The Best 3 Years Of My Life

I have been in the SMS Kiva club for 3 years now, and sadly it is time for me to move on. I am leaving our school and moving on to high school where I hope I can continue to use the knowledge I have gained from Kiva club, or even start a new Kiva club.

I have learned so many great things, and met so many great people, and made so many new friends in the past 3 years.

I learned how lucky we are to have everything that we have because many people don’t have the opportunities that we have here in the United States. I’ve met teachers and students from British Columbia who wanted to start their own Kiva clubs. And I have made many new friends, some who have moved on to high school, and some who just started this year in 6th grade.

I have had so many wonderful memories. From my first loan, to my first post. From my first time walking in the door, to the last. I just don’t want the experience to end. I wish that I could stay longer to see the hard working 6th graders blossom into their full potential.

I also want  to say thank you to our teacher, Mr Ferriter, for giving me all of the great memories and experiences throughout the past 3 years.

I just don’t want the memories to end.

– Evan C.

#ItShouldLastForever

#IDontWantItToEnd

#IKivaBecauseICare

#NeverForget

Giving A Necessity: Clean Water

I recently made a loan to a school in Uganda called Rock School. In Uganda, people don’t have access to a supply of clean drinking water, therefore more people are infected by water-borne illnesses such as diarrhea.

KIVA Rock School 1

This loan was made to help the school purchase a UV water filtration system so that the students can have clean water to drink while at school. They believe that if they have a clean water source, then more students will show up to school because of the decrease in water-borne illnesses.

Now this wasn’t exactly a picture perfect loan. This loan did have some downsides. This loan gets payed back over a 24 month period, irregularly. This means that we get a little bit of our money back every so often. But we do not know when we will get a bit back.

This social security agency also has a 3.72% loans at risk rate. This means that we have about a 4% chance of not getting any money back at all. But the risk is worth the reward.

If we do not get our money back, then I would still feel good about my decision to loan to Rock School because of why they needed the loan. Here in the United States, we don’t worry about the water that we drink being contaminated with disease. But in places like Uganda, they do have to worry about it all of the time.

#CleanWater

– Evan C.

From One, To Another, To Many More

Recently we made a loan to Jack, from Kenya. Jack is 30 years old, married and has 2 children.

Kiva Jack 1

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I would consider loaning to Jack, a loan that I will never regret. Jack sells One Degree Solar’s solar energy kits. This is a great loan because when you loan to somebody like Jack, you aren’t only helping the person you are loaning to, you are also helping the people that he helps. The solar energy kits that Jack sells help bring electricity to families and communities that do not have ample access to electricity.

In Kenya, the country that Jack is from, people make 97% less money than people in the United States do. So electricity bills are normally too expensive for people to afford.

So helping Jack helps both him, and his customers to improve their lives in a major way.

– Evan C.

Club Record and Fun Facts

At the SMS Kiva Club, we are very proud of our achievements. So we thought that we’d share them with you. So here are some fun facts, and club records.

Kiva Club Records 1

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Some more records for our club include loaning to almost 70 different countries from around the world. We have also made almost 770 total loans over the course of our club’s history.

And now for the super sad and depressing part: Half of the world’s population lives on less than $2.50 per day. If they work 7 days a week, that is only $17.50 a week.

Another fact: 22,000 children die each day due to conditions from living in poverty. Now THAT is depressing.

A baby born in the world’s poorest countries has a one in six chance of dying before they turn 5.

You are probably wondering, “Why are you making me depressed? Why are you sharing this saddening information?”

I am sharing this information with you because it is the truth. The cold, hard truth. And that is the scary part.

But the good news is that you can help to change that. You can change people’s lives. Just go to www.kiva.org, and sign up.  You can change the lives of people across the globe at the click of a button.

– Evan C.

Chuluun of Mongolia

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Recently, I loaned to a woman named Chuluun who lives in Mongolia. She wanted to install a hardwood floor into her house in order to burn less coal for heat.

 

The reason that I donated to Chuluun was in part because it goes along with another project that our class is doing about biodiversity. Furthermore, the repayment term was monthly, which means that we get a little bit of our money back every month that we can loan back out again to other people. In addition, the delinquency, loans at risk and default rates are all at 0.00% which is great. This is good because it means that we don’t have to worry about losing any of our money in the transfer with the bank. Overall, this is was a great loan.

By: Evan C.

 

Edited By: Sydney P.