A Newbie to Kiva!

[Guest]

.

[Ed Chandler]

Hi Everybody!

I'm Ed Chandler and I'm a newbie to KIVA. Along with my beautiful daughter Renee, we find ourselves to be very humbled with some of the loans applied for by third world applicants. I never had a clue that $25 dollars could actually change somebody's life for the better! I'm a older, self-employed handyman and have been self employed for over 35 years. When I was a much younger man, I use to spend $75 to $100 a night on food and alcohol, several nights a week. Power lunches were the norm! Today, as a much more stable and reliable businessman, I concider myself blessed with constant work from ongoing recommendations from former clients. I became a member of Kiva about 10 or 12 days ago, and Renee and I already have provided 12 loans! As far as I'm concerned, that's just a stepping stone to the future! My only regret is that I'm not Bill Gates or Waren Buffet, so I could make a bigger impact with Kiva's potential clients!
I live in Blackstone, MA, which is actually a suburb of Woonsocket, RI. If anybody involved with Kiva lives in my general area, and wants to explore idea's to advance Kiva's patform, I'm more than open to meeting with other Kiva members! My e-mail address is EChand5000@aol.com. Anything that I can do to impact the awareness of KIVA here in the northeast, interests me.

[Spartan]

Welcome to the community (Note: I'm not the official welcoming committee however)! 

It is nice to see other entrepreneurs getting involved in Kiva as well. 

[Julia]

Welcome to the community (Note: I'm not the official welcoming committee however)! 

It is nice to see other entrepreneurs getting involved in Kiva as well. 

You're about as official as anyone else to Kivafriends, we're all unofficial!


And welcome Ed and Renee.  Looks like you're on the 12-step loan kiva addiction program, that's good. And don't worry, i've had at least two people tell me they wake in the middle of the night to check the Kiva site page.  Well, that made me feel better when I do it!

[scncartist]

Hello All!

I too am a newbie to Kiva. Like many I joined after watching the Frontline episode. I joined with gusto and thought it was the most awesome thing I had ever heard of. I think I invested something like $250 almost immediatly, bought a t-shirt, and told all my friends about it. For me $250 is a huge chunk of change.

Then I found this forum, and did a little reading. Some of it was a little sobering, and part of me thought hum, maybe I should have just invested $25 or $50 while I see how this goes. At first I was pretty random in picking who or where I invested.

But over the last couple of days I saw my first re-payments being made. This excites me on so many levels. To me this means that a) these businesses are prospering (I pray this is true) and b) I get to turn around and re-invest sooner. Yeh, only a small portion is being re-paid, but it does mean that for one I am $3.14 closer to giving someone lending someone else my $50.

When I do have that opportunity, or when I come up with more funds to invest I will do my research. Certain countries I have discovered that I have more intrest in now. Yup, I'd like to focus on women, I am one after all. I will look into the lending companies a little more closely, and I think I like shorter re-payment periods. Afterall I get such a joy out of the turn around.

I have discovered that I look at fellow lenders closely when choosing who I want to lend too. I am new to Northern New Jersey, so folks who live near me make me feel some comminality with my new home. And, those from my own home town or area make me feel like I still have some ties. This too is part of my newbie deciding factor. :-)

I think my t-shirt states that Kiva is unspeakably amazingly awesome, and I firmly stand by that! 

[Spartan]

Aloha! Another new "face". Welcome to the jungle! 

I too will focus on women (as I do with all things  ); especially in Eastern Europe and Asia. I am still waiting for a MFI in Poland.

[optimistic.bob]

Spartan,
I have reasons for wanting to support borrowers in Poland too. I hope and MFI finds its way to Lidzbark, Gdansk, and Bialystok. The experience with Kiva has encouraged me to put together a portfolio and a team to go to Poland in summer 08 to offer loans through an existing organization.

[Spartan]

Cool! Maybe we can start Polish lenders hui. 

My grandparents on my fathers side are immigrants to the US and sadly enough I dont know much about them or Poland for that matter and with me being half Polish I feel kind of lame. On the positive side I found out some time ago that his family were of Polish nobility prior to the 19th century. Additionally a few years ago I was considered for the Order of Saint Stanislaus (http://order-sw-stanislaw.eu/) but was rejected due to my youthful age and indirectly due to my not so big net wealth (poor grad student at the time). 

Since I have moved to Japan I have been passively looking for a way to get involved in some way with helping Poland.

[Ed Chandler]

Hey Spartan!

