Journal entries that make an impact

[Guest]

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[khang]

Dear Kiva friends,
I just received another email from Mekong Plus.
A good samaritan from Britain had already sponsored the case of Ms Cao and her adopted child.
They do apologize for the confusion. They hope that we would continue to support their cause.
They tell me that there are other cases that are heartbreaking as well (they have sent me another case)

I'm a little bit disappointed but at the same time I am happy that Ms Cao is receiving help.
My apologies for all this. I am deeply touched by your generosity.
Thank you to all who had contributed to the fund, especially Diane.
Once again, i am sorry.

Khang

[Diane R]

Although I feel a little sad that our contribution was not helpful to this family, I am thrilled that Ms. Cao will have the support she needs.  Thank you for all your efforts, Khang, it was so wonderful of you to try to help in this way.  I will leave it up to the contributors to decide what we want to do: there is over $400 in the fund.

My thoughts are that we took the contributions with the idea to help Ms. Cao in particular, as a Kiva borrower, we did not take the contribution to simply "help a needy family".  The story of Ms. Cao, who had taken in an orphan baby to raise as her own and whose little store was her way of providing for her adopted daughter, was touching and of course there are many other needy families.  But as a Kiva borrower, Ms. Cao is part of our family and that is what we responded to.  I prefer to have sponsored this particular family, and since that option is no longer available I will return the funds to everyone who contributed, unless you tell me otherwise.

Thank you for your efforts on this, Khang.  You did so much!  Contributors, if you want your money back today let me know, otherwise I will refund it all tomorrow.

--Diane.

[Eli]

Thank you for your efforts on this, Khang.  You did so much!  Contributors, if you want your money back today let me know, otherwise I will refund it all tomorrow.
--Diane.

Is there something else we could do, possibly divert the funds to the Mark Agwonah fund?  Create another fund of some kind? The Cow Fund, where the recipient must have a cow?     The Best Smile Fund, where the recipient must be smiling?   The Sad Loan Fund, one that awaits a long time to be funded?     Put it towards Kivafriends loans?  Any other ideas out there? I'm open to discuss any and all options.

[Dottie b]

Is there something else we could do, possibly divert the funds to the Mark Agwonah fund?  Create another fund of some kind? The Cow Fund, where the recipient must have a cow?     The Best Smile Fund, where the recipient must be smiling?   The Sad Loan Fund, one that awaits a long time to be funded?     Put it towards Kivafriends loans?  Any other ideas out there? I'm open to discuss any and all options.

Interesting, but I don't know that we need special funds for all those things - just lend to them! 

Dottie B

[Eli]

I don't know that we need special funds for all those things - just lend to them! 
Dottie B

I'm only talking about the possibility of one new fund, but mostly just trying to be humorous and begin the brainstorming . . .

[Dottie b]

I'm only talking about the possibility of one new fund, but mostly just trying to be humorous and begin the brainstorming . . .

I liked the Sad Fund. I've occasionally lent to someone who'd been on the list a long time. One was the Mexican woman who said she didn't have much money because of illness, but wanted to improve her house, and was on the list about two weeks. I wanted to follow her story, so I lent to her. She is repaying on schedule. http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=15509


Dottie B

[ej]

Good morning Kiva friends,
I received an email from Mekong Plus today. Please see below for the original email and my translation.
Let's figure out how are we going to proceed: if the total contribution is more than 450 usd then do we send it all to Mekong Plus or we send 450 and the rest will be sent directly to Ms Cao (since we have her address, this can be done with a private service that will deliver to her in person)

Khang

I would be happy to have my contribution sent directly to Ms Cao, if Khang still wants to do it.
The original amount was met by someone else, so the funds that were raised here are the "more than 450 USD," mentioned in Khang's post. These extra funds would be a surprise gift to Ms Cao from her Kiva Friends,
people who contribute to loans like the one she received from Mekong Plus. Khang might be able to explain the connection in a note to her. It would be nice for Ms Cao and her granddaughter to see that there really is a personal person to person connection in these loans.

[Eli]

Rachel Swirri has the saddest loan description I've read:

www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=16190

[Laurelia]

Yes, Rachel Swirri's description is sad, and she just looks sad. I think I understand her situation in general, but I got confused here:

As a maid to other wives, she has faced problems of misunderstanding with her maids with the husband always showing favor to the younger maids.

She has to be a maid to other wives, but she also has maids? Her husband shows favor to *her* younger maids? (or all the wives' younger maids and/or the younger wives?) Not sure if the confusion is from my not understanding Cameroonian society or mistranslation. Anyway, I feel for her.

Laurie

[Diane R]

I see that Julie Swirri is from the same location and is also married to a polygamist.  There is also Rufina Swirri from the same location, but her listing does not mention whether she is from a multi-wife family.  Could be they are all married to the same man.

--Diane.