Our trip to Kitasengwa

On Friday we went to Kitasengwa.  Kitasengwa is about a 60 minute southwest of Iringa, just off the main highway.  We first visited here in 2013 when they wanted to learn about how to start a SACCOS.  Since then they have started their SACCOS and joined the Iringa Hope network.  On Friday we were interested in seeing how they have done since giving their first loans to members.

We first went to the pastor’s house and talked with the officers of the SACCOS.  When we were here last year we interviewed some people who were hoping to get loans.  At that time, this SACCOS was just getting ready to give their first loans.  

One of the people we interviewed then was the pastor’s wife, Dora Kinyunyu.  Dora is 48.  She and the pastor have 4 children.  Last year she was hoping to borrow 250,000 TZS ($150) to go into the egg business.  She thought that 100,000 TZS ($60) would be necessary to purchase 100 young chicks and to start her business.  When we talked to her this year she told us that she had borrowed 450,000 TZS ($280) for her 100 chicks.  We suspect that when she factored in all of the necessary expenditures for her business, she realized that she would need a larger loan.  She set up a chicken coop with feeding stations and “laying buckets” and bought her 100 chicks.  Some of the chicks turned out to be roosters and she has sold some of them for the stew pot.  She now gets an average of 40 eggs a day and she is earning 210,000 TZS ($130) a month and will do so for 12-16 months.  This means that she will net a profit of about $1,500 from this loan!  She is paying school fees for their two children who are in secondary school as well as for the two who are in primary school.  Although the government provides primary schools here, they are not without cost.  Each student needs to purchase a school uniform, books, and supplies; which are mandatory for school attendance.

We drove to the community center to have our meeting.  This SACCOS now has 40 members.  Last year it had 36 members with 26 people in the process of joining.  However, after we started this SACCOS a “lending group” formed in the village.  This sort of group is a loosely affiliated collection of members who contribute some funds at periodic intervals and make small loans out of the funds they gather. 

Generally the problem with groups like this is that there is not enough capital to make a difference.  They are mainly useful so that people have a place to keep their money. Studies have shown however that they are not effective at raising the income of people.  Potential SACCOS members had joined the group because it promised to lend money for any purpose and they promised to make loans as soon as a member joined.  As you know, if you've been following our blog, we only lend money to make money and we require members to belong for 6 months and save some money before being allowed to take out a loan.  The temptations of quick and easy money steered some people away from joining the SACCOS.

So, how has this worked out for them?  It seems that the group has had trouble collecting on loans and has very little capital to lend.  As a result people are leaving the group and are once again asking to join the SACCOS.  We asked the chairman if this was a good thing for the SACCOS.  He told us that they were not sure that they would let the group members in.  He is concerned that they may bring bad habits with them.  This is an area where we don’t offer suggestions.  It is up the membership committee of the SACCOS to decide.

This SACCOS has about 7,000,000 TZS in its bank account.  In addition it was able to borrow 8,300,000 TZS from Iringa Hope last year.  They used these funds to make loans to members, netting a profit of 500,000 TZS (about $330) for the year.  So far, every SACCOS we have started has made a profit in its first year. 

We talked about how Iringa Hope works, how to get loans, etc.  There were many good questions for us and we enjoyed the session.  The farmers in this area have been lucky.  They have had a sales agent who has been able to get them fertilizer on credit and at good terms.  It seems however that this is coming to an end.  This year they will not get credit and they will have the same problem buying fertilizer as most of our villages.  We discussed with them forming a “buying club” and how it might work for them.  Longer term we hope to form an AMCOS (Farmer’s Coop) here as well.

As the meeting ended Sandy went to interview one of the members.  She sat down with William Nogta, 64, married, and with 6 children.  He and his wife are currently supporting his son who is at the University in Dar Es Salaam, another son in an industrial arts program, and his youngest child who is now in Form 3.  He told us that last year he borrowed 1,000,000 ($625) to farm vegetables.  His main crop is Irish potatoes, peppers, and egg plants.  He has hired two full time workers on his 8 acres.  He is paying them $450 for the year, which is a very good wage in a village where the average income is $300/year.  He expects to earn a profit of over 1,700,000 TZS when he sells his crop (about $1,050).  He told us that this will pay his children’s school fees and leave him enough to do some improvements on his house.

