Have you heard of Kiva?

[Guest]

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[i Live 4 Kiva]

I simply ask this question of friends, coworkers and sometimes strangers.  Most of the time they will say no and inquire as to what it is?  I give a brief overview and offer to send them a link if they seem at all interested. 

This morning one of my coworkers informed me she just made her first loan and shared the information with her sisters, and they told two people, who................ 

It's as simple as that!

Shane

[wind5001]

Well done, Shane,

I wish it was so easy for me...I have told a lot of friends, but response is rather slow...a very good friend has been convinced a while back, but my best friend had to be convinced by a GC for Christmas...two more GCs waiting to be redeemed...

[KivanSteven]

Over the past year, Ive had some real successes like the rest of you, and in ways there are numerous people we have no idea that we reached...in addition there are people we got the message through to, who in turn shared that message with others, all because of you or I. 

But I have probably my most horrible reaction thus far to Kiva.  I sent a calendar to my daughters mother and one for her to pass on to a friend, being that she was recently talking about moving on ideas of assisting the poor in Africa.  Anyways, come to find out, even after I told her I sent her a couple for Christmas, she apparently told my daughter to just throw them away when they arrived!  She may have a bias against me, but I was astonished really.  Thankfully my daughter actually gave the other to her 2nd grade teacher like I advised her to, so I was proud of her for doing that.

[wind5001]

Steve,

that's awful...and I am very sorry to hear that. What a pitiful reaction. You can be proud of Syrenitee (once again, spelling!!??) for her behaviour. You have a great daughter!

I agree that we might have reached people that we never will know of...I kind of like the idea. I mean, it's nice to know of one's impact, but it's also a neat idea to think of myself as having some kind of influence without knowing exactly what it is.

By the way: I never told you and more never really thanked you for it: The extra calendar has arrived a while ago and the result of many hours of cooperation keeps smiling at me every day now. Looking forward to the next common endeavour, even though things have been quite busy for me lately, with my exams coming closer and closer (April 1 is the start of these dreadful 2 weeks with 8 written exams, 5 hours each)...

Oli 

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

Speaking of the ways that our word-of-mouth contacts can grow,    here's one of my examples. At many different times I talked to a good friend, a man of about my age, about Kiva and the pleasure I get from lending.  He never joined, and I stopped talking about it.

This past holiday season, after he looked over my Kiva calendars, he asked if I might have an extra one.  I did. 

He gave it, along with a sizable amount of Kiva credit, to the grandchildren of a friend.  The daughter of that friend, rather than accepting the gift solely for her grandchildren, had them contact their school teachers about making the credits into class projects.  The end result is that many more children will share in the fun of learning about and sponsoring borrowers all over the world. Made my day when he told me about it! 

[KivanSteven]

In the midst of all the bad news these days, these are some terrific feel good stories.  And I actually forgot about asking you if the calendar arrived Oli, I apologize for that oversight--its been busy on my end as well, but glad it worked out for you.  Everytime I look at the calendar I to always remember the combined efforts that went into its success, and its a great feeling. 

[Tatiana]

This past holiday season, after he looked over my Kiva calendars, he asked if I might have an extra one.  I did. 

He gave it, along with a sizable amount of Kiva credit, to the grandchildren of a friend.  The daughter of that friend, rather than accepting the gift solely for her grandchildren, had them contact their school teachers about making the credits into class projects.  The end result is that many more children will share in the fun of learning about and sponsoring borrowers all over the world. Made my day when he told me about it! 

What a nice story Glenda!

I'm very sorry I was just too late to order the Kiva calender 2008. I'll have to do with an Oxfam calender in my bedroom and a Care calender in my livingroom for this year. But I will order the 2009 Kiva calender immediately when available!

So far I got three people to open up a kiva-account. 2 friends who used their Gift certificates given by me, and the third one was my mother who walked in my room when I was just watching the profile of this beautiful Samoan Lady. To my surprise my mother wanted me to make a loan for her. Who knows the email notifications will bring her back to the Kiva site and make her fund some other loans.

[Sherri]

I learnt (learned isn't a word??!! What?) about Kiva in an MSN Finance article (read it here) about how money can actually buy happiness. One of the reader submitted suggestions was that loaning through Kiva brought that person a lot of happiness. I did some Googling and the rest is history.

I have given out one $50 gift certificate to a cousin who works for the UN in Malawi as a wedding gift. But... it's been a few months and hasn't been redeemed yet.   Of course the fact that she just had a baby might have something to do with that!

I recently got my Dad to make his first loan, after months of him grumbling about why bother helping other countries when there's lots of needy people right here in our country. I finally turned him over by the fact that as an entrepreneur he can loan to other budding entrepreneurs.

My friends have been basically ho-hum about it when I talk about Kiva. I guess they're busy with the usual twenty-something life stuff. Or maybe it's just not a cause that speaks to them. Too bad because I kinda wish I had some (local) friends to talk to about Kiva stuff!

[i Live 4 Kiva]

I remember a sales statistic that claims 6 out of 10 buyers will say "no" an average of 4 times before they say yes.

Now, I'm not advocating a hard sell for Kiva, but everytime it comes up in conversation you are that much closer to a yes.  When they read or hear about it somewhere else it will already be familiar to them.  When they do finally bite, they will be hooked for good!

I think it is normal for many to struggle with the feeling that our loyalties should lie a little closer to home.  It's only natural to be more protective and concerned about people who you know personally, family and friends or people who you share common ground with like other Americans.  We could get into all kinds of philosophical and or religious reasons why I/we feel differently now but I know better than to go down that road on a public site.  I will say the disparity of wants and needs is much greater between Americans and people living in the developing world than the disparity between priveleged Americans and Americans living in poverty.

Please don't be discouraged when/if others don't share your enthusiasm.  In time many will recognize how interconnected we all are and how helping others with a small loan is ultimately helping us too.