Blog Action Day 2008: Focus on Poverty

After months of build up, the day is here...Blog Action Day 2008 and the focus is on poverty. 11,400 sites/blogs are participating with an estimated audience of 12,428,109 people. Amazing.

Now, if every single one of those people did one small thing to help bring awareness to the mind-boggling issue of world-wide poverty, or contributed just $5 to a relief agency, can you imagine the impact that would make?

NOTE: SEE MY CHALLENGE TO YOU AT THE END OF THIS POST.

Last night I was watching The News Hour and there was story about the downward spiral of Zimbabwe that the political upheaval has wrought on the people. There was a long shot of a man, dressed in a suit, hanging out on a huge garbage bin going through it looking for anything to eat and pouncing on each new dump of garbage. It made me cringe and nearly brought  me to tears.

One of the ways I -- and you -- can make a difference in the lives of millions of people is by getting involved with Kiva.org.

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

I've been a micro lender to Kiva since January. I made 2 loans that have been repaid and  currently have 3 more loans that are being paid off.

Why do I do this?

The idea of helping people take responsibility for their own life and success is important to me. Making a loan is not the same as giving money. These entrepreneurs borrow small sums, maybe a few hundred dollars, and improve their business.

By investing in their business, an entrepreneur helps not only him or herself, but also their family and their community. A $25 loan can make an enormous difference in the life of an entrepreneur in Peru or Nigeria or Togo.  You can see my lending profile to see the businesses I'm currently lending to. So far, repayment has been 100% and I put the funds back into a new loans to entrepreneurs.

Kiva is a Blog Action Day partner AND this week won 3rd place in the American Express Member's Project which means they won $300,000 to invest in even more entrepreneurs in developing countries.

I have joined the Blog Action Day Lending Team and challenge you to do so as well. All it takes is $25 to make a HUGE difference.

THE CHALLENGE:

I will contribute $10 for every person who reads this post and joins the Blog Action Day Lending Team and funds at least one $25 loan. 

Post a comment on this post and let me know you became a lender and include the link to your lending profile.

At 5 p.m. Pacific Time I'll add up the new lenders who have submitted their link and make my new loan to one or more deserving entrepreneur.

Let's join forces and help change the world!

Comments

[Dayngr]

Wonderful to not only post but to get folks involved in how they can make a difference. Conversation is good but action is better!

[KivaB4B Team]

HI all.
KivaB4B is contributing $10,000 to support Blog Action Day. KivaB4B is a new partnership between Kiva and Advanta Bank that lets you double the loans you make through Kiva, up to $200/month. It's a very cool program. Check it out at KivaB4B.org. There's also a very unique affiliate program they offer to blogs and other sites. There's a description on the blog, http://b4bcommunity.org/2008/08/the-kiva-affiliate-program-hel.html

KivaB4B Team

[kouji haiku]

darn. i love kiva. :) am currently unable to make a donation though, so i put up its banner on my blog, as well as that of freerice (rice donation via gameplay) and goodsearch (donation per search).

saw this post via the front page of blog action day. it's great that you're participating. :)

[Stephanie Bell the Spirit Coach]

Denise --

I've been aware of Kiva for sometime while researching charities that I wanted to support. It functions similarly to http://modestneeds.org which I have been supporting for 2 years now.

I'm happy to take you up on your challenge and here's the link to my Kiva Lending Portfolia page:
https://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=account

Blessings of Infinite Love & Gratitude to you and Patsi for all you do and you are!

Stephanie Bell the Spirit Coach
http://twitter.com/SpiritCoach

[Teresa Howell]

Hi Denise, I took your challenge, signed up and started a loan! Here is the link to my loan profile on Kiva https://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=account&action=loans. Thanks for issuing this challenge and helping me to do something I want to do more often, practice gratitude, be thankful for what I have and help others in any way I can. Love the Blog Squad!

[Karen McMillan]

Thanks for keeping it real and sharing your social responsibility with us. Making it possible for us to share our wealth - heart and money. You are truly a Conscious Business Leader
Life Coach Karen (The Conscious Living Coach)
http://www.kiva.org/lender/lifecoachkaren

[Alex]

Great post, I myself wrote one at: http://www.guruofsales.com/general/427/fight-poverty-its-blog-action-day-today and the action has not stopped. Would you share your thoughts by a comment there as well?

[Andrew Windham]

This is an awesome cause, count me in and will get you the profile link shortly!

Andrew

www.insurancegeorgia.com

[Janet Fouts]

I love Kiva, it takes so little to make a big difference to others, and you get to re-invest over and over! Here's my lending page: http://tinyurl.com/43gp8t

I'm donating to 2nd Harvest for every comment on my blog post today as part of my Action Day post too. http://janetfouts.com/take-action-against-poverty/

[Andrew Windham]

Denise,

Thank you for the gift of enlightment and awareness of such an incredible organization. It is my pleasure to join the vision and mission.
http://www.kiva.org/lender/tufadvisor

Create an amazing day!
Andrew