Kivathon - Reading to change the world!

Hello my name is Patrick, I am an 11 year old boy who loves to read and who wants to help others.

What is the purpose of this blog?

I want to do a read-a-thon to help people in need. My goal is to read 2,500 pages in one month and with your help raise 50,000$ to help 2000 entrepreneurs in poor countries. What am I going to do with all this money I want to raise? At first I wanted to give it to an organization for people in need, but I found an other organization that did not just give it away but helped to lift people by Micro-lending to them with Kiva.org.

What is Micro-Lending?

Group of entrepreneurs in
Kouk Pring village, Cambodia

Let me tell you in more details: A “Lender" (Me) chooses an entrepreneur in a poor country and lends them 25$ so they can improve their own situation. The person has some time to use what ever they bought, and then they start paying back parts of the loan monthly. The money comes back to the lender and he can lend the money again. This is great because I know that this is helping them to learn, grow, and prosper. And the great thing is that after I loan to someone and they pay back, I can lend the money again and help someone else.

But how did I get this idea?

I first had the idea of a read-a-thon when I was reading in a book called “Do hard things” by two teenagers Alex and Brett Harris. The book said that today’s teens are too much about having fun and are held back from the great things they could do. Now do you think it is so great that teens are not doing all they could? I don’t think so and I want to be different. I then decided to do this read-a-thon.

But how does the kiva-read-a-thon work?

1. It starts of with me trying to get as many people to support me in this fund raiser. But how can you support me? It is really simple; all you need to do is to fill out the “support me” form on the side of this blog.
2. In January, I start reading. I will be reading 2,500 pages in big 200+ page books. You may be wondering if I can read that much? I can! Not only I can read a 300 page book in 1-2 days but I can read and understand Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch. Some Books I have read are: Alas Babylon, Do hard Things, and The fellowship of the Ring and many others. I will be emailing everyone weekly on how the read-a-thon is going and which books I am reading.
3. Finally when the read-a-thon is done, I will email everybody giving them the option of either: Paying me their support amount through paypal so that I put the money in a Kiva.org account and loan it to entrepreneurs around the world or you can create a Kiva account and start doing the loan yourself. That's it!

I know this is the right thing for me to do, please support me and tell your friends about me. I can't do this alone. I look forward to January and will do my best to help others.

A young boy reading to change the world,

Patrick van Duyse

Credit: I would like to thank Brent Huffman and the German Camera Productions for giving me permission to use a 3 and half minute clip of his video documentary Kiva Documentary - Microfinance in Liberia: What They Did With My $25 Loan? I encourage you to watch the entire 9 minute video. It's worth it.

Example of a Kiva Loan that can Make a Difference

I am so excited that we can help real people directly even if they are on the other side of the world. He is an example of a loan that can be found on Kiva and that your support during my read-o-thon will help me help people year after year.

Let me introduce you to Mrs. Kunthea Yern

About the Loan

Location:	Kompong Cham, Cambodia		Repayment Term:	14 months
Activity:	Farming		Repayment Schedule:	Monthly
Loan Use:	To purchase a pumping machine to farm rice in the dry season

Mrs. Kunthea Yern, 35, is a rice farmer, who makes around $2 per day. She lives with her three children, two of whom are students and the another is a worker, in the Tropeanh Boeung Village, Kompong Cham Province. Her husband, Mr. Sokchea Kut, 34, is a farm worker, earning around $4 per day from farming other people's fields. With her sustainable business and desire to grow it in the future, Kunthea now requests a loan of riel 2,000,000 to purchase a pumping machine to farm rice in the dry season. With the income generated by her business, Kunthea will be able to support her family’s living expenses and her children’s studies.

Status: Paid Back

$500	Loan Request Disbursed : Nov 11, 2008 Listed: Oct 28, 2008 Funded: Oct 28, 2008
$500	Paid Back Ended: Dec 15, 2009

Update - Reached 2,585$ on amount committed.

Hello Everyone,

We have reached 2,585$ on the total amount people have committed to give me in February. That is already 100 loans a year. !!!WOW!!! I am having a lot of fun contacting people that I and my Dad know. I am looking forward to January.

A young boy reading to change the world,

Patrick van Duyse.

Kiva at a glance