Each day when you visit Kiva’s website there are thousands of loans ready and waiting to be funded, but how do they get there? Money doesn’t grow on trees and neither do translated loans.
Kiva relies on an enormous network of volunteers to help edit and translate loans that come in from our partners in one of Kiva’s 5 key languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese or Russian. Today, the Kiva Review and Translation Program (RTP) volunteers edit and translate about 17,000 loans each month, and in May 2017 they hit a record of 20,777 loans edited and translated!
The RTP team is so incredibly grateful to these talented volunteers, who are vital to Kiva’s mission to alleviate poverty. We cherish their contributions and each month take the time to recognize one RTP volunteer standout who we couldn’t live without. This month, we get a close-up of the lives of our past 9 extraordinary volunteers of the month.
Manolo Rodriguez
Kiva Volunteer of the Month, October 2016
“I feel like everybody owes each other something...you should make a good faith effort to pay a part of that debt to each other.”
City: Monterey Park, California
Language: Spanish
Team: Avancemos
Time with Kiva: 3 years
Outstanding contributions to Kiva: Manolo is a consistent and longtime contributor to the Spanish team. As a translator, he can feel connections to the borrowers whose stories he helps review. He’s also about to reach 100,000 words translated with Kiva!
Chris Allen
Kiva Volunteer of the Month, November 2016
“It is more than just me and what I can do.”
City: Winter Park, FL
Language: English
Team: Kivaliers
Time with Kiva: 7 years, 8 months
Outstanding contributions to Kiva: Chris is a longtime volunteer who, through his background as a journalist, has proven to be a valuable member of the Kiva family. So far, he has reviewed over 3,800 loans and helped thousands of people improve their lives!
Marni Siegal
Kiva Volunteer of the Month, December 2016
“Keep perspective and help out where I can.”
City: Rollinsville, Colorado
Language: Spanish
Team: Saliendo Adelante
Time with Kiva: 7 years
Outstanding contributions to Kiva: Marni has translated Spanish loans for Kiva since 2009. As a translator, she enjoys keeping up her skills and connecting with the borrowers’ stories that she reviews. She has translated over 273,000 words with Kiva!
Lindsay Ferrera
Kiva Volunteer of the Month, January 2017
“Everyone deserves the chance to get ahead.”
City: Trondheim, Norway
Language: French
Team: Baobab
Time with Kiva: 4 years, 5 months
Outstanding contributions to Kiva: Lindsay has translated French loans for Kiva since 2012. As a translator she enjoys keeping up with her skills and connecting with the borrowers’ stories that she
reviews. She has translated over 274,000 words with Kiva!
Jane Rieger
Kiva Volunteer of the Month, February 2017
“Kiva is one of the ways I can contribute to make the world a better
place.”
City: Del Mar, California
Language: English
Team: The Write Stuff
Time with Kiva: 2 years, 3 months
Outstanding contributions to Kiva: Jane has edited 9,385 loans and has reviewed over 1,178,803 lifetime words since 2014!
Jere Wiseman
Kiva Volunteer of the Month, March 2017
“The idea that someone will use my loan to get electricity or an indoor bathroom for the first time...I
find that really amazing.”
City: Newport, Rhode Island
Language: Spanish
Team: Cambiamos
Time with Kiva: 9 years, 7 months
Outstanding contributions to Kiva: Jere has translated Spanish loans for Kiva since 2007. As a translator and traveler, he enjoys reviewing loans on the go. He has translated over 390,000 words with Kiva from Argentina to Rhode Island!
Frederick Andrews
Kiva Volunteer of the Month, April 2017
“There’s nothing quite like Kiva that will put you directly in touch with
someone from across the world.”
City: Southold, New York
Language: English
Team: Only the Loanly
Time with Kiva: 5 years
Outstanding contributions to Kiva: Fred has reviewed over 618,803 lifetime words. He also holds a personal record of having reviewed over 63 loans in a single day!
Eleanor Francoletti-Putz
Kiva Volunteer of the Month, May 2017
“I am inspired by their ingenuity, perseverance, and courage”
City: Hartford, Connecticut
Language: Spanish
Team: Los Habaneros
Time with Kiva: 7 years
Outstanding contributions to Kiva: Eleanor has translated over 212,277 lifetime words and over 1,000 loans!
Christine Bruggemann
Kiva Volunteer of the Month, June 2017
“Just in doing something good, I’m helping other people help themselves.”
City: Toronto, Canada
Language: English
Team: Loanly Planet
Time with Kiva: 2 years, 11 months
Outstanding contributions to Kiva: Christine has edited English loans for Kiva since 2014. Now narrowing in on her 3 year anniversary, she has reviewed over 9,000 loans!
Want to be part of this amazing community of translators? Join us here.
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