December 01, 2006
A Little Goes A Long Way BY FRONTLINE/World Editors
We don't usually comment on our stories, but in the case of "Uganda: A Little Goes a Long Way," we had to make an exception. The story, broadcast on October 31, received such an overwhelming response from FRONTLINE/World viewers that they actually became part of the story, helping change the course of one company's future.
For those of you who missed it (and you can watch the story online on our Web site), "A Little Goes Along Way" reported on Kiva, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that has built an innovative Web site allowing people to make individual loans to small businesses in the developing world. The story focused on businesses in Uganda, where Kiva first began its mircoloan operations. Within seconds of the broadcast on Halloween night, Kiva's servers crashed as FRONTLINE/World viewers tried to log on in their thousands, hoping to make a loan. Kiva staff quickly realized that the floodgates were open and posted a simple homepage explaining the site was overwhelmed and asking for contribution pledges via email.
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