Micro loans in Costa Rica

A lot of our guests at Casa Mango and Casa Papaya ask us how they can help the people here in Costa Rica. When they want to volunteer, I send them to CREAR the afterschool program in Samara or they come to Santo Domingo with me where I teach English once a week to school children. There’s often an organized beach cleanup to help out with.

But if they don’t want to give up a precious vacation day, there are ways to contribute cash. I just found the website for KIVA who make micro-loans to “working poor” around the world. You can loan – yes, you’ll be paid back – as little as $25.00 to individuals and groups who are starting or growing businesses and improving their lives and those of their children. After 15 minutes of reading through the loan requests, I selected 4 in Costa Rica and for $100 I feel better about the day.