We said good bye and headed back to Iringa, where we met with the General Secretary for the Diocese.  As our program has grown our members have come to represent a larger and larger portion of the income of the Diocese.  This year alone our members will donate over $50,000 to their churches.  The Diocese is aware of this and wants to know how they can help us expand our work further.

We stopped at the pastor's house.

Dora Kinyunyu.  Dora is 48.  She and the pastor have 4 children.  Last year she was hoping to borrow 250,000 TZS ($150) to go into the egg business.

When we arrived at the community center the members were waiting for us.

These twins were adorable as they kept running around.  The little girl was dragging a stick around for awhile.  We were wondering why she was doing this, but when her mother took the stick away her brother started hitting her!

The SACCOS surprised us by giving us shirts.  Mama thought that I looked a lot like the poster - I did not agree.

Tom and Peter got shirts while Sandy got a skirt.

Sandy sat down with William Nogta, 64, married, and with 6 children.  He and his wife are currently supporting his son who is at the University in Dar Es Salaam, another son in an industrial arts program, and his youngest child who is now in Form 3.

The mountains at Mwatasi

This morning we drove to Mwatasi; a beautiful drive well beyond Pomerini in the mountains of the Kilolo district.  While the drive to Ipalamwa and Ukegwa was up on the ridges affording grand views, the way to Mwatasi is through woods and dales and affords views of many small villages.  This morning the road was dry and the sky was clear. 

When we reached Mwatasi the pastor and the SACCOS officers were waiting for us.  The pastor at Mwatasi was an evangelist at Ihemi, our partner parish, up until recently, so we have known him for many years.  When we were starting our first SACCOS he went with us to Nyanzwa to learn about how SACCOS work.  Having seen the things that the Ihemi SACCOS has achieved, he appreciates the value of having a working SACCOS in a community.

The group here has been slow to start.  The main problem is a familiar one; there was a government SACCOS here at one time.  The government hired a manager from another village and moved him here.  He recruited members who saved their money so that they could get a loan (you need to save 1/3 of the money you intend to borrow).  When the time came to give loans the manager gave a few big loans to his friends.  His friends did not pay back their loans and he did not collect from them, so the SACCOS went broke and the members all lost their savings.  Consequently, the people in this community are hesitant to become involved in another SACCOS.

The Mwatasi SACCOS now has 30 members. They registered as a group so they could get a bank account and start giving out loans.  Next week we will have the Kilolo Co-op officer out to work on changing their registration to a SACCOS.  Registering as a group allows them to make a few small loans, but they need to change to a SACCOS so they are allowed to make more loans for larger amounts.

When asked how they get the fertilizer they need they told us that when they need fertilizer, seed, or spray they all go individually into Iringa and buy a bag at a time, then bring it back on the bus – a full day’s journey for one bag.  We suggested that they may want to think about having their SACCOS form a “buying group.”  Since our SACCOS are not allowed to sell fertilizer we have come up with a temporary “fix” for our members to use while we work on starting AMCOS (Farmer’s Coops – our long term solution.).  The basic idea is that the SACCOS organize a group that agrees to buy their fertilizer together.  The SACCOS then gives them each loans which they combine and take to town.  Once they have bought a larger quantity (getting a better price) they then hire a truck to bring it to Mwatasi.  We estimate that they should be able to buy 120-150 bags at once and get a 10-15% price break.  Everyone liked the idea and wanted to know more about how to proceed. 

We also discovered that the people here have a real market problem.  Being so far away from town they often find themselves with no place to sell their crops.  The SACCOS chair told us that many members still have over half of their crop and cannot find any buyers.  Tom suggested they consider forming a “seller’s club”.  Everyone wonders how this might work.  For this, their SACCOS would organize a group that would pool their crops, hire a truck, and take their crop into Iringa where there is a market.  Once again everyone liked the idea.  We will suggest to Itiweni that she plan a session at the officer training next month to talk about how to do this.

We realize that to many people these ideas seem so obvious that you might wonder why they have not done this already.  The thing to remember is that in most villages there is no history of working together as a cooperative unit, and there is no organizing force other than the church.  With our approach to SACCOS we are now developing a group of trained leaders and a group of people who are trusting of each other and willing to work together. 

At the general meeting, once again the topic was about how Iringa Hope works, how they can borrow money, how to work as a group, how to create a plan and how to work efficiently to reach a goal.  Tom gave them an Iringa Hope calendar.  One of the people at the meeting is featured on the calendar as “Miss May”.  Everyone laughs as she smiles shyly and is obviously pleased.  At the end of our meeting the group broke into song and dance.  The pastor says that this is truly a major change here in Mwatasi.  He expects to see this SACCOS grow large in the coming years.

