Celebrating Diversity

[Guest]

.

[RichardF]

What have you learned about your own and others' sensibilities by participating in Kiva lending and Kiva Friends?  What do you like and/or are working on getting used to seeing from a different perspective?  What questions do you have?  What would you like to share to help expand our collective horizions? 

[QueenOfHearts]

I am waiting for Henry to find this thread.....

[Henry]

LOL!!!   
I saw this one earlier, and was about to add...  (Except for Henry) then I thought, you know one day....one day I might have something important to add!


Is this where I could say something like:    I wish we could trade loans like trading cards so I could easily get new locations for my map.   

[RichardF]

Is this where I could say something like:    I wish we could trade loans like trading cards so I could easily get new locations for my map.  

Apparently!  As long as that means you would have to learn a new place to stick your pins!  And then share how that made you feel!

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

I was quite surprised  to find that some of us were in favor of getting dividends, when I joined primarily because I didn't get material benefit. I was surprised that some individuals went out of their way to lend to people in occupations I avoided (beauty parlors, cosmetics).  I was very surprised by Ben's statement that African borrowers were offended by people who represented themselves as cats and dogs.  I was further surprised that people who did use their pets this way did not replace them with photos of themselves (and don't get me wrong, folks - I love my pets too, and love seeing the photos of yours!).  Most of all, I was very surprised to find that people I thought I knew well were not immediate Kiva addicts when introduced to the web site.

[Fred]

Is this where I could say something like:    I wish we could trade loans like trading cards so I could easily get new locations for my map.   

Henry,

I'll trade you two WITEP for one Prisma!

Fred

[RichardF]

As far as pet pics on my lender page go, I use a picture of my wife and me with some of our furry kids.  It represents an image of us embedded in our culture.  It shows "the World" a small window into a portion of how we live.  For me to remove it on the off-chance someone who happens to see it gets offended would be disingenuous on my part.  If someone showing an entrepreneur the pictures of their lenders edited ours out for some reason, that's their business.  I have the choice to select what picture I use.  Others have the choice of what they do or don't do with it.

[Henry]

LOL @ Fred.  Well, I can't help you there, but if you shop with our group it doesn't wouldn't take long to refund a small WITEP loan if you choose to. 

huh?  Remember the IGive money we raise belongs to the person who's shopping got it into the account. Anyone who would like to withdraw it to replace a bad loan can withdraw up to that persons investment.  It is your money! I'm just playing banker with it!  ** this bank is not FDIC SLIC MIC or anyway shape or form insured!**

ut oh.....what did I learn?  I learned Fred has a WITEP loan or two.  I shared IGive-surance, I know it's too hard for me to be sensable I doubt I can even spell it!

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

I  love your family's lender page, Richard, and it does exactly what you say it does.  I don't think that's what Ben was referring to, though we haven't yet gotten a complete explanation from him.  It's not the pet itself, I think, but the fact that the pet photo takes the place of the expected lender photo.  The borrowers in some countries might see that as an insult, perhaps reading a subliminal message such as:  "So!  That person in the US (or elsewhere) is suggesting that he is so rich that his dog could lend me the money that is so important to me!"  I'm not sure, of course, but I've been trying to think of some explanation of what to me is an odd reaction.

[Henry]

I like his/their page too!  I just wonder which photo is the most recent! 

Since I'm here, and Richard's photo shows his wife and himself an the precious kids - I'll ask this question.

Do our partners (aka Wife, Live In, Always with, Better Half, Almost Better Half, Thinks they are the Better Half) understand our interest in KIVA.  Someone mentioned not understanding why a 'friend' could understand the interest - Do our closest have anywhere close to our interest?

For me, Only Mother seems interested so far - and she supports almost anything.  I don't have the means to go online with her at her house to show her the pretty faces and KIVA Friends, but I do have my database where I've downloaded my loans and showed her those.  When I sent my brother the link and informed him, this would be Eve'ies college education, he responded with - Evelyn said put it in a savings account! 

For me, my pleaseure when I have the money to fund a loan is the search for what I think will be a good loan in a business I like or that I think will be able to pay me back. When I don't have money for a loan, I get my thrills out of KIVA Friends, this Igive stuff ( I love free money ), and looking at other lender pages and loans I might wish I were in on.  Hell, I just find the whole thing interesting and fun.

Henry...aka....hmmmm new photo needed today!

P.S.  good topic for post to whomever suggested it.