Real country collectors

Dit blogberichtje is in het Engels; het is de vertaling van het Nederlanse bericht dat precies hier beneden staat. This blogpost is the same as the previous one, but in English. For the full version, click below...


After my message on "collecting countries" (I've got six, so far!) I wondered what the motivation could be of Kivans who try to spread their loans over as many countries as possible. I asked in a Kiva team whether there were any country collectors around who would answer some of my questions, and that worked well...

From the anwers I've got it is apparent that Kivans are a mixed bunch: software consultant Austin from South Dakota in the US, the Romanian Ana who now lives in the Netherland and helps developing computer games, George, retired USAF officer from Oregon (US) and Anne from Finland, who teaches Finnish to adults.

Example of the country map of one of the country collectors from this article

The Finish Anne had read about Kiva on Facebook some time ago, but when she stopped smoking she suddenly had leftover money, and she decided to use it well by making loans on Kiva. She likes the idea of helping people to improve their lives. Ana grew up in Romania and was poor compared to many people in West-Europe and the US, but richer than most humans; and she wants to help these humans to help themselves. Austin wants to help people who have little access to banks or financial options, just because they were born in the wrong country. He thinks that many of these people could be (very) successful if they had been born in the First World, so he likes to help them improve their lives.

Collecting countries feels like a game to Austin, it improves the experience of lending on Kiva whenever he can add a new country to his growing list. Ana first started lending money to her favorite countries, but when she started to know more about Kiva and met other country collectors, she decided to lend in more countries, although she is still focusing on Africa. She thinks that lending in different countries spreads her risk, and also with each new country she becomes curious about the life in that country, and follows and understands the news about that country better. Also in other parts of her life she likes to complete things, such as missions in a computer game or the discovery of all interesting things when on holiday.
Anne sees the collecting of countries as a way to distribute her contribution fairly. As a teacher she has also met many students from many countries, which motivates her to lend to all of these countries. She doesn't collect any other things, and jokes that she is glad that "Kiva countries" do not take up space or collect dust in her home.

Although Austin's goal is to have lend money in all countries that Kiva offers loans in by the end of this year, he not only selects loans because of the country, but he also tries to find the most deserving borrowers. At the moment he is trying to "complete" Africa, as he believes people there need the loans the most. Anne is trying to lend mostly to women, and especially to single mothers, widowes or unmarried women, because she feels these ladies need the help the most. She is a single mother of four herself, so she realizes how hard it can be. She hopes that her loans contribute to the independence of these women. George has lend 262 times to 59 countries (last time he counted), some countries were hard to find and others are currently not offering loans anymore. He focuses on Eastern Europe and Central Asia mostly. Ana is most proud of her loans in Tanzania, because she knows someone who lived there and has heard how hard life can be there. Still, the borrower's country is not the most important thing to her: she also tries to choose borrowers who can have the biggest positive impact on their community, by sending their kids to school, by hiring others or by providing needed services to their community.

The American Austin is active on Kiva in the team for atheist and secularists. He hopes that this team, which has been the team with the highest number of loans for a long time now, can maintain its high position to alleviate the stigma that atheists have, at least in most parts of the US. Ana also participates in some teams including the atheist team, follows the discussions and takes part in team activities. Anne is a little less active in the teams, but enjoys the lending of money, especially when the money is paid back and can be lend again, and again.

Collecting countries is not the only reason for any of these "country collectors" to be active on Kiva, but it just makes the experience a bit more fun for them. I want to thank them for taking the time to answer my questions.