Give the gift of a better world

This is the time when I look under my desk where I store some of the oddball travel gadgets sent my way during the year. It's a reminder that few of us really need a plastic cup holder that hooks to the side of a suitcase, a disposable pillow or a GPS-trackable dog collar.

Here's a suggestion: If you're looking for a holiday gift for the globe-trotter on your list, chuck the junk and instead consider a gift that gives back to the people in the countries we visit.

A few ideas:

• Support a banking system that's not in need of a bailout. Give a gift certificate for a loan through Kiva.org, and let a friend or family member discover how far $25 can stretch.

This past year, I tracked the progress of two women with whom I forged a special connection: Nguyen Thi Nama, with six children and a small business selling groceries in Vietnam, and Diana Beleva, a Bulgarian sock peddler. I loaned them each $25 through Kiva, a San Francisco nonprofit that links third-world entrepreneurs with first-world lenders who pool their money into short-term, interest-free business loans.

My two business partners paid the money back a few months ago, and I recycled the cash into new loans, this time for Phan Ny, a blacksmith in Cambodia, and Joise Yabu, who sells rice and fried eggs at a hotel in Sudan.

Kiva has so far arranged nearly $50 million in loans in 41 countries. Vetted by micro-financing organizations in their home countries, the borrowers pay the money back in monthly installments. Pictures, bios and updates appear on Kiva's Web site.

The program has become so popular that lenders sometimes outnumber borrowers. The recipient of your gift certificate may have to wait awhile to find an entrepreneur to support, but once the two connect, your gift truly will be one that keeps on giving. See www.kiva.org for details.

Fair-trade shopping

• Shop for handmade crafts, jewelry, textiles and other gifts at stores and online retailers dedicated to supporting fair wages and decent working conditions for third-world artisans.

Ten Thousand Villages, 6417 Roosevelt Way N.E., (www.tenthousandvillages.com), a nonprofit trading organization sponsored by the Mennonite Church, sells the work of artists from more than 30 countries.

Far East Handicrafts, 127 N. 36th (www.fareasthandicrafts.com) in Seattle, supplies handmade arts and crafts from artists and cooperatives in Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, where the organization supports medical and educational projects. Gifts under $50 include wind bells, singing bowls and handmade paper products.

Nonprofit Aid to Artisans (www.aidtoartisans.org) works with retailers to develop new markets for products that foster artistic traditions and help communities in countries such as India and Mozambique. Check its Web site for a list of retailers that carry its products, or buy online.

Andy and Tammy James, owners of Ye Olde Curiosity Shop on the Seattle waterfront, opened Market Street Traders, 2016 N.W. Market St. (www.marketstreettraders.com) in Ballard, after vacationing in Thailand. They bought $500 worth of goods from a remote village after an elder told them that was enough money to send all the village kids to school for a year.

Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based international human-rights organization, operates an online Fair Trade store (http://store.gxonlinestore.org) stocked with items such as hand-woven leaf earrings from Swaziland and laptop sleeves made by a women's cooperative in Rwanda.

• Buy a gift subscription to a publication that promotes responsible, sustainable travel. When my favorite, Transitions Abroad, ceased print publication (still on the Web at www.transitionsabroad.com), subscriptions were transferred to a Canadian publication called Verge. Yearly subscriptions are $25. See www.vergemagazine.ca.

International Travel News targets active and armchair travelers with articles and reader advice on budget travel and independent adventuring, much of it aimed at older travelers. This 100-page plus monthly packs hundreds of useful tips into each issue. Travelers do most of the writing. A subscription is $24. See www.intltravelnews.com, or call 800-486-4968.

• Build a school, help protect a forest or send a child to school. Dozens of organizations in the Pacific Northwest support third-world relief efforts. One of my favorites is Friendship with Cambodia of Eugene, Oregon. I traveled to Cambodia a few years ago with its founder, Bhavia Wagner, the author of "Soul Survivors," a book about women and children who survived the Khmer Rouge.

In the United States, we dream of college educations, houses and good-paying jobs. In Cambodia, villagers dream of raising $15-$20 to buy a bicycle or a few pots and pans to use to start a business that can support a family. You can help. Details at www.friendshipwithcambodia.org.

Have some ideas of your own? Share them online at www.seattletimes.com/travel.

The economic downturn is taking a toll all over the world, especially in countries that depend on tourism. The U.S. dollar is gaining strength just about everywhere. If you have a job and the money, it's a good time to start planning a trip. Travel itself is the best gift of all, and, for now at least, it's on sale. Happy holidays!

Carol Pucci's Travel Wise column runs Sundays in the travel section and online at www.seattletimes.com/travel. Comments are welcome. Contact her at 206-464-3701 or cpucci@seattletimes.com.