Today It’s Kilolo

This morning we were off to a double header.  We were planning to visit Kidabaga and Kilolo – so we set off at 7 AM – well, almost.  We were out the door at 6:45 and were in the car and drove over to pick up Enock and Peter.  They were ready on time so we headed back to get Brown.

To get to Kidabaga you go down the hill, south through Ipogoro, past Kilolo, down the dirt road to Kidabaga – or at least you do once you get around the cattle!  Today’s traffic jams seemed to start early with cattle on the freeway as well as on the secondary roads. 

After about an hour and forty five minutes we arrived at Kidabaga.  When we got there we were greeted by – no one!  It seems the Pastor went somewhere and the chairman, thinking the meeting had been canceled, went to work. 

Forty five minutes later we were back down the road to Kilolo.  At Kilolo we were greeted by the SACCOS chairman, the secretary, and the Pastor.  This SACCOS has been struggling to raise the funds to get started.  The pastor explained that the congregation here is relatively poor with an average income of about $125-185 per year.  They have been working to save money since last year.  They have 33 members and have managed to save 800,000 Tsc or about $500.  They decided that they had little chance of raising the 5,000,000 Tsc that is needed for a SACCOS, so they had regrouped into a women’s group and a church workers group. 

The women’s group has 20 members.  They have raised the most money (600,000 Tsc while the men raised 200,000 Tsc).  They have been giving themselves loans using the same principles as our SACCOS, but at a 10% per month rate!  Even at this rate they have been making money – good work ladies!  We told them that IF they worked quickly and got their registration materials done we had a donor who would give them 3,200,000 Tsc – so all they had to raise was 1,000,000 Tsc (about $625).  They got very excited and started talking.  Some thought they could sell an animal.  The pastor thought he could get some other people from town that had some money.  Tom took out 30,000 Tsc and told them that he wanted to be one of the first to help them raise the money.  We think that they will be able to do this (if they cannot get the whole 1,000,000 Tsc we will get the rest for them – but it is important that the community work to get their SACCOS.)

As we were talking in walked Malila!  Malila is the new Regional Coop Officer.  We became acquainted with Malila last year when we worked with him on many occasions.  He had heard we were in town (His office is nearby.) so he drove over to greet us.  He told us that he had just approved the registration for Kitowo, another of our locations.  He said that they now had 8,840,000 Tsc ($5,525) in capital and sent us their greetings.  We are planning on visiting them later on and this was exciting news.

Malila told the pastor that he would help them get their registration in as soon as possible.  With that he had to go so he told us he would see us later on and took off. 

When the meeting broke up we went to look at their CVP plot.  This church has a Companion Village Plot from the Ag Institute at the university.  They told us that this plot will yield them 34 bags of maize instead of the 5-6 that they had been getting before applying CVP techniques.  However, only a few of the farmers here are using CVP methods because they don’t have the capital, which is why they need a SACCOS.

We went back to the office to interview some of the women who had taken out loans from the women’s SACCOS.  First we talked to Edina Chavala, 59.  She is married with 5 children and 6 grandchildren.  Edina has taken out three loans.   Her last loan was for 50,000 Tsc ($30 -this is all they currently allow).  She went to Iringa and purchased some shoes which she resold here.  She made a profit of 25,000 Tsc – or $16 over two months.

Apia Kiavelege, 37, is married with 3 children.  She has taken out two loans.  Her last loan was for 50,000 Tsc.  She used this loan to buy flour to make mandazi, which she then sold from her house.  She made $20 over one month.

This community could benefit a great deal from a SACCOS, but with their economic status such as it is, it will be difficult to raise the capital they need. 

The SACCOS leaders were invited to our training session next month.  We assured them that if they raised 1,000,000 Tsc we would get the rest of the funding they needed to register.

The day started with a traffic jam on the highway.

Some of the church women were working to prepare a field for beans.

The pastor's children came out to see the wazungus.

Kilolo has a test storage bin for maize from the Ag Institute.

It was a modest size group so we met in the office.

We had been there for awhile when in walked Malila (2 down from Sandy).  He is an old friend and the new Regional Coop Officer.  He had come to greet us.

We went over to look at the demonstration plot of maize.

The women's group leaders have been successful with their small loans.

Apia Kiavelege, 37, is married with 3 children.  She has taken out two loans.  Her last loan was for 50,000 Tsc.  She used this loan to buy flour to make mandazi, which she then sold from her house.

 We talked to Edina Chavala, 59.  She is married with 5 children and 6 grandchildren.  Edina has taken out three loans.

  

We headed back to town.  Tomorrow we get the report on Cathedral.