Check It Out: Kiva

I added a link in the sidebar to kiva.org, a sort of microfinance aggregator/interface that puts small lending organizations in developing countries in contact with the people who have a bit of money to lend. Lots of you have probably heard of it before, and it's pretty cool. So far I've lent to a clothing vendor in Ghana and a small farmer in Peru. You don't get a tax receipt apart from the recommended 10% donation to Kiva's own operations (obviously, since you are getting the money back once the loan is repaid). But I think the idea of pumping a little capital into the economy of a country, while keeping it out of the potentially corrupt hands of the domestic governments, is much more valuable than a tax break on a straight donation. Loaning like this lets people exercise the agency to help themselves, which will probably have better long-term results for communities than aid alone.

So there you go. A brief weekend update: this weekend is kind of sucking hardcore. At about noon on Friday, I got a cold, and so now I am thoroughly disgusting and all of my fun plans for coffee and parties and such have been scuppered. My respiratory system is such a piece of junk sometimes. Friggin' Achilles lung.