Great idea - www.kiva.org - get on board!
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peace all,
I have been researching www.kiva.org and it looks a really really really good way of making a positive change in developing countries.
Basically, it is a service that allows you to lend money to people in developing countries helping them to start small businesses, or grow current ones, allowing them to work themselves out of poverty in a sustainable way. All you do is give them a helping hand. And since it's not like buying a food parcel, your contribution keeps on growing and having a positive effect (zakah). Akin to the phrase "if you give a man a fish he will feed himself for a day, if you teach him how to fish he will feed himself for a lifetime".
One great point is that you dont actually give money away, you lend it at zero interest, so if you have any spare cash lying around, may as well use it in a positive way.
Please note, since you dont actually give it away, you may wish to ensure you do give some of your money away using a different channel (e.g. commonly giving to charity as a donation).
Does anyone use it? At the moment I dont, but I plan to use it a lot in the near future. This post was mainly about getting it out there and feedback from others.
SEE update post below.
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All your needs and whatever have been promised for you are in the heavens;-
By way of seeking Wisdom from Him you can transform the whole generation from the present finance oriented life to a new horizon. Money is not at all life; the grant of His Wisdom helps us rise through the seven channels above us, Al Ma'arij, the highest ways of life even while we are living in this world. Believe in the unseen and seek from the Unseen.
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Salaams Waqas,All,
Tried it; i gave rather bought a visa for a gentleman to go to Saudi - so he may earn and then repay me back the money spent on his visa , which would then go to purchase another visa or something for somebody else and the process would continue on and on.........
But what happened the money got spent , the person went to Saudi worked hard for a number of years but never repaid back- then cheated his sheik/ oversear there and got kicked out losing his visa and all his savings in the process.
But we shouldn't cry over spilt milk............
peace
God Bless All.
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Update
After signing up and participating, it seems there is a big point I should clarify
You lend money to KIVA who use it for projects and it is repaid almost all of the time BUT how KIVA works is that they lend that money to local field partners who then lend that money out at interest to borrowers. Sometimes the interest is very high (compared to loans in Western countries). The reason KIVA gives for this is that the cost of carrying out micro-loans is significantly higher than normal sized loans, and often these places are rural, not cities.
So, my advice to anyone is NOT to lend to any KIVA projects unless the field partner does not charge interest. There are some (mainly in Muslim countries) who do not charge interest to the borrowers, and probably charge a fee instead. I recommend signing up to the Muslim Kiva group as they often post links to non-interest projects on Kiva.
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Peace
Following our recent workshop in Johannesburg, one of the outputs was developing a model to do something similar by raising and utilising funds to develop people in South Africa with micro-loans.
Once we have developed our model, I will post it so that people can consider getting involved.
Imraan
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Update
After signing up and participating, it seems there is a big point I should clarify
You lend money to KIVA who use it for projects and it is repaid almost all of the time BUT how KIVA works is that they lend that money to local field partners who then lend that money out at interest to borrowers. Sometimes the interest is very high (compared to loans in Western countries). The reason KIVA gives for this is that the cost of carrying out micro-loans is significantly higher than normal sized loans, and often these places are rural, not cities.
So, my advice to anyone is NOT to lend to any KIVA projects unless the field partner does not charge interest. There are some (mainly in Muslim countries) who do not charge interest to the borrowers, and probably charge a fee instead. I recommend signing up to the Muslim Kiva group as they often post links to non-interest projects on Kiva.
Thanks for clarifying this Wakas. I've been a member on that site for a while now and lent money but this will make me abit more wary of who I lend the money to. The site is highly recommended but also check out http//www.freerice.com/ for each answer you get right they donate 10 grains of rice also helps build your vocabulary.
PEACE
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Update
After signing up and participating, it seems there is a big point I should clarify
You lend money to KIVA who use it for projects and it is repaid almost all of the time BUT how KIVA works is that they lend that money to local field partners who then lend that money out at interest to borrowers. Sometimes the interest is very high (compared to loans in Western countries). The reason KIVA gives for this is that the cost of carrying out micro-loans is significantly higher than normal sized loans, and often these places are rural, not cities.
So, my advice to anyone is NOT to lend to any KIVA projects unless the field partner does not charge interest. There are some (mainly in Muslim countries) who do not charge interest to the borrowers, and probably charge a fee instead. I recommend signing up to the Muslim Kiva group as they often post links to non-interest projects on Kiva.
yes read about this too somewhere just after signing up--never used the service since. good tip on that Muslim Kiva group though, never checked it before.
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peace I got really excited when I found out about Kiva too and then disappointed when I learned about the interest. I mean, I can totally understand it. They have to have coordinators to take the repayments and organise everything and in order to do that successfully they charge the interest to cover it. I was reading this thread waiting for something to come out about it )
Glad to hear there are some opportunities for Muslims without using interest though. Microcredit has done so much to help people and it's really heartening when something so small to some can affect huge changes to others. Muhammad Yunus got a Nobel Peace prize for his microcredit work in Bangladesh. ) Praise God.
