Today it’s Kitapalimwa

Today we were at Kitapalimwa.  Kitapalimwa is a short 30 minutes northwest of Iringa, on a dusty road.

When we arrived Kitapalimwa members were already gathering in our meeting room.  There are a few children playing in front of the building and some goats and donkeys wandering around.  The treasurer greeted us, then invited us into the pastor’s house for chai.  The chairman wanted to give the members a little more time to arrive before we start.  The day was hot and the room was getting hotter as we sat having tea.  Tom decided that tea was the wrong drink for a hot day.  There are almost no trees and the ground is dusty and dry. 

During our conversation the treasurer supplied us with some of their SACCOS information.  There are 38 members here, an increase of 3 from last year.  There are 8 more working on joining so they expect to have 46 by the end of the year.  The membership is split evenly between men and women.  They do not yet have an AMCOS but they are working on forming one.

Last year they borrowed $15,000 from Iringa Hope to add to their capital.  They lent $23,000 to their members with an average loan of $500.  They are charging 3% per month and had 100% repayment.  When we visited them last year they told us that there were two other loan programs in their village. 

Apparently they have both closed now so Iringa Hope is the only one left.

We went to the meeting room to get things started.  There were 26 people here for the meeting, a good turnout for this location.  They introduced their board members, officers, and advisers.  We extended our greetings, Venance started his class, and we went outdoors to start our interviews.

The people here at Kitapalimwa always have interesting things to tell us and today is no exception.  Yudota Sanga, age 44, is married and the mother of six and grandmother to three. She has been a SACCOS member for three years.  She uses her loans to farm her 7 acres.  Since she has been able to borrow she has hired laborers to help in her fields and used fertilizer and hybrid seeds.  She tells us that before she joined Iringa Hope she had trouble planting her fields and could not fertilize them so her harvest was poor.  School fees were difficult to pay.

Sanga’s first loan was for $250.  She made a good profit that year (she does not recall how much), enough to send three of her children to secondary school and one to university.

The second loan she got was for $300.  Once again she earned a good profit and was able to pay all of the children’s school fees, her son’s college tuition, and still had enough to increase her savings and improve her household.

Her last loan was for $300.  She planted 6 acres in maize and 1 acre in tomatoes.  She is now selling her maize crop.  The tomato crop was good, but the prices were so low she is letting them rot in the field (we have heard this elsewhere).  When she has sold all of her crop she will have made a $2,000 profit!  She tells us that this is about what she has been earning since she started with Iringa Hope.  It is enough to send all of the children to school, improve her household, save some money, and maybe have a little left over.  She tells us that whatever she earns she always spends on her children first.  Everything else can come later she says.

Oscar Kotika was our next interviewee.  Oscar is 24 and a rarity among our members.  We very seldom meet an unmarried man.  Sandy asks him if he plans to get married.  “Yes” he said, “But first I want to build a house so I have a good place for my wife and children.”  He is a man with a plan!

Oscar has been a member here for two years.  He has built his savings up to $150.  His first loan was for $450.  He used this to buy seed, fertilizer, and rent eight acres of land for raising maize and tomatoes.  From the five acres of maize he harvested 118 bags, for a profit of $1,700.   His tomato crop was good, but the market for tomatoes in Iringa was poor.  After selling that crop of tomatoes he took his earnings to Morogoro, rented four acres of land and planted another crop of tomatoes there, because the Morogoro market is more favorable for tomatoes.  (There is a problem with shipping to international markets from Iringa so Morogoro often has better tomato prices.) His total profit from his two tomato crops was about $1500.  He used his profit to buy an acre of land and start building a house.

Last year he again borrowed $450  for ag-inputs.  He planted 5 acres of maize and 2 acres of tomatoes.  Oscar, like many of the farmers we have heard from this year, said that rainfall was poor and his crops suffered. His timing on his tomato crop helped him, so he was able to make enough money off tomatoes to pay back his loan. Compared to last year’s 118 bags of maize from five acres, this year he harvested only 40 bags from five acres. He is holding on to the maize to sell when market prices are higher. If he can sell for 80,000 TZS per bag, which many farmers predict will be the price by December, he will see a profit of 3,200,000TZS or about $1600.

