Down The Road to Idete And Kidabaga

After we left Kivalamo we headed back down the road towards Idete.  Idete is a good sized village lying right on the road about a half hour drive from Kivalamo.  We arrived as a school meeting for parents was just finishing and there was a large group of people (close to 200) waiting for our meeting to begin.

We were greeted by village leaders and were told that a government delegation had come to talk about the parents’ promise to finish some dormitories for the government secondary school.  As a result we were going to have two meetings – a SACCOS meeting (there were about 80-90 people here for this) and a dormitory meeting (there were about 110 people here for this).

Since the meeting had gotten so large they set up tables for the presenters in the courtyard.  The government folks sat at one end of the table and we sat at the other.  First the local officials talked about the need to finish the dormitory.  They told everyone they had to do this work now.  There was grudging agreement among the people and the government meeting was done.  We then introduced ourselves.  Itiweni had intended to have our intern, Margaret, lead the class, but due to the large outdoor crowd, and the very soft voice of Margaret, Itiweni decided that it was better if she conducted the session herself.

When Itiweni began her talk the men had dour expressions on their faces and the mamas didn’t appear to be too happy either.  Unlike the government folks who presented from behind the table, Itiweni walked out to be closer to the people.  She made a few humorous remarks in kihehe and a few other tribal languages, and soon everyone was smiling.  (Itiweni says it is difficult for her to talk to people when they have scowls on their faces.).  Before long people were asking questions and getting involved.  One mama stood up and said she is going to dissolve her group and join the SACCOS (there are 3 lending groups here that are thinking of merging to form a SACCOS).  Then the leader of a men’s group did the same.  They are going to select some leaders to come to our training session next week.  It looks like we will have to expand our plans. 

We finished the meeting and left the group to go on to our last stop of the day – Kidabaga.  It is about an hour’s drive from Idete to Kidabaga.  It rained a bit, then cleared, then clouded up again.  Driving into Kidabaga the road was busy.  The bus from Idete to Iringa had just gotten into town and people were unloading and walking around.  When we arrived at the church the pastor was there and we were invited to his house for a late lunch.  The pastor told us that the group had not changed much since last year.  This group started as a savings club (just like at Kivalamo) in 2009.  Then a government SACCOS came to town and they all joined.  That SACCOS took about 2 years to fail.  It failed for all of the reasons now familiar to us.  When we visited them last year they wanted us to help them reform into an Iringa Hope SACCOS.  We had helped get them started – but they failed to advance beyond the basic lending club activities they were familiar with. 

We went to the church and introduced ourselves.  When the pens were distributed the women started singing and soon a few of then started doing a traditional Hehe women’s dance.  Itiweni and Sandy joined in and for awhile the meeting came to a halt.  When Sandy got too tired to continue the dance everyone else stopped as well and the meeting got underway.

We were going to try talking to them again about how to organize and run as a SACCOS rather than a lending group (The big difference is that a SACCOS is a formal legal entity that makes use of savings as well as lending and can operate businesses.  A lending group is informal and collects money from members who take turns getting the funds.).   As we talked a little about what they need to do they became more and more interested.   It seemed clear that the training we did just did not sink into their leaders and so they went nowhere. 

Peter conducted this class, which included how to go about building a SACCOS.  We were not sure that the women understand correctly, but we invited them to send three members to our training session next week.  Hopefully we will be able to get them working.  They really would like to move beyond their current approach so that they can start to expand their businesses, hopefully we can help them.

It was raining again as we headed into town.  This was our longest day so far; nearly 12 hours.  We are pleased that Wednesday is a workday at the university so no traveling.

It was about noon when we rolled out of Kivalamo and headed for Idete.

The road winds through the hills on the way back.

When we got to Idete there were about 200 people waiting.

We briefly met in the pastor's house.  It seems there are two meetings about to take place - ours and one about building dormitories for the government secondary school.

With such a large group we had to meet outside.  It was a good thing it had stopped raining.

We were the only wazungu's in this crowd.  We kind of stood out.

The government meeting went first.  It left people with frowns on their faces.  Unlike the government people Itiweni preferred to walk up and talk with the crowd.

Soon she had everyone smiling and laughing.

We closed up this meeting and headed on down the road to Kidabaga.

It's about an hour's drive to Kidabaga.

Entering Kidabaga the streets were busy.  The bus had just come in from Idete and people were unloading.

We went over to the pastor's house for a late lunch and chat.

Sandy handed out pens.

The women broke out dancing.

After the meeting we headed back to Iringa.