Bob Harris has certainly led an interesting and varied life. According to Bobharris.com, he’s an author, a stand-up comedian, a travel writer, and a frequent contestant on Jeopardy – although, really, who among us hasn’t done many of those things? One of Bob’s notable actions has been financing thousands of micro-loans through Kiva.org.
Traveling the world to meet some of the people who’d received those loans, Bob Harris traveled the world. Then he wrote about his experience in The International Bank of Bob. If you can, you should borrow it from your library. While this won’t increase Bob Harris's royalties this month, he’s got that sweet, sweet Jeopardy money to fall back on. Using the price of his paperback, you can nearly finance a Kiva loan on your own.
Financing a loan through Kiva:
In the future, your loan will either be repaid... or not. About four percent of Kiva loans aren’t repaid, but we haven't been stiffed yet. Even if our turn comes, it’ll have been worth it.
This month, we went with a random number generator. Usually, we review several requests, then pick one that speaks to us. For a change, we decided to use a random number generator to pick among Kiva’s twenty different category of loans. The generator selected number 15: “Refugees and IDPs".
Neither of us knew what an “IDP” was, which probably should have been embarrassing. It stands for “internally displaced people,” who are folks forced to flee their homes while remaining within their country's borders. Everyone in this Kiva category was from either Palestine or Uganda.
With sixteen applicants available, we returned to the random number generator. It selected number 4, a Ugandan father with two children who needs money to buy more goods for his shop. With one click, our small piece of the $1,150 USD loan was made.
Good luck, Utamukunzi!
Traveling the world to meet some of the people who’d received those loans, Bob Harris traveled the world. Then he wrote about his experience in The International Bank of Bob. If you can, you should borrow it from your library. While this won’t increase Bob Harris's royalties this month, he’s got that sweet, sweet Jeopardy money to fall back on. Using the price of his paperback, you can nearly finance a Kiva loan on your own.
Financing a loan through Kiva:
- Go to Kiva.org and choose a preference from twenty different categories.
- Find a story that resonates with you.
- Send in a payment of at least $25.
In the future, your loan will either be repaid... or not. About four percent of Kiva loans aren’t repaid, but we haven't been stiffed yet. Even if our turn comes, it’ll have been worth it.
This month, we went with a random number generator. Usually, we review several requests, then pick one that speaks to us. For a change, we decided to use a random number generator to pick among Kiva’s twenty different category of loans. The generator selected number 15: “Refugees and IDPs".
Neither of us knew what an “IDP” was, which probably should have been embarrassing. It stands for “internally displaced people,” who are folks forced to flee their homes while remaining within their country's borders. Everyone in this Kiva category was from either Palestine or Uganda.
With sixteen applicants available, we returned to the random number generator. It selected number 4, a Ugandan father with two children who needs money to buy more goods for his shop. With one click, our small piece of the $1,150 USD loan was made.
Good luck, Utamukunzi!
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