Today is Ukwega And Ipalamwa Day

Yesterday Tom spent most of the day in meetings at CRDB and the Postal bank.  Not really very exciting to read in a blog!  Today, however, we had a double header, making one long trip and visiting two distant villages that aren't too far apart.  We recently received a request from the village of Ukwega to come and tell them about SACCOS.  Ukwega is a new congregation, formerly a preaching point of Ipalamwa.  It is a long trip to these two villages, so it made a lot of sense to do them on the same day.  To get to Ipalamwa you head south from Ipogoro, passing through Kilolo, Lulanzi and Kisinga in the three-hour drive up hills and down through valleys to Ipalamwa and it is another 45 minute drive past that to Ukwega.

The sky was threatening as we started our drive.  Before long it started to rain.  Rain is especially bad on this road because the dirt turns into grease when it is wet and even a four wheel vehicle can go sliding down the hills out of control.  Tom didn't drive today since our car is just too much of a beater to trust on this drive.  Instead we have a University car and a driver who is originally from Ipalamwa, so he is very familiar with the road.  Since we have a car from the University today we have seating for 9 and it is a good thing since, besides the driver, we have Tom, Sandy, Itiweni, Brown, Peter, Margaret, and Pastor Mangolisa from the diocese with us today.

As the rain started pounding down we made a stop at Kilolo to pick up supplies for the pastor at Ipalamwa.  Ipalamwa and Ukwega are so far away from town that the trucks do not run there this time of year.  As a result, the pastor had sent a shopping list to Mangolisa. 

When we weren't distracted by the winding, slippery road, we had a chance to appreciate the beauty of the area.  We passed in and out of the low clouds and the rain.  We passed several small villages, but mostly it is just scattered houses with fields, woods, and meadows.

After a while we took a choo (toilet) stop at a church in the village of Kisinga.  Sandy went into the courtyard to get to the choo and who did she meet, but two Swedes!  Soon they were talking away in Swedish and Norwegian (How does she manage to go to Africa and wind up speaking Norwegian?).  They had heard of us and our work.  They told us that they like our Facebook page and have gone to our website many times.  They thanked us for including people from their partner parish in Kilolo in our training sessions and told us they would like to see us another time when we might talk. Unfortunately, we had to get going to make it to our destination on time. 

When we arrived at Ipalamwa a group of men come over to greet us; visitors are rare this time of year.  They were anxious to get their groceries and we were anxious to get going.  We have been on the road since 7:30 and it is going on 10:30.  We continued on down the road to Ukwega, where our first class was scheduled.  Our Ipalamwa class was scheduled for the afternoon.

Ukwega was still another 45 minute drive down a road where there were no turn-offs of for a long, long time.  There were no gas stations, repair shops, tow trucks, cell-phone signals, etc.  The scenery, however, was breath-taking.

Arriving at Ukwega we found Pastor Nyamba smiling broadly as we arrived.  He was not sure we would make it.  After all it had been raining a lot, the roads were slippery, and no one else had been through for awhile.  He beamed, grabed Sandy’s briefcase and ushered us into his house for chai.

Over chai we learned that this new congregation has about 200 members and includes two preaching points.  Their main cash crop is beans, although they also grow maize, bananas, and pineapple.  They have had a demonstration plot here and most of the members are familiar with the improved ways to grow their crops.  In fact, that is why we were invited.  

He tells us that there are no financial providers within an hour and a half of his location.  As a result there are only three members of the congregation that can afford to follow the CVP methods.  Buying fertilizer and hybrid seed is just beyond the reach of his members.  He tells us that their average income here is about 500,000 Tsh ($310) per year – but many make less (and some more).  With the CVP methods they know they can make over 1,500,000 Tsh ($940).  Itiweni tells us that she has wanted to get out to see them for some time now, but getting here is a problem for her as well.

We went over to the church for a meeting with those who are interested.  We all introduced ourselves then Itiweni gave a class on how to start a SACCOS.  There were lots of good questions.  There were 44 people present at the meeting.  They all indicated that they wanted to form a SACCOS and were ready to buy shares.  Itiweni gave them instructions on how to do this and we left to let them elect officers.  We will see the officers that this group elected in a few weeks at our training sessions in Kihesa. 

When we left the church the people of Ukwega gave us so many gifts that they didn't all fit in the vehicle and so they had to go on the roof.  Plantains, pineapple, casava, and one unhappy chicken were tucked here and there around our interns as we headed back down the road to Ipalamwa.

Driving through Iringa you could see the clouds building up.

Along the road we could see how low the clouds were - we are in for rain.

We had to stop to buy groceries - it was already raining hard.  It is easy to see why there is no truck to Ipalamwa this time of year.

Soon it was pouring so hard you could barely see.

The scenery is lovely - when you can see it.

We drove into and out of the clouds.

We passed through several small villages.

Stopping to use the choo Sandy ran into some Swedes.  Soon they were speaking in Norwegian.

Back down the road.  You don't pass much out here and there is no cell coverage.

You can see for miles when the clouds lift.

The road gets worse and worse.  It seems we spend more time sliding than driving.

When we get to Ipalamwa we unload groceries.

Some of the congregation was out preparing a field for planting.

After we unload it is down the road to Ukwega.

The pastor is so happy we have come.  He was afraid that the rain would stop us.

We unload the rest of the groceries and have chai and chat.

Then it's off to our meeting.  This group is very anxious to get a SACCOS.

As we get ready to leave we discover that the car is full of things to take back.

Tom did not realize we had a chicken in back until it started to squawk.

The clouds lifted for awhile so we could enjoy the view.

Then we are back down the road to Ipalamwa.