When we did a gift exchange amongst Hubby’s adult family members it was always hard to know what to buy them. Thankfully now we just do a gift exchange among the cousins so I don’t have to stress about it. My question was always, what do you buy someone who has everything?
In steps Kiva “the change-a-life alternative to holiday shopping.”
A co-worker of mine told me that she buys either Kiva loans or Heifer International for her grown up nieces and nephews.
Another older co-worker of mine is the matriarch of the family, and in a single year their entire family went from buying a thousand dollars worth of gifts to donating together to a charity that the family would choose at Thanksgiving. That would go a long way with Kiva loans, plus each year the amount would grow as the loans are repaid.
I shared about my first experience of green
giving
for Father’s Day, and explained the
concept of micro-lending
. Not quite six months later, 45% of the one loan has been repaid and 20% of the other. With my “credit” I reinvested in a farmer from Tajikistan.
It’s gratifying to think that such a small amount of money could help someone earn prosperity. In reality I’ve been materially successful in my life because I was able to get college loans, buy a house, buy a car…this list goes on. It’s really a great way of paying it forward. Recently, Kiva expanded it’s giving to college students, and you can choose to support true “poor college student”.
Do you have Kiva Karma?
Use this link to lend your first $25 for free!
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Sustainable Family Finances
The story of a family creating an abundant and sustainable life.
Heifer International (HI) is an organization that claims to work against world hunger by donating animals to families in developing countries. Its catalog deceptively portrays beautiful children holding cute animals in seemingly humane circumstances. The marketing brochure for HI does not show the animals being transported, their living and slaughter conditions, or the erosion, pollution and water use caused by the introduction of these animals and their offspring.
By definition, animals raised for food are exploited in a variety of ways. The animals shipped to developing countries are often subject to; water and food shortages, cruel procedures without painkillers, lack of veterinary care resulting in extended suffering as a result of illness or injury.
A large percentage of the families receiving animals from HI are struggling to provide for themselves and cannot ensure adequate living conditions, nutrition, and medical care for animals they have been given. HI provides some initial veterinary training to individuals and the initial vaccines. But, long term care for these animals and their offspring is up to the individuals.
To make matters worse, animal agriculture causes much more harm to the environment than plant-based agriculture. The fragile land in many of the regions HI is sending the animals cannot support animal agriculture. Although they say they encourage cut and carry feeding of the animals to avoid erosion, the reality is often quite different.
The consumption of animal products has been shown in reputable studies to contribute significantly to life-threatening diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and a variety of cancers. Regions that have adopted a diet with more animal products see an increase in these diseases. The remote communities supposedly served by HI have no way of dealing with the health consequences of joining the high-cholesterol world.
While it may seem humane and sustainable to provide just one or two dairy cows here or there, the long term consequences are an increased desire for animal products in local cultures leading to an increase in production. These communities may be able to absorb the additional water use of one or two cows, what happens when there are hundreds or thousands of dairy cows, each consuming 27 to 50 gallons of fresh water and producing tons of excrement? The heavy cost to animals, the environment and local economies is not figured into HI’s business practices.