Iringa Hope visits 2013: On To Ipalamwa

After leaving Ukwega we headed back down the road we had just come up. Along the way the chicken was squawking. The sky had cleared so the views were great. We continued to slip and slide in the mud like we did this morning.

When we got to Ipalamwa they rang the bell for people to come to the meeting. They were not sure how long it would take us to get back so they decided to just call everyone when we arrived.

While we were waiting for everyone we went to look at their demonstration plot. We were impressed at the maize crop; we had never seen such tall corn. It must be over 10 feet tall. Pastor Chengula told us that this field will yield at least 4 times as much as the others. He said that they are all frustrated that they cannot get the capital to make use of what they have learned.

When the meeting got underway we gave our introductions and then turned things over to Peter to give the class. This is the first time our intern has given the basic instructions on how a SACCOS works and how to form one. He gave a very good presentation, engaging the audience, who responded a lot of questions. These people have already decided that they are going to collect money and start a SACCOS they only want to know how.

A man who was sitting asked if it's true that anyone can join – even the Catholics. There was a little laughter and Peter assured him that everyone, even Catholics (this got a laugh) can join. (Peter is a Roman Catholic, so we had to let the group know that.) Brown wanted to reinforce this so he too makes it clear that the Lutherans are not forming a Lutheran SACCOS, that everyone is welcome here. Then Pastor Chengula got up and apologized for not having our meeting announced at the Catholic church. He went on to say that he should have gone to all of the churches. He reminded the people that the Lutherans had started the cattle project here and had made sure everyone got included. Sandy gave the pastor a pen and asked him to give it to the Catholic priest and encourage him to spread the word among his church members. Itiweni chimed in that he should be sure to invite everyone in the village. (Actually we discourage SACCOS from starting with too many members. It is best to start with 30-50 or so and build from there.)

The gentlemen takes all of this in and then very seriously tells us that he knows of many people who are desperate to increase their capital for their farms. He says that he has worked very hard to find something in this area, but there just is nothing here. If we will let him he would like to tell his friends to come and talk to us.

We left the meeting and went to have lunch, which included the biggest bananas we have ever seen. The members stayed to select three officers to come to our training session in two weeks. We reminded them that we require at least one woman officer in every SACCOS. The women thought this was funny.

We hurried through lunch because we had a long drive ahead of us. The pastor asked if we could give some people a ride to Iringa. A family of three (mother, father, and young girl) climbed in the back with Brown and our interns. We put the rest of the roots, bananas, some potatoes that we didn’t know we had, various assorted items plus a suitcase on the roof and six people piled into seats built for four.

Along the way back made some stops to deliver letters. The mail does not run in this area so Pastor Mangulisa was asked to deliver letters from the district pastor in Ipalamwa to the pastors in the towns we were passing through. It is interesting how the mail gets delivered here. As we roll into the town where the mail is to be delivered we slow down and the diver calls out to whoever is sitting by the side of the road (there is always someone sitting by the side of the road). Whoever knows the recipient of the letter gets up, trots over to the car, and takes the letter for delivery.

When we were delivering a letter in Kisinga a woman ran up to Pastor Mangulisa asking if she, her sister and two children can ride with us to Kilolo. It was hard to say "no", so their suitcases were put on top and they climbed in the back. Tom looked around and counted heads. There were now 15 people in a car designed to hold 7-9. So how many people can fit into a car in Tanzania? (One more.)

We drove down the road still sliding down hills and four wheeling it back up. When we got to Kilolo the women got out. From there it was a 30 minute drive into Iringa. It was pouring rain when we got back to our apartment shortly after 6:00, 11 hours since we left this morning. Good thing we only have one visit tomorrow.