The Flu’s Going Around….. Are You Safe?

Mathew L Sicknesses

As spring is coming, the flu is going around. Mostly, people get a flu shot and have recovery time. When we get the flu, you and most people are safe.

But for some people, that’s not the case.

So, what is the flu? It’s short for influenza. It’s an extremely contagious respiratory disease.

When the flu comes knocking on your door, you boost your immune system with the shots that we get.

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But, shots cost money. Most people can afford shots in America, but in other countries, I can’t say the same.

So when the flu comes knocking on the door of Africa and Mexico, the shots aren’t there to save them.

How much is a flu shot? It’s about an average of 40 dollars at a local pharmacy. At other places, it could be more or less.

So that’s why we need Kiva and other loaning sites.  If we help people to have a better life, we are also helping people get the money that they need to get flu shots and be safe.

By: Mathew L.

 

 

 

 

No Birds, No money, No family.

Owen Watts Egypt

I recently made a loan to help a widowed woman named Samia to buy birds and geese to meet her family’s needs:

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What Samia is trying to do is to make a little business where she raises birds and geese in which, she eventually sells. Samia has four children and has trouble providing them with food.

I made this loan was to help her with this trouble and maybe any others that come her way. After all, she does live in a small town in Egypt.

Edited by: Kayla P, and Chloee S.

By: Owen W

Cobalt Crisis!!

Mathew L Africa

Everybody likes electronic devices, such as, an phone, iPad, or a computer. In the last decade, everyone has been drawn to the electronics of today.

But, what’s the science behind it…..

If you were to take the case and the cover off your phone, you would find the battery — the thing that powers your phone.

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If you weren’t aware, the battery is made out of an element called cobalt. Like almost every other element, cobalt is found underground. The majority of the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Congo isn’t exactly the richest country. An average person will only make $489 per year. It’s a hard life there.

It isn’t easy to get the cobalt in the first place. The Africans mining the Cobalt in the Congo can spend as much as 24 hours at a time in a dark, cold tunnel, working with poisonous cobalt.

So, the people in the Congo struggle to make a good salary.  On a good day of mining, they will dig up about 200-250 pounds of cobalt, but make only make 2-3 dollars.

So while you enjoy the low costs of a new phone battery, people in the Congo are dying of the low salary.

So use the battery that you have, and consider yourself lucky. And then, do everything you can to help places like the DRC.  People there deserve a better life.

By: Mathew L. and Carson S.

Edited by: Sofia T and Kayla P

Thanksgiving! Not Everyone Eats Well…

Mathew L Why We Kiva

Thanksgiving is a time where we unite with family and eat, a ton! There are other people in the world that don’t spend Thanksgiving this way….

This is one of the downsides of being in poverty: being hungry. This is why we loan. This is why we donate food to the food drive.

World hunger is a problem we as a planet have had lots of trouble with. Almost 800,000,000 people in the world are starving due to world hunger.

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So next time you complain for not having any good food, think of people who don’t even get food.

So if you want to help people in the world have Thanksgiving, you can use Kiva to lend, or donate any food to food drives, so we can end world hunger.

 

Think You’ve Got it Bad?! Try Living on One Dollar a Day!

Mathew L Guatemala

Allowance is a thing that most kids have. It’s when you get a little bit of money for doing chores around the house.

What if there were adults that got less money each week than you do?

In the country, Guatemala, some adults in a village get one dollar a day. So, if you get more than $7 a week, you probably make more than these people.

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Does anyone ask you what you’re going to be when you grow up? If you answer police officer, firefighter, or a nurse, it’s possible. That’s not the case for these people.

Most people in this village are forced to be farmers. Even kids as young 10 years old are farmers. If you want to be something else, it may not happen.

How can help? Well, we have Kiva. For other people, there are other loaning sites that are visited to help people in need.

What can we loan for? From our $25 Kiva loans, people can pay for a child’s education. One loan pays for a kid to learn and to get a better job in the future.

If we want to improve the world’s poverty, we can start anywhere. Our blog helps the world, one loan at a time.

By: Mathew L.