Noah, Kiva, and RPM

Have you heard about KIVA? It's this amazing organization that supplies loans to people around the world in need. Basically, you can go online and check out the loan requests and donate anywhere from $25 and up towards a specific loan. Once enough money is collected, the loan is given out and the person who requested it can start their business, buy food for their market stall... basically get whatever is needed for them to support themselves in their country. And once they start earning money, they work on paying back the loan.

It's really cool.

We supported a loan a few months ago for someone in Pakistan to buy a rickshaw so they could start their own taxi business and support their family. So far, we've received half of our $25 back... and we decided to transfer that money and add $12.50 so that we could help someone else get started.

This time, however, we wanted to let Noah choose the person to support.

So we did some RPM with him... you know, that awesome autism program that we learned about in Austin? Yeah, that one. By giving him a series of two to three choices at a time, Noah told us that he wanted to lend "his" money to someone who met the following specifics:

1. Male

2. Married

3. 7 + children

4. Living on the continent of Asia

5. Above 30 years of age

6. In the agriculture business

I could only find one person who had 7 or more kids (geez, Noah!!) but wanted to give Noah an option of two people, so we picked another person who met Noah's qualifications, but only had 6 children.

The first one was from Cambodia, has 8 kids, and needs money to buy seeds for his land so that he can grow food. The second candidate is from Tajikistan, has 6 kids, and also needs seeds so that he can grow and sell food.

This is who Noah picked to sponsor: Mukim Mamadjonov. You can click on the link and it'll take you to his loan request page.

He only needs $125 more to meet his loan request. Just five people donating $25 each... and you eventually get it all back.... (and, of course, can then sponsor another loan!)

What an unbelievably cool and easy way to help change the world!

So, Noah, age 7, is making his mark on the world. He loaned $25. When that $25 gets paid off, he'll redistribute it to someone else. If he does this twice a year, then in 10 years, he'll have helped 20 families put food on the table.

All for one initial $25 investment.

You know, it doesn't matter how old you are, whether you're "able-bodied" or not. Doesn't matter if you can talk or if you're non-verbal, if you can walk or need a wheelchair to get around. Doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. Everyone can help make a difference in someone's life.

So... uh... what are you waiting for?? Get to it!

UPDATE: In the five minutes it took to type out this post, Noah's "friend", Mukim, had his entire loan amount raised!! There are HUNDREDS more out there, so please look through the site and see if you feel called to donate.