Tom is once again giving candy out to kids.  When he gives to a few, more seem to come out of no-where. He took some pictures of them so they could see for themselves what they look like.  They were highly entertained by the wuzungus (white people) and Sandy had several of them check out her white skin, in apparent wonderment that skin could be that color. 

On our way back to Iringa we dropped Venance off at the dentist to see what they could do about his toothache.  (They are going to pull it tomorrow so he will not be going with us for a few days).  We stopped in at the Micro Finance office at the university and came upon a meeting of church leaders.  The Bishop waved us over to greet us.  He told us that Iringa Hope is famous among the various churches in Tanzania.  He said the President of Tanzania wanted to meet us and wondered if we had time?  (Probably not this year)

We talked with a few of the many friends that we have in the Diocese then headed home.  Tomorrow we leave for Njombe.

On to Ihemi

The SACCOS at Ihemi was the first one started using the Iringa Hope constitution, training procedures, etc.  That was in 2008, two years before we started the Micro Finance Institute at the University.  Today Ihemi is one of the largest, and arguably one of the best run SACCOS in our network.  

The trees are in bloom along the way
back to Ihemi.

Ihemi is on our way back to Iringa, just south of the highway. We have been coming here since 2001 so we know many, of the people. With three funerals in the parish today, they would have liked to reschedule, but we had to stick with our schedule.

The SACCOS treasurer met us outside the SACOS office and invited us in to look at their records. Ihemi SACCOs now has 130 members – about 85% of whom belong to the Ihemi congregation.   They have made a profit every year since they started in 2008.  Their loan repayment rate is 100%.  Last year they borrowed $30,000 from the IHJS and, together with their capital, they made loans to 101 of their members.  Their average loan last year was $600.  Their average profit was $1,470.  A few other statistics that they provided are –

·        Their members used their profits to send over 320 children to school including 160 to secondary

The Ihemi SACCOS is located in
the building we built for a flour mill.

school, 40 to University or trade school.

·        Their members donated $11,600 to the church.  (This represents well over half of all donations in the parish)

·        Most of the members have now build brick homes with metal roofs.  This is a change from when the SACCOS was started; at that time almost all of the members lived in mud homes with thatched roofs.

Today the general meeting was held in the church since the meeting hall where we normally meet had been invaded by bees.  Along the way we stopped at a long building that was built by the Germans for a training center.  The Germans build this a number of years ago, then seemed to lose interest and never started the school.  Last year Tom had suggested that they re-purpose this building as an AMCOS warehouse.  Today the SACCOS officers wanted to show us that they had indeed “re-purposed” the building.  There are 148 sacks of maize in storage waiting for prices to go up.  They are planning on adding another hundred bags.  They have also started work on registering their AMCOS.

 

There were only 22 members who made it to the meeting.  Some of them plan to go to the funeral when the meeting is over.  (Funerals last a good part of the day here.)  Today we stayed at the class, so we got to hear (but not understand) Venance’s class. Members were attentive and many were taking a lot of notes.  When Venance invited questions, there were several, and much discussion by the group. When the class was over, Sandy and I were asked to address the members. 

Today our interviews were done after everyone else in the class had left.  The first member we talked to was Isaiah Sanga, 49, married with 4 children.  Since he has been a member here since 2008 Sandy decided to change her questions.  She asked him to tell her what his life was like BEFORE joining the SACCOS and what it was like now.  Here is what he told us –

“I started by saving $50 the first year.  I now have $300 in savings.  The changes are –

When I joined the SACCOS we lived in a three-room mud hut with a thatched roof. I now have a five room brick home with electricity and a metal roof. We used to eat ugali, beans, and vegetables; now we eat ugali, rice, vegetables, fruit, and have meat every week.  Then I farmed one acre, now I own and farm five acres and employ three men part time. My oldest child will be starting college, while my two middle children are in secondary and the youngest is in primary.  Without SACCOS I would have had a hard time paying for their school. Then I walked everywhere or rode a bicycle. Now I own a motorcycle."

He went on to say that his last loan was for $300.  He farmed potatoes and maize.  So far he has sold his potatoes and is storing his maize to sell later.  He expects that he will earn a $1,100 profit this year.

