At Mkwawa

Today we went over to Mkwawa.  Mkwawa is an urban church located just a short drive off of the main road in Iringa.  Despite this there are a lot of shambas (farms) around the church and most of the members farm in addition to their other jobs.  In fact, last year this SACCOS made 14 loans – only one of which was for something other than farming!

When we got to Mkwawa the members of the SACCOS were waiting for us.  No, we were not late, they had gathered early so we wouldn't be kept waiting.  We went right over to the meeting.  This SACCOS is fairly small.  It only has 29 members – 23 of whom were present.  When we asked why it had not grown over the last year they told us that they decided not to admit any new members until after they were registered (they were registered in November of last year).  Since then they have given preliminary approval to ten new members.  These members were just waiting for a final “credit check” (they go to their neighbors and make sure they pay their debts).

We talked to them about making sure they are open to everyone who wants to join and qualifies (they already have some members who do not belong to the church).  We made sure they knew that loans were only for income purposes and understood the general rules. 

Itiweni gave a lesson on business planning.  People were very attentive.  Almost everyone was taking notes.  A number of people had good questions.  One man wanted to know, “What do you do when someone opens a shop right next to yours selling the same things?”  Another lady wanted to know, “How do you manage two different businesses at once?”  And so on.

After the lesson we asked for two of the members to give us an interview.  We had five volunteers and finally settled on interviewing two women and one man. Our first lady was Delila Duma, 32.  She is married with 2 children.  Her loan was for 200,000 Tsc to buy fertilizer for her maize.  Her harvest went from 9 bags to 33 bags.  She gave 3 bags to the church, kept 10 to feed the family, and sold 20 bags for 1,200,000 Tsc.  If you adjust for what she kept and gave the church, she made a profit of about 1,200,000 ($775) above what she normally got from her field.  With her profits she sent her two children to secondary school and bought a computer!

Our second interview was with Leonard Chungunge, 44.  He is married with 4 children.  His last loan was for 1,000,000 Tsc (about $625).  He used his loan to buy fertilizer to use on his farm (he owns 14 acres).  Using this he increased his yield from 2-3 bags an acre to over 7.  His 100 bags of maize will yield him an income of 7,000,000 – an increase in income of 4,410,000.  His profit on this loan will be 3,410,000 ($2,150).  He will use his profits to send his children to secondary school and support his extended family (he supports 6 other extended family members plus his wife and children).

Our final interview was with Leonora Sanga, 31.  Her husband recently left her and her child.  She applied for membership in this SACCOS because she wants an opportunity to borrow money to invest in a small home-based business of selling mandazi, charcoal and other small things.  We weren't sure Leonora understood the requirements of the Iringa Hope SACCOS (one must first save at least a third of the amount one hopes to borrow, one can only borrow for investing in a money making project, etc.).  The SACCOS officers told us that since she had only applied for membership, she would first need to be found financially dependable and then educated in the workings of the SACCOS. 

When we were done with the interviews we went over to the office.  This SACCOS is very well organized and run.  Last year they made a profit of 500,000 Tsc ($315) on their small membership.  They have never had a loan default in 4 years of operation.  Their registration paper is proudly displayed on the wall of their office.  They named their SACCOS "Tujiendeleze", which means "Let us progress together", a motto which we found admirable, as is describes perfectly what we are hoping all of the Iringa Hope SACCOS will accomplish. 

We had meant to bring them a safe but due to time restraints were unable to do so.  Since they are so close to the DIRA offices where we are storing it, they will pick it up themselves. It has become customary for Tom to donate the first 10,000 Tsc for the new safes, so prior to our departure the donation was made and the receipt handed over.  Before going back to the apartment Tom and our   intern Peter went to load a safe for delivery to Ilambilole tomorrow, courtesy of Don and Eunice Fultz.

When we got to Mkwawa the members were waiting for us.  You can see in the background the large new church they are building here.

The Pastor met us along with the SACCOS officers.  After a short discussion we went right into the meeting.

23 of the 29 members were here.

After giving a greeting Sandy handed out pens.  We had interviewed Tula, 73, last year (she is helping to support some of her grandchildren).  We were happy to see her again.

As Itiweni started to speak everyone took notes.

Itiweni is almost back to normal.  She is starting to go with us most days.

There were lots of good questions on her talk.  This man wanted to know what you should do when someone opens a shop next door selling the same things as you are.

Our first interview was with Delila Duma, 32.  She is married with 2 children.  Her loan was for 200,000 Tsc to buy fertilizer for her maize.  Her harvest went from 9 bags to 33 bags.

Our second interview was with Leonard Chungunge, 44.  He is married with 4 children.  His loan was used to buy fertilizer for his crops.  He is supporting his own family as well as 6 extended family members.

Our last interview as with Leonora Sanga, 31.  Her husband recently left her and her child.  She applied for membership in this SACCOS because she wants an opportunity to borrow money to invest in a small home-based business of selling mandazi, charcoal and other small things.

While Tom was filming the last interview this class of children took a walk by him.  "Jambo wazungu" they all cried as they went by.

This SACCOS is very proud of its registration.  They framed it and hung in the office.

Tom got a receipt for the first deposit in their new safe.