I’m at bit of a sop for a sad story, and am always digging coins out of my purse to put in the donation buckets or for the homeless. I support a little World Vision kid in Niger, and it’s always a bit of a wrench to say no to supporting anymore kids. I’m always a willing supporter, and happy to part with my money if it makes someone elses life a little easier.

Then the other day Heidi (from Stress Sponge) wrote a post about money she’d loaned to a lady through Kiva. And she said that she was a fan of the proverb “Give a man a and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

And I agree. Sometimes just putting a few gold coins in a bucket isn’t going to solve the problem, it’s not going to make the problem go away.

So I had a quick look through Kiva, and the number of people whose lives could be made a little more self-sufficient, a little brighter by not a donation, but a LOAN was phenomenal.

I love that I can help people out, give them a hand up and supporting their ability to be self-sufficent. To make their farm bigger so it’s more profitable. To grow a better quality of potatos so they can get a better price in the markets. To improve a store, by providing better quality resources.

But it is JUST a loan. As willingly as I’d part with my cash anyway, it’s kinda nice to know that they aren’t just being reliant on hand outs, that they are working hard to pay back what they were given. No interest is charged on their loans, so they aren’t getting kicked in the behind, which is kind of nice. The money you lend is returned to you, and you can either donate to Kiva, help someone else, or withdraw it.

So meet Maria Espinoza. She lives in El Alto, in Bolivia. Along with 10 other people, I loaned her US$25. So she can improve her magazine stall, and buy a larger range of books and magazines.

If you’re interested in helping out someone yourself, please check out Kiva. I’ve added some additional information on how Kiva works, just in case you were curious. :)

About Kiva

Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our microfinance partners worldwide.

2) Kiva’s microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur’s chances of success.

3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.

4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.