I haven’t mentioned what Steph got me for an anniversary present he took the money he would have spent and invested it at Kiva. Kiva is a website that allows you to make a loan to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world and help them to help themselves by empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty.

You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone in the developing world who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.

The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground that have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

Steph chose four individuals for me, Alisher Rizoevis one of those recipients. He’s a 23 year old ecology student from Tajikistan who’s doing general agricultural work for local farmers as well as raising calves, goats and sheep to help him afford the tuition fees and will use the money to purchase more sheep and goats. The best part is that once the loans are paid back I can reinvest the money and it will keep giving and giving.