How Could I Say No?

With all the craze in fidget spinning I found it hard to say no. Sure, I put up the sign in my classroom that read "At Your Own Risk" and asked boys to put them away. I also read articles from many perspectives about these "toys".  Should we encourage the madness, discourage the craze, be more sensitive to those who need these to stay focussed, ban them from our classrooms? 

I didn't know the answer.  What I did know is that I had 20 or so 6th graders saying, "We need custom spinners for our Kiva Project".  We set up a circle graph of which the different companies, who were now fully paid back, could buy into this new concept/idea if they had enough money to do so.  They contacted a company to see if "backordered til late May" really meant that or could we get our hands on a few.  Then we looked into buying options, coupon codes and applied our new knowledge about algebraic equations to figure out what we could afford 100? 150? 200? More?

With a $50 coupon, if you spent $500 the boys would get a $50 off coupon.  So, we set up their algebraic equation for the $2.45 unit price spinners with a $50 set up fee.  $2.45x + 50 = 500.  Soon we were talking about purchasing 185 spinners for the same cost as 171.  The unit price went down from $2.54 all inclusive from $2.74 too.  

And it happened...  6 out of 8 groups pooled together $470 to buy 185 fidget spinners with the hopes of doubling their money.  We waited, and stressed, will they arrive? And guess what? They did!!! And, even the Assistant Head of School was purchasing them!! And we did double our money:) 

More Loans...

While the boys are awfully nervous about giving up their capital, the 6A class successfully made 3 loans to day in class.  While the bank accounts are low, the boys have product to sell and are confident they will be able to make repayments this month. We welcome these new friends into OUR community!

Emma is from the Philippines.  We feel connected to this country because we know people from there.  Emma is married with 8 children, and she needs money to care for them. The impact of this loan will go far beyond Emma herself.  Emma has had 13 prior loans and we feel confident we will get our money back. -Sports Ball Inc

Imelda is part of the Ngasoma Road Group and is planing to sell food which will also help her community. She has five children still in school and we are confident she will pay back because it's her second loan. She paid back successfully in the past.  Annual income $1700 in Tanzania and we feel that the money we are able to loan will make a difference. -Bouncy Ballers

We want to lend to Roset because she is a single mother with 3 kids.  She is buying a goat to slaughter to feed people of her community.  Through these meat sales she dreams of expanding her market.  Just like us!  We can't believe Uganda's income is $1500 so we would like to lend to her.  -Bouncy Ballers.

It's Lending Season! Take Note!

Today marked the first day of lending for the 2014-2015 young businessmen.  While they have had the opportunity to  make group loans and free loans from Kiva, today marked the day that a group of young men from our Kiva Kids program had successfully made enough money to lend to an entrepreneur of their choice. Today marked the day where 4 boys from Bouncy Ballers decided that they would make a loan in the hopes that it would change a life.  Today marks the day that the loans from our faculty and staff that empowered our boys to start businesses, eventually empowered others from across the globe.  So who did they lend to?  

Meet the Takondwa group from Malawi.  

When asked why they decided to lend to this group the boys eloquently said:

• They are a group
• This is their second loan
• By selling second hand clothing they are making money to help her children, but they are also helping others from their village get the clothes they need-double impact.

Great work boys on being the first to be financially secure enough to make a loan. Just 6 weeks in from being fully funded and doing fantastic work!

(Side note-Malawi is in Africa and Ebola is in Africa was also part of their list-this obviously led to quite a discussion on geography, Africa as a continent and accessibility and didn't make our top 3 reasons!)

Global Connections Everywhere!

It's been an exciting few weeks coming out of the garage and I am happy to share the following news from the Garage. Let's just say we are busy going global!

Kiva Council gathered Town School Swag left over from last year and set up sales. During our weekly meeting, the boys opted to make a new connection and with our profits supported an orphanage.  While our club rarely rears off course from lending, and never gives money to other organizations, we took a moment to incorporate Coiser orphanage into our recipient list.  The orphanage's goal is to create a poultry farm that allows them to be financially self sufficient.  Naming a chicken after our school? We are wishing the orphans at Coiser our best and give a big "Hello" to our new Town Garage mascot.  In addition to the $25 we used for our chicken, we raised $275 for Kiva.org.  

I always ask the boys to make loans intentional and to really consider the money, the person and the business.  Here are some of the boys thoughts:

• Richards is the head teacher of summit primary school. It is a mixed school in a rural area of Uganda. He wants to buy a uv filtration system so his students can get and drink clean water. I believe this is important because water is a necessity in human life and water has been a necessity forever.
• I think we should loan to Caroline. Caroline will use this loan of 350$ to help pay for her fathers health needs. She is 51 years old and lives with her parents in Barra Puntod, Lopez Jaena. I believe this will really make a difference if she can help her fathers health.
• We definitely should loan to the Nasommor Group so they can get a water filter. Access to clean water is extremely important so people don't get sick and it is definitely necessary in places that don't always have good water.

6th Grade Advisory has found a new set of friends in Kenya. We hope that this is a lasting relationship and that we will eventually introduce our friends to the 1st graders of Town School when they embark on their country study of Kenya.  I was introduced to Emmily via facebook and I couldn't be happier to engage with her.  My 6th grade advisory was excited to share "A Day in the Life of Morning Meeting" with the children fro Cheery Children Education Center.  While we have noted that a skype call may be difficult with the time zone, Emmily and I decided we could send some videos exchanges back and forth, get to know one another, and take it from there. I am excited to learn more from our friends in Nairobi, Kenya.  Here is a video about lunchtime at Cheery:) 

If you recall, last year's 7th Grade worked on statistics using the United Nations Millennium Goals and came up with some wonderful projects.  In the end they chose to organize a "Walk for Water" during our final week and we raised $300 for Waterproject.org We just got word that our project is finished and the Coleb Primary School currently has clean safe water.  

The 5th Grade Boys spent last week learning about word problems and creating their own to share with others across the globe.  Check out what this year's group came up with!  We are always looking for partners to share problems with so please spread the word. We currently have a collection of problems that you can find here.  Look out for updates on places we discover through word problems throughout the year.

Lastly, 6th grade boys are actively discovering micro finance.  The project was launched last week with a 40 minute simulation from One Hen.  The boys used the simulation to discuss community issues that may exist in rural sub saharan Africa. It was interesting to see them address education for all, healthcare, jobs and opportunity, low incomes, lack of access to banking, and gender inequality to name a few.  All the while they were supporting one another using an informal trust group model.  Today, we had the opportunity to brainstorm how we can model micro-lending in our own community.  Check out what we came up with and discover how you can support the 6th graders upcoming entrepreneurship adventure in the days ahead.