Help people by loaning them money, not giving it to them. Small loans make a big difference around the world!

A few months back I made a post about Team Steemit on Kiva.

Kiva is a worldwide nonprofit that provides small loans so people can improve their lives. They get the money from individuals selecting which person or persons they want to help.

It's really easy to do.

First, you select a loan to fund. There are so many categories, such as agricultural (my favorite), schooling, health, businesses, and more.

Second, you fund it in increments of $25 and also a small processing fee (For me it was $3.75 per loan to help pay for the Kiva workers). You just changed someone's life! Good on you!

Third, you get updates as they repay the loan.

When they fully repay, you can re-loan or withdraw your money.

That's it! So simple and so helpful.

I found out about this when @oleg326756 made a post about it. We even are part of the (currently 10 members strong)Team Steemit loans! (Click here for the invite: https://www.kiva.org/invitedto/steemit/by/_ZmJwemJheHJsPHViZ3pudnk-cGJ6)

I had agreed to fund a loan in Nigeria as Steemit member @yaanivapeji had commented on my previous KIVA post and he lives there.

I decided to loan the $25+ that the post earned to Laraba.

Laraba in Nigeria's Story

Laraba lives with her husband and children in a modest mud house in a small village in the state of Kaduna, Nigeria. Her village is a small community where farming is the primary means of income for most families.

Laraba is glad to be a member of Babban Gona, a partner in the fight against poverty. Building on her previous input loan, Laraba expects to reap maize of up to double the national average.

As a member, Laraba will receive a Harvest Advance loan, providing her with a cash advance. She will use the loan to purchase more farmland to scale her business and further increase her income. Additionally, Babban Gona will support Laraba by storing the harvested maize to sell later in the year. Now, she does not have to forfeit making a profit by selling her maize at low harvest prices.

Laraba can now generate earnings of up to four times the average Nigerian farmer’s annual income. She also notes that her happiest memory as a Babban Gona farmer has been feeding her family all the time.

Paul From The Philippines Story

I also re-loaned my initial $25, this went to Paul

Paul is a responsible father of two children. He is 42 years old and engages himself in managing his fish pond in their community in order to provide for his family. He is working hard to give his family a better living condition. For his business to grow continuously, Paul is now requesting a loan of PHP 50,000 to buy additional finger lings for his fishpond. This loan will help his business to accumulate greater profit.

As a business minded person, these are the types of ventures I like!

Help people improve their income, help them improve their lives. It also is why I prefer this method of charity. Because I believe that if people are just given things for free, they come to expect it. A few quotes come to mind, but I will keep it simple with this one that everyone has heard.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime"

In this context, it is more like “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Loan a man the money to build his own fish farm and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Sure, sometimes people need help with the expectation of having to give anything in return. After a natural disaster or another unexpected thing that wasn't their fault or result of poor decisions.

But I believe giving to people in bad situations that are the result of their own choices is often counterproductive. They have little to no motivation to improve themselves or their situation if they know that assistance is forthcoming because they are under the income level to receive it.

Tony Robbins has a great quote that I always remember. “Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”

The people seeking loans on Kiva are actively trying to improve and that resonates with me. So I help them out.

Here are the people Team Steemit has helped so far!

I would like for you to join up. Here is the link to our Steemit team.
(https://www.kiva.org/invitedto/steem/by/_ZmJwemJheHJsPHViZ3pudnk-cGJ6)

I will loan whatever I receive from this post in Kiva. So even if you don't want to join up you can still help by upvoting this post. I will update everyone what happens to the loans in the future.

Hope to see you on our team!