With so much grinding poverty in the world, how could a single person like you possibly make a difference? Well, what if we join forces, you and I and lots of other bloggers and their readers – do you think that might work?

The best way to alleviate poverty is to give people a hand-up, not a hand-out.

That’s why today I am inviting my blog readers to take part in the BLOG WITH HEART CHALLENGE for the month of December 2009.

The BLOG WITH HEART CHALLENGE has joined forces with Kiva, a highly respected micro-lending, non-profit organization that provides finance to small business people in developing countries like Cambodia.

You know that old story about teaching a person to fish and thereby feeding him/her for a lifetime?

Well, Kiva does just this – it is a non-profit website that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world.

You choose who to lend to – whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq – and as they repay the loan, you get your money back. ( Kiva has a high success rate of repaying the loans, but Kiva doesn’t guarantee repayment nor do they offer a financial return on one’s loan.)

Kiva’s tagline is “loans that change lives.” Its website says, “Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.”

During the BLOG WITH HEART CHALLENGE, you can team up with other readers of this blog to leverage your own contributions. The idea is that the readers of this blog contribute to Kiva and we form a lending team with the name of this blog.

This challenge is being held worldwide in the month of December 2009 and it will attract thousands of new lenders to Kiva and consequently help many more entrepreneurs around the world.

You can team up with other readers of this blog to leverage your own contributions. You will still be an individual making a difference, but in partnership with others here to form a team.

How YOU can join the Challenge with my blog – It only takes two minutes

Step #1 Register: Click this ZenAid link to go to our www.Kiva.org page, then click on

Step #2 Enter your name, e-mail address and a password and click the Sign Up button.

Step #3 Lend: Click on LEND in the navigation bar at the top of the page. Choose a group or person you would like to lend to. Under the description of what the loan is for, click on “Lend $25″ . Click: “Loan added! Checkout>>” (This line appears when you click on “Lend $25″)

Step #4 Boost your team: Ensure that ZenAid appears in the box under “Count towards team?” This is just to the right of “Change Totals” and the box with the amount you are lending.

Step #5 Pay: Click on ‘CONTINUE’ and you’ll be taken to the secure payment page.

Step #6 Enjoy lending a hand (and money) in order to alleviate poverty

Please help to make the BLOG WITH HEART CHALLENGE a great success for all. You can do that by telling all your friends about it by email, or Twitter, or on Face Book, or other social media.

Email your other favourite bloggers about it and also get your friends to join the challenge – send them the link to this ZenAid page – http://davidferrers.com/zenaid/

Together, we can do it. I have already started.

Thanks for your support,

P.S. “A kind heart makes the giving good.” Lao Tzu

P.P.S. If you wish to support another blogger please go to the Kiva Community Page and enter the name of their blog in the “Search for a lending team” box or write to the blogger and ask them to join the challenge! You can join more than one team, if you like.