Favourite Week: Making a Difference

Have you ever had that feeling? That feeling that you’ve made a difference and improved someone else’s life–even if just temporarily? It’s a good feeling.

And I’m not talking about faceless charities. I’m talking about seeing the whites of their eyes and knowing you had a hand in changing this person’s life.

I started small. You know, things like instead of selling our used baby clothes and carseats, I took them to the local outreach school for the teen moms who are trying to make it on their own. Little things local like that.

In the past few years, our family has broadened our ‘making a difference’ borders. We still do things around our community to to show our appreciation for all that we have and to help others, but we have also begun to think and act globally.

For the past four years we have sponsored a girl named Aklima in Bangladesh through Plan International. At first it was a ‘Yeah, we are doing something good for them way over there. Not sure exactly what. Education, food, maybe some animals and drinking water. It’s all good.’ But now, I put those annual pictures of Aklima and her mom side by side and I can see where we have helped make a difference in their lives. The biggest difference isn’t in how Aklima has grown and how their clothing has become more vibrant. The biggest difference is in her mother. In the first picture, her mother’s cheeks are sucked right in, her skin a greyish colour. In the latest photo, her cheeks have been restored to a healthy roundedness–the pinched look is gone–and her skin has taken on a healthy colour, and her eyes sparkle. The woman is almost even smiling.

When I look at those pictures I can feel it. Our $32/month is making a difference. And what’s $32 these days? That’s like getting 6 Starbuck’s coffees or going out for supper. The other day Plan International was looking for help to buy some mosquito nets for children in Malaria ridden areas. I threw in $40. Boom. I just saved dozens of lives.

Last night we tried something new in terms of making a difference. We went to Kiva’s website and slapped down 50 bucks. Kiva is an organization that arranges micro loans for people around the world. For example, Sayda in Peru needed $200 USD to expand her business of selling fuel canisters. Last night, when we looked at her profile, she had five people (you can loan in increments of $25) from all over the US who had loaned her a total of $150. She needed $50 to complete her loan. My husband and I asked each other, “What’s fifty bucks? A breakfast out with friends costs sixty. (For the seven of us–we’re cheapsters.) We haven’t been out in two weeks, consider her loan filled.” Click. Ka-ching! She has the money to change her life.

Six strangers just got together and loaned this Peruvian woman $200. Sayda promises to pay it back over the next eight months and we will see it trickle back into our Kiva accounts. (As lenders we don’t get interest. When the money is paid back, we can either loan it to another entrepreneur or keep it.) And yes, just like in loaning money to friends, there is a possibility that we might lose our $50 USD ($53 CDN). But there is also the possibility that we may make her life (and that of her six-year-old girl) that much better. She might even be able to expand to the point where she is able to employee other mothers who are seeking ways to support their families.

So I ask you: At the end of the day, what are you doing with your $50?