By Han Nguyen, Ashlee Walker & Bali Vu
What is Kiva?
Kiva is an international non-profit organization that helps micro-lend money to people in unfortunate circumstances and those who do not have access to banking systems. It provides a vehicle for crowdfunding loans which go towards businesses, tuition, and livelihoods. The lenders will eventually repay the loan which can go towards funding more projects with the repayments. Kiva’s work uplifts and helps underprivileged communities to thrive.
The Kiva Club here at school works with students and teachers to raise money. The money from the fundraisers will go towards different candidates to finance their needs. In addition, the club is currently focusing on helping individuals who have been affected by COVID-19. Kiva works with people from every continent except Antarctica. No, the penguins have not been asking for loans.
Dress Down Donation Drive
Recently, the Kiva club planned a Donation Dress Down Drive, which was an immense success. Students had the option to have free dress if they donated a minimum of $1 to Kiva. Donation packets were distributed to all the secondary advisories and were collected at the end of the week. They raised a grand total of $2027.75 SGD.
Then, with the funds from the generous secondary school community, students plan to micro-lend the money to various lendees in order to allow them to flourish and break free from their cycles.
My hope is that a much greater portion of the school gets involved. Our goal is that every advisory in CIS will participate in Kiva. For every advisory to collect money, choose a lendee to follow, and watch their progress. It gives you a window into the way the system works outside of our very rarified world as an international school.
Bryn Barnard, Kiva Supervisor
Kiva teaches empathy and makes students aware of the vast inequalities that there are in the world. Furthermore, it empowers students by allowing them to help alleviate global issues in a meaningful way.
Lives Impacted – Igor from Moldova
Most recently, Kiva microlended $100 USD to Igor. He is a 44 year old single father from Moldova, with a daughter who is currently a student. They live in the small village of Hirjauca, Calarasi. The loans will be able to use it as an investment for a bigger truck to deliver more wood. This supports his employment and ensure his daughter’s studies. As of now, his goal has been reached through the contributions of the global Kiva community. This is just one example out of hundreds of people that have been helped through Kiva’s work.
Lives Impacted – Faustin from Rwanda
Mr. Ozsarac’s advisory, one of the winners of the Kiva Dress Down Day fundraiser, used their money to help Faustin expand his grocery store business, so that he can help his family. After fleeing Congo, Faustin settled down in Rwanda near the Mugombwa refugee camp. Faustin is a dedicated entrepreneur, who has also provided other employment opportunities for other refugees and Rwandans. He has been able to grow his business into a grocery store known by many in his community. The income goes towards paying for his children’s school tuition as well as support his family.
“He hopes to continue growing and creating a positive impact on society.”