Let's Help Them Buy a Cow

Discussing the loans

Reviewing the loans we've made

How do you teach young kids the meaning of giving back and helping others?  Jared and I have wondered about this since we had kids and found something that's worked pretty well.  Since September, as a family, we've been donating to an organization named Kiva that makes small loans to people around the world, even in some of the most remote places.

Once a month, Jared pulls 5 loan requests from Kiva's website.  Then, he and the kids grab my old globe that I've had since middle school and the three of them discuss who's asking for the loans, what the they're for, where these people live, what kind of jobs they have, and why they need the money.  The kids know it's their responsibility to come to an agreement on three loans to fund.

In 6 months, they've made 18 loans to people in Armenia, Honduras, Georgia, Cambodia, Lebanon, El Salvador, Bolivia, the Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, the United States, Togo, and Vietnam.  Their loans have helped a small business owner buy supplies for a grocery store and another to replenish his fruits and vegetables stand.  Another helped a taxi driver, a person who manufactures doors and windows, and a family build an indoor bathroom for their home.  Farmers who raise cows, goats, and grow food are some of the kids' favorites to help.  They also got really excited and asked lots of questions about a tailor who needed the money to buy fabric and could really relate to the woman taking out a loan to pay for her child's primary school tuition in Vietnam.

Thanks to this monthly exercise, all four of us have learned a lot more geography.  What's also been great is the kids get to learn about professions in developing countries and by discussing which loans to make and why, practice decision making.  We're hoping as they get older that they'll also learn about money, lending, repayments, and defaults.