Inspiration 365 Days!

I just had the amazing opportunity to intern at Kiva, the online microlending nonprofit.

Since I know that interning at Kiva is a rare and valuable opportunity, I decided to take advantage of it by filming “The Kiva Story.”

On my last day, I interviewed most of the Kiva staff by asking them all the same three questions: who are you, tell me a good Kiva story, and how do see the world in 10 years.

Watch this movie and tell me what you think. Even better, loan your money so that it can change a life in the developing world!

FRONTLINE/World travels to Uganda to explore the impact of microfinance and, in particular, how one San Francisco-based nonprofit is using the Web to forge a more direct connection between lenders…

To continue with the video…

We Let You Loan to the Working Poor

Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

Image via Wikipedia

The people you see on Kiva’s site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs’ profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.

To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.

— Will Durant

Before you go to sleep make a list of 10 wonderful things about the day that just passed. Don’t look for only big-ticket items, such as promotions at work, long awaited achievements or financial windfalls. While these are exciting and noteworthy, this is a time to reflect on what truly have been moments of wonder. These are your “alive” moments, moments that sparkle. The majestic blue sky you noticed as you were leaving the office. they way your son’s freckles seemed to dance across his nose and down his cheeks when he laughed at the story you told. The scent of honeysuckle as you walked to the postbox.

The smile that you send out returns to you.

— Indian saying

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Fish and Chips Fuel Honeymoon

An Australian engineer and his English bride have embarked on an environmentally friendly honeymoon trek around Australia, using waste vegetable oil from fish and chip shops to fuel their travel.

Civil engineer Gerard Mimmo, 36, and his wife Rachel, 28, hope to drive 30,000km in a specially converted four-wheel-drive, which they named the Battered Fish due to the pungent smell of its exhaust fumes.

The pair have so far made it more than 1000km from Sydney to Brisbane in the vehicle, which can use both diesel and vegetable oil.

A great hulking freighter was in dock because of puzzling noises. And it just wouldn’t “get up and go”.

The in-house engineers of the ship owners worked day and night but couldn’t figure out what was causing the noises. Losing thousands of thousands of dollars every day their ship was in dock, the ship owners called in consultant after consultant.

Image via Wikipedia

No one, it seemed, could fix the problem.

Their expenses mounted. There were insurance payments to be made, employees to be paid, rent… Not to mention the daily maintenance and costs of the ship. And their clients were going elsewhere. They, after all, had businesses to run and payrolls to meet, too.

A woman who was paralyzed after breaking her neck in a trampoline accident has regained the ability to walk using a robotic treadmill-like device, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.

Jeanette Sykes, 39, broke her neck while jumping on a trampoline at a friend’s barbecue in July 2006. She was told she would be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, according to the report.

After five months of rehabilitation at the Spinal Injuries Center at Pinderfields Hospital in West Yorkshire, England, doctors decided to try a new piece of equipment it was testing on her called the Lokomat.

A Japanese man who developed the world’s smallest helicopter will take flight in the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci in tribute to the Renaissance genius’ original idea.

Gennai Yanagisawa, 75, said Thursday that a demonstration flight of his one-man helicopter is planned in the city of Vinci, near Florence, Italy, on May 25.

Yanagisawa developed the GEN H-4 helicopter — with rotors, a chair, footrest and handle bar — in the late 1990s.

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