"WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER." PLEASE ACT NOW FOR ACTION NOW:KENYA

[Guest]

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[wthepoo]

  I wish there was a way for a volunteer or something to be able to add these as official journal updates for the the borrowers.  Even though they are in a large part sad, I am sure that most lenders would like to hear something specific about their borrower. 

Me too, Charity... Cheryl has added a comment to the last Field Partner Update pointing to the journal and report files. I have by now added about 50 of these journal updates as comments to the loans' most recent updates apart from the Field Partner Update. But of course... I doubt many lenders will find and read these.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

[charity]

I just sent Kiva a message asking if they could at least put out a universal ANK update that references those documents on the Partner page.  We'll see...

[Alaska Pack]

    http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=65682                                                Here is another ANK loan paying back.                                     .
                                                                                The 3 ANK entrepreneurs in our portfolio
                                                                                have some of the saddiest stories.
                                                                                It is great to have them back and we
                                                                                hope this will be the start of the road
                                                                                back to active status for ANK.
       
                                                                                Wycliffe Tunduka

                                                               

[charity]

I just sent Kiva a message asking if they could at least put out a universal ANK update that references those documents on the Partner page.  We'll see...

This is the response I got:

Thanks so much for your email. We can't verify the stories told in those journals, and AN:K is paused, which means that they don't have the ability to post journals. As a result, we wanted to show what we had received from AN:K, but didn't think it was appropriate to send as journal updates.

Sounds kind of like a catch-22 to me.  I mean, do they have less ability to verify the updates since ANK is paused?  From my understanding, unless it is a Kiva fellow posting the journal updates, Kiva is usually only *trusting* that the MFIs are posting correct journals anyway....

[wthepoo]

I agree, Charity.

Maybe they also don't want to make it that obvious that many business listed as "paid back" have indeed defaulted or are still in arrears?

In any case, they could easily post a "Field Update" repeating what they stated on the FP page (also regarding the lack of verification).

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

[Jill]

Thank you, Richard, for posting that video of Action Now: Kenya in the music thread, and thanks, especially, to Jeffers Engelhardt of Amherst for producing it.


Some of you will not be surprised that I am among the first KFs to comment on the video and the reactions that watching it elicited.  I’m certain that it’s one of those strange synchronicities in life that I was probably writing Irene Kamau of AN:K at precisely the same time that Richard must have been posting that video here.


Watching it made me sad, wistful, a little angry, and pretty much sort of yearning.  Wistful….. and yearning for the days when Kiva, on the ground, seemed like the Kiva I knew I “just had to” be involved with after I saw the PBS Frontline:World episode about Kiva’s genesis in Uganda.  The episode where I learned of Kiva’s aspirations to reach some of the world's very most needy, and this, by hooking up with really grassroots kinds of organizations, with truly intimately involved Field Partners whose reasons for being seemed to be integrally wrapped up in helping their people. 


I, personally, am still making loans, if very occasionally,  anymore, but even that is absolutely in spite of the sorrow and disappointment I’ve felt since seeing Kiva straying away from associating with the kind of Field Partners and entrepreneurs that attracted many of us to Kiva in the first place.


For the record, Irene Kamau and your now-depleted staff of Action Now: Kenya ---
I continue to very much believe in you, perhaps now, even more than before.  I believe in you and in your mission and I thank you, deeply, for your devotion to your work and to your people, in spite of all the challenges you’ve had to face.
 
Jill


EDIT: I still care about you, too, Kiva, and my writing what I write and my feeling what I feel should not be taken to suggest otherwise.

[Jill]

I just found I'd received 18 default notices from Kiva, all, presumably, from Action Now: Kenya.
I say, "presumably" because the truth is I have other, for me, much more important things going on in my life right now that make opening and reading each of those 18 e-mails feel incredibly low on my priority list.

I'm writing at all because I want it on the record that whether or not all those 18 default notices are, in fact, from AN:K,  I, still, very very much continue to believe deeply in the integrity and in the work of Action Now: Kenya and its founder, Irene Kamau.

Best to them and to you all,
Jill

[Jill]

I saw Bernice’s post from earlier this morning where she wrote about having just received payments, though pretty miniscule, from ANK entrepreneurs.  And this, in spite of Kiva’s having declared all of Action Now: Kenya’s loans defaulted.

I may be getting as broken record-scratchy with this as Dan, aka KF Accountability, became with Kiva’s Terms of Use, which Terms of Use never seemed to change no matter how many times he posted updates about them, but…..

I wanted you all to know that Irene Kamau is still trying to make every effort to keep AN:K going, even though, now, it’s with a dramatically-reduced staff.  She, still, is trying to help her country-people who are most in need and to encourage them in their struggling businesses. 

And….. 

SHE STILL IS TRYING TO MAKE GOOD WITH KIVA AND ITS LENDERS AND TO PAY BACK THE MONEY KIVA SAYS THAT ANK OWES, HOWEVER LABORIOUSLY, HOWEVER LONG IT’S GOING TO TAKE FOR HER TO DO THAT.

And, I wanted you to know that I still very much believe in her, that is, in Irene Kamau, the Executive Director of Action Now: Kenya.  And I still very much believe in her staff and in the people whom they are trying to serve as I believe in their right to have us continue to maintain faith in them and have hopes (and, for some, possibly prayers) for them, to the extent humanly and compassionately possible.

Jill

[Kay]

That's wonderful, Jill and Bernice.

[wannado]

This isn't a solicitation.  Nor is it a KivaFriend fundraising.  A few of us, though, have decided we wanted to send a little contribution to Action Now: Kenya in a week or so since we know they have been really struggling to survive. If anyone feels like participating, you can send me a PM, and one of us will get back to you.

Marsha