Whine & Cheese

Kiva Update

I've been meaning to do a Kiva update for awhile now (If you don't remember about Kiva, you might want browse through these posts).

It's hard to believe that in a few months, I will have been on the site for 2 years.  While I haven't written about it much of late, I am still micro-lending money on a regular basis. 

I admit to going bonkers (ok, addicted!!) when I first started... and throwing quite a bit of money into it... but the great thing (especially in these economic times that is scaring many of us into being conservative with our cash) is that I haven't added any new $$$ in quite some time (I'm guessing at least a year!), but just recycling the cash into new loans... in fact, it has got to the point where the money is being paid back faster than I can re-loan it!  

As of this morning, I am up to 158 loans in my Kiva portfolio!  86 of those are paid-back loans (with the funds re-loaned or in my "credit bank" waiting to be re-loaned... or returned to me if I so choose), 70 are active, 1 was refunded, and 1 default (so lost that $$$, but as you see a rare occurrence).

One of the fun things is trying to find is looking for new countries. I added Mongolia just yesterday.  At the moment, I have/had loans to 44 countries!   I will certainly admit I've had to look at a map to see where some of them are!   Here is my list of countries:

Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote D'lvoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatamala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somoa, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Ukraine, Viet Nam

I do my best to find some connection with the folks I lend to... the majority of the time, it is something about their photo that catches my eye... though lately I have been seeking out things that I'd like to personally support... two of those searches are "books" and "photography"... which my regular W&C readers know are two things near and dear to me.

I had a "hit" with one of those  this morning with a loan I made to Solomon in Ghana:

Solomon is 37 years old. He is married and has three children. He loves his work. They live in the central region of Ghana with his entire family. He has been a general photographer for the past year now. He also does video shooting. He owns a photography and video shop where his clients pose for their photographs. He also goes to occasions like parties and concerts to take photographs of his clients. He is requesting a loan to buy additional tools and materials like a camera, flash, video camera etc. to expand his operations. He wants to buy a motor bike, which he believes will ease the distances he walks to take pictures. Solomon belongs to a village bank called ‘Adwendaho’,which means ‘Clear mind’.

This kind of thing is what makes Kiva such a cool site!  Again, I know it's not a great financial time - but I really encourage everyone to check Kiva out (my beginner's advice to not get discouraged would be to look for shorter-term loans and good "risk ratings")... it has been an incredibly rewarding / fulfilling experience for me... and certainly puts things in perspective when I need a little kick in the bootie.

Kiva Update

I haven't mentioned Kiva in a really long time.   So, just for a quick reminder, Kiva is a micro-lending organization... or more like a middleman... in helping folks like us provide loans to people all around the world.  While it is a non-profit, the money you "lend" is not tax-deductible since it is ultimately paid back to you -- and then, if you choose, you can use those same funds to lend to a new person.  (FYI, direct - non-loan - donations to Kiva are tax-deductible)

Recently Kiva changed the way it returns the money back to you.  It used to be that you only received the funds when the loan was fully repaid.  This threw some people in a tizzy... which I didn't really think was in the whole "spirit of giving"... heck, I was just happy to be helping someone out and that I was getting the money back eventually... I wasn't doing this as investment (some folks wanted interest on their loaned money) or concerned myself if Kiva was getting interest on "my" money... but alas this was an issue to some...so in the last couple of weeks, Kiva now credits your account as each monthly payment comes in. 

All these partial loan re-payments have pretty much shut-down the Kiva site... much like when the organization was mentioned on The Today Show... or Bill Clinton in his book... or the biggie of 'em all... Oprah... all the loans have been scooped up. 

When I first joined Kiva in June 2007, I made what I dubbed for a very long time a rookie "mistake."  The minimum contribution to a loan is $25, but at the beginning I tended to give a bit more than that since I wanted to help out more.  Well, it took only a couple of days to realize that the loans were always filled... and that it was actually more "fun" when you a large group of people from all around the world pulled together to help out this one person. 

However, I decided to take on a loan all by myself... and at several hundred dollars.  It's not like I couldn't afford it... but afterward, I realized I had tied up all that money for 18 months (the term of the loan) - when I could have "spread the wealth" and contributed $25 to dozen+ other people.  To make matters worse, it took a very long time for the first loan re-payment to show up and it went into "delinquency"... and I feared the money would truly be lost if it defaulted (again, not that it really mattered... as my intention was just to "recycle" the funds to others).