When we were finished with our presentations, the general session continued and we went to the pastor’s house.  Sandy interviewed Katherine Uhagili, 30 years old, married, and with one small child.  Katherine was one of the first members here and has been enthusiastic from the start.  She told us that she took out a loan for 150,000 TZS (about $100).  She used her loan to buy 50 three week old chicks, to expand her chicken business.   She expects to get 30 eggs per day from them when they start laying.  After deducting her costs and paying back her loan she estimates she will earn over 700,000 TZS profit (about $465).  She is hoping to use her profits to start work on a house, as she is currently renting her home.  She would also like to expand her egg business.

Next Sandy talked to Henrik Kagine, 55 and married with 4 children.  Henrik has been saving to develop a tree farm.  He was having trouble getting the capital together when Iringa Hope started working here.  He has now borrowed 150,000 TZS (about $100) and has finished planting his trees.  He has developed a 1 acre farm with over 600 trees on it.  It will take several years before his trees mature.  In the meantime he is farming a few acres and doing day labor.  He tells us that he will pay off his loan from his day labor and would like to take another loan out for his farm so that he can afford fertilizer.  The trees will mature in about seven years.  He estimates that he will be able to sell them for 6-7,000,000 TZS (about $4,000).  Henrik’s profits will pay for a new home and school fees.

Before we left the pastor called in all of the officers and the ladies who were working in the kitchen and they started to sing “How Great Thou Art” (in Kiswahili, of course).  This was a song the pastor had sung with us in 2008, the year we visited the first SACCOS.  It was amazing to think about how far we have come in the seven intervening years.  From nothing to an organization like Iringa Hope; thanks in large part to our generous donors in the United States (and Norway!), the diligent staff in the Micro Finance office, and the strong community leaders throughout the Iringa Diocese.

The trip into the mountains today takes us through trees and forests as well as over the hills.

There are lots of trucks on this road.  They never move over.  They just assume you will somehow move over for them.

It was clouding over and starting to rain when we got there.

The pastor here was an evangelist at Ihemi when we started our first SACCOS there.  He went with us as we visited various locations to learn more.

Over half of the membership was here.  Our members always seem to turn out for our visits.

Towards the end of the meeting the members broke out singing and dancing.  They were very happy to see their SACCOS working.

Sandy interviewed Katherine Uhagili, 30 years old, married, and with one small child.

Next Sandy talked to Henrik Kagine, 55 and married with 4 children.  Henrik has been saving to develop a tree farm.

It was raining as we left.  We did not want to be stuck in the hills for the night.

On to Ukegwa

After we left Ipalamwa we drove another 30 minutes on the mountain roads to Ukegwa.  Ukegwa is a fairly new village.  It has about 2,000 people so it is about the normal size for villages here (they vary from about 1,500 to 3,500).  Driving down the road towards the village we can see that the forest is burning on the other side of the mountain.  We weren't worried about the fire, because it is far off in the distance, but we are always conscious of the clouds in the sky.  If it starts raining a return trip could be hazardous. 

When we reached Ukegwa we saw a large group of people standing in a field.  This was our SACCOS group, and this was where our meeting would be held.  The pastor here has been working to establish a community development center.  He has just gotten an agreement that he can use this field for that purpose.  Currently the SACCOS is using part of a rental building.  Like most of our SACCOS, their office is too small and cramped to serve the membership.  Hopefully their plans for the new SACCOS building will come to fruition so they will have the space they need.

Until recently Ukwega was a preaching point of Ipalamwa.  We met the new pastor last year when we came to work on organizing this SACCOS.  He is very tall; unusually tall for a Hehe.  He credits his height to the fact that his father owned cows so he ate a lot of protein as he was growing up.  This is his first parish and it seems to be thriving under his leadership.

