Celebrating Our 8th Birthday with Stories of Connection

I read about Kiva in a Danish newspaper while staying in Denmark for a month in July 2007; loved the idea of personal microfinance and opened an account. For a little over a year, I put $100 a month in my PayPal account and then lent it to Kiva borrowers. The Icelandic financial deep-freeze in October 2008 put a stop to that, but I kept on relending, each time giving a small share to Kiva, and will continue to do so until the last cent is gone.

I started out slowly with a few loans, and in September 2007, I gave a loan to Samuel who was selling clothes in Kenya with his wife (and their three beautiful daughters). His repayments started coming in according to plan, but then in April 2008, they suddenly stopped. There had been riots and violence in Kenya in the wake of elections, with more than 1,000 people dead and up to 250,000 displaced, and Samuel had disappeared.

I then realized that being a part of the Kiva lender team gave me the opportunity to witness the constantly evolving history of our planet in real time and that was a revelation; not only was I reading about what was happening, or watching news and documentaries from the different places of the world, I was involved in my own small way and the fate of complete strangers touched me directly. This is one of the most fascinating aspects of Kiva.

As far as I know, Samuel from Kenya has never been heard of again, and his small family business is gone. His memory, however, still lives on in a distant part of the world, thanks to Kiva.

My husband and I have been a part of the Kiva community since early 2008, so we've been along for a big portion of the ride! Kiva's 8th birthday and invitation to submit a loan story is a great opportunity to share why we focus a large portion of our lending to women in the Ukraine.

Limited employment and educational opportunities are a constant reality for Ukrainian women and many fall victim to the allure of "employment" in North America -- only to discover that they have been unwittingly sold into the sex trade and have no way back home. By lending to Ukrainian women, we are doing our small part to empower these individuals to support themselves and their families, creating opportunities for a future (hopefully) free from the lies and deceit sold by human traffickers.

Human trafficking is a global issue and is not limited to the boarders of the Ukraine or other Eastern European nations, so why this particular country? One of my great-grandmothers left the Ukraine in the early 20th century and somehow made it to Canada with a friend at the tender age of 17. She ended up in Winnipeg and then in Calgary working as a domestic for several wealthy families. We suspect she was likely brought here to work, and we have no idea if she had any say in the matter. Her departure from the Ukraine and the opportunity to stay in Canada has meant boundless opportunity for her descendents.

With that said, I know that so much of my good fortune is the result of chance -- had she stayed in the Ukraine she may have been killed during the famine, by Stalin, in WWII etc. Or I could very well be one of the women in the Ukraine targeted by human traffickers. We support Ukrainian women through Kiva because ultimately they are my sisters, aunts, cousins and friends and they need and deserve every opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families.