This may not be a holiday that you've heard of before, but I guess it's one now.
Kiva is a non-profit that lets you act like Warren Buffet. I know, it sounds too good to be true, but it is. Say, for example, that Warren Buffet has $100 billion, and I have $1 million (I'm rounding up, a lot). That means that Warren Buffet has 100,000 times more money than I do.
Now say that I have $1 million (I'm rounding up, a lot...again). And say that this person I've never met, Khan Agha Safi, who lives in Afghanistan, has $10 in savings. That means that I'm 100,000 times richer than he is. So, I'm just like Warren Buffet, only not as rich (relative to me, not Mr. Safi).
Though Kiva.org I can loan money to Mr. Safi, who claims his occupation as farming (I hope he's not an opium farmer) in amounts of $25. (Actually, I pool my $25 with a bunch of other people and then another organization in Afghanistan actually coordinates the loan.) So, really, it's just like I'm Warren Buffet looking through lots of companies to invest in, and out of my genius, I can review all the loan requests on Kiva.org and decide which ones I would like to invest in.
I decided to loan Mr. Safi money because if he's busy farming to pay back my loan, he's not going to have time to kill US Soldiers, but there are loads of other good reasons to loan to someone like Mr. Safi. For example, you can feel very wise when you look through all of the hundreds of loan "offers" on Kiva.org and then, when you finally decide on one, you can have confidence that no matter how good or bad your choice, you must be right, because as it says in Fiddler on the Roof, "When you're rich they think you really know."
Other than that, I guess I can't really think of any good reasons to loan money to Mr. Safi, except that you'll probably get your money back (with no interest), so it's really just like a investment in the stock market that doesn't lose money, which these days isn't a bad deal at all.
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Since we're not very good at staying in touch with our friends (or family), we thought we'd try to periodically share bits and pieces of our lives with those who are interested enough to look at our blog once in a while
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K's Lists
Books I want to Read but haven't because they cost money and I don't have any.
1.) "Inheritance" by Christopher Paolini. We actually have this book, but I have always been scared to read it because it has 849 pages in it. I finally decided to read it though. I started 3 days ago and am on page 252.
2.) "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan. Even if I had money I wouldn't be able to read this because it doesn't come out until October 2.
3.) "Matched" by Ally Condie. It is the first book in a trilogy about a utopia. In the book the main character Cassia has just reached the age where she will be told who to marry. When her match is also her best friend she is thrilled. Even though she already knows everything about her match she is still given a microchip that has all the information about her match that she needs to know. When she opens the microchip two people show up, her best friend and her neighbor.
4.) "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak is set during world war two and is narrated by death. And I don't know much else because I haven't read the book yet.
5.) "The Demigod Diaries" by Rick Riordan. I want to read it but can't because It doesn't come out till August 14. Which is the day before my school starts so I will have just enough time to read it.
1.) "Inheritance" by Christopher Paolini. We actually have this book, but I have always been scared to read it because it has 849 pages in it. I finally decided to read it though. I started 3 days ago and am on page 252.
2.) "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan. Even if I had money I wouldn't be able to read this because it doesn't come out until October 2.
3.) "Matched" by Ally Condie. It is the first book in a trilogy about a utopia. In the book the main character Cassia has just reached the age where she will be told who to marry. When her match is also her best friend she is thrilled. Even though she already knows everything about her match she is still given a microchip that has all the information about her match that she needs to know. When she opens the microchip two people show up, her best friend and her neighbor.
4.) "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak is set during world war two and is narrated by death. And I don't know much else because I haven't read the book yet.
5.) "The Demigod Diaries" by Rick Riordan. I want to read it but can't because It doesn't come out till August 14. Which is the day before my school starts so I will have just enough time to read it.
6) "Wish You Were Eyre" by Heather Vogel Frederik. It is the last book in a series about a group of girls in a mother-daughter book club. They face the challenges of life and learn to overcome them with the help of their friends and families.
Places I want to visit:
1.) Beijing, China
2.) Antartica
3.) Budapest, Hungary
4.) Tokyo, Japan
Places I want to visit:
1.) Beijing, China
2.) Antartica
3.) Budapest, Hungary
4.) Tokyo, Japan
5) Sydney, Australia
6) and many, many more
Things I want to do:
1.) Create a Smash Book (basically it is a scrapbook); I'm working on it
2.) Get better at running (I am on the cross country team)
3.) finnish putting together my bunk bed. My dad made it for me awhile ago, and now we are repainting it from purple and pink to green and yellow
4.) Get a 4.0 GPA. I was close at my last school but not quite.
Things I want to see:
Things I want to do:
1.) Create a Smash Book (basically it is a scrapbook); I'm working on it
2.) Get better at running (I am on the cross country team)
3.) finnish putting together my bunk bed. My dad made it for me awhile ago, and now we are repainting it from purple and pink to green and yellow
4.) Get a 4.0 GPA. I was close at my last school but not quite.
Things I want to see:
1.) A glacier, I don't care which one
2.) The Olympics.
3.) our house with our shipment unpacked
4.) Everest
2.) The Olympics.
3.) our house with our shipment unpacked
4.) Everest
3 comments:
I've read about programs like this, but this one has an additional draw--that is the farmer is in a country where he may be inclined to shot American soldiers--and keeping him on the farm sounds like a better place to be.
I wonder if Kiva.com has been around long enough to examine their track record. Since the Bernie Madeoff scandal I trust others even less than before with my money.
--WC
v. here... Spencer, you are wonderful. v
i like the contrast between mom and dad's comments!
and i like me anything that allows me to act like warren buffet. wait, was that not the point?
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