Last year there were about 40 people gathered at our organizational meeting.  The Kilolo District co-op officer was there with us and he and Peter gave classes on what a SACCOS could do for them, how the Iringa Hope Joint SACCOS is structured and how to organize their own SACCOS.  Since that first meeting they have formed their SACCOS, recruited 75 members, and collected over 8,000,000 TZS (about $4,500).  We gave them another 3,200,000 to get started.  Late last year they made 62 loans to their members.  They had 100% on time repayment.  Right now they have 8 people waiting to join.  This year they hope to give over 70 loans.  The pastor explained that they have decided to give everyone who is qualified a small loan for now.  They think that this is fairer than giving larger loans to fewer members.  They are hopeful that Iringa Hope will lend them another 20,000,000 TZS (we have only 6-8,000,000 TZS for them), but they will be grateful for whatever we can loan to them.

We talked with the SACCOS officers about their need for a place to buy seed and fertilizer.  Right now they have to go to Iringa to buy these (the same situation as at Ipalamwa).  It takes a farmer a week to go back and forth on the bus carrying his supplies.  They also pay a high price since they are buying one or two bags at a time.  Tom suggested that they form a buying club in their SACCOS.  The idea is that they would all pool their orders, buy a larger quantity in town, and hire a truck to bring it to them.  Doing this they will most likely get a better price and save time and effort.  They liked this idea very much.  Before they had a SACCOS they had no way to organize this sort of cooperative approach to purchasing farm inputs. 

The general SACCOS meeting was held outdoors, across the road from the field where their new building will be built.  The chairman brought out two chairs for us; everyone else sat on the grass.  Sixty two of the seventy two members were there to meet with us. 

Tom gave some opening remarks, followed by a class presentation by Peter.  When he concluded his presentation by inviting questions there was a lot of group participation. The members here are clearly happy to have Iringa Hope come to their village. 

Before we left Sandy interviewed Josef Mohadisa.  Josef is 65, married and has 7 children.  He supports himself, his wife, and 5 of his grandchildren.  He borrowed 130,000 (about $90) to use on his coffee farm.  He used his loan to buy the herbicide he needed and the labor to help him in his field.  He told us he earned about 255,000 TZS ($170) from his beans this year.  His second loan was for 300,000 TZS (about $200).  He invested this money in his fish farm.  There are many fish farms in the area.  He was one of the first residents to try fish farming when it was introduced back in the 1990s, now he has become a supplier of minnows to the other fish farms in the area. 

The second person interviewed was Anyes Ngusi, age 45, married and the mother of six.  She and her husband are supporting 4 children and grandchildren here and one child in college.  At the moment they are sending 2 children to primary school, 2 children to secondary school, and 1 child is attending teachers’ college in Dodoma.  Anyes first loan was for 120,000 TZS (about $80) to raise animals.  Shortly after she got her loan she got sick so her husband took over for her.  He bought pigs, goats and chickens to butcher and sold the meat, making a profit of 600,000 TZS (about $400). Much of the profits went towards her hospital costs and her medication, the rest went toward school fees.  Anyes health has improved and she has taken out another loan to plant three acres of maize and to go into the bread-making business.  She has already earned enough from her bread business to pay back the interest on her loan, which won’t come due until after the maize has been harvested.

Meetings and interviews over, we had a brief lunch with the pastor before heading home.  Ukwega is a 2½ hr. drive from Iringa, so it was a long day.  It was a rewarding day, however, because both at Ipalamwa and Ukwega we met such enthusiastic groups that are managing their SACCOS very well. 

There was a large forest fire burning across the valley.

At Ukegwa we was a large group of people milling around in a field.  It was our members looking at where they might build a community center.

Peter went over and had a look around too.

The new pastor here is very impressive.  He is also 6'3' or 6"4" and towers over all of his members!

The meeting was held in the shade of the trees.  We were the only ones with chairs (look closely behind Tom).  They all insisted we sit there - and we were very glad to do so.

Sandy is always a hit with her message in Swahili.  Everyone smiles and hoots for her.

Before we left Sandy interviewed Josef Mohadisa.  Josef is 65, married and has 7 children.  He supports himself, his wife, and 5 of his grandchildren. 

The second person interviewed was Anyes Ngusi, age 45, married and the mother of six.  She and her husband are supporting 4 children and grandchildren here and one child in college.

When we left the fire was still burning and it was getting cloudy.  Luckily it held off until we got back to Iringa.

