This is Carolve, who i've lent some money to. She's 25 and runs her own rice farm.
I'm quite excited about this way of helping, because (i) it's helping people help themselves and their community, and (ii) the one $25 can be used over and over again to assist different people in different communities.
I should mention that the loans are interest-free - so you're not going to make money out of it, but you can get a bunch of warm fuzzy feelings from helping someone out.
UPDATE: We're now in March, and the final repayment (of $1.93) has been made. That doesn't seem like a lot of money to us, but to people in places like the Phillipines it is huge. The average wage in the Phillipines is $1175 per year. So the $250 (from me and 9 other lenders) was significant. Even the $1.93 repayment is around half a day's wages.
In you want to experience what it's like to make a big difference, why not sign up for a FREE trial at http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/david17104460?
