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The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time

Bob Harris

Start date: April 1, 2013

Finish date: April 30, 2013

Why we're reading this: General - no specific country
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Feb 01, 2013 Lisa Klink rated it it was amazing

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I have to agree with Joss Whedon about “The International Bank of Bob.” He says that “No book this important should be this delightful.” He’s right. Bob Harris’ new book tackles huge issues like economic disparity and global poverty by bringing them down to a human scale.
Bob found himself staying in one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, courtesy of ForbesTraveler.com. Inside the hotel was a vending machine that dispensed gold bars. Really. Just outside, he saw construction crews worki I have to agree with Joss Whedon about “The International Bank of Bob.” He says that “No book this important should be this delightful.” He’s right. Bob Harris’ new book tackles huge issues like economic disparity and global poverty by bringing them down to a human scale.
Bob found himself staying in one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, courtesy of ForbesTraveler.com. Inside the hotel was a vending machine that dispensed gold bars. Really. Just outside, he saw construction crews working twelve hour shifts for miniscule wages in 110 degree heat. Faced with the stark contrast, Bob wondered if there was anything one guy could do to make a difference.
He found Kiva.org, a website where anyone can lend $25 to entrepreneurs in some of the poorest regions of the world. Bob began to make loans. A lot of loans. But were they actually helping people improve their lives? He decided to find out. Most of the book follows Bob on his travels around the world to visit Kiva borrowers and talk to people at the local microfinance institutions (MFIs) which actually make the loans.
Readers will certainly learn a lot about microfinance from “The International Bank of Bob,” but it’s about more than that. As the self-described “average Ohioan” meets a seamstress in Tanzania, a furniture maker in Sarajevo and a dairy farmer in Kenya, he finds more similarities than differences. Like his own hard-working father, the entrepreneurs who get microloans through Kiva are trying to build a better future for their families.
These stories are told with an engaging, optimistic voice. Bob finds humor in his own, occasional fish-out-of-water situations. But he also tries to process what it must be like to live through the recent violence in places like Rwanda and Bosnia, asking in disbelief: “How do you not go crazy?” By researching the impact of microfinance, Bob discovers the resiliency and interconnectedness of people all over the world.
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Apr 27, 2013 Virginia rated it really liked it

Besides being a very humorous travelog this is a very important book. I am a different person with a different world view after reading the International Bank of Bob. I am connected newly to the world of people covering our planet. I am really glad I have read this.

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