Sandy next talked with Happy Kyamba, 46 and married with 4 children and 4 orphans who are living with them.  She has been a member of the SACCOS since it began in 2008.  She told us that she and her husband originally saved $25.  Her first loan was for $100 which she used to open a door to door clothing business.  Since then she has taken out loans every year to build her business.  She covers a wide area selling clothes and sometimes her son transports her on the family motorcycle.  Soon he will be unable to help, however, because she will be sending him to the university.

Happy told us that she also has used her profits to build a house for her mother.  Her mother had been living in a two-room mud hut so she built her a four-room brick house.  Her plans for future profits include building a 12-room guest that she will be able to rent.

When our interviews were concluded we were invited to the pastor’s house for lunch.  One of the cooks and hostesses today was a friend’s daughter whom we have watched grow up.  She will soon be a first-year theology student at the University of Iringa.    

As we were leaving Mama Mbembe came to say how happy she was that we came.  She is the widow of the pastor who welcomed us here in 2001, and she has been greeting us each time we come to Ihemi.

    

Kiponzelo

Yesterday the chairmen of Kiponzelo and Ihemi called Peter Silayo, our Field Agent, and asked if we might reschedule our meetings for today.  It seems the government announced that they were awarding deeds to land around the houses in Kiponzelo today and the members of the SACCOS had to stand in line to get their deeds!  Meanwhile the chairman at Ihemi told us that there had been 3 deaths – the wife of one of the SACCOS members, a member of the Ihemi congregation, and a well-known man from the village.  Funerals here are always held promptly so there would be three funerals on Monday that most of the members needed to attend.  We decided to go ahead with the meeting as planned, since our schedule doesn’t have any “wiggle room,” allowing those who were available to attend the meeting and Venance’s class.

Kiponzelo is 40 miles west of Iringa, the first 32 miles on the highway another 8 miles on a “good” dirt road.

As we drove up we saw lines formed at the government center, waiting for their deeds. Getting deeds to land is a new thing here; most of the homes in the villages do not have deeds for the land around their homes, so getting one is indeed a big deal. They don’t hold deeds to the land they farm either, and would be able to get those today as well. 

The SACCOS usually meets in the government building, but since it was busy issuing deeds, we had to meet in the rather small SACCOS office.  We expected attendance to be low, so we would all crowd in.  Kiponzelo has 92 members and we would

normally expect a little over half of them on a week day.  With the government meeting taking place we wound up with 19 at our meeting, with some coming in late, after receiving their deeds.  We were reminded about how many Tanzanians can fit in a room – always one more!

The chairman here has had a motorcycle accident and could not come.  He has asked if we would please stop by his house so he might greet us.  Since he is not here the Secretary starts the meeting.

Last year the Kiponzelo SACCOS lent its members $11,000; using $5,000 of its own capital and $6,000 they borrowed from Iringa Hope.  With this capital they made 46 loans, leaving 40 people who had applied but received nothing. This year they hope to borrow $12,000 from Iringa Hope so they can give loans to more members. 

The chairman of the SACCOS had a motorcycle accident in September, and couldn’t attend, so the secretary opened the meeting.

After opening remarks and introductions, we left the office and held our interviews outside.  First up was Msafiri Kavindi, 38 and married with two children.  Msafiri has been a member here for two years now.  He joined after he heard from some other members how they had prospered from their loans.  After joining Msafiri saved $90 at the SACCOS.  He then made a plan and applied for a loan of $150.  With these funds he planted and fertilized ½ acre of carrots.  His carrot crop was very good and he earned a profit of $1,000.  He used these funds to buy a motorcycle (he paid part now and will pay part later) so he could take his crops to Iringa town for a better price.  He also increased his savings to $330 and paid his children’s school fees.

He has now applied for a loan of $500.  He plans to rent some more land and plant ½ acre of carrots, ½ acre of eggplant, ½ acre of peas, and ¼ acre of peppers.  If he gets a normal crop he thinks he will easily pay off the rest of his motorcycle, pay his son’s secondary school fees, and be able to buy the land he is renting. 

Next up was Regina Bangi, 38 and married with 3 children; Regina has her 3 year old with her today.  Whenever he sees us white folks he starts crying. 

Regina has been a SACCOS member for 3 years and she has taken out two loans.  Her first loan was for $200.  She used it to buy fertilizer for her 2 acres of maize and 1 acre of sunflowers.  The maize did very well, but the sunflowers did poorly.  Still, when she had sold her crop, paid her loan, and all of her expenses she had earned a profit of $450.  With this she paid the school fees for her two older children and increased her savings a little.