I use to live in Japan. In the early 1980's, I was a International Field Service Engineer for (MKK), Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha, ( Translated into Mitsubishi Chemical Machinery Manufacturing Co.) I lived in Yokohama and my office, or base of operations was in Kawasaki, Japan! At the time I spoke basic fluent Japanese. For 5 years I traveled all over the Orient, teaching client's how to operate, high speed, rotating machinery such as centrifuges. I spent many hours on board ocean going vessels, as well as industrial complexes throughout Asia! It was during that time, that I realized how blessed Americans were! It was also during that time that I recognized how many foreign individuals looked towards the United States as a inspiration for future success and guidance. There wasn't a KIVA back then, so it was difficult to offer true financial support to individuals, even if you wanted to. And trust me, during my 5 year stint in Asia, there were many instances where I wanted to offer financial assistance to a person above and beyond a personal loan.

So tell me, what are you doing in Japan, how long have you been there and what company do you represent? Do you speak Japanese? I can't believe how small the internet has made the world!

Regards,

Ed Chandler

[miGIRLS]

I am a newbie, too. Yesterday I tested the PayPal system with Kiva by giving myself a gift certificate. Tonight I funded our family's first Kiva loan!! Yeah!  It is Abla, a stone cracker. We liked that she was working outdoors and doing something a little different. Maybe she'll get the rest of her funding before the night's over!

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=5257

THANKS everyone for your patience with my questions and thoughts. I had to wait for my daughter to get back from a math camp to make this a team effort. Kiva is really an interesting community organization!

[chris]

Maybe she'll get the rest of her funding before the night's over!

Yup, funded already 

[Spartan]

Aloha Ed!

It is nice to hear about your adventures in Asia. As for myself I have been living here for over seven years now. In the 90's I used to come to Japan and SE Asia to lecture at different universities about global modeling, international relations, distance learning, the Internet and to a lessor degree activism. Moreover one of my degrees focused on Japanese society with a specialization in the role of modern Japanese women. ( On a side note: you would not believe the types of looks I used to get from people, especially ladies, when I would tell them I was working on a degree studying Japanese women. )  Additionally I also came here for military purposes many years ago.

Regarding what I'm doing here now, I'm the sole owner of a very small business consulting, executive & personal training company and currently I am working on a business plan for a second business with nearly a dozen investors of which I will retain 51% ownership. In short the business which will  be a combination of a bar, restaurant, coffee shop, and tea house will serve as a principle social networking hub for entrepreneurial and professional females in the Kawasaki area. The iconography and general theme will be based on the Lilith myth for obvious reasons.   

On the topic of language sadly enough I do not speak it at all. This has really helped my marriage to be sure. Personally speaking I simply don't have the time or interest for that matter to study it. The reason my interest is not high is mainly because I'm dyslexic and typing and reading in English is hard enough but to learn kanji  and to try to memorize each one in eight different ways - forget. I may do so one day but right now I'm to busy and frankly it is far more economically efficient for me to hire a translator then for me to spend the time learning it.     

[Ramón]

Hey Ed... welcome to the club! I'm from Belmont, MA, which on a good day is less than 45 minutes from Woonsocket... I've seen several Bostonians and Cambridgians active on Kiva, but not too many from MA are actually here active on Kivafriends.

I'm toying with the idea of setting up a stand in some of the fairs here around Boston, but until now I've not had time to take this from a "we should..." idea to a "we're going to..." action.

Again, Welcome!

--Ramón

(btw-- milestone: this is my post #100 on this forum)

[Ed Chandler]

Hi Ramon,

I grew up living on Lancaster Road, just off Mass Ave in Arlington, Hts., so I know exactly where Belmont is! About that setting up at a fair or flea market to promote KIVA! LETS JUST DO IT!!!!!!!! I'd only need 7 or 8 days notice and I'm committed! I'm a Native American, (Mohawk Indian) and typically do powwows here in the Northeast during the warmer months, on weekends, but to promote KIVA, I'd gladly take a break from the Powwow commitment. You let me know what you have in mind and we'll work it out. I'd love to get a active community of Kiva lenders together here in the Greater Boston, Providence, Worcester area! It's intresting to note that your wife is also a Native American being a Peruvian! I think I already concider you guys family! Many Central and South American's Natives set up at the powwow's held here in the Northeast as vendors. A really wonderful, dedicated and loving people, but then again that's the nature on Native American's!

Edward Broken Frather
Mohawk Metis Elder
Blackstone, MA                        aka, Ed Chandler