A Day at Tungamalenga

Today we went out to Tungamalenga.  Tungamalenga is about 150 km (94 miles) from Iringa on the road to Ruaha.  Driving down the road Tom was going about 50 km/hour (30 mph) but it seemed more like 60 or 70 because the road is in such bad shape. 

When we got to the village we went into the SACCOS office for chai and a chat.  The chairman apologized for the poor turnout.  One of the church members had died the day before and most of the members were at the funeral.  In fact, he wondered if we might have a shorter meeting so they could all go to the funeral afterwards (funerals here are often all day events with most of the village in attendance). 

The SACCOS here has been doing very well.  It has 74 members and has turned a profit every year since it started.  Last year it earned over 7,000,000 TZS (over $4,000) while its members earned another 50,000,000 TZS (almost $30,000) profits on their loans.  Looking at their records it seems that their average member earned about $540 in profits – a huge amount for someone whose normal income is only $300/year!

There were two things that really helped this SACCOS last year – 1) they were able to borrow about 20,000,000 TZS ($12,000) from Iringa Hope thereby increasing their loan capital from 17,000,000 TZS to over 37,000,000 TZS and 2) we got permission for them to experiment selling fertilizer to their members.  What does it mean to get permission?  Since a SACCOS is a type of financial entity it is prohibited from selling things.  In order to legally sell fertilizer they need to form an Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (or AMCOS).  Starting this process is in fact one of our goals today.

We discussed some of the details of how Iringa Hope Joint SACCOS works, looked at their records, and discussed how they might work on their AMCOS.  When our meeting with the officers concluded we met with the general membership.

There were 29 members at today’s meeting.   Peter updated them on some of the rules and regulations of a SACCOS.  We introduced our new employee, Nuru Lugalla, to everyone, then Tom talked a little about Iringa Hope and what it means to be a cooperative.  Everyone was very attentive and asked some good questions.

Finally Itiweni started telling them about forming an AMCOS.  “And who here would be interested in joining an AMCOS” – immediately everyone’s hand shot up and people started clapping.  The chairman told Itiweni that he had taken a survey and everyone in the SACCOS said they wanted to join.  He told us that there were a number of people who bought fertilizer from them last year that wanted to join one too.  They decided to select a new chairman (an AMCOS needs to have different officers than a SACCOS so they will need to do an election for this) and start collecting names and entrance fees.  They want to make sure that they are organized by this fall.

As the meeting wound down and people started to go to the funeral, we asked to interview two members who we have not spoken to before.  The first member we talked to was Stefania Nginga, a 54 year old divorced mother with 4 children and 3 grandchildren.  Stefania has taken out 3 loans since she joined Iringa Hope.  Last year she borrowed $190 for planting rice and ground nuts (peanuts).  She said that she estimated that this increased her profit by $450.  She took this profit and used it to buy ground nuts and rice from local farmers which she took to Iringa and sold in the market.  This more than doubled her money so that she wound up with a $970 profit for the year!  She took some of this money and added it to her savings while she reinvested the remainder in her farm.  Her most recent loan was for $630 which she has used to plant and fertilize her crop of rice and ground nuts.  She is looking forward to a large profit this year.

The second member that we interviewed was Petro Mahenge, a 32 year old married man with 2 children.  Petro took out a loan from Iringa Hope for $190.  He used this for his rice fields.  After harvesting his fields and paying off his loan he had a profit of $550.  He used his profit to repair a room in his house for his children, and then bought two cows and a goat.  He explained that with the cows and the goat his wife could increase their earnings by selling milk.  He has now taken out a second loan for $380.  He is using this loan to expand his rice farm. 

Although his children are currently too young to go to school, he told us that he is getting ready to send them through secondary school and on to trade school. 

We finished the day by talking with the pastor.  She kept thanking us for working to bring the SACCOS here.  Both she and the chairman told us over and over how much their SACCOS has changed life in Tungamalenga.  It is exciting to think of what changes their AMCOS will bring to their community.

Tungamalenga has a very nice building for their meetings.

First we met in the SACCOS office with the local officers.

When Itiweni started talking about forming an AMCOS everyone got excited.

When she asked who would join an AMCOS all of the SACCOS members quickly raised their hands.

After the meeting Sandy interviewed two of the members of this SACCOS.

The first member we talked to was Stefania Nginga, a 54 year old divorced mother with 4 children and 3 grandchildren.  Stefanie has taken out 3 loans since she joined Iringa Hope.

The second member that we interviewed was Petra Mahenge, a 32 year old married man with 2 children.