Ipalamwa and a Trip into the Mountains

Today we visited Ipalamwa and Ukegwa.  They are both in the mountains about two hours south west of Iringa.  It is a very pretty drive, but if it is wet it is also very treacherous.  The road to Ipalamwa is basically a one lane road with sporadic truck traffic.  Driving down the road we had the usual traffic;  a few herds of cattle, an occasional flock of chickens, trucks that hogged the whole road (thank goodness for 4 wheel drive so we can take the bank), and the more recent addition of suicidal motorcyclists.  But mainly the road was peaceful and the drive was beautiful.  We were lucky today, the road was dry both going out and coming back.  It only takes one good shower to turn this road into standing water and lots of mud.

When we arrived at Ipalamwa we were greeted by a group of members.  They had already gathered and were ready to get started.  Well over half of the members were present today – an excellent turn out.   Last year when we were here there were 41 people interested in joining, but most of them were concerned that we might be connected with the government.  They had all been burned by government programs before and did not trust anything associated with the government.  After our meeting last year we were concerned that this location might struggle for a while.

This year we found that they had 74 members with 9 more working on joining!  They had pushed to get their registration done and had made a few loans to members.  We told them last year that they needed to collect 1,800,000 TZS ($1,200 at the time) and we would help them get the rest.  Instead of this they had rushed ahead and had gotten over 7,000,000 TZS (about $4,600)!  I guess that they were much more excited than we thought.

Tom reminded them that they were the owners and managers of this SACCOS.  Then he and Peter talked about how Iringa Hope works to support them.  One of the evangelists got up to thank us for this wonderful program.  He said that the government promises them loans and seeds and fertilizer and all sorts of things – and nothing happens.  Iringa Hope tells them we will do something for them and we do!  He thinks that there will be many more people wanting to join once they realize this.

Some other members asked questions about how Iringa Hope operates, what the fees are, what they are used for, etc.  Peter did a great job of answering the questions. 

Sandy took two members aside to interview them.  The first one she talked to was Nathaleta Mgveke, 62, married, with 9 children and 10 grandchildren.  She and her husband still support the 3 youngest of her children.  They are also supporting 6 of their grandchildren making a household of 10.  Her first loan was for 155,000 TZS ($100) to plant beans.  This variety matured quickly so she harvested her crop and repaid her loan in 3 months.  She earned $100 profit from this crop.  She is now planning on planting a larger crop.  The chairman told Tom that she will probably get 3 crops of beans the way she is working.  These beans do not yield as much as some, but the harvest is much faster. 

The next person Sandy interviewed was Tuheri Nyalusi.  Tuheri is 44, married, and has 6 children.  He borrowed 700,000 TZS (about $450) to plant beans.  He planted a different type of beans on a larger plot.  When he harvested his crop he sold it for 3,200,000 TZS, for a profit of 2,400,000 TZS (about $1,600).  He used his savings to pay a variety of fees for his children.  He is sending 2 children to secondary school, one to standard 5, one to standard 3, and two to kindergarten.  He told us that with some past due fees and payment for the coming year he has spent all of his profit on his children.  He was hoping for another loan to plant more beans, but this SACCOS, like most of our SACCOS, is short of capital so they are taking turns.  He will most likely get another loan later on, but not now.

We had a quick lunch, some discussion of the problems of the farmers here (most revolve around not having the capital they need to buy the inputs they know are needed) and then were on the road to Ukegwa.

Along the way we passed through many small villages.  Notice the smoke rising from the roof in the hut in the background.  These huts have no chimneys so when the women light a fire to cook the smoke builds up in the hut and slowly leaks out of the grass roof.  Uff-da!

The scenery is great as we drive into the mountains.

The roads are just one car wide so it is a challenge to pass the occasional truck.

The members were waiting for us when we arrived.

Everyone was very attentive as we talked.  Many of them took notes.

This evangelist rose to tell us how thankful he was that we had come to his village and started a SACCOS.  "Now we have hope for the future here in Ipalamwa," he told us.

The first one Sandy talked to was Nathaleta Mgveke, 62, married, with 9 children and 10 grandchildren.  She and her husband still support the 3 youngest of her children.

The next person Sandy interviewed was Tuheri Nyalusi.  Tuheri is 44, married, and has 6 children. 

After a quick lunch we were on the road to Ukegwa.

A Sunday at Ihemi

Today we went out to Ihemi for church.  We have wanted to go there for the past few weeks, but there have been pastor’s meetings, ordinations, etc. so that the pastors were not around.  Today however, we were finally able to go and visit.

