Iringa Hope visits 2013: Today Is A Triple Header

Today was a busy day –a triple header. The drive to Kivalamo takes 2.5-3.5 hours, depending on the weather and we pass through the other two villages on the way there. We drive south of Iringa to Kilolo and continue southeast through the mountains passing through Kidabaga and Idete. It is a 78 kilometer drive (about 50 miles) that takes 2.5 hours because we have beautiful weather. We have made this trip in the past, in the rain, and it has taken us 3.5 hours. When we made this trip last year we wound up walking the last 5 kilometers to Kivalamo, due to a truck that blocked the road, stalled in the mud.

Driving through the mountain villages we see smoke coming through cottage roofs. The traditional huts have a fireplace and no chimney or hole in the roof. As a result, when the women are cooking you will see the smoke slowly rising through the thatched roof. Unfortunately this also means that the women tend to have lung problems at a very young age.

Driving down the road at 25 mph seems more like 60 or 70mph. The constant bumping, going through puddles and around bends, and taking a flying jump every now and then makes the ride seem a lot faster than it really is.

We have been to Kivalamo a few times before, but this was the first time we saw it without rain. The views from up here are beautiful – especially when we can see the horizon. When we arrived we were greeted by the pastor. After a brief chat at his house, we went to the church for the SACCOS meeting. This SACCOS grew out of a lending group they had here. This group had 20 members who had collected 1,300,000 Tsh ($800) and were taking turns getting loans. We had trained them, given them a constitution, and urged them to start saving and grow their group. Now a year later we can see that they have not changed. It is still the same 20 people with the same 1,300,000 Tsh. We gave a class, emphasizing the need to save and bring in additional people.

They seemed receptive, but we were not sure if they are really willing to change. We will have some more members come to our training session in town and see if we can spark some action.

After the session we interviewed two of the members. The first person we interviewed was Donat Kilave, 45, who is married with 6 children. He has been a member of this group since 2011. His first loan was for 50,000 Tsh. He used this to plant beans. He wanted to use the CVP techniques he tells us, but there was no fertilizer to buy so he just borrowed to buy the seed. His crop sold for 120,000 – a 70,000 profit ($45). This was his entire income for the year! (He also plant maize and spinach to eat.) He tells us he paid 20,000 Tsh for his two oldest to go to form 1 and 4. He saved the other 30,000 Tsh at the SACCOS. He hopes that he can borrow again this year.

We then talked with Lena Munyi, a 45 year old widow. She has two grandchildren, ages 3 and 1 ½ , who live with her. She borrowed 50,000 Tsh to plant beans and maize. She kept the maize to eat and sold the beans for 80,000 Tsh. She too wanted to buy fertilizer for her fields, but could not get any. She saved her profit of 30,000 Tsh at the SACCOS. She hopes she can get another loan and can find some fertilizer to buy this time. She tells us that she knows from the CVP plot that if she can get fertilizer for her beans she can make over 300,000 Tsh (about $200).

Tom suggested to the pastor that they have their SACCOS buy some fertilizer in bulk when the trucks start running again then store it to resell to the small farmers later on. He liked the idea a lot and went back into the meeting to talk about doing this. Before he left Tom told him that he will make sure they get another 3,700,000 Tsh for their SACCOS so that they can register it and make bigger loans. It seemed clear that this village needs more help.

We left for Idete, our next stop. It was already noon – and we left at 7:00 this morning. As we passed through the village and down the road to a bridge we had crossed earlier, we noticed that the bridge needed to be fixed. Tom and our driver got out and adjusted the logs so the “bridge” could be crossed safely; everyone held their breath as we crossed over.

Coming tomorrow – 200 people at an outdoor town meeting.

When we stopped for Tom to walk around, Sandy and Margaret went to the at a nearby hut.

There was smoke coming out of the chimney.

The views are great as we drive along.

The road winds along, up and down the hills.

Up we go, higher and higher.

This road is in good shape today.

We pass thorough several small villages.

The road winds on and on.

Finally we reach the village. The church is at the top of the hill.

We remember being here when this church was first being built. We came with a friend, Benjamin Ngede, who was born here.

Great views from the church.

The view from the pastor's house is good too.

Inside the pastor's house is still decorated with newspaper.

Tom spied a little boy playing with an old bicycle tire and gave him some candy.

All the members of the SACCOS had gathered.

The first person we interviewed was Donat Kilave, 45, who is married with 6 children. He has been a member of this group since 2011. His first loan was for 50,000 Tsh. He used this to plant beans.

We then talked with Lena Munyi, a 45 year old widow. She has two grandchildren, ages 3 and 1 ½ , who live with her. She borrowed 50,000 Tsh to plant beans and maize.