At Nduli

Today we headed north out of Iringa towards Nduli, a 30 minute drive down the road towards Dodoma.  It is very close to the Iringa airport. 

When we visited Nduli last year they were just starting to get their SACCOS organized.  At that time they had 68 members and had collected 1,300,000 Tsc for their SACCOS (they needed 5,000,000 or about $3,125).  Now, with continued collations from the members plus a generous contribution from their partner, they have accumulated almost 10,000,000 Tsc. 

Over the past year we have provided them with a constitution, trained their officers and members, and helped them submit their registration papers.  We also were able to get them a temporary registration number, open a bank account for them, and register their name (Jordan).  What we need to do now is get the Iringa coop officer out to supervise their final elections and complete their registration.  Sandy and I are hoping this will happen before we leave next month, but if it doesn't, it will likely be completed before the end of May at the latest.

We got to Nduli without incident, having only stopped to chat with the police (since this road goes to Dodoma, the capital, it is often checked) along the way.  The first order of business was to give them their safe.  It is our goal to make sure that all of the SACCOS have working safes in their offices.  The safes are only meant for small amounts of money ($100 or so) and to hold the cash that is brought to the village for ‘lending day” (this might be as much as $6-10,000).  Our safes are relatively heavy, weighing about 150 pounds.  Still, we have the SACCOS build them into a wall or cement them into the floor for safety.

Tom donated the first 10,000 Tsc (about $6) to be put into the safe.  They wrote him a receipt and announced that he was now an official member of Jordan SACCOS.  We looked around at the SACCOS office and then went over to the church.

Jordan SACCOS now has 78 members (53 women and 25 men) – so we were expecting 30-40 people for our lesson.  After waiting around until about 10:00, we asked the secretary when the people would be arriving for the meeting.  He did not know since the chairman had been making arrangements directly with Itiweni.  After calls to Itiweni, who had been told that the meeting would start at 9:00, and the chairman, who didn't answer his phone, we started gathering information from the secretary and chairman about the status of their SACCOS.

Shortly after we started interviewing the secretary the chairman showed up!  So what happened to the meeting?  Well, since Itiweni had been sick he did not know if we were coming, and she did not call him until she got out of the hospital on Monday so he could not announce it Sunday nor do his posting, so no one got the word and there was no meeting.  “Why did you not tell us,” Tom asked. (Actually he knew why – the chairman is HeHe and they do not like to tell you “bad” news – so they don’t.)  Enock talked to him awhile explaining that the “modern” thing was to tell people.  It was no longer polite to keep quiet!

As it turned out we still had a great deal to do.  We went over what they needed to do this month in order to get ready for their registration, called the coop officer to make an appointment, and went over the procedures they would need to follow to start making loans.  Tom also took time to fill in the Pastor and chairman on the Iringa Hope business plan competition.  The Pastor was very excited about this.  He already had several ideas he had wanted to work on.

Pastor Muyinga discussed the economic status of the SACCOS membership at length.  We learned that the SACCOS members’ income ranges from $120/year to about $400/year – but most of them make less than $200. All but five of them are farmers while six of the members mainly raise animals. Most of them own 2-3 acres, but they can only afford to farm ½-1 acre.  There is just no capital here.   Pastor told us that of the current 78 members, 77 are Christian – being Lutheran, Catholic, Pentecostal, and Anglican – while 1 is a Muslim.

By this time there were a few members who had drifted in, so we decided it would be good to ask them why they joined this SACCOS and what they wanted to do.  The first person we talked to was Faraja Mbwilo, 32.  She is married with 4 children – ages 14, 12, 8, and 3 years old.  She told us that she and her husband own 4 acres of land.  They want to use the CVP methods on their land, but they do not have the capital.  They would like to borrow enough to farm all of their land this way.

Elijah Mbwilo (distantly related to Faraja), 74, was next.  He is married with 4 grown children, 11 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren.  He explained that one of his children is divorced and without work so he is supporting one of his children.  He would like to send him to secondary school and build a home for himself and his wife to retire to.  He currently farms 3 acres and would like to switch to the CVP methods.  Unfortunately he does not have the capital to do this and does not know where to get it.

We had chai with the Pastor and promised to save room for them at our March training session.  The children that Tom had been giving candy to came running over giggling and watching to see what the wazungus were going to do next.

We got in the car and took off for town.  Enock had other work to do and we had some meetings at the Diocese.  Tomorrow to Mikimbize!

We were greeted by the SACCOS treasurer and Pastor Muyinga.

Tom and the Pastor unloaded the safe.

Tom got a receipt for the first 10,000 put on deposit here.

Some kids came to see what we were doing.  They all got candy!

Sandy tried to get this little one to sing with her - he was too shy.

Finally the chairman showed up and told us why the members were not here - Enoch explained that the "modern" way was to tell us when something was not happening.

Faraja Mbwilo, 32, wants to borrow from the SACCOS so she can buy better seeds and use fertilizer on her farm.  She wants to send her 4 children to school and get a "real" house for them.

Elijah Mbwilo (distantly related to Faraja), 74, is raising one of his grandchildren.  He wants to get a loan so he too can buy better seed and use fertilizer.  He wants to send his grandson to school and build a "retirement home" for he and his wife.

According to Pastor Muyinga his members earn between $120 to $400/year on their farms.  He wants to have a SACCOS here so they can improve their farming and increase their incomes.

As we were leaving some of the children came running, giggling and looking to see what the wunzgus were going to do now.