When we established our online Rotary E-Club Serving Humanity with members from different locations and backgrounds we thought it would benefit our members to build a relationship together assisting less fortunate people in countries other than where we live and work.
One of the Rotary avenues of service is International Service and KIVA allows us to contribute to small projects and entrepreneurs in many countries.
What is KIVA?
More than 1.7 billion people around the world do not have access to banks and cannot access the financial services they need. Kiva is an international non-profit organisation, founded in 2005 in San Francisco, with a mission to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive.
How does KIVA work.
KIVA does this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world.
Through Kiva’s work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care.
By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, we are part of the solution and make a real difference in someone’s life. We like that 100% of every dollar we lend on Kiva goes to funding loans.
You can see more about how Kiva works on their website – https://www.kiva.org/pgtmp/home
What has Rotary E-Club Serving Humanity contributed?
Since we established our Club in 2016, we have deposited only US$335.00 but that small amount has benefited a lot of people.
In total we have lent US$945.00 in 38 separate loans, each of $25 to recipients in twenty different countries.
Examples of loans made:
Juanita from the Philippines received a loan to build a sanitary toilet for her family.
She is aware that by using the sanitary toilet, she is reducing health and hazard risks to her family and neighbours as well as promoting environment protection.
Thomas from Timor-Leste received a loan helped to buy more calves to raise and sell, when they are older, at the local market.
He requested a loan of USD 1,500, through KIF, to help him improve his business.
He will use this loan to buy more calves to raise and sell, when they are older, at the local market. As the result of the investment, he hopes to increase his business in the future.
Mereani’s from Fiji received a loan used to build a nursery for raising seedlings, build a stall on the highway road and repair parts of her home that were damaged by Cyclone Yasi.
Her loan helped to buy flower shears, hedge shears, secateurs and hand pruners, loppers, pruning saws, axes and hatchets, scythes, iron roofing, timber, bricks plyboard etc.