DIY Foreign Aid

I am fascinated by micro-financing and what we can do with a little bit of money in developing worlds. I am also always suspicious of giving away money to charity and being unaware of how that money is being spent.

I found this great organization through my blog travels and decided to make my donation today. It is an organization where you can lend money to people in developing nations to start their own businesses, and they are held accountable for paying you back. I love that it teaches people discipline and care with their money. The organization is called Kiva. You scroll through people and get to read descriptions of their business ventures. You pay through paypal, and they repay you in the same way, so once your loan has been paid back you can help more people with the same $25. It's a beautiful system that keeps on giving.

Here's a great video on the work Kiva does on the NY Times Website.



I chose to donate to Matagiaila, a mother who runs her own fabric printing business.