My 15 Favorite Salem Middle School Kiva Loans

We're a group of middle schoolers who decided to do something about poverty.

Our school's work with Kiva started with a loan to a woman in Cambodia who was trying to buy a cow. Her hopes were to sell milks and cheeses to her neighbors.

We're big fans of pigs here at the SMS Kiva headquarters -- especially when they help this Kenyan to live a better life.

Anytime we see a story of a single mother, it tears at our heart. This single mom from the Philippines -- who is also a widow -- supports her family with a food stand.

We help single fathers too. This Bolivian man -- who wanted to start a citrus farm -- is raising two young kids on his own.

In many poor countries, access to doctors and dentists is difficult at best. That's why we helped this dentist in Paraguay.

We've made more loans -- 44 and counting -- to Peru than any other nation...including one to help this mother of two start a small store in Lima.

To celebrate 100 loans, we gave this man in Mozambique $500 to fix up his home for his five children.

Considering how difficult life has been one of the world's newest countries -- South Sudan -- I'm proud that we helped this mom of three school aged children with her vegetable stand.

With an average annual income of $119, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the world's poorest countries. That's why I'm proud of the fact that we've helped start 3 businesses here.

Not wanting to keep the Kiva love to ourselves, we've introduced several other classes to Kiva. The first -- a seventh grade class near Charlotte NC -- made their first loan to a woman in Uganda who has a drug store.

One of the things I love about Kiva lending is I can learn more about countries I've barely heard of -- including Jordan, a place where we've helped a woman with her clothing store.

How cool is it that we were able to help a woman in Iraq start her own seamstress business -- even if she couldn't show her face.

Considering how women have traditionally been treated in Pakistan, I think it's cool we helped one of these ladies to start her own cosmetics business.

Another country that the United States has a poor history with is Vietnam. That's why I think it's neat that we made three loans to mothers supporting their families here.

Our 200th loan -- which was for $200 -- helped one of the women in this picture to start a small rice farming business.

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