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I am trying something new. I am so excited about it that I wanted to share… I love helping people and involving my children. I have taught my children to pay fast offerings and donate to the church Humanitarian Fund since they were very young. I know of few children who pay into these funds, but in my family we stress it more than we do tithing. My kids love knowing that they are helping needy people across the world. My problem is… I am losing faith that our donations are really helping those who need it the most, to the extend that we believe it does. I don’t like not knowing for sure where our money is going.
Solution… we are going to open a family account at
http://www.kiva.org Here is some info from there site…Quote:Kiva’s mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.
Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.
Kiva was born of the following beliefs:
* People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way.
* The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity.
* By connecting people we can create relationships beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another.
Kiva promotes:
* Dignity: Kiva encourages partnership relationships as opposed to benefactor relationships. Partnership relationships are characterized by mutual dignity and respect.
* Accountability: Loans encourage more accountability than donations where repayment is not expected.
* Transparency: The Kiva website is an open platform where communication can flow freely around the world.
As of November 2009, Kiva has facilitated over $100 million in loans.
The plan is we will start by putting $1000 into a Kiva account. (I will probably use money from a vending machine my kids help maintain) Then every Fast Sunday each of my five children will choose who to donate $25/a piece to. It can be all to the same person, or to 5 different people. ($125 a month total) They will be able to see exactly who is benefiting, track their progress and even read journal entries of their beneficiaries. Our $1000 will cover 8 months of donations, and by that time loan repayments should start trickling back into our account, and then we can continue to lend out perpetually.
(Now that I think about it I may be getting over zealous. Money is freaking tight right now, so I will probably just have to start out with $200 and have my kids choose one person together each month)
I am very excited about this because the idea of my children REALLY knowing that they are making a difference and seeing the results of their giving, will help and inspire them to be charitable and globally conscience adults.
From what I know of Kiva, it seems like a wonderful organization. I like the idea. I read a book called “When good parents have bad kids” and one of the habits of good parents is they help kids see they are part of a larger community by involving them in service projects and work that helps others. I think this is a good example of this kind of parenting. Sounds like a good idea, but we really should be checking out these organizations to see if they’re kosher. Kiva is. I know a lot of people who are involved.
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