Thursday, November 13, 2008

Giving: Construction Entrepreneur in Togo

Earlier this week I talked about in our current times and economic uncertainty we have a great opportunity to give.

My wife and I are truly blessed with health, the birth of a new daughter, new jobs in a new city, and the opportunity to live closer to our family. It's been a big year for us and we are encroaching on another milestone as we are closing on our first home tomorrow. It's exciting and a little scary.

But tonight, to reflect on the blessings my wife & I have we decided to put our opportunities in perspective by cruising the Kiva.org website. Kiva.org is a website/organization that connects people in developing nations, non-profits, and individual lenders.

Tonight my wife Kim & I contributed a small amount to a loan to Kokouda Bada, a 47 year-old man (father of six) who is a retailer of gates and metal for construction. We decided to look into lending to someone who worked in construction or housing. Kodouda Bada lives in Lomé, Togo, and we were excited to lend him money to help the construction industry in Togo, Africa.

If there is one thing that this economic crisis has shown is how closely our individual economies are related, and as the financial systems are challenged in the the developed nations, that will also mean less money that will flow into less developed nations, whether through exports or foreign aid.

It is with an attitude of thanks and giving we have contributed to our first Kiva loan. Kokouda is requesting a $625 loan for his construction business. If you would like to lend Kodouda's business some money (scheduled to be repaid over the next 12 months) then I encourage you do to so. I would certainly be honored to see other StrangeCulture readers lend & give...I really do believe that our opportunity to give in challenging times is often greater then we give out of our blatant prosperity.

7 comments:

Fox said...

Congratulations on your new child and your new home, RC!

And it's inspiring to see you being generous in tough economic times.

Anonymous said...

Do you get any interest back on your loan? Do Kiva and their partners charge interest to those requesting a microloan?

RC said...

@ adam...you don't get an interest on your loan...so it lacks the financial venture typical "loans" have...similarly thought the kiva loan-receivers are not charged interest either...i don't think (?) i could be wrong since some of the loans go through different micro-finance orginazations.

Daniel said...

As far as I know the Kiva loans are charged interest, only to cover overhead expenses.

All the best for Kodouda's business!

Lorna said...

Thanks for writing about this---I know from some of my friends that a microloan is a big, big thing in their lives.

Paula said...

Long-time Kiva lender here....we give Kiva loans as gifts, we drop money in there as often as possible. It is such a great way to "spread it around"!

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