However, 6 months later the first payment showed up... and there has not been a missed monthly payment since... and now with Kiva's new credit/return policy all those interim money is back in my account... but given that it was one of my first loans and my initial worries about the non-payments, it is a quite special one to me... so I was thrilled this week when I received this field update about the loan (and a picture!):

 

I am writing with an update on the loan you made to Victorine.   My name is Yuan – I’m from the UK - and I am privileged to be the Kiva Fellow working with microfinance NGO GHAPE based in the country’s North West Province.    

Victorine is now in her third year as a GHAPE borrower. Her first loan was used to buy more supplies for her business cooking and selling food at the local market. She used the profits and the money GHAPE encouraged her to save, to pay her children’s school fees. After successfully repaying her second loan, Victorine borrowed money on the loan you made for her business. She says things are going well – she is ahead with her repayments - and the loan has been a “wonderful” help.     Before joining GHAPE she and her husband had just built their house which was totally empty, so she is very pleased that they have been able to furnish it.    

Victorine says she cannot even explain how much the loans have improved her life, though she also complains about having to occasionally cover for other borrowers who cannot meet their repayments.

If only all of life's "mistakes" could end up like this one!

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Kiva Style

Had some lending fun on Kiva this morning.

Lately, it's been even more fun of since I have started to have some Kiva credit to work with.  This is money that has been refunded back to me after the people I lent it to have paid it back.  To date, that's already happened 5 times.  I still have one more to "recycle."  But now I have 4 -- what I have dubbed -- "second generation" loans... old money going to new people.  It's very exciting. 

It's alway fun to "connect" with one of your lendees... and that was the case this morning.  I was looking around and stumbled across I Wayan Landep from Indonesia (pictured left) who is hoping to plant a crop of hot peppers. 

Our love of hot and spicy food is fairly well-documented here at W&C... so it was perfect match to support a hot pepper farmer.  Knowing Todd would feel the same, I quickly e-mailed him about the loan.  He was able to get in on time (loans still get scooped up pretty quickly) and contribute to it as well... and using Kiva credit from one of his repaid/refunded loans!

Granted it is hard to always find that kind of connection, so another thing that I am doing is venturing into as many new countries as I can... to date, I have (or had!) loans in 21 different countries, some of which I hate to admit I wouldn't have been able to point out on a map prior to my Kiva loan (ok, some of them I likely still can't... c'mon Cameroon??!).

If you are interested but still hesitant to get involved with Kiva, a couple words of advice...

Contribute the minimum of $25 per loan... just like the puppies at the shelter, the loans will be funded... I doubt many last more than 24 hours.  Diversify!  I have two "delinquent" loans... on one of my first loans, I decided I wanted "full ownership"... honorable, but stupid... I should have "spread the wealth" and not have had so much tied up in one person.  Remember there are no guarantees that the loan will be paid back!   Which is a nice segue to...

Check out the "risk rating"... this is a relatively new feature and it will give you an idea of how reliably loans have been paid back (and likely factored into that is the "delinquency rate," which is also provided on each loan page).

Mix it up!   Look at the "repayment term"... if you just contribute to loans that are going to take 12+ months to be re-paid the wait to "recycle" the loan might get frustrating. I have many loans in the 3-6 months range that should keep my re-loaning pretty regular.

My First Kiva Loan ... Repaid!

I have been "sitting" on this post for at least a week now, so decided just to post it already!

Even though I nixed my short-lived and separate Kiva blog, I still plan on featuring Kiva people and loans here on W&C from time to time. 

Last time, I wrote about my first "recycled" Kiva loan and that was pretty quickly followed by a second one.

This one was extra special since was a repayment on my very first Kiva loan. 

Bosco from Uganda was looking for a loan of $150 to put doors and window on his house!  At the time, I was going a little extra crazy with lending $$$, but by the time I found and read Bosco's story he only needed the minimum $25 to complete the loan request. 

During the 3 months of the loan, we received an update that Bosco's wife had given birth to a daughter named Akidi.  We also received a new photo of the new dad. 

This is what makes Kiva such a rich experience... seeing a face and reading a story about the people temporarily helping out.

After a recent drought of loans thanks to the likes of Bill Clinton and Oprah, there has been a very good supply of Kiva loans, so it didn't take me long to find someone to give Bosco's $25... meet Virginia from Peru.

With many pictures on Kiva that break your heart, it is often easy to skip those loan requests with smiling people with a well-stocked store/shop behind them.  But I simply couldn't resist Virginia friendly face as she stands behind the counter of the motorcycle repair shop that she owns with her husband... what got me was her membership in the Banco Comunal Mujeres Valientes... which roughly translates to the "Courageous Women’s Community Bank."  How's that for some Girl Power?!!

My First Recycled Kiva Loan

Pretty cool news... my first Kiva loan was paid back and refunded back to me.