The past few years we have been driving an old wreck affectionately known as “the beast.”  I think from the name you can guess what this car was like.  This year, however, we made arrangements to have a very nice car. Even a nice car needs to be serviced once in a while, and today was the day our car was in the shop.  Denis Ngede came to our rescue with a car to rent and a driver that came with it.  Peter Harrits, the Bega Kwa Bega director, went with us to Ihemi.  He hadn’t been there before so he was looking forward to going. 

Arriving at Ihemi we were met by many old friends.  There is Aloyce, the man who dug the first well at Ihemi; Immanuel who is the chairman of the Ihemi SACCOS; Mama Mbembe, the widow of the first pastor who welcomed the Christiania group in 2001; and many, many more.  It is good to see so many old friends and see how things have been going for them this past year.

Pastor Donald Kiwanga, the new Ihemi District Pastor, greeted us and told Tom that everyone was expecting him to preach today.  Tom has done this many times before, but usually he is asked ahead of time – but he agreed to do it. 

Pastor Kiwanga had arranged for the choir from Mlandege to visit and sing at Ihemi today.  We have always thought that the Ihemi choirs were great, but Pastor Kiwanga was at Mlandege before coming to Ihemi.  In addition, Pastor Mongolesa, the former district pastor at Ihemi is now at Mlandege.  Between them they thought it would be a good treat. 

The service lasted 2 ½ hours today.  Tom’s sermon was fairly short – about 20 minutes or so – but there were lots of announcements, singing, dancing, and several offerings.  A typical service at Ihemi lasts 2 hours so it was not really too short.

After service we went out to the steps for the auction of the “in kind” offerings.  Today there were two chickens and some corn brought in.  Ihemi always has a lively auction, they have a very good auctioneer.  It seems however that they have changed the rules of the auction.  It used to be the highest bidder won and paid the bid price for the item.  It now seems that bidders pay the amount of INCREASE that their bids represent whether or not they win the bid.  We do not know this so as the items are brought out we bid away, buying a chicken for the pastor (we actually bid on all of the items as gifts for the pastors, but since other people also wanted to buy for the pastors we let them win!).  When the tally was made, we had bought the chicken for $5 (it normally would sell for about $2.50) but we owed $8 because we had bid the other items up!  Oh well, it is always fun.

We went over to the pastor’s house and had lunch.  Pastor John Mhekwa was here today.  He had been in Minnesota last year and had come to our house for our fall dinner meetings.  He asked if he could go to Ugesa with us later on.  We said we were glad to have him!

After lunch we went over to Aloyce’s house to buy some avocados and arrange for this year’s Easter eggs (we have been having Easter eggs made for the children at Ihemi.  Aloyce raises chickens, maize, avocadoes, and a variety of other crops.  We normally have his wife cook and color the eggs for the Ihemi children on Easter.  We have been doing this for about 10 years now so the children have come to expect their eggs.  As always, Aloyce does not want to charge us for the eggs or the avocados, but we paid him anyway.  He has been suffering from various health problems for several years, but he looks much better now.

We said good bye and headed back to Iringa.  We will be back to visit the Ihemi SACCOS and talk about starting an AMCOS here.  We also would like to go back to another service but our schedule is pretty busy so we are not sure we will make it.

It is always good to be at Ihemi!

We were greeted by Mama Mbembe.  She is the widow of the pastor who greeted us on our first trip here in 2001.  She is a delightful woman who makes sure she is always around to greet us when we come.

Our friend Aloyce is the one who hand dug a 70 foot well for Ihemi.  It ultimately failed, but it was amazing how he went down a small hole and dug the well by hand.

Pastor John Mhekwa was there to greet us.  We know John from the Ugesa SACCOS.  He was in Minnesota last year and came to some dinners at our house.

Pastor Luci Fweni, the Ihemi Pastor, came over and greeted us.  Her father came over today to see us as well.

Immanuel, the SACCOS treasurer here, came over to see us and have chai before church.

The church was packed today.  As we walked into church people kept greeting us.  Finally we got to the alter where the choir was singing.  One of the choir members had to stop dancing and give Sandy a hug (Tom got one too).

The Mlandege chior was visiting today.  After church Pastor Donald Kiwanga, the new Ihemi District Pastor, insisted we all have our picture taken.  (He is in the red robe.  His wife is on his right).

The auction is always a lot of fun.  The congregation gathers outside while the choir sings, then the auction is held.  We bought a chicken for the Pastor.

On our way home we stopped at Aloyce's house to arrange for this year's Easter eggs.

