I was reading Amy Stewart’s blog about Kiva, an outfit that connects small business owners in poorer countries with people willing to loan a little help. In a nutshell it goes like this. You loan a specific small business as little as $25. They pay the loan back (terms seem to be typically a year to a year and a half) and then you can reloan it to someone else. I chose Lucy Njeri Matindi. Lucy is a widow and a fellow gardener/farmer in Kenya trying to get $700 to buy a water pump to help irrigate her farm and be able to purchase more poultry for her customers. While I couldn’t even think about coming up with $700 I was able to send a little bit her way.

One thing I like about Kiva is that you are connected with a specific business/individual. It is much more personal. When I go out to my garden it will be a neat feeling to know that something that took me about 30 seconds to do will help a fellow gardener half way around the world.