I performed all of the research and writing for these articles.
KIVA: LOANS THAT CHANGE LIVES
Kiva is a micro-lending organization, unique because of its mission to connect lenders directly with entrepreneurs in developing countries.By Alyssa Choiniere Published Jan. 21, 2010
This organization was the first of its kind. Kiva is affiliated with worldwide micro-financing groups which enables individuals to loan to qualified entrepreneurs across the globe.
Lenders can make contributions as little as $25 and will be repaid according to a preset timetable, which varies by case.
The person-to-person connection of Kiva starts with a photograph. While exploring the benefits of becoming a lender, you can scroll through a list of real people in developing countries, see their faces, hear their stories, understand their needs and fulfill them.
This is Koffi Hounlessodji, a 22 year-old trained in sheetmetal work in Tojo. He seeks a loan of $1,200 to purchase supplies so that he can make stoves and doors in greater quantities.
Similar stories are posted on Kiva every day and loans are distributed, giving these hard-working individuals a chance at success and a boost to the local economy.
William Easterly, economist and author of "The White Man's Burden," writes, "Acknowledging that development happens mainly through homegrown efforts would liberate the agencies of the West from utopian goals, freeing up development workers to concentrate on more modest, doable steps to make poor people's lives better."
Kiva is an organization making doable steps. Instead of handouts, this organization allows people to help themselves and make a drastic difference in their lives and communities.
The Poverty News Blog started a lending team for Kiva. The team writes, "We want those who read the blog to take action upon what they read."
MALARIA: THE COST OF PREVENTION
By Alyssa Choiniere Published Jan. 11, 2010
A young African mother is caught in a nightmare. Her twin daughters are at an age where they should be learning how to form their first sentences, how to run, and how to giggle with unbridled enthusiasm.Instead, they are dying.
Hasena did not know the name of the plague which infected her tw0-year-old daughters, much less that the carrier of the plague was less than an inch long. She only knew that her daughters were sick, and that her only chance to save them was 40 miles away. Hasena made the two-day journey with a toddler in each arm.
“When I was a few hours away from the health center, they both stopped crying. When I arrived, the nurse told me that it was too late to treat their malaria.”
I found Hasena’s quote and story, paraphrased here, at amrf.org.
By the time you finish reading this post, five more children will die from malaria. The majority of malaria’s victims never live to see the age of 5. Malaria deaths would significantly decrease with simple resources, such as mosquito nets and increased education. According to William Easterly, author of “The White Man’s Burden,” 5 million children would be saved from malaria by donating 4 dollars per African mother.
The prevalence of malaria is not due to a lack of resources, but rather a lack of knowledge. This ignorance is pervasive in America.
Life extends beyond the borders of America. It reaches beyond the current economic crisis, beyond pop culture, and beyond the stress of earning a paycheck. If one asks, “What’s in it for me?” the most sincere answer is blunt: Nothing.
Saving a life won’t get you a better job, and it won’t buy you a new pair of jeans. But for a child and a mother who are so far away that they may seem invisible, it will be the most precious extension of grace, granting the promise of life and a future.
Visit malarianomore.com to donate.
"Malaria: The Cost of Prevention" PDF Version
