Today I heard back from Kiva that I have passed the editing test and have been accepted for training. I have been assigned a coordinator and given five real loan descriptions to edit. At this stage, my edited version will not immediately go live on the website but will first be vetted by my coordinator. I edited and returned the five loans.

10th March 2009

The lack of new loans appears to be a monthly cycle. Yesterday, the last day of February, there were few loans but today, the first of March, there are many.

The Roxana Vanesa Torrejon Callapa Group (my 3rd loan) was supposed to make their first repayment on 15th February but, as of today, it is still outstanding. Therefore I have decided to stay away from Bolivia for a while.

Today I made my 4th Kiva loan, once again choosing Peru. The loan was to Lider Flores Pezo De Pinedo. She is 55 years old and is the mother of 8 children, 5 of legal age and three that still depend on her. Her spouse works in construction. She sells fruit in the market and also sells tamales and yucca empanadas near a roadway, which provides her with income to repay her loan. With her loan she will buy two tables so that her clients can eat in comfort, as well as items to transport her products such as buckets and trays, and one dozen dishes, glasses, etc.

1st March 2009

Today I received the third repayment from Sonia (my 1st loan). As before, I received it a month early. Way to go, Sonia.

Very unexpectedly, I also received repayments one, two and three of the loan to the Roxana Vanesa Torrejon Callapa Group (my 3rd loan), the third repayment being a month early. The Roxana Vanesa Torrejon Callapa Group have come from behind in a big way!

I now have $34.10 in repayments - enough for another loan!

I heard back from my Kiva coordinator that my editing of the five loans was O.K. and I have been given another five loans to process. I edited and returned them.

16th March 2009

I heard from my Kiva coordinator that my second batch of editing was O.K. and I have graduated! I am now on my own (but I still have my coordinator as a resource). My job is to pick up new loans as they are posted on a pre-release website, edit them for spelling and grammar and resubmit them. They then go live onto the Kiva website. I am expected to put a minimum of two hours per week into the job. I quickly dived in.

19th March 2009

25th March 2009

I have now edited 100 Kiva loans. My 100th edit was of a loan to Vida Asare. To celebrate this milestone, I decided to use the repaid money in my Kiva account to make this my 5th loan.

Vida is sixty years old. She lives with her husband and some grandchildren in a family house in Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Vida trades in foodstuffs such as plantain, cassava, etc., and fruits such as oranges.

1st April 2009

This loan to Vann Uon was the first of the five training loans that I edited. For quota reasons, it was held back from release until now. I decided to make it my 6th loan. When I edited it, I was very concerned to make as little change to the wording as possible. Today, with more experience, I would do it differently.

Mr. Vann Uon lives in Cambodia. He is a farmer who owns a plot of land on which he cultivates rice. He is a 60 year old widower with three children. He is applying for a loan to buy a cow.

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