my 2012 new year’s resolution

Happy Australia Day to you!

Today I feel thankful to be living in such a beautiful country, grateful for the abundance of opportunities and the freedoms we enjoy.

Having travelled extensively overseas, I still believe Australia is the lucky country. In Australia we have access to education, access to health care and a social welfare system that maybe is not perfect, but the fact that we have one puts us ahead of over 90% of the world’s population.

I would even go as far as to say that I feel like I won life’s lotto, by being born in Australia. I drink clean water, I have food to eat, I don’t live in a war zone.

Many millions of people across the globe do not enjoy such luxuries, and while we in Australia obsess about trivial things like fashion, what holiday we should take, or what school we should send our children, many people go without the basics of water, shelter and food, everyday.

I have been a fan of micro-lending website Kiva.org for several years, and last year, with my friend Victoria Parker, we decided to start a Kiva micro-lending team, called EffortforOthers and we have set ourselves an audacious goal:

A goal of reaching 1000 loans in 2012

I would really, really, really like you to join me, and help fund ONE of our ONE THOUSAND new loans, and lend (not donate) $25 to an entrepreneur in a developing country.

YOU choose the person, YOU choose the country and YOU choose the loan, all under our lending team EffortforOthers.

For example, I have lent Lidia in Bolivia $25 to help with her dairy, and I have lent $25 to Lupeli for her farm in Samoa. Kiva have an impressive network of local aid partners who manage the loans on the ground and Kiva also boast a 98.97% repayment rate. So over the next 2 years I will be paid back my money and at the end of the term of the loan I can choose to cash-out or re-lend. Kiva hope that you are so inspired by having helped someone, you will relend time and time again.

So, will you be so kind and join me? All it will cost you is $25, of which you will almost certainly get back.

So far we are up to 33 loans, so only 987 to go…!

To join us please visit http://kiva.org/invitedto/effortforothers/by/tara1584

If you don’t have $25 to lend, I would be very grateful for your support in forwarding this post to your friends, retweeting on twitter or sharing on facebook. Or another idea is this birthday why not ask your friends and family to give you a gift of a EffortforOthers loan in your honour?

Thank you very much in advance for your consideration!

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Here are some tips /steps in joining our EffortforOthers lending team:

Step 1: Log into your Kiva account and click on the “Lend” button at the

top of the Kiva home page. You will automatically be taken to the

borrowers in need.

Step 2: When you find a borrower that you would like to fund, either

click “Lend $25” to quickly lend $25, or click the name of the borrower

and then select the amount you would like to fund from the drop down box

and click “Lend”.

Step 3: Add additional loans to your basket or click “Loan Added!

Checkout.”

Step 4: You’ll be taken to your basket where you can select what lending

team your loans should count towards. Beneath the “Count Towards Team”

column, you’ll see a drop down box with your preferred lending team’s

name listed. Click that box and select the lending team you wish the loan

to count toward. If you want to change the amount you wish to lend,

select the amount in the drop down menu. When you’re finished, click

“Continue.”

Step 5: Make an optional donation to Kiva’s operational expenses or click

“edit” and “$0.00 (Not now).” Then click “save.”

Step 6: You will be automatically transferred to PayPal to pay for the

loan through PayPal’s secure website.

Note: Lenders will not have the ability to count their loans toward a

lending teams unless they are logged into their Kiva account before going

through the checkout process.

Click here to listen to my ABC 612 Brisbane radio interview with Kelly Higgins-Devine from Friday 3rd February 2012.

4 Responses to my 2012 new year’s resolution

Victoria says:

January 26, 2012 at 4:58 pm

You inspire me daily, Ms Castle!

tochangetheworldblog says:

February 2, 2012 at 12:59 pm

What a great new year’s resolution! I also love Kiva and I think that it’s a great organization with a very worthwhile cause. Well done and nice post!

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