A few months ago I decided once and for all that World of Warcraft was not for me. I barely touched it in the months after Christmas, and despite getting back into it for a little while in April it seemed like a bit of a waste of money.
Around the same time I was contemplating kicking WoW to the curb, I heard about Kiva. From Oprah. Oprah told me about it. Specifically, the episode of Oprah's Favourite Things where she gave everyone a Kiva gift card told me about it. Essentially, you loan money to a small business owner in a developing country (usually, I've seen some USA loans) so they can start/expand their business, and then they pay you back. It's kind of nice knowing that giving as little as $25 can make such a huge difference towards someone's life. And it was a far more worthwhile thing to spend money on than battling internet dragons.
I've currently got two loans on the go:
Ariel Francisco is 26, from Nicaragua, has two kids, and a business selling CDs and DVDs. The loan was to buy more stock, so he'd have more variety. I couldn't NOT give money to a dude with a record store. From everyone's first viewing of Empire Records, up until they're old enough to realise it's a stupid idea, they dream of owning a record store. Livin' the dream Ariel. Livin' the dream.
Sudura Qafarova is from Azerbaijan, has two kids, and wanted a loan to buy more cows and fodder for her cattle breeding business. This one is less out of personal interest than the last one. I saw someone from Azerbaijan, went 'I loved their entry in this year's Eurovision!' and gave money. No matter how ridiculous the motivation, all the dollars count.
The reason I chose to throw my good deeds in your faces today is because Kiva are giving away a limited number of $25 free trial loans. There were over 2000 still available when I first looked this morning, but it's down to a little over 250 now. Click HERE to check out Kiva and sign up if you wish. Go on! Help someone buy a goat today!
PS. If anyone's in Azeroth, could you do me a favour and pop in and feed Wuff, my wolf and Vince, my turtle? It's been a while, they've probably started a fight club to see who gets the last of the food. My money's on Vince, tbh.
EDIT: Due to the success of the first lot of freebies, they've just released 4000 more. Go go go!
PS. If anyone's in Azeroth, could you do me a favour and pop in and feed Wuff, my wolf and Vince, my turtle? It's been a while, they've probably started a fight club to see who gets the last of the food. My money's on Vince, tbh.
EDIT: Due to the success of the first lot of freebies, they've just released 4000 more. Go go go!
this actually sounds awesome. I'm a big fan of the novelty factor of "IM BUYING A DUDE A GOAT!" from Oxfam, maybe I'll do this for my next donation.
ReplyDeleteK THX DO-GOODER
I used your link and gave $25 to a group of ladies who make crafts in Bolivia! It's something I've been thinking about for a while, this was a good kick-start. I'm going to put some more money in next payday.
ReplyDelete@Suzanne YOU TOTES SHOULD. And there's quite a lot of ladies who have cosmetics/skincare shops, so you could do one and blog about it. Blog fodder. So great.
ReplyDelete@Jess Cool cool! It gets a bit addictive, you want to give money to everyone, haha.
@Jacinta: "blogfodder"? You be speakin mah language.
ReplyDelete