Theology Reflection Paper on Kiva

Joe Rossetti

Kiva Paper

        The Story of Kiva is truly an amazing one. In essence its success story is ironically correlated with its business; this once small company with a purpose turned into a multimillion dollar online lending platform. With so much impact on the struggling poverty of the world this powerful platform has gone beyond its measures to fulfill its meaning.

        And now, it’s time for me to contribute and add on to this growing movement to make a difference. By making such a small change in my life I can create a larger impact on someone else’s who truly needs it. As per this project, students were required to personally save at least $1 a day to donate towards a Kiva fund of our choice. With that being said, I participated by giving up the daily Smart Water bottle I buy almost every day from my local deli before class/work. Typically before I get on the train to start my day I would go inside my favorite corner store to buy my bottle of Smart Water to drink throughout the day. Now this isn’t your average water bottle (I may as well be wrong for even spending this much on water) but it is considered a “High Quality” water bottle that costs a whopping $3—which allowed me save much more money faster than anticipated. I winded up hitting my goal in 9 days in preparation for this project.

        What was the impact it had on my life? Little to none. I simply brought my own bottle of water in a drinking container to bring with me every day. Yes it wasn’t as convenient as not having to carry it, throwing it out when I’m finished, etc. But to be totally honest, it wasn’t even a big concern. Saving this much money for this project has actually sparked me to continue on with bringing my own bottle as I’ve been saving a lot of money (boy is that expensive water when you do the monthly math).