The second loan she took out was also for $200.  The crops this year's were not as good, but she will still make a profit.  She thinks that when she has paid back her loan she will probably earn $400 or so.  She, like many of the farmers we have interviewed, is waiting for the maize prices to increase before she sells.

She hopes to borrow more this year.  She thinks that she can do better by improving her farming practices and is very interested in Venance’s classes.

The SACCOS chair has asked if we would please stop by his house so he might greet us.  He pulled out his x-rays for us to see.  He has broken his shoulder in 3 places and fractured his elbow in two places.  He will most likely be at home for a month or two.

After greeting him and wishing him a speedy recovery we left for our meeting at Ihemi.

Usokami

This morning we went to church at our new partner parish, Usokami.  We have joined a second church in Minnesota so in addition to our long time partner pairsh of Ihemi we now have a second partner parish of Usokami!

Usokami is located 64 miles from Iringa.  The first half hour of the drive is down the tarmac towards Ihemi.  Shortly before you get there you turn onto a gravel road and head south.  About 90 minutes later you will arrive at Usokami.  The drive is a pretty one, passing through trees, open spaces, and fields.  The road is pretty good – much better than we have been driving on lately.

Leaving at 7 AM we have arrived at Usokami at 9.  We know the new pastor here – he is an old friend of ours from Ugesa, Pastor Pascal Fyataga.  He is a very inspirational leader, but he does not speak any English so we have brought along another friend of ours, Pastor John Mhekwa, to translate for us.

When we got out of our car a group of children and some mamas came running over.  It’s a children’s choir that is singing us a welcome song.  In the background we can hear the congregation singing some songs.  Soon there are a few musicians joining the children and the dancing begins.  Pastor Fyataga gave us a huge smile, hugged us, and told us how happy he was that we were there. He and his family have been living in Usokami for 18 months.

Pascal invited us in for chai and said the people of his congregation would have a good time singing while they waited for us. 

With Sandy taking the picture there are (left to right)
Tom, mama Pascal, Pastor Pascal, Pastor Mhekwa,
and the church secretary.

Some places chai is just that – tea.  Today, along with sweetened tea, chai consisted of eggs, chapatis, and mandazi (fry bread).  After chai Pastor Fyataga gave us a tour of the new parsonage.  It is nearly complete.  He proudly told us that the people at our new church, Family of Christ, had sent the funds for this and some other projects.  The members of the church have been making the bricks and doing the work on the building so the only cost has been to buy materials.  It is a nice house with a large meeting area for him to host with, several large bedrooms, including one for guests.

A choir lined up to lead the procession into the church.  The procession became quite long, with some dancing figures and

instrumentalists, which were mainly percussion, but also a retired evangelist with a guitar.  When we were touring the house, Pascal asked Tom if he would preach today.  Never one to decline an opportunity to speak without interruption, Tom accepted the invitation.  So he preached.

The church is pretty full, and unlike in Minnesota, late comers sit in the back.  The front pews filled up first.  The congregation, including members of one of the preaching points had turned out to welcome us.  The youth choir sang and danced, the first versus of Psalm 1 were read, followed by a

lengthy liturgy, a second lesson from 1^st John, and then another choir!  All of the evangelists were in attendance and were introduced to us, along with the church leaders.  Usokami, like most churches here, has a main church where the Pastor lives and several preaching points where evangelists live and hold services.  An evangelist is someone trained by the pastors, and maybe having some classwork, who supports a congregation that is too small for a full time pastor.  These preaching points will gradually grow in size until they are large enough to support and pastor at which point they become a new parish.

Usokami has 6 preaching points.  There are 4 men and 2 women evangelists.  They all welcome us and say they hope that we can visit their preaching points some time.  The pastor tells us that all of these preaching points now have churches with roofs thanks to the gifts from Family of Christ.  However one of the preaching points has grown so much that they are starting to build a larger church there.

Following the introductions, it was our turn to get up and give remarks.  Tom went first, greeting everyone from Family of Christ.  He talked a little about the work we do in Iringa, and mentioned our long association with the pastor.  There was lots of clapping and cheering.  Then Sandy got up.  Sandy knows a lot more Swahili that Tom does.  While Tom’s greeting was very short, Sandy gave a long greeting in Swahili – everyone laughed and clapped and hooted for her.  She went on to tell everyone why we are here and then told the story of how we first met Pascal.  He laughed along with everyone else.  She was clearly a hit.

