Pay It Forward – kiva.org

A few weeks ago my wonderful daughter introduced us to an incredible web site www.kiva.org. Kiva enables people “who have” to lend money directly to people who live in the poorest economies of the world. As you may know, many of these countries are ruled by tyrannical dictators who have no interest in helping their people or they lack the stable currency and financial institutions that facilitate the everyday commerce we take for granted. Recently my wife and I became “investors.”

As your browse the site, notice that remarkable things people are doing for themselves and their community with loans as small as $25. Equally remarkable, virtually 100% of these loans are paid back in the prescribed term.

What does this have to do with Career Secret Sauce?

There was a great movie made in the year 2000 that portrayed a heartwarming story about a little boy who came up with a way to make a positive difference in the world by simply doing something nice for a stranger and asking them to do the same for someone else; Pay It Forward.

Any of us who enjoy the use of a personal computer and the Internet are probably already better off than 90% of the people in the world. Having a great career and making good money helps us provide for ourselves and our families, but it also enables us to engage in acts of charity to help others; people we will never meet.

For me, Kiva provides the perfect tool for me to “Pay It Forward.” First off all, it’s not simply a handout; it’s helping people help themselves. Second, it’s a way for me, as an American, to directly improve the reputation of the United States in places that may have the wrong impression of our generous country. Third, it’s just a loan for a few hundred bucks — they WILL pay it back. Of course when they do, we’ll just turn it over and make new loans to new micro-entrepreneurs in other developing countries.

We enjoy a multitude of blessings. Kiva enables us to Pay It Forward with one simple painless act.

Dave