Introductions

[Guest]

.

[optimistic.bob]

Hi from Calgary, Alberta. My name is Bob McInnis and I am a father of three grown sons and have six grandsons - all boys in this clan  . I work with a small charity in Calgary. BB4CK www.brownbaggingit.org that provides nutritious lunches to about 1300 kids every day. When I found Kiva, I realized that I could make a difference across the world by sharing some of the blessings that I have received here. I am excited about the possibilities that Kiva can achieve and look forward to hearing about some great experiences in these forums.
Cheers

[Julia]

Hi, I am Julia and I am living in Pasadena, California (essentially LA). I grew up in Montreal, but my family now mostly lives in Calgary (and Airdrie).  I do research; I am a genetic epidemiologist where I basically look for genes for diseases.  I spend most of my time on the computer doing analyses (and helping change the world).

I have been working with my research in Latin America, and I know how a little bit can go a long way.  I have been an active supporter of microlending since I first heard about them, the only real drawback was to me, they were more of a charity than a loan, 'cause I never got my money back. But with Kiva I am able to loan more.

I like the idea of other people using my money before I do.   

[lsadorf]

I am Leo. I live in southeastern Arizona. I have been a teacher and a photographer. Currently, I manage buildings and facilities for the Sonoita School District, as well as maintaining the computer network. I have a small publishing concern, sonoranwind.com, and publish photography books, an occasional kids book, and collections. I have 6 kids, ranging from 21 down to 9.

Essentially, I found KIVA and eventually this community through my friend and mentor, "The Pondering Pig". I got involved because of my kids and the need to teach them about looking outside your own needs.

[randulo]

Hi, I'm Randy and like many of you I found the Kiva site by accident, I absolutely can't remember how I got there! Must be some kind of mass hypnosis though, because like others, I'm addicted.

Within a few days I started http://talkathon.org and arranged the 24 hour live interactive podcast on Talkshoe.com where I have other shows. With the help of Dave Nelsen, CEO of Talkshoe, we got the thing going and they raised $1,100 in small contributions on their own  Paypal account as well as bringing in many new members. I myself did about four live demos where I chose more entrepreneurs.

Talkathon.org has a few recordings of various shows leading up to the March 18th one. I'm looking forward to hearing from the people at AgentsofChange.ca to do a new podcast with them as well. Any of you who want to get on the air with us are welcome to write me at talkathon.org putting "kiva@" before talkathon.org. Calling in to Talkshoe requires a PIN which you can get by signing up free (and spam free) or I can furnish a temporary PIN for you. I'd love to have people talking about Kiva related events and obviously, any money earned goes into Kiva.org. What's cool is that with a lot of downloads of our talkshoe podcasts, I can usually contribute to loans of at least three people. Go listen to the podcasts, it generates money for Kiva!

During the KivaThon, we also managed to get featured on Twitter (and in fact it still is for now) so I'm broadcasting tweets when I can. In some ways though, Twitter is the antithesis of Kiva, i.e., using the Internet to blab about nothing at all instead of actually helping anyone.

Anyway, didn't mean top be so long-winded here. Congrats on the new site.

[johanna]

Hi, I'm Johanna from NYC. I first discovered Kiva waaaay back when it only had a handful of businesses listed--in fact, the first few times I went to the website, it didn't have any loans available, b/c a mention of Kiva on some blog or other generated more interest than it could keep up w/@ the time!

A year & change later, I'm a happy Kiva addict (as you can see by my lender page: http://www.kiva.org/lender/johanna). I work at a nonprofit policy organization right now doing research, & while what I do is useful, sometimes it feels v. distant. So things like Kiva are great b/c I feel that I am having an immediate impact. I first learned about microenterprise a few years ago in grad school, & am really excited that Kiva lets ordinary folks get so involved.

Viva Kiva! 

[Samantha]

My name is Samantha. I found Kiva about a month ago on StumbleUpon and also got hooked in. I've participated in charities before, but Kiva just makes it more fun. It is probably the ability to choose who you want to lend to that I enjoy the most. The best I can compare it to is when Oprah built that school in South Africa, I believe. She essentially said she was tired of giving money to charities who put it in a pile (or in some cases with some very well known organizations, just keep it and use it for something other than intended) and decided to do something herself. Kiva hits that spot on a smaller scale. I love it.

[Ari]

Hi!  My name is Ari and I'm from Reykjavík, Iceland.  I am a violinist in the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.  I've been an activist since I was a little kid.  While I contribute to several charities, I find Kiva to be one of the greatest things out there.  The way I'm able to directly assist an individual *and* get my money back is amazing!  I'm trying to spread the word over here by the Arctic Circle so hopefully you'll see other Icelandic lenders in the coming months

[Joe]

Love the introductions. Keep them coming. My name is Joe. I'm from NY. I found Kiva through their MySpace page while doing work for another project. After a couple minutes of browsing the site and reading some of the press clippings, I became fascinated. Like many, I was hooked in by the ability to directly help an individual of my choosing. Bonus points for a good chance that everything lended out would come back, which I could then use to lend back out to someone else. Brilliant! I was sold on that alone. But wait, there are also journal updates and reports from people that you help out?! "Good Lord this is the best charity tool ever!"

Anyway, from there I made my first loan and was hooked even more. So I started telling people about Kiva, online and off. I tied my account into another project (plugged it with printed inserts and shoutouts to about 10,000 people on MySpace). I joined the Yahoo group and put up the flyer that Ramon made anywhere I see an opportunity in Upstate NY. In my car there is a folder labeled "Kiva" full of them. 3 months later, here's a discussion forum after seeing there was interest for one.

I look forward to watching (and helping) Kiva continue to grow and expand to more regions of the developing world. It's a blessing and dream come true for so many people.

[Ramón]

I'm Ramon. I'm from the Netherlands, my wife is Peruvian, and to make things easy-- we live in Boston, MA.

And I'm KivAddict.

I've seen development aid "close-up" when I was working for a Telecom contractor in Nicaragua in 1994/1995. Although necessary, it's not very effective. The main reason for this is, that for the local people, there are no stakes. If it works, you get money. If it doesn't-- well you don't, but there is no loss or pressure either.

Micro-financing may help here. It's a loan-- you gotta pay it back!

Is Micro-financing the end-good all-good solution to poverty? Definitely not. Without proper schooling, health-care, infrastructure, security, and established property rights, trade will never flourish. This is where governments, NGOs, and other foreign aid can make a difference.

Due to our background, we restrict our investments at Kiva.org into loans to Latin American entrepreneurs. We try to make loans regularly, at least twice a month.

http://www.kiva.org/lender/ramon

[randulo]

Due to our background, we restrict our investments at Kiva.org into loans to Latin American entrepreneurs. We try to make loans regularly, at least twice a month.

Hi Ramon,

One of the nice features about Kiva.org is that you can select who you want to loan to (or what area of the world) so I totally understand.