A day at Ipogolo

Today we visited Ipogolo.  Ipogolo is a very short drive from Iringa.  You just go down the hill, turn right, and there you are!  The Ipogolo church is very active.  The pastor’s name is Nixon.  We have known him for several years now.  Last year he was in the US visiting churches and talking about his parish.

We got to Ipogolo around 10 and met with the chairman and a member of the board.  Ipogolo is very well organized.  It currently has 83 members with another 9 working on joining.  We visited in their office awhile then walked over to our meeting room. 

As we were walking over we stopped to look at their new church.  They have been working on a large new church for about 5 years.  So far the walls are up and the roof has been framed.  It will hold about 1,000 people when it is finished. Pastor Nixon tells us he is “whispering for it to get done” so it will be soon. Whispering for something is a common joke with Nixon.  There was a movie he saw on American TV where someone could whisper and things would happen!

We went into our meeting and found 23 members waiting for us.  Pastor Nixon explained that there were two funerals today so many members were gone.  He had been at the hospital in Iringa earlier today to see his wife, Prisca, who has malaria and had to hurry back to meet with us.

Tom gave a brief talk outlining how Iringa Hope works and how funds were used.  He went over some of the numbers that we had found from our interviews including the number of children sent to school, the decline in malnutrition, and the general increase in the family’s health and well-being.  While this is a much richer congregation than most that we visit, there was general agreement that they had seen all of these things happening here too.

The chairman of the SACCOS got up and gave a report.  It was very detailed, giving the number of loans, capital, income, etc.  Overall this SACCOS earned over $4,000 last year.  Their members have saved $11,170 so far.  However, even with this, they had to borrow funds from Iringa Hope Joint SACCOS to make loans to their members.  The chairman told us that last year Iringa Hope had loaned them 11,700,000 TZS (about $7,500) and they were still short about $12,000.

While we were all listening to the SACCOS annual report to the members, a dog walked in.  He kept walking around looking at the members and trying to get some attention.  Several people tried to shoo him away, but he was very patient and persistent.  Finally he lay down in the aisle and listened for a while.

This SACCOS has plans to start work on a small building this coming year.  Like many of our SACCOS they have been working out of a small, closet sized area in a church building.  This year the church has offered to give them some land so that they can build a better place for their SACCOS.  With 83 families in this SACCOS there are 498 people represented here.  They are hoping to gradually increase their membership with a goal of having 150 families – or almost 1,000 people.  They certainly do need a building to support this work.

This is one of the locations where we hope to start an AMCOS (a Farmers Coop) this year.  They discussed this at our meeting.  There is a lot of excitement about doing this here.  Even though this is a suburban church, most of the members farm at least part time. 

After the meeting Sandy interviewed two of the members.  The first person she talked with as Yusta Sailale, 58, and a single mother with 5 children and 6 grandchildren. Yusta currently is supporting herself and 5 other family members.  She told us that she has taken 2 loans.  Her first loan was for $435.  She used this to support her chicken business.  After paying off her loan she had earned $135.  Her second loan was for $830.  She has used this loan to expand her business.  Her chickens are still growing so she does not yet know what her profit will be, still she expects to make a lot more than her first loan.  She used her profit to pay school fees for her children and she deposited some in her savings. 

Sandy next talked to Shadrak Kilamwela, 39, married, with 2 children.  He told us that he and his wife also are supporting some other relatives so that there are 6 people in his household.  His first loan was for $200.  He used this loan to plant maize and beans.  Maize prices were very low last year, so he only made a profit from his beans.  He earned $200 after selling his crop and paying his expenses.  Once again this year he has borrowed $200 to plant maize and beans.  If the prices come back up to their normal range he expects to earn about $600 from his crop.  “Thank God the rains have come” he said.  Besides paying school fees for his older child, he also bought some chickens and a young pig which he intends to breed.  Payment to the owner of the boar will be one of the baby pigs.  He will raise the piglets and then take them to market. 

We had a brief lunch with Pastor Nixon and the SACCOs officers.  While we were eating his son and daughter came over.  His seven-year old son greeted us in excellent English.  He was a bit shy but Sandy got him to talk with us awhile.  Nixon’s daughter is a real cutie.  She gave us a big smile as we were leaving.  Nixon rode into Iringa with us where we dropped him at the hospital to see his wife.  He was hoping she was well enough to return home.

