Think eggs, think nightmares.

Think eggs, think nightmares.

KIVA - loans that change lives

KIVA's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

KIVA is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

(photo credit: John Briggs)

The www.kiva.org was released in October 2005 by Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley who are the founders of the initiatives.

To me the most impressing in KIVA is the fact that they bring e real people to people feeling with their system. If I give donation to a charity organization my money will be disappear in a big black box and usually I do not have direct information on my contribution.

In the contrary on KIVA you can directly chose the enterpreneur to whom you borrow your money. Its a loan, not a donation which is much more motivating I guess and you have a great chance to get back your money.

The system is very well established I find their website really professional that provides full transparency to the entire process and made me feel secure to participate.

The other advantage of KIVA is that they operate with small amounts. The minimum 25 USD to lend is small enough to make a try, and after you got back your money you can consider to give a second loan with a higher amount maybe.

To me it was really a very good feeling when I gave a loan to a group of women in Uganada who are running a grocery store and I can't wait to make my second turn to help someone like this.



KIVA's enterpreneur's are real people from more then 50 countries who are living in needs and poverty and who are trying to manage their own enterprise. Thats why they need some money for a start, or for their supply or for an improvement. Micro-loans that are usually around 1000 USD and they will pay it back within 8-9 months.



Cumulative Volume of Loans Made Through Kiva as of 3/31/09.

20th anniversary of the Romanian revolution

I was 17 in 1989. A highschool student living in Hungary. In 1989, we had a cold, foggy, snowy december and I spent the Christmas time at my father's place in Gyöngyöshalász. I remember it was really cold that winter as I had a serious flu that we even had to go to the doctor.

I was not really aware of Romania. My only experience with Romania was my very first trip abroad in 1986 when we went to the Bulgarian coast with my friends by train. During the trip, we crossed Romania and my friends told me crossing the border might be though because of the border guards there. It was really something that I have never seen before. Only in movies. Soldiers, in green uniforms who had a very different style and color from the Hungarian ones, were running along the train having German shepard dogs beside them. In fact these soldiers surrounded the train so as to prevent anyone to leave or to join while the soldiers systematically investigated the entire train.

It lasted for 5 hours in the summer heat. The officer who finally arrived to our cabin guided by two armed soldiers required us to remove all the backpacks and they have checked every inch of the cabin. They were seeking for people hiding somewhere. I did not remember anyone who desired to escape to Romania from Hungary, so they didn't find anyone.

When the officer recognized that my friends had guitars (we had like two-three guitars in our group) he suspected that we are trying to sell it. To prove that it was for personal use, he ordered with a humiliating face to play something. They were laughing and I felt embarrassed because it was not funny at all. I wouldn't say that I was afraid or I felt in danger, actually thinking back to that age, I find it more weird and dangerous as I did 20 years ago. Crossing Romania by train was really shocking. We saw slums and settles in conditions we have never experienced in Hungary.

3 years later, the communism seemed to be collapsed in Hungary without any blood but in Romania it didn't go that well. On that sharp winter day in 1989 December, I turned on the TV in my father's house and instead of cartoons, a sort of breaking news came to my face. At the age of 17, I found the news totally boring. I had my own political views already, and I had a raising interest toward the changes in Hungary, but demonstrations in Temesvár (Romania) or some later in Kosovo (Yugoslavia) belonged to the boring gray world in my mind. But on that day, I saw something different on the TV. Fights on the streets, people occupied the TV broadcast station and it was obvious that a revolution has arisen. Anyway I had to go to the doctor so the revolution in Romania was the same virtual NEWS to me as when they reported on a strange holiday called Thanksgiving celebrated by strange people with a turkey. I know about it but I have no idea what is it and what is going on.

It seems I wasn't totally unaware because I remember that I have asked my father if we could beat the Romanian army if they attack us. My father used to be a border guard officer until 1980. In my eyes a two legged military expert. He said the Romanian soldiers were usually working on the fields only, so even if their army was twice as large as the Hungarian one they are totally untrained. That was enough to me, I wasn't worried.

Actually today....20 years after the events I have read an article which showed evidences that in 1989 the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu (I can't spell his name I had to copy-paste it) seriously provoked Hungary to start a war. He has his reason for it. Just like in every Eastern-European countries at that time, he also felt that his system in Romania was shaking. To handle an internal conflict the best way is to seek for an enemy outside. And since 1918, there is a certain tension between these two countries. Because after the Ist World War, Transylvania that used to belong to Hungary got annexed by Romania. It was not too hard to find someone to provoke from the outside.

Being in my father's house, I felt totally safe but today reading this article, I have a feeling that we were very close to a real conflict which could bring the virtual NEWS on the TV into our house. And it was not the last time in the last 20 years. Few years after a civil war broke out in Yugoslavia and in 2001 September 11 the age of innocent safety has gone globally.

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2009. December 29.

Thank you for nothing....Copenhagen Convention on Climate Change

Ladies and gentlemen! Dear delegates!

Thank you for spending almost two weeks in expensive hotels and over rich dinner tables and enjoying the service of the legal Danish prostitutes. I am sure your presence gave a relevant contribution to the annual income of Copenhagen the only pity is that what you have done there on the issue of Climate Change was an embarassing and shameful big NOTHING.

I know that not everyone is agreeable to the human impact on Climate Change. I also know that there are plenty of stakeholders that are not really interested in environment protection.

From a certain point of view...everyone that is aware of the environment seems to be an idealist, naive, anti-capitalist just like those young guys in the Greenpeace. I am neither an anti-capitalist nor an idealist. I enjoy all the technical and industrial improvements of our age but knowing that we can't enjoy that without any limitations, I am ready to change things even in my personal lifestyle.

I am very disappointed because I had expectations. After Kyoto and after getting rid of Mr George Bush, I have expected improvements and not stepping backwards. This Copenhagen paper (not a treaty, not a declaration... is worth the peace of paper it was printed on) is a joke! Shame on you guys!

Skhizein

Skhizein (Jérémy Clapin,2008) from Bertie on Vimeo.

Skhizein

Made by Jérémy Clapin
Budget: 100,000€
2008 Oscar-Eligible

Manchester United or Chelsea?

I love football. Yes, I say football and not soccer because I find it weird that they call (American) football a sport where player can grab the ball running with it in their hands too. Football is the sport that is played with feet and that's it!:)

And I love a country that has a real 'football life'. For this, I mean when you live in an environment, such as in a city where you can see a great football match every weekend whenever you want. London is definitely a city like that. Other cities like Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Milan in Italy, Rome in Italy, Paris in France, Madrid in Spain, Munich in Germany and the list goes on.

The British football especially the English Premiership League is my field. I love the wild, aggressive British football and recently I go for Manchester United (MU). Yes, I have no favorite club, the club I support can be changed based on the players they hired for the season, the coach and the result of the given combination.

This weekend the MU will play with Fulhamand the livescore odds are on 6.20 recently. The Chelsea FC (which I don't want them to win the championship) :) will play tomorrow with West Ham United and the odds are on 8.27 according to the bookmakers.

I don’t care..I want Manchester United to be the champion this year!!:)

H1N1 Vaccine

Today we have got our H1N1 Vaccine in a private medical center in Budapest. Zannnie was pretty nervous, she said she was good, so she didn't know why she has to get an injection:) Actually she doesn't have an all-covered health insurance here so better to prevent a more serious trouble.

There is a histery around the H1N1 vaccine in Hungary which has nothing to do with the virus and the flu itself. Its funny but the rejection or acceptance of the vaccine correlates with the political view.