Tale of microloans urges kids to generosity

Meet Kojo.

He's a West African boy who receives a small loan to buy a hen, which lays eggs, which earn him money to go to school, which inspires him to secure another loan, which he uses to start a poultry farm, which creates jobs in his village and taxes for his government - ultimately improving his country's quality of life.

Kojo's story is told in "One Hen," a children's book that teaches the value of microfinance, a lending system for people in developing countries who have no collateral or access to conventional banking. It was written by Katie Smith Milway of Wellesley, who works for Bain & Co., a consulting firm headquartered in Boston, who wanted to offer a glimpse of the developing world that might inspire compassion in youngsters.

The goal of microfinance, also called microcredit or microlending, is to provide modest loans that help poor people around the world become self-sufficient and break out of poverty. The concept gained global acclaim when Grameen Bank and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for their microfinance efforts. Its popularity has spread due to websites like kiva.org, which lets individuals make loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world.

Milway's book, which has a companion website, onehen.org, that offers educational games, aims to simplify an idea that may be difficult for young minds to grasp.

"Microfinance is a fantastic entry point for children into the world of international development, because any kid who had a lemonade stand can understand it," said Milway, who believes children are naturally entrepreneurial, as evidenced by the legions of kids who earn money mowing lawns and shoveling snow. "It's international development at a scale children can wrap their minds around, and it gets them to understand how valuable what seems like small change to them is to kids in other countries."

With $10, for example, a child could download some iTunes or - through an online lending service like Kiva - potentially change a person's life by loaning the money to someone like Kojo, whose tale was inspired by the true story of Kwabena Darko. Darko is one of the largest poultry farmers in West Africa and founder of Sinapi Aba Trust, a Ghana nonprofit that is part of Opportunity International, a global microfinance organization.

"My real hope for the book is that it will develop can-do and compassion in kids," Milway said, "and give schools and families a way to think about making a difference with the money children earn doing odd jobs."