My first encounter with microcredit was when I took the Technology for Developing Communities course as an elective in my final semester. The concept struck me as so little money could make such big difference for people struggling to get out of poverty. I read selected chapters from Muhammad Yunus's book, Banker to the Poor, as a preparation for the class on September 13, 2007, almost a year after Nobel committee announced that Yunus and his Grameen Bank won the 2006 Noble Peace Prize on October 13, 2006.

Meanwhile, Kiva, a non-profit organization that brought Web 2.0 and microcredit together were founded in October 2005. On Sep 13, 2007, Sam and Sophie, a senior high school classmate of mine, joined Kiva and lent their money to Mrs. Rose Odigie, who repaid all her loan on May 27, 2008. Finally, that's the day that I became aware of the website and decided to be a lender myself. Why don't you?