Kiva on Oprah

I received notification today that one of our loans on Kiva had been repaid. I went to the website to try to reloan the money, but there is a message that says the servers are getting hammered due to Kiva being on Oprah today. I admit up front that I'm an Oprah fan; although, I will also admit to not watching the show unless someone like Cormac McCarthy is on there. I'm a fan because she strikes me as disproportionately generous, and she actually uses her "power" to try to improve the lives of other people. Here's to you, Oprah. Thanks for featuring Kiva.

If you haven't been to the site, you should go loan someone some money. There is a link on the right navigation bar as well. If you don't know, Kiva allows lenders to make small (as small as $25) or large loans to people in developing nations who are borrowing money to improve a business or start one based on a business plan. The borrowers all work with financial institutions that have reviewed and approved the plan, and that monitor the repayment. Once the loan is completely repaid, the funds are disbursed to the original lenders who then have the choice of donating to Kiva's general fund, reloaning, or withdrawing the funds. It's a great program.

Comments

[Leighton]

Just read on Boing Boing this morning that between Oprah's and Bill Clinton's adverts on their behalf, Kiva has received funding for every business on their site, and they're scrambling to find more in need of microloans. Yay for publicity.

[Captain Freedom]

Oprah has way too much influence of this country but right now it's a good thing.