If this is Saturday this must be Nduli!

On Saturday we were off to Nduli.  Nduli is on the far edge of Iringa near the airport.  It is a short 20 minute drive down the new tarmac from where we are staying.  Nduli is Roger and Trish Blomquist’s partner parish so they joined us there.  We set off about 9:30 for our meeting.  Along the way we picked up Peter Silayo, our SACCOS Coordinator.

We got to Nduli at 10 sharp – but no one was waiting for us.  Tom walked around and looked at the new pastor’s house – they have been building this for several years now.  Soon the Blomquists arrived and we all went to the pastor’s house for chai while we waited for people to show up.  This is the first time that the SACCOS officers have not been on hand to greet us.  Peter had been in phone contact with a SACCOS officer who told him that people were indeed going to attend the meeting.  After a long wait and several phone calls we learned that we would be meeting outside by the community center and not at the church as we have done in the past.

We walked the short distance to the community center and there we found 35 people sitting in the shade of a tree waiting for us.  Nduli is close to town so that many of the members here have jobs in town that keep them busy all week.  This leaves Saturday as their day to work on their shambas (farms) so we tend to have smaller groups at our meetings.  We were pleased to see about this many of the members waiting here.

This is a fairly large SACCOS with 120 members (soon to be 134).  In addition to their own capital they were able to borrow 15,000,000 TZS last year (about $10,000) from Iringa Hope.  Even with the loan from the joint SACCOS they didn’t have enough capital to give loans to all of their members.  As a result, some of the members who wanted larger loans have waited almost two years to have a turn borrowing. 

After the chairman opened the meeting, Peter gave a greeting and then Tom had his turn.  As part of his remarks, Tom always reminds our members that Iringa Hope belongs to them and them alone.  This is important because so many of our members are worried that we might have a connection to the government or some family.  They all know from experience that either of these things will not be good for them.  Tom talked a little about Iringa Hope, explained how the money is used (Peter talked more about this later) and then told our members that this year we are planning on starting 6 AMCOS (Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies – or Farmer’s Coops) and the Institute of Agriculture, represented by Roger Blomquist, is sponsoring Nduli.  This resulted in lots of applause and then Roger took a few minutes to explain the relationship of the Institute of Agriculture to the AMCOS that will be started soon.

Following Roger’s remarks Sandy gave a brief greeting.  She discovered that one of the women on our 2015 calendar (Ms January) is from Nduli.  Sandy also recognized one of the women from a dramatic presentation on women’s empowerment that was presented on the International Women’s Day a couple of years ago.  The mama blushes when she was reminded of her roll in that production. 

Peter gave a class on AMCOS, and the differences between a SACCOS and an AMCOS.  There were lots of good questions and lots of enthusiasm.  One member wanted to make sure that neither the government nor any “wealthy people” are involved in Iringa Hope.  We don’t understand Kiswahili so the pastor translated the question and answer session for us.  Peter does a thorough job of answering the questions that are raised.  Peter told everyone that our AMCOS will be the same as our SACCOS, that is, it will belong to the members and only to the members.  We think that it is very important that our members own and operate everything and this meeting certainly endorses that idea.

There were some children in the group with their mothers so Tom got to be the “candy man”.  Most of the children don’t seem to realize that there is candy inside of the shiny foil wrapper, so they often just play with it.  There was one little girl who sat on her mother’s lap for the whole meeting just playing with her treat and she never did get the foil off.

When our part of the meeting was over the SACCOS members held a meeting to talk about organizing an AMCOS and we sat down for interviews with a couple of the members. Our first interview was with Witness Kiweli.  Witness is 22, married, and has two young children.  She has taken out two loans.  Her first loan was for $900.  She combined this with $300 she and her husband had saved to buy a motorcycle.  Her husband then started providing “taxi” service (this has gotten to be very common here).  They paid off their loan in less than a year and have been earning about $160 a month since then.  Her second loan was also for $900.  Using this she and her mother-in-law went together and bought a “three-wheeler” which is basically a motorcycle with a small trailer attached for making deliveries.  Their profit from this vehicle is about $280 per month – so they will soon have recovered their investment.  Witness explained to us that she had to wait over a year for her first loan – but she did not mind, she knew that the people who wanted smaller amounts should go first.  Witness has used her profit to increase her savings in the SACCOS and now she and her husband are starting to build a new house.

Next Sandy talked with Petro Mpogole, 46, and married with 5 children.  Petro was the first chairman of this SACCOS.  He did not seek reelection when his term was up so that he could focus on his business.  Petro told us that he did not take out a loan while he was chairman because he wanted the others to go first.  After his term was up he took out a loan for $900 to start a beverage distribution business.  He bought a small shop near town, bought some stock, and started supplying the small dukas (shops) in the area.  Petro told us that he earns about $150 per month – or $1,800 per year - from his shop.  He has now paid back his loan and is hoping to get a second loan to expand another of his shops.  When we asked him about his children he told us that he has one child in secondary school, one going to the University in Dar es Salaam, and one going to the University at Dodoma.  We laughed together when Sandy told him that we didn’t need to ask him what he did with his profits; he pays for all of children’s schooling.  With five children all of school age, we understand all too well where the money goes. 

As we were leaving the chairman called us over to the ongoing meeting.  “Mr. Tom and mama Tom” (they don’t seem to realize that Sandy has a name of her own), he told us (in Swahili, so the pastor had to translate) how grateful they all were for the SACCOS.  He told us that the SACCOS is making big changes at Nduli.  Incomes have risen among the members, there are many children being sent to school, and there are new houses.  It is really amazing what a difference a small loan makes for our members.

When we arrived at Nduli the SACCOS officers were not there.  Usually they are on hand to greet us and talk about how the SACCOS is doing.

After having chai and waiting for about an hour Peter found out that the meeting is under a tree by the community center.

When we got there we found the officers and some members waiting for us.

Tom told the members that the Institute of Agricultural was going to sponsor an AMCOS at Nduli.  Roger Blomquist from the Institute was there so he had to get up and talk.

Sandy had noticed that one of our "calendar girls" was from Nduli.  She also noticed one of the women who had been in a play here at Nduli a few years ago.  As the pastor pointed her out she blushed and everyone laughed.

Tom gave the children candy.  This little girl did not know it was candy but she liked the way it crinkled and enjoyed the bright colors.  She sat in her mom's lap and played with it while the meeting took place.

As Peter explained an AMCOS most of the members took notes.

 Our first interview was with Witness Kiweli.  Witness is 22, married, and has two young children.  She has taken out two loans.

Next Sandy talked with Petro Mpogole, 46, and married with 5 children.  Petro was the first chairman of this SACCOS.  He did not seek reelection when his term was up so that he could focus on his business.