Fun

Why Kiva?  Here's why I picked it, and please note that the emphasis on my personal convenience and amusement means I'm being honest:

• Microloans work better than charity.  That's what they tell me, anyway.  I seem to recall doing some research back when I signed up, but I don't remember specifics.  Maybe I should redo that research.  And then blog about it!
• Kiva is really easy to use. Like I said, I'm not charitably inclined, either by habit or genetics, so I'm not going to stick around when things get tough.  Or even, you know, slightly annoying.  Other than the hassles of PayPal, which I already have to deal with in order to buy myself things, it's the easiest thing in the world.  Checking my email is tougher.
• You get your money back!  Most of the time - something like 97%.  Once you can that money back, you can reinvest it, you can donate it to Kiva, or you can just stick it back in your PayPal and resume buying yourself trinkets on eBay.
• You know what's fun?  Fun, that's what.  And Kiva is fun.  Rather than handing your loot off to some organization and letting them decided what to do with it, you get to decide where it goes. And then you get to follow along!

I need to expand on that last point, because that's the main reason I'm doing this.  Every part of the process is fun, which is, as we already discussed, fun.  Picking your recipient, seeing who else has thrown in for the same cause, seeing the little loan bar fill up - it's like playing a very slow-paced video game!  And it's cheaper, as long as you only do it twice.

From there, it only gets better!  And by that, I basically mean that you get your money back.  Imagine that - you send your money out on a special mission to, say, buy cows for someone in Tajikistan.  It goes all the way to Central Asia, pays for part of a cow, and then returns to you, safe and sound.  Everyone wins!  Except the cow, I guess.

If it sounds like I'm joking, let me assure you that when I got my first installment of $6.25 from my initial loan, it felt like Christmas, my birthday, and another Christmas all rolled into one.  It wasn't the actual remuneration, it was the reassurance that the whole thing works.  My little contribution apparently helped out the good people at the Bancocomunal Nacer to the point that they could start sending out money to the complete strangers who'd sent money to the them a few months before.  And when I get the rest of my 25 bucks back, I can just plow that into some other worth endeavor.  Everyone wins!  Once again, except the cows.