Kiva Update

Two years ago, I gave my grandfather a gift certificate to Kiva, the organization that hooks up people in need of microloans with lenders.  A year ago, my friend Holly gave one to me.  I lent the money to a lady in Paraguay that was expanding her retail operation.  I just received an e-mail from Kiva saying the loan had been repaid in full.

When a loan is repaid, the lender's account is credited.  I had the option of cashing out, donating back to Kiva, gifting to someone else or relending.  I chose to relend.

I found a lady in Samoa that is farming to supplement her family's income.  That sounded good to me.  My (retired) boss' wife is from American Samoa, and you might remember those islands were hit pretty badly by a tsunami earlier this year.  I processed the transaction and clicked around a bit.  I am linked up to my grandfather, because I "invited" him, and found that he has two active loans in addition to the one that has already been repaid.

Awesome.