In June, I was one of five Kiva members to lend Maria from Mexico a total of $150.  Maria (pictured below left) was hoping to buy a new taco cart to provide better service to her customers and hoped to pay back the loan in 3 months.  I contributed $25 and, on schedule, the loan was completely repaid on September 15th... and the money refunded to me this past Monday.

I had the option of withdrawing the funds, but had I even missed that $25 in the past 3 months?  Thankfully, no... a decade ago, the answer would have been "yes."  So I was able to take that very same $25 and pass it on to Edith in Paraguay (pictured upper right), who much like Maria is a self-employed businesswoman who also plans to expand her business by adding a hamburger restaurant to her convenience store.

I was lucky enough to find a loan!  Kiva has been experiencing a huge boost of new lenders.  As mentioned in a recent Express Lane item, The Today Show had a feature on the organization... but reached an absolute frenzy thanks to a one-two punch mention in President Clinton's new book Giving and a subsequent appearance on Oprah.  There was so much interest generated that Kiva ran out of loans for several days and the number of available loans is still pretty low compared to when I joined back in June.

To give you an idea of the amount of new lenders... including myself, 30 people contributed towards Edith's loan request of $800.... 21 of the 30 joined Kiva since the beginning of this month!

President Clinton's book is subtitled "How Each Of Us Can Change The World"... and I can't think of a better example of that than Kiva (and I feel compelled to mention my other favorite self-empowerment charity and profiled in Giving as well... Heifer.org). 

Individually it doesn't take much... a dinner for two at Applebees or a quartet of double tall non-fat extra-dry vanilla lattes... and while you are literally lending a helping hand to your fellow (wo)man... selfishly, it's you who gets the "feel good" reward.

Express Lane: Issue 35

Marshall Confirms Cast for "Nine" - A pretty impressive cast for 'Chicago' director Rob Marshall's film version (Dec 2008 release) of the musical "Nine"... Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Sophia Loren. (9/7/07)

Edie Falco Rolls to '30 Rock' - The 'Sopranos' star will appear in three episodes... perhaps I'll have to get over my dislike of Alec Baldwin and give the sitcom another shot. (9/6/07)

'Office' Star Jenna Fischer, Filmmaker Husband Split - Sad 'real world' news for our Pam... but this has got to be the most adorable joint divorce press announcement ever. (9/6/07)

Open-American media turn on "classless" Serena Williams - The NY Times uses the "C"-word on Serena, who gave typical credit to her vanquisher, Justine Henin, saying "she made a lot of lucky shots"... yes, it takes A LOT of VERY lucky shots to win a 6-1 final set. (9/5/07)

NBC Downloads Get Unboxed - After failing to reach an agreement with iTunes, NBC moves its shows over to Amazon... no change in the $1.99 price per episode.  (9/5/07)

Changing the world one loan at a time - The weekend edition of 'Today' had a very nice piece on Kiva.org, here's the accompanying online version. (9/4/07)

'Dancing' Partners Get Hitched - I get quite a few search hits asking about this one, and now it's official. Congrats to Edyta Sliwinska and Alec Mazo, married in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend! (9/4/07)

CBS defends decision to cancel all BB8 interviews until after the finale -  Ironically it's a "good person" like Amber -- thanks to some not so nice in-house anti-Semitic chatter -- that halts pre-sequester press interviews for the first time ever in BB history.  (8/31/07)

Time right for Garofalo on "24" - The former Air America host stays in TV politics but  moves from left to right, "The West Wing" to joining forces with Jack "What Geneva Convention?" Bauer. (8/21/07)

"Grease" Revival Is Not The One That We Want - Laura ("fine singing voice and sweet charm") is fairing a bit better than Max ("singularly lacking in magnetism") but early reviews of the NBC cast Broadway show are not very electrifyin'... this one is not much better... and here's more. (8/20/07)

Kiva Update

Our road trip comes to an end today... though as this posts, there is still quite a bit of road ahead of us... about an 8-ish hour, 500 mile ride home from Telluride.  Yikes!  At least we'll get an hour back by crossing time zones (well technically we're all in MST, but there's the hour difference thanks to AZ not observing daylight savings)... anyhow, I am sure we'll be very glad to get home!

Just in case you haven't been keeping tabs on my Kiva page, here's an update.

The early days on Kiva were very addictive and there was just an overwhelming urge to want to help everyone!   So in the last couple of weeks, I decided to take a break from contributing to new loans... but before getting to that point, my loan "portfolio" reached 25 loans.

