plerosis.com

Lot’s of new tweaks and twiddles on the site, some more sneaky than others. Click and poke. Check it out. Let me know if something’s broke.

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Minneapolis - You may have heard about microfinancing, the global phenomenon of providing modest loans to individuals and small businesses in some of the poorest areas of the world. Instead of having to go to the traditional money-lenders and paying criminal rates of return out of desperation for needed funds, more and more of the world’s poor are now securing fair terms on small loans from a growing number of organizations and local banks specializing in microfinancing. And it’s proving to be a safe bet for the lenders. The borrowers of microfinanced loans- the poor- are turning out to be some of the most responsible financial stewards around, with upwards of 90% full repayment and very little default. It seems that given a genuine opportunity to improve their lives, most people can be trusted.

Microfinancing is a great idea. But it gets even better. This is the age of the web, people! We’re all getting connected. Kiva.org has taken microfinancing one step further. Now you can become a microfinancier! Kiva.org is a non-profit organization that directly connects the people who have money with the people who need money, no matter where they are in the world, one person at a time. In their own words:

Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

Here’s how it works. You go to www.kiva.org. There you will find a whole list of profiles with pictures and brief bios of people around the world (like the Cambodian couple shown here) in need of small loans ($100 – $1000 or so)to help kick-start or rescue their small businesses. Each lender gives only a portion, maybe $25, of the total needed. The portions are consolidated, and when the requested amount is reached, the loan is granted. The lenders each receive periodic updates up the status of the borrowers as the loans are being repaid. Over 99% of loans made are repaid in full. Amazing.

Just browsing through the bios was a moving experience for me. The people in the pictures were completely familiar. These are the folks I’ve been spending time with for the last couple years! The guy selling toiletries from a street stand made of a couple boards and some plastic. The young woman with an infant held close selling used clothes out of a spare bedroom. The indigenous poultry vendor from the Ecuadorean Andes. How wonderfully ironic that I had to come home to find a secure and effective way to help some of these folks out. While traveling, there were a lot of handouts, but I could never be sure how the money would be spent and I wasn’t ever around long enough to find out. Now I have a means of connecting in a meaningful way, of knowing exactly how the money is being used, and of sharing in the joy of it’s fruition.

IMHO, this is just an incredibly cool idea and one great example of the new tools and conditions emerging (thanks to the globalized net) that are providing a real basis for hope for a better world for all. I have four loans out already and can’t wait to see how the borrowers make use of them. When the money comes back, I’ll just send it out again, and sit back and watch how that hundred bucks gets used over and over again to improve the lives of people from Honduras to Azerbaijan.

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SJCs revive the magic! One show only. Friday November 2 at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis.
Talk To Me for more info. Start dusting off those dancing shoes!

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I’ll be house-sitting in Minneapolis until mid November. Haven’t worked out yet what will follow.

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Doing the Master Cleanse. 10 days consuming only lemonade mixed with maple syrup and cayenne. Also a quart of tepid salt-water in the morning, guzzled. And a nice cup of Smooth Move in the evening. Presently on day 3. I’m hungry. Will I make it?

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Back from meditating and canoeing. My month at Dhamma Pakasa was challenging but great. It is a good place to be. Don’t know if I’m going to write much more about it. More about meditation in general in an upcoming post about spirituality. My plan is to do nothing but read and write for the next 2 weeks.

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