you get paid back: $25
Total money spent: $0
Doing a good thing AND being able to say you invested in a goat farm: Priceless.

45 comments:

because I said so said...

I bet Felicitas is the fashion GURU in her 'hood'...

I'm in...I'm going there now. Felicitas clearly needs to expand her enterprise!

BacktoBarnwell said...

I was chauffeuring a participant from the Charleston Renaissance back to the airport last week and she was telling me about this! How awesome!

Tara said...

Call Oprah! That's all I have to say!

Anonymous said...

Very cool. Thanks for the info.

FWIW-my eyes were drifting to Rob's luciousness. You caught me.

Anonymous said...

How in the hell did you know I was looking at HIM? That was weird...sort of like getting up from a public toilet and it flushing automatically. Perhaps I'm a bit paranoid.

BTW...thanks for letting us know about this.

Sarah said...

I did this a while back and my person defaulted on the loan due to civil unrest in her country. I certainly don't hold it against her or Kiva, but I'm just saying that you're not guaranteed to get your money back, so only lend as much as you'd be willing to write off.

Sue Wilkey said...

Sarah's right - they don't guarantee you repayment- but the repayment rate is historically very high.

Sarah said...

Gah, I can't believe my first comment on your blog (after lurking for ages) was about fiscal responsibility. Why didn't I have anything to say about wine or boobs!?

Jenny said...

That is a cool idea!

Anonymous said...

Is this a ponzi scheme?

Miss Yvonne said...

Wow, this is beyond awesome!!

Amy Bennett said...

Thanks for sharing...just sponsored a lady!

morewineplease said...

This is awesome.. I have never even heard of it, thanks for sharing.
OH AND.. I cannot help but to drool over Robert P.... YUMMMMMMMMM!

Mrs. Booms said...

We did this last year as part of our annual gift for the partners of our company. We were able to help one man fix his taxi that paid for all his family needs. And we were able to help to others. The man with the taxi paid off his debt months ago. It's an amazing thing!

Michelle said...

That is awesome! I will have to look into it more!

Tom said...

Thank you for blogging about this Happy Hour Sue. Very cool. The repayment rate is 97% according to wikipedia but, to me, it isn't about getting repaid. I just loan the repaid money to others. Bill Clinton talked about Kiva on Oprah. On the site SmallThingsChallenge.com you can see a cool video with celebs talking about it.

Peace out,
HippyDaddy

MommyTime said...

This is such a great idea. I wish I'd known about it sooner, but I'm very glad to know now. These kinds of micro-loans are hugely important to so many people and can make a tremendous difference in their lives. Thanks for passing on the info!

Stephanie said...

That is amazing!!! I love this idea!

Jen said...

now that is really awesome.

SweetPeaSurry said...

Ohhh ... I will definately look into Kiva!!! That sounds simply brilliant. Thanks for the heads up.

Investing in a goat farm. he he he
That was funny

jill jill bo bill said...

Man! I thought I rocked because I tip the sonic waitress a buck. I need to check into this!

Jen said...

I've seen this and thought that it looked like something worth checking out but never took the next step. Thanks for the extra push to get involved with such a cool charity.

Anti-Supermom said...

See, you are restoring faith in human kindness one blog at a time.

Who says blogs are a time-suck?!

Thanks for the link and info.

Brittany said...

Oh man, if I invest in enough goat farms...can I be a goat mogal? like, the Donald Trump of goat farms???

Swirl Girl said...

We should do this within our own borders, too.

amelia bedelia said...

I have never heard of this...Im so doing it! thanks.

Anonymous said...

AWESOME!

Thanks for sharing this link.I think it's a wonderful idea. We've been donating cows and pigs and goats, through Heiffer Int'l for a while now, but I think we're going to start doing this too.

suzannah | the smitten word said...

i was just looking into this this week. i'm gonna do it too (and you totally caught me checking out handsome mr. pattinson!)

Anonymous said...

KIVA is one of my favorite causes! I've been doing it for a couple of years now and of 39 loans I've made only one has defaulted. It is so fun and easy and when the people pay you back you can just reloan to someone else. It feels like a real snowball effect, considering also that each microloan helps not only the direct recipient, but the people that depend on them - their children, employees, etc. It makes you feel so good!

Lisa-licious said...

You are just the coolest!

I am going to "loan" some moolah too!

Also, there is a button to click on at www.smallthingschallenge.com where Intel will donate 5 cents for you! It's really going to add up if we all do it!

As James Brown sang: I feel GOOD...dah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah! (I knew that I would!)

Three cheers for you, Happy Hour Sue!

Unknown said...

That was incredible to learn. Although I have to be honest I kept reading waiting for the punch line. Now I see you really are also giving and cool and not just damn funny. ;-)

Anonymous said...

What a great idea!

sassy stephanie said...

wow. I have never heard of this. I am such a big believer in ENABLING instead of simply giving. Teaching them to stand on their own two feet is a priceless lesson.

Anonymous said...

Free Rice is another really fun no-cost charity site. Play the free vocabulary and geography quizes (and get your kids to - teachers love it) and for every correct answer, they will donate rice to a food program for the hungry in third world countries.

Caroline said...

This is awesome! And I was totally busted looking at the handsome Patterson fella :)

Ms. B said...

Hi there,

I've been reading your blog for a few weeks now and think you're hilarious! I just started a blog of my own and wanted to stop by and say hi!

Unknown said...

Fantastic idea! I hope none of your readers were thinking about charging interest ...

Angela said...

That is too funny! I was looking at that picture at the picture of R.P. right when you said to stop and focus!!

jaime said...

this is wonderful...i'm also going to pass this knowledge on. everyone should know.

Linda S said...

*tears* I was going to use that $25 for some Twilight books, but this is way better.

Vanessa Rogers said...

HOW COOL IS THAT! Thanks for sharing that with us!

Anonymous said...

This is awesome.

Thank you for sharing.

Anonymous said...

I just signed up and made a loan - thanks so much for the info. I love stuff like this.

Anonymous said...

I just signed up and made a loan - thanks so much for the info. I love stuff like this.

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