Kiva Fellows Blog --- Please don't restrict to business only

[Guest]

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[TheTatiana]

I've become addicted to the kiva fellows blog.  It's simply amazing.  Today, though, I read that kiva asked the fellows to restrict their blog entries to microfinance only.  I'm rather upset with that. 

Actually, I was thinking of how interesting the personal recollections are.  I hope they aren't too strict about people keeping their posts to microfinance.  To me the blog is much better as an open and truthful description of the experiences of kiva fellows in the field.  It gives me the deep down understanding that we're all in this together, that all these countries with their vastly different social fabrics are nevertheless interconnected.  If it becomes a recitation of the party line, it will be useless, just another ad to be ignored.  You know?  The world is full of ads.  What's valuable is the truth. 

I certainly hope the personal isn't leached out of the kiva experience little by little over time.  I think it would be a terrible mistake.  The reason it works at all is because it's personal.

[abc]

I agree with you, T.
I've been writing to a young journalist I know
from up here about the Kiva experience, as
well as the Kiva Fellows, and sent her some
of the more interesting fellows blogs links,
hoping to plant a seed. What makes them
good material is the heart and the life
that is in them.
I can imagine they might want to set
guidelines for appropriate content
along the lines of "too much information"
warnings, but other than that....

[Jan & John]

Tatiana, I agree with you.  I too love the blogs so much that I will read them before coming to KF.

I noticed that you added a comment on the blog.  I try to comment to the Fellows to let them know how much I appreciate their sharing of experiences with me. 

I think the Fellows should be able to keep the subject on microfinance as set within the sharing of the culture and lifestyles they are experiencing.  All the stories of dirt roads and motorbikes.  Riding in daladalas.  Sharing meals with families that obviously don't have enough to share but do so with smiles and thanks.  This to me is the Kiva experience.

jan

[AccountAbility]

....Today, though, I read that kiva asked the fellows to restrict their blog entries to microfinance only.  I'm rather upset with that. 

Since I don't know the background to what you read (or where), I too can only speculate.  But perhaps it is a caution to keep away from personal views about other aspects of the world and politics which might be perceived of as divisive even among the Kiva community.  As an example, I personally am sorry KivaFriends ever got into political discussions.  To keep unified in Kiva's common goal to work against poverty through microfinance, it certainly doesn't need another rumble.

Dan

P.S. To clarify, though, I do think the personal aspects of the Fellows visit are very important to making the blogs real and three dimensional.  So I certainly hope those continue.

[A Nonny Mouse]

<cough cough>

excuse me, y'all.

[AccountAbility]

....Today, though, I read that kiva asked the fellows to restrict their blog entries to microfinance only.

Perhaps before we get our knickers in a knot, can we find out exactly where this was written and by whom?

And Nonny, microfinance isn't just the numbers.  It's about how actual people are working to improve their lot -- so the stories ARE microfinance.
Dan

[Jan & John]

Perhaps before we get our knickers in a knot, can we find out exactly where this was written and by whom?

And Nonny, microfinance isn't just the numbers.  It's about how actual people are working to improve their lot -- so the stories ARE microfinance.
Dan

http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2008/10/28/for-daniel/

I don't want to get another Kiva Fellow in trouble - but Tatiana was repeating what she read at the end of this blog today
jan

[AccountAbility]

Thanks Jan for linking to the blog in question.  I actually read that blog but somehow missed that one comment.  I haven't specifically followed his blogs enough to see something that might have engendered the comment.

I still can't imagine Kiva trying to restrict writing about the personal connections and observations that Fellows make about the culture they are immersed in-- which is the backdrop of the borrowers' lives-- and the stories of the people they encounter.  There must be something else behind this comment here.

Dan

[TheTatiana]

I just know if my boss told me to keep my posting "relevant to (my job)" then I would share fewer personal impressions, and would keep it more detached and professional.  That's the opposite of the direction I hope the kiva fellows blogs go.  So I was posting in order to state a strong wish that we not go in that direction.  The very thing that makes kiva so great is that it isn't like that... it's not all slick and packaged, professional, impersonal, and correlated like most corporate communication is.  It's not selling us some party line, it's not an ad, and it's not fake.  Again, the reason it works is because it's refreshingly real.  There's a true human connection there.  I want to learn that Borat is not exaggerating about some Eastern Europeans' sexism and anti-Semitism, for instance.  I don't want things prettified.  I want to learn that after you spray on sunscreen, you have to rub it in if you're fair-skinned and don't want to be fried in the equatorial sun.  I want to learn that acting brash and confident only gets you so far with the police in some countries, and might land you in jail.  The culture clashes are just as important as the cultural connections.  What keeps my spirit and my money invested in kiva are those true stories, those notebooks of real life.  Please don't change that.  We're the new way the world is becoming.  We are strong enough and important enough just to be what we are and to tell the simple truth.

[Jan & John]

Rob's blog this morning is just that Tatiana... incredibly real...

http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2008/10/30/the-incredible-shrinking-country/

I actually had to go look at my thermostat to see what my heat was set at because I shivered as I read it.  I had to go look at my one Tajik lady who has already paid her first loan back so I could personally wish her well.  There are some Tajik loans up now - I am taking one of the bakery ones.

jan