Hi Lauren, I know you will enjoy your stay in Uganda and I also know you are working with some pretty great people there. Thank you so much in advance for the help you will be able to give.

I am here on ned everyday so don't hesitate to ask if you need anything. We at LiA value our relationship with Kiva and look forward to moving to a stronger partnership.

I know that one of the biggest challenges we have had is to just get the loan proposals uploaded to the Kiva sight. I don't know what the answer is to that but Grace and Peter both can tell you about the challenges they have experienced. Also, I think it might be helpful if there was a form (maybe there is already one that I don't know about) to facilitate the journal entries. It is so hard for some to write anything and it ends up taking a lot of editing and help to get even a paragraph written so that it conveys their thoughts. English as their second language is a part of this as well as not having the writing skills. If they had a form to follow it might be helpful. Just a thought off the top of my head as I sit here in the middle of the night not being able to sleep.

Again, welcome and thank you.

Evvy

Hi to Laura, Answering the how quesition, we have used kiva upto now to change the livies of the community individuals through loan.

However what worked well was that when we just started loan program, all the borrowers were having paid jobs with life in Africa and it so happened that their wages were just deducted automatically. so it was easy to collect loans but there were some good borrowers who even if did not jobs with lia repaid well.

But am sure this time we are putting clear creterias and policies for getting loans that will benefit not only lia members but whoever will qualify. Am thinking of entering into parternership with court brokers who will help incase of any hardship with any borrower.

What I would like to know about Kiva is if they will accept to fund 20 loans of 500,000/= each when we commence the new program. that is our target plan but we still also have to clear the old loans perhaps before we put up new loan proposals.

Thank you

Wow,nice to have you Laura in the ned family,you are most welcome. A little about life in africa,it is a place where mony peolpe of differen origine came together over montains and vallies and now eat on the some table.

The lia community per the population,the most language spoken by the people in the acholi languagr since the majarity are luospeacking people.most of them come from the quoters(a displaced camp where they were settled due to the war in the north)

When the kiva loans got introduce to lia,the community members got big smiles on thier face because it really opened thier mind to to future.many people began to plan on how they can have other souces of imcome (of which most of them didn't how they can do that).since then now many of the members took the loan and invested it by openning up small businesses.For others,they even came bock for more after clearing the one that they had taken.Thanks for kiva,now peole own businesses where they get some income to sustain thier familie.Otherwise, you are most welcome and as for us,we fill great not only having you with us but also working with you to see things move on.so please,fill at home and for any thing you need to know,we are ready to let you know.

For once again,you are most welcome.

Evvy Bryning said:

I know that one of the biggest challenges we have had is to just get the loan proposals uploaded to the Kiva sight. I don't know what the answer is to that but Grace and Peter both can tell you about the challenges they have experienced. Also, I think it might be helpful if there was a form (maybe there is already one that I don't know about) to facilitate the journal entries. It is so hard for some to write anything and it ends up taking a lot of editing and help to get even a paragraph written so that it conveys their thoughts. English as their second language is a part of this as well as not having the writing skills. If they had a form to follow it might be helpful. Just a thought off the top of my head as I sit here in the middle of the night not being able to sleep.

It's great hearing about Kiva and LiA "from the other side" as it were. As a Kiva lender, I was delighted to learn that LiA is involved.

I also volunteer as a Kiva editor, helping edit the proposals before they go live. I haven't worked on the journal entries yet - just the loan proposals. As a volunteer, I don't have any say in the editorial flow, but I am in contact with the two people in charge of editing at Kiva. If I can be of use passing along your feedback and issues with journal entries, please let me know.

Rose

Hi laura, its nice to have you here with us and am happy to hear you say that youare begining to feel at home. for us here in life in africa we are one family so any one who comes to join good hands with us is part of the life in africa family. So Laura you are most well come to this family.

You said some thing about the Kiva training for field partner staff, its going to be of a big impact to how things will move and we are on our go on marks to recieve all the good programs that you are havig for us from Kiva.

About the Kiva loan this is some thing that i know has changed most of the lives of the members Where by they now know that they can count on it. It has been like a rebirth to members expecialy for those who had no chance of getting money to start a business. At this time some are even asking if Kiva can give them bigger loans which means kiva have up lift their conditions to a better place.

Here is this question i was asked by a member saying, If a member has a land and has no money for constracting a building on it, can Kiva give him building loan?

Thanks, You are most well come.

laura,we happy to have in life i9n africa ,with kiva we hope to see you soon in gulu too,we are warming for kiva.though we still have alot of challenges.thanks alot enjoy.

Well thanks everyone for the warm welcome accorded to Laura. I will to do my round also though I am a bit late, but better late than never. Laura you are most welcome to our LIA family. Please feel at home, just as you see them is what they are.

Peter has talked a bit about the challenges that we have been experiencing with the Kiva loans. We have been quiet for the past few months trying to re organise ourselves so that we can serve our communities better. Am glad that you are here for quite sometime and will help us figure out how best we can do this.

Hi Laura and welcome. I've been battling a nasty virus so, like Grace, I'm behind on welcoming you. Glad to have you and to know you're affiliated with Kiva, an organization I admire. Good luck too with your accounting work there - I presume that by "journal entries" you're meaning accounting-type entries and not the other kind :-)

Welcome to Life in Africa and to ned.com, Laura!

It was lovely to meet you at the new LiA office in Kampala the other day - thanks for being with us! Now that things are calming down a bit after my extended absence, I'd love to meet with you to brainstorm a bit. Hope to see you Wednesday or Thursday at my place with Grace.

Perry Gruber said:

I presume that by "journal entries" you're meaning accounting-type entries and not the other kind :-)

Actually, Perry, it is the other kind :) At the Kiva website you can read "journal" type reports made by people like Laura who have visited and interviewed the borrowers.