For his sermon Tom’s topic was “Who is my neighbor?”  Pastor Mhekwa read the text on the Good Samaritan from Luke 10. The sermon, including interpreting lasted about 40 minutes, which in the  US may seem like a long sermon, but folks here are used to an hour or more.

Today there were two offerings. People process up and around the offering plate and put in their offerings.  Then there was a baptism.  Gaspar Lulenga was baptized today.  He was very cute and made not a sound when his head was splashed.

Then there was communion, more singing, and gifts!  The congregation gave us some very pretty congas and baskets.  The congas had to be danced up and draped over us, then a song and dance took place in front of the altar.  They presented baskets, one for us and the remainder for Family of Christ.

Finally, the service was over – it was a normal 3 hour Tanzanian service, but it seemed much shorter than this.  Today there were some offerings “in kind” so there was an auction on the steps.  There was corn and peas and rice and beans that were being auctioned off.  Tom bid high for some peas and potatoes for Pastor Pascal and some peas for Pastor Mhekwa. Proceeds from the auction go to the church, so a high bid is always welcome.

After the auction the group sang and danced with us back to the pastor’s house for lunch with the parish deacons, evangelists, secretary and pastors.  During lunch we learned a little more about the congregation.  There are 612 members, 235 of whom are children.  175 of them live in town and are largely merchants, lumber traders, etc.  The rest live in the more rural preaching points and are largely farmers.  The farmers here farm about 2 acres.  Most of the congregation earns about $300/year for a family of 6+.

The pastor is aware of our work with Iringa Hope.  He says that he wants to have a meeting to discuss trying to start a SACCOS here.  He says that there are no SACCOS in town.  There are no loan programs, no AMCOS, etc.  He would like to see his parish start a SACCOS.  He knows that this would help his members increase their incomes.

Tom explained what an Iringa Hope SACCOS is and how it works, (during which time Sandy fell asleep). Time will tell if they have the leadership and interest to get one going. 

As we were leaving Pascal suggested we stop by the Kilimahewa preaching point and see where they are hoping to build a larger church.  Then he, the evangelist, and the church secretary all got into our car along with us.  The existing church at the preaching point is quite small. There are over 120 members of this preaching point so one can easily see that the small church building can’t hold them all.  They have already laid the foundation for a new church.

When we leave our friends we like to say “tutaonana tena” (we will see you again) instead of “kwa heri” (good-bye). Then we were off to town, and just one more stop for chai with Pastor Mhekwa and his beautiful family. 

The Iringa Hope Joint SACCOS annual meeting

We got there in time ot greet the members.  We always enjoy this.

Today we attended the annual meeting of the Iringa Hope Joint SACCOS (IHJS).  The IHJS is the governing body for our SACCOS.  It controls loan funds, loan policy, membership rules, etc.  It is the group that collects funds and hires the Micro Finance Institute (MFI) to run things – so technically it is Itiweni’s and the MFI’s boss!

Since the IHJS general meeting is held in October we have never been to one before.  We normally come in the February-March time frame and so miss the meeting.

I met with the IHJS before the general meeting.

The IHJS board invited me to meet with them prior to the general meeting.  So Sandy and I went over about 9:00 this morning to visit.  They wanted to express their gratitude for the Rotary grant and ask if we had any advice for them.  I talked a bit about watching loans to the AMCOS (our new Farmer’s Co-ops) since they do not have the same underlying credit as our members.  I also advised them to develop and implement a “CD” that they could use to encourage our members to save more.  We also talked a bit about moving funds around and how to better control this.  But mostly I told them how proud I was of them and their excellent work!

Around 10 we went over to the general meeting place.  There was some concern about the size of the

meeting so the board had issued invitations to each SACCOS to send only 2 representatives.  There were also the Regional, District, and local co-op officials and a few other government officials plus the board members and the supervisors.  All together there were about 75 or so people attending.

There were 75 or so people at the meeting.

