Today We Were At Ilula

Today we went to Ilula.  Ilula is about a 45 minute drive down the road to Dar Es Salaam.  You turn off of the tarmac at the sign for the Ilula hospital and follow the dirt road up the hill. Instead of turning left into the hospital you make a right turn into the church parking lot.  I am always impressed by the view when I get to Ilula.  The view of the mountains and the valley below are truly beautiful.

We were last at Ilula in March of 2012.  At that time they were just starting to get organized so we gave them a constitution and a class on how to get started on a SACCOS.  Now, here we are a year later, and they have just now gotten back to us for another visit – we wonder what they have been doing.

We got out of the car and went over to the Pastor’s house.  He was just getting dressed for our meeting and suggested we went over to see the District Pastor (they are next door to each other).  As we were going over to the District Pastor’s house we met the new chairman.  It seems that the Ilula officers that were elected last year had gone to our training sessions, then gone back home and done nothing.  After asking them about getting started repeatedly the group that wanted a SACCOS decided to replace them and ask us to come and get them started again.  This is why we have not been able to get any information – there hasn’t been any to get.

As we sat in the Pastor’s house waiting to have chai I asked the new chairman to tell me why they wanted a SACCOS here; after all, there are other SACCOS in this area.  We were told that the SACCOS in the area all have major problems.  Some of them are government SACCOS.  These take in deposits, then go broke and everyone loses what they have.  Others are run by businessmen.  They charge 10% per month or more and will take all your savings if you are one day late.  There are also some who will only lend you for one or two months at a time.  The chairman said that he belongs to three SACCOS and wants to quit them all.  They all have big problems.  Iringa Hope SACCOS has a good reputation and they really want to get one started here.

We talked a bit about our rules and the focus of the SACCOS.  Only income producing loans are allowed.  A borrower must have two cosigners and must first save 1/3 of the amount, etc.  They told us they remembered these lessons from our last visit and liked them very much.

After chai we were given a tour of the hospital by the chairman of the SACCOS, who happens to be the administrator for the hospital.  Since our first visit to the hospital in 2001 the hospital has grown from a health center to a district hospital with over 90 employees.  The HIV/AIDS clinic now serves about 4,000 people.  The delivery area delivers about 10-20 babies a day.  There is a dental clinic.  And this fall the nursing school should finally open.

Back at the church the members of the SACCOS group had gathered.  We went in to meet with them.  Today there are about 30 members here.  This is about the same number as last year.  Tom asked if they were the same group.  Yes we were told, there have been a few changes but they are basically the same group as last year.  We asked the group why they had not done anything in the past year and they told us that they had been very frustrated since the leaders who we trained would not do anything and the rest were unsure of what to do.  Itiweni told them she had contacted both the leaders and the pastors to see if they needed more help and no one gave her any information.  There were many sheepish looks – but this is just the way of the Hehe – they do not like to give bad news.

We discussed what they need to do to form a SACCOS.  We explained that the SACCOS once formed belonged to them, not us or the university or the church.  This got lots of smiles and applause – it seems that one of the problems with the other SACCOS is that the members do the work and put in the money but never own anything.  We also told them they MUST attend training and learn about managing money, budgeting, etc.  Once again there were many smiles and applause – this is what they want to do.

Itiweni gave them a seminar on how to start a SACCOS.  There were lots of questions and many notes taken.  At the end they asked if it was OK if they continued the meeting without us.  They want to start collecting entrance fees, selling shares, etc.  They will be sending their new leaders to our training session next month.

We were planning on going to Luganga from here, but decided to cancel.  Itiweni had gotten a confusing call saying that the group that wanted to form a SACCOS had not talked to the rest of the parish and there was some dispute going on.  We really do not want to arbitrate anything – and we believe that a SACCOS really needs a strong group that wants to work to succeed – so we decided to tell them that they needed to come together and then we will come and work with them. 

We have learned to appreciate what a difference strong leadership makes to a community.  We hope that the SACCOS that Iringa Hope has established throughout the region will foster an atmosphere of community involvement where strong leaders will emerge.

The views form the church are lovely.

I think that Ilula has one of the prettiest locations.

Our new intern, Margaret, was with us today.  She is Masaai and has an accounting diplomas from Tumaini.

With Peter and Margaret our little group is now 5 - 6 when Brown is with us.

First we had chai and talked.

Then we went to look around the hospital.  It has really grown since we were first here in 2001.

The new nursing school will open this fall.

The student dorms have wonderful views of the mountains.

Sandy had to have her picture taken with the Pharmacist.  (Her sister is a Pharmacist.)   

Last week they selected new leaders.

Itiweni spent between 1.5 and 2 hours explaining how to start their SACCOS.

The new leaders took lots of notes.

There were lots of good questions.  This time we think they will work hard at their SACCOS.

When we got back into town we went over to the University to get ready for a meeting in March.