Kiva essay (finished)

Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. It’s very easy to lend money to people in kiva because you only need to find a borrower and make a loan, then you will get repaid in your kiva account after the time. So you can also repeat doing it. Kiva has a good reputation because its repayment rate is over 98 percent.

I totally found two borrower in kiva.com. The first one is a girl who comes from Kyrgyzstan. Her name is Kymbat, and she needs some money to pay for tuition fee of AUCA. She had a wish to study at the AUCA from her 9th grade, but she knew that it was hard to be admitted to the AUCA and it cost a lot. She has already solved the first problem and been successful to gain it by kiva, and now is trying to borrow money for the second one. I think this is a fantastic way because it let her doesn’t need to think too much about money and only pay attention to studying. She will have a long time on kiva that can repay money to people, and the loan of people in kiva also has no interest.

Kyrgyzstan, where the girl lives is a developing country and very poor. The average annual income of it only is $2,500. Though Kyrgyzstan had 9 years education between ages 7 and 15, the Gross Enrolment Rate in Higher Education still was 12,5% in 2011/2012. I think these may be some reasons of her need to borrow.

The second borrower I found on kiva also is a girl and her name is Nilufar. She comes from Tajikistan and needs a loan to pay for her father's medical treatment. Nilufar is a young woman who is 22 years old, married, and has no child. She lives in the Pyandj area, where she was born and raised. Nilufar studies through the distance learning department at a university in Dushanbe. She stays with her aunt there and also works as an assistant with Kiva and MDO Humo. She needs the money because now her father is sick and in need of an operation, but they cannot afford it. So this loan will help her save her father's life. In addition, Nilufar has get pregnant, it means that her father will become a grandfather soon which is the thing he dreamed of for a long time.

I think this is a good way for her to deal with the problem, because what she needs is not a small amount of money, so if she wants to make it, it must spend a long time. However, her father has to do an operation recently, so it is the only way for her to borrow money from others. She decides to borrow money on kiva, and then she can get a loan with low interests and a long time for repaying.

Tajikistan, the country Nilufar lives, also is a poor developing country. The average annual income of Tajikistan is only $2,700. I think the most important effect the location has on her need to borrow still is poverty. The poverty of country makes people poor. Therefore, most of people in Tajikistan still cannot receive treatment though they have medical technologies that can cure some dangerous disease.