The meeting got started late as many meetings here do.  Absalom, the IHJS board chairman, called the meeting to order.  There were many introductions and then I was invited to address the group.  I am always so proud of these elected officers and this is what I tried to express in my remarks.  They spend a lot of time doing their best work for their members.  They are paid very little (each SACCOS decides how much but $5-10/month is typical) yet they bring so much to their work.  Without these people Iringa Hope could not possibly function.

The IHJS chairman, Absalom, started the meeting.

The formal portion of the meeting started.  There are 11 items on the agenda for today.  These include a review of our audit report, actions on loans collections, increase in membership, admission of a new SACCOS, next year’s budget for the MFI’s work, formalization of Jefa Duma’s employment and salary, and a few other items.

Our audit has once again had no issues or problems.  The Commissioner has told us that we are the ONLY group in Tanzania to have a perfect audit every year – great work!  The new Registrar was in attendance today.  We have always had a good relationship with the former Registrar, John Kiteve, but he has now retired.  The new Registrar seems very impressed with our group.  He talked a little about growth and diversification of incomes.  He made a few comments on collections.  Some of the members questioned him on our fees to the government.  (He invited them to a meeting in the capital so they could complain directly to the Ministry) Overall he seemed very happy with the group.

The meeting lasted 4 hours.  We were very impressed by how business-like things were conducted.  The membership clearly understands that they are in charge and takes this responsibility very seriously.

Members asked good questions.  It is clear they take thier
role very seriously.

The budget was passed, Jefa Duma was hired and his salary agreed on, SACCOS are sending in funds to the IHJS, and so on.  The meeting was clearly a success and everyone was smiling.

We went outside and took a picture of the group.  I talked with Robert George (the new Registrar) awhile.  He promised to hurry up the registration of our Joint AMCOS (it has been stuck for 6 months) – but we will see.  Tomorrow we are off to Usokami for church.  It is a 2 hour drive so we are leaving at 7.

After we adjourned I took a picture of the group.  Can you spot Sandy?

At Bomalang’ombe

We arrived at Bomalang’ombe at about 1 PM.  Peter had called to tell them when we would get there.  However, the drive was so short that people were still gathering as we arrived.

Bomalang’ombe is a fairly new SACCOS, having started very recently.  It is also where Itiweni, our MFI manager, and Venance Msigala, our agronomist, come from.  This group has already formed an AMCOS so we can see that they are working hard.

The SACCOS here has 56 members with another 20 hoping to join after they sell their crops (so they can pay the entrance fees).  All of the SACCOS members are also members of the AMCOS, which isn’t always the case.  In their first year of operation the SACCOS took out a loan from the Iringa Hope Joint SACCOS, and, along with their own capital, were able to lend $4,000 to 22 of their members.  They have all paid in full and on time. 

This year they hope to increase their loan from IHJS by $4,000 so they can increase their loans to their members. They also told us they could use $15,000 more, if they were to give all their members the loans they would like, but they have chosen to start slowly and work their way up to taking out larger loans.

As our meeting got underway, the chairman introduced some visitors.  The village executives attended our meeting to thank us for coming to their village.  They asked us if they could invite other members of the village to come to future meetings for the lessons.  We said yes, thinking that this may be a good way to recruit.

When it was time for us to extend greetings to the group, Tom asked how many were related to Itweni – all except one of the hands went up.  He then asked how many were related to Venance.  All but two of the hands went up.  Turning to Venance we asked how it felt to give a class to his relatives.  He shook his head and said, “We will see.”

Sandy and I left the meeting to do our interviews.  Our first interview was with Simon Petro.  Simon is 72 and a retired pastor.  He told us that retired or not he will be a pastor until he dies.  Simon is married and has 4 children and 8 grandchildren. He has been a member here since the SACCOS started last year.  Petro borrowed $150 to farm his ¾ acre of potatoes.  After paying his expenses and repaying his loan he had earned a $425 profit – the largest he had ever earned!

He took his profit and bought another ¾ acre of land.  He also increased his savings and improved his field.  He told us that his earning were much higher since he joined the SACCOS.  

This year Petro hopes to take out a larger loan.  He wants to plant his 1.5 acres in potatoes.  He hopes to be able to earn enough to fix his house.