Another good reason for the break, was that Kiva apparently was overwhelmed by people wanting to lend.  Usually, you can contribute any amount from $25 up to the full amount of the loan (some of them over $1000)... but for a few days Kiva temporarily limited loan contributions to the $25 minimum.  I'm guessing they didn't have enough new loan requests to go around!  Certainly, a nice "problem" for a aid organization to have... but those restrictions have been lifted.

Personally, I am happy to report that all the loans I contributed to have been dispersed... and 11 of them have already started re-payment... by the end of the year, I will likely have my first full repayment and recycle my contribution to someone else!   Pretty cool, huh?

Kiva Challenge: June 2007

What the heck... let's just get the ball rolling.

While Todd was looking around the Kiva website, he stumbled across a loan request that had caught my eye yesterday.... he decided to make it his first Kiva loan... so I figured, why not just make it the first W&C Kiva Challenge as well... join us!

Here is Cesar's story:

Cesar is married and has two young children of 2 and 4 years old. He lost his job five years ago and due to the lack of employment in the country, it was very hard to find work. In need to support his family, he decided to start his own business of selling fruit and vegetables at the market. Soon after he started selling fruit cocktails and they were quite successful with his clients, now he sells seasonal fruits, fortunately he has done well with the sale of his products.

Now, Carlos needs a loan of $1200.00 that he will use to buy wholesale seasonal fruit, which will allow him to have a good selection and to obtain better profits. He promises to repay over a period of 6 to 12 months. Cesar wants his business to grow in order to provide a better quality of life for his family. You can help to his dream come true. Support him!

UPDATE:  As of Saturday a.m., Cesar's loan request has been funded.... 25 people chipping from all across the country... from Hoboken, NJ to Fair Oaks, CA... and even Scotland.   

Kiva.Org

This week, we saw this wonderful story on ABC World News Tonight.   It was about an organization called Kiva... where people can loan money to people in mostly third-world countries to help improve their lives or help start or expand a business.  This particular news segment was about Americans helping out Iraqi entrepreneurs.  You can read about that particular story here: ABC News: Finding Peace Through PayPal.

Apparently it resonated with a lot of folks... Kiva raised over $100,000 and 1,000 new users signed on within 24 hours after that airing of the segment.   

Well, make that 1,001... yesterday I signed up.

Here is a graphic from the Kiva website of how it works:

I really love this concept... how empowering it must be for this people to be given an opportunity to improve their lives and have it not be a charity hand-out.  This empowerment is also why Heifer International is one of my favorite charities... while the livestock or agricultural products are tax-deductible gifts, you are at least giving a sustainable source of food and/or income.  I guess it is the whole "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." philosophy.

A bit about my initial experience with the Kiva site. 

It is easy to navigate through hundreds people in need of loans... you just want to help everyone. But to help you decide, you can sort by gender, type of loan (agriculture, arts, clothing, home repair, etc.), region of the world, and loan amount.  You do not need to fund the entire loan... you can donate as little as $25, with dozens of fellow lenders chipping in to achieve the full amount. The money is transferred via Pay Pal (so via your bank account or credit card).   As mentioned, since it is a loan... the loan amount is not tax deductible, but a voluntary donation to Kiva is (Kiva does not take any cut from your loan amount).  These are 0% interest loans, when it is re-paid you can withdraw funds (via Pay Pal) or lend it out again.  The website shows over 950 loans have been paid back in full and the ABC segment (and the site confirms) there has only been 1 default.

So I started looking around... it seems like Africa has been a part of my reading of late, so I headed there and quickly found my first two lendees:

To the left is Ceiye from Uganda.  He was forced to flee his home due to rebel activity and live in a displaced persons camp.  With the violence having subsided, he used his first loan to build a house for his wife and three children in his hometown.  He re-paid that loan in three months.  I loaned the final $25 towards his $150 loan request to add doors and windows to his home.

To the right is Victorine from Cameroon... having paid back two loans, she is looking to improve her pig farm and fresh ground nut business with the intent that the increased profits will allow her to reinvest in her business on her own...  her farm also employs others in her community.  This time, I dove right in and funded her full request.

While I know there is a certain degree of self-back patting going on here, my sincere intention is just to help get the word out about Kiva... if it wasn't for the ABC News segment, I certainly would have never known about it... so I just wanted to spread the word and...

Starting next week, I am going to feature a loan a month... and challenge you to join me in funding the loan (only if you absolutely can, as a former heavily in debt person I know how it goes).  Maybe this blog really can do something good!  Again, the minimum contribution is $25 and the amount you loan is not published (well, if you fund 100% of a loan, we can probably figure it out).  In the mean time, check out the Kiva website and certainly don't wait for me if the lending spirit strike you!