We talked with two board members of the SACCOS.  Look at the wall chart behind them.  This circle chart divides the year into two month segments.  each segment has listed the things that will be going on at their SACCOS.

Ipogolo is building a large church.  It will hold about 1,000 people when finished.

The chairman gave a report to the members.  It is their annual meeting and year end report.  (The chairman is standing.  Pastor Nixon is at the far end of the table.)

The dog kept wandering in and out of the meeting.

Finally it lay down in the aisle and listened awhile.

 The first person she talked with as Yusta Sailale, 58, and a single mother with 5 children and 6 grandchildren. Yusta currently is supporting herself and 5 other family members.  

Sandy next talked to Shadrak Kilamwela, 39, married, with 2 children.  He told us that he and his wife also are supporting some other relatives so that there are 6 people in his household.  

While Sandy did interviews Tom went out and met with the SACCOS officers and board members.

Pastor Nixon's daughter came over and made faces at us.  Tom made an instant friend when he gave her some candy.

At Lulanzi

Today we went to Lulanzi in the morning, then worked in the office in the afternoon.  Lulanzi is about a 75 minute drive into  the mountains of the Kilolo District.  Lulanzi is also the home village of our longtime friend Alex Mhanga.  Last year when we visited Lulanzi we met a delightful old man who told us about teaching in Tanzania in the “old days.”  He was a school teacher in the 40’s when Tanzania was a British colony.  He was there to greet us today along with the officers and the pastor.

Lulanzi started to organize their SACCOS last year after we visited.  They have been slowly working towards getting their capital together and the members enrolled.  So far they have enrolled 34 members and have another 9 working on paying their fees.  They have collected 950,000 TZS – which falls short of the 5,000,000 TZS they will need.  They asked us if we could help them with this, but we explained that we are no longer doing this and they needed to ask their US partner for help if they needed assistance.

The people here are anxious to start getting loans.  They have learned from talking to other SACCOS members that this will help them to increase their incomes.  One of the members came over to Tom and told him he listened to our radio program all of the time and wondered when he would start broadcasting.  There is a group here that gets together on Saturday to listen to the rebroadcast of our program.

Peter gave a class on the rights and obligations of being a member of a SACCOS.  Itiweni explained how Iringa Hope works.  You could see the heads nodding and the smiles as things were explained.  

Peter told us that some of the people have been in a SACCOS before.  Like so many that one was sponsored by a rich family.  The people bought shares, saved their money and applied for loans.  The family then gave a big loan to a relative, closed the SACCOS and left town. 

Having had this type of experience the members are very excited about having an Iringa Hope SACCOS.  In Iringa Hope all of the members own all of the assets.  There is no one controlling member or group. 

After the meeting we went into the pastor’s house for lunch.  We were surprised to be greeted by the daughter of a past Ihemi Evangelist. (Our own partner parish here is Ihemi.)  She is a theology student at the University of Iringa.  She is doing her internship at Lulanzi and came to meet us when she heard we would be there.

While we were waiting to eat Sandy took a look at the ladies preparing “chips”.  They were cooking over a fire in their “kitchen”.  The room was smoky but the women were busy working and ignoring it.  This is a pretty common thing here and accounts for many of the deaths of the women from lung diseases.

As we were leaving, our Ihemi friend asked for a ride back into town.  Along with her came a big basket full of things and a few sacks to take into town market to sell.  If we hadn’t been visiting at Lulanzi her alternative transportation would have been a bus to Kilolo followed by a short walk to catch another bus to a bus station near Iringa and then walk the rest of the way, which would have been a 4-5 hour trip. 

Tom spent the remainder of the day at the University with the MFI team.  When he left the others were still hard at work and they will be with us again all day tomorrow (Saturday).  We aren’t sure of the hours that our staff keeps the rest of the year, but when we are here they put in a lot of very long days.

When we got to Lulanzi we were surprised to see our "Bush teacher" from our last visit.  When we were here last this 90+ year old man told us about being a "Bush teacher" back in the 40's.

Lulanzi lies in the foothills of the mountains a 75 minute drive from Iringa.

The past Evangelist's daughter was here to greet us.  She is currently a theology student at the university.

This is our "Bush teacher" friend.  He had lots of good questions about how an Iringa Hope SACCOS would work.

Sandy took a look at the ladies preparing “chips”.  They were cooking over a fire in their “kitchen”.  The room was smoky but the women were busy working and ignoring it.