Next Sandy spoke with Eunice Kikoti, a 45 year old widow with 5 daughters and 2 grandchildren all of whom live with her.  When the SACCOS formed here she was one of the first to join.  Last year she took out a $100 loan so she could rent ½ acre of land and plant potatoes.  Right now she is just beginning to harvest her potatoes.  She thinks she will get 15 bags from her ½ acre.  The price of potatoes is currently low, but is rising.  Assuming it goes back to $25/bag she will earn a $250 profit from her crop.

Eunice is planning on keeping enough of her crop to feed her family this year.  She grew some maize along with her potatoes for use by the family.  She wants to use her profit to expand her field to 1.5 acres and plant more potatoes. 

When Venance’s class ended he told us it had gone well, but it was a bit difficult giving a class to his relatives.

We had lunch at the Pastor’s house and then headed back.  It took us a little over 2 hours to cover the 56 miles back to town.  When we got home we were too tired for supper.  So Tom wrote his reports, Sandy checked them over, then we posted them and collapsed!

Tomorrow is the Iringa Hope Joint SACCOS meeting.

On Friday we went to Mwatasi

Yesterday we spent much of the day at the University.  We visited with the Bishop, the VC, several of the University officials, some faculty, . . .  a lot of people that we know from years past.  In the evening the Bishop and his wife stopped by to greet us and to learn more about the work of the Micro Finance Institute.

Today we were off to Mwatasi and Bomalang’ombe.  Mwatasi is located in the mountains, 48 miles

We met two of our members coming to the meeting at Mwatasi.

southwest of Iringa.  Bomalang’ombe lies another 6 miles beyond that. The road is rutted and dusty nearly the entire way. As we drove down the road we found it not too bad in stretches followed by sections with deep holes and lots of rocks.  It took us a little over 2 hours to travel the 48 miles to our meeting.

About half of the members were waiting for us.

Mwatasi has a SACCOS but no AMCOS.  They want to wait and get their SACCOS working well before they form an AMCOS.  Right now Mwatasi has 40 members – 17 men and 23 women.  Between their capital and a loan from the Joint SACCOS they have $8,000 to loan.  Last year they made 23 loans and then ran out of capital.  They decided that they wanted to raise more of their own capital so they charged 5% per month on their loans (Individual villages can set their own rates.  We suggest 2-3% but they are free to charge more or less than this).  With loans that last 6 months they are paying 30% interest!  Still, they seem happy and very appreciative that they have a SACCOS here, and are repaying their loans on time.

Following the customary introductions and greetings, we went to conduct interviews during Venance’s class.  Our first interview was with Naomi Kagine, 40 and married with 4 children.  She has been a member of the SACCOS since it first started three years ago.  Her first loan was for $100.  She used it to fertilize her 1 acre of potatoes.  The harvest that year was very good so she earned a $250 profit.  She used her profits to send her children to school.

The next year she borrowed $250 and expanded her fields to two acres of beans and potatoes.  In addition to buying fertilizer for her fields she also tried using a herbicide.  When the harvest was done she had earned a profit of $1,200.  She had gone from not being able to afford to send her children to school, to earning $1,200 in two years!  That year in addition to sending her children to school she bought a brick house, improved her farm and saved some money.

Last year she borrowed $300.  She used her loan to buy potato stock and fertilizer.  The harvest is OK but prices are down.  She thinks she will earn a profit of $500 or more, but she is not yet sure.

Next we spoke with Yairo Chuma, 33 and married with two young children.  Yairo has taken out two loans since joining the SACCOS.  His first loan was for $60.  He used this to buy fertilizer for his 1 acre of maize.  He harvested 6 bags of maize which he sold for $180, leaving him with just under $120 after repayment of his loan with interest.  He used his profit to increase his shares and increase his farm to two acres. 

His second loan was for $200, which he used for raising an acre of peas and one of potatoes.  His crop was very poor, and he earned only $100 selling his crops.  He used $90 of this to pay on his loan and used the remaining $10 to become a bean broker.  So far he has earned $175 trading beans, and he’s still working at it.  He thinks that he will make over $200.  With his profit from trading beans he paid the rest of his loan, bought two piglets to raise and sell, and bought another acre of land.  He hopes to borrow from the SACCOS again and will use the loan for bean trading.

 

Mwatasi lies in the low hills outside of Iringa

We went over to the pastor’s home for chai.  Venance and the others joined us after the meeting ended.   We thanked the pastor and headed down the road to Bomalang’ombe.