Introductions

[Guest]

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[AKUA]

Hi, my name is Akua (pronounced Equia).  I am a Ghanaian mother of two living in UK.  I own and manage Sheabutter Cottage.

I have always supported farmers co-operatives/suppliers by giving back a percentage of my sales.  I also support women in the business sector and recently joined KIVA as a lender. 

[Adrian]

My name is Adrian, father of a boy and girl. I was born in Hong Kong, but now reside in West coast, Canada.  I came across Kiva whilst I was researching on computer hardware, and I noticed an article that wrote about the founders of Kiva in entrepreneur news. 

I am a web developer and I founded and run a pro bono community site called Childbrain Development to network parents from around the world.

[Shawn - Agent of Change]

Hi!

Soo many people addicted to helping others, makes the heart sing 

Well, my name is Shawn and I came across Kiva in the fall of 2006 while actually trying to find someone doing EXACTLY what they do. I had an interest in microcredit and was looking to put together a fundraiser to support loans, but wanted to be able to track them directly, take part in the process, yada yada yada. I managed to meet up with some of the Kiva crew in Halifax for the 2006 Global Microcredit Summit, and cemented the bond so to speak! Little did I know...

From these little beginnings the seed was planted for a fundraising ride from Vancouver to Tijuana, beginning with two of us and an undetermined fundraising goal. We now have a registered non-profit of our own, co-ordinating 23 cyclists, two support vehicles and a full documentary crew - all in pursuit of a campaign to build up a $1,000,000 Kiva fund that we'll commit to re-lending in perpetuity. Every rider is paying their own expenses, and 100% of every fundraising dollar goes straight to Kiva loans. We're all students or recent grads (or studentesque at any rate) - some people have dropped multiple semesters of school to commit to this largely full time, I quit my job about a month ago to run this full time (on a completely volunteer basis of course). This began about as grassroots as it gets and this has all grown incredibly organically.

SO excited to meet all of you, completely overwhelmed with support so far and still so much work to do as we leave May 3rd. www.agentsofchange.ca. Keep on lendin' :-)

--Shawn

[AccountAbility]

Well, my name is Dan and we live in Friday Harbor, Washington. We run a business which provides financial management and accounting for small businesses. Over the last couple of years we have tried to do something more meaningful for Christmas gifts to our clients.   We have made donations to third world business opportunities through other charities in the past.  This year we stumbled upon Kiva.org in our research and felt this was just right for our clients.  Since then we have continued to add loans to our portfolio. Moreover, we intend to send our clients quarterly updates on the portfolio we shared with them at Christmas, so that we keep the organization in front of them on a regular basis. 

It was great to discover this forum.  I have read enough of the lender profiles on Kiva that I am beginning to recognize the repeaters and feel like they are becoming friends.

[Maggie]

Hi all,

Wow, Kiva is amazing. My name is Maggie, and I live in tiny Barneveld, Wisconsin (population 943) with my husband and two young daughters. For the past couple years I've struggled with a desire to make my financial contributions more meaningful. (I like what Samantha said about this in her intro.) Anyway, my little brother told me about Kiva only a few weeks ago and I couldn't believe it - it's like a dream come true. I'm still learning about it, and I CERTAINLY didn't need another web addiction, but I'm happy to be here.

Oh, and I'm a freelance writer.

[michael]

Hello, my name is Michael.  But you can see that on the left, can't you?  Okay, let me start again.

Hi there, folks.  I am one of those jaded optimists that are found all too frequently in the late Baby Boomer generation.....  we still want to be change agents like others of our generation, but find that so many of the avenues to make change have been rigged for someone's personal benefit.  Skepticism creeps in, and that does no one any good.

That's why I am glad to find Kiva.  While I am a frequent and chronic donor to various charities (from rainforest relief to panhandlers) the microlending approach is the first real way I've seen to leverage my limited resources and be able to use them to help people over and over again.  And with repayment, I can get direct feedback on whether the process is working or whether my funds are just being swallowed up.

I am starting off small - minimal participation in four loans - until I am convinced that Kiva and the lending partners deliver what they promise to both the applicants and the lenders.  After I feel more comfortable, this will become a monthly (or more) part of my social spending.

On the personal side, I am married for 25 years to the best cook in the world.  One daughter, about to graduate from college and move on to the ranks of the field-of-study-unemployable (english major, comparative religion minor....    I am an MBA that left the Fortune 500 world to try to make a difference in government.  (How is THAT for the height of arrogance?)  I promised my wife 13 years ago that I'd only stay in the public sector for 3.........  So here I am, trying to save the world from Richmond (by Gawd) Virginia.

[Pondering Pig]

Unlike you cool activists, I'm more of a ponderer.  And, oddly enough, I am also a pig.  I try to do my part by writing about justice issues (microfinance is a justice issue) at http://ponderingpig.com  Lately, I find myself pondering about Kiva, the Millennial Development Goals, ladies who sell baby clothes at Ukrainian markets, that kind of stuff. But sometimes I ponder about Charlie Chaplin or Jack Kerouac or why mustard is yellow.  Oh yeah - I live in Spokane Washington.  And I'm very glad to be among Kiva Friends!

[Cynthia]

Greetings.

I'm also very glad to have this Forum to connect with like-minded Kivans. Thanks for setting this up, Joe.

Being a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), I have long been involved in social justice issues. One of my central principles is personal involvement. I am an artist and musician with a day gig as administrator of a non-profit serving an international clientele. I'm involved in several overseas projects, but longed for a more direct way to help empower individuals in the developing world. 

With Kiva I feel that I have finally found that.

While I don't have a lot of financial resources (see job descriptions above!), Kiva is a way to really make the best possible use of the funds I do have.  I've added Kiva to my regular monthly contribution budget.

Go Kiva!

[Jacquie]

Hi --

I'm from the West Coast of Canada, and first heard about KIVA when CBC Newsworld did a story in late December 2006. I only caught the tail end but my heart was racing! I watched the repeated story at least 5 times that day! I had become very interested in microfinancing last year but hadn't a clue where to find a reputable organization. And now here we are!

[optimistic.bob]

Welcome Jacquie,

Good to see another Canuck from the west joing microlending movement.

Cheers and Three Cheers,
bob