I'm a loaner. After my trip to Cambodia in the summer of 2006 I was moved to get involved. People think Angelina Jolie adopted a Cambodian child for publicity but after my short time there I was moved to do something too. If I had her means I might have done the same thing and I can certainly understand her motivation. When I got back to The States I found the website for the landmine museum and college fund that was being run by a former Khmer Rouge soldier. I began emailing with a Canadian named Roy who was living in Siem Reap and helping out with the website and administering the operation. I volunteered my services to fix up the website and I was on a list to put a landmine victim through college. It wouldn't have cost me much more than $300 for the year! I was really excited about the idea of helping out on a personal
level. I had visited the museum - really just a shack with defused
mines - and felt a connection to the place. Rather than just
sending my money to some charity I'd have been corresponding with the
kid I sponsored. In March of 2007 I was shocked to learn that the
Akira, the soldier, was in effect retiring and moving, thereby closing
the museum and ending the college fund (all the money was returned).
A few days later I saw
this column in the NY Times (may require a subscription).
In it Nick Kristoff writes about microfinance and singled out
Kiva.org as one of the best places to
participate. |
