Loans that change lives

Have you heard about microfinancing? It's something that you and I can do to help fight poverty.

In a nutshell, you loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By sponsoring their business, you are helping the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence.

Kiva (www.kiva.org/) is one such non-profit public benefit corporation that connects you with and loan money directly to the beneficiary without having to go through a bureaucratic and costly layer of aid groups in between. Kiva’s website provides information about entrepreneurs in poor countries – their photos, loan proposals and credit history – and allows people to make direct loans to them. When your loan is repaid, you can choose to withdraw your funds or re-loan to a new business.

It’s such a fantastic idea. You can loan as little as $25 at a time. Can you imagine if we forgo one meal in a fancy restaurant, we can literally change a person’s life forever. Through the website, you can track the progress of the businesses you have sponsored. After reading stories of how much the lives of families in Ghana or in Afghanistan have improved, I am moved to become a microfinancier too.

International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day (IWD), a global day connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential. IWD celebrates the collective power of women past, present and future ...

IWD is an official holiday in Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts.

Women have come a long way indeed. We have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices.

If you're a woman, reading my blog in the comfort of your home or office, please be very thankful for what you have. Spare a thought for the millions of under priviledged women out there who live under bleak and improvished conditions.

Get this! 800 million people go to bed hungry every day. Some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day die due to poverty-related causes. That's 270 million people since 1990, the majority women and children, roughly equal to the population of the US.

What is there for us to complain about really?