True Stories You Can Be A Part Of

In the spirit of the Christmas season, you might want to take a jaunt over to Kiva, where you can loan money to people in underdeveloped countries who are trying to get a business started. They post their stories, and you can go pick and choose where to invest your money. It's not a gift; they are expected to pay you back (not with interest--that's the gift part, I guess). I know that one friend of mine has had some success there, and I just registered and made my first loan today. So a woman selling groceries in Tajekistan now has completed her fundraising, thanks to me. That kinda makes me feel good.

As a bonus, you can get very inspired (in many ways) by how creative people get with the means they find to survive and prosper, all over the world.

With your help.

(EDITED to add: if you register, and you feel like telling them that I referred you, use this e-mail address for me: hading75595@mypacks.net. It's one of Earthlink's 'register with this to keep spam out of your main account' things. And thanks! I don't think I get anything except a thank-you, but I'm all about the networking, you know.)