Iringa Hope visits 2014: A visit to Itungi

We have been to Itungi several times before; this was our fourth visit. We learned last year that they were planning on starting a SACCOS, but their treasurer stole the money that they had saved. Through persistence they are now positioned to start again.

Itungi is a forty minute drive east of Iringa on the road to Dar es Salaam. Turning off the tarmac at Ilula, we drive another 10 minutes or so to reach the village! The new Pastor and several of the SACCOS leaders met us. The view from Itungi is wonderful!

We waited in the church office where we spoke with the SACCOS leaders as the members gathered. A pre-school is located next door and class was in session. We stepped in for a visit and the “candy-man” (aka Tom) gave out the usual treat to the children and the teacher had the children sing for us. To the tune of “Are You Sleeping” they sang “Baby Jesus, Baby Jesus, I love you, I love you. You are my savior; you are my savior, etc.” The song was accompanied by actions of rocking the baby – very sweet!

The SACCOS meeting was held in the new church. This SACCOS is ready to be registered – but they need more members to do so. They currently have 23 members but need 50 to register with the government. They told us that many of the people who were planning on joining got discouraged and withdrew. We have arranged to get them a temporary number so we can open a bank account. We feel confident that once they start operating more people will join.

We started the meeting by introducing ourselves and extending greetings. Itiweni then gave a class on how to become members, explaining the need to save, what the privileges and obligations are, etc. One member asks about the very high failure rate of SACCOS (70% fail within two years while over 90% fail in 4 years.) She told the group that after 6 years we have had no failures.

Someone asked it you have to be a Lutheran to join. The answer is “no”, our SACCOS are sponsored by a Lutheran college, diocese, and a non denominational organization, Iringa Hope. Everyone who is honest and trustworthy is welcome.

There were many other questions – the people attending the meeting are very hopeful that we can help them be successful. It is good to see how they have persevered through their difficulties.

We spoke with two members about their hopes for participating in their SACCOS. Stella Nyaluke, a 40 year old mother of 5 told us that she and her husband have been struggling to support their family of 7 on their 3 acres of corn. She told us that they know that they should be using fertilizer on their crops, but they can’t afford to buy any. They are hoping to borrow $200. Using the yields that others using fertilizer have gotten as their point of reference, they expect to add $600 to their income. With this increase in their income, they hope to be able to send their two oldest to secondary school, pay for primary school for another, and still have money left to improve their farm.

Our second interview was with a delightful man, retired Pastor Nyandango, 71. Pastor Nyandango has 6 children and 4 grandchildren. Currently he is supporting five people. He would like to borrow $265 to plant sunflower seeds. He believes that after repaying his loan and all costs he will earn about $350 from this. He plans on using this money to help his daughter and 2 sons pay for their University fees in Dar es Salaam (fees are $200/year there).

Tom interviewed the new SACCOS leaders to gather more information, then it was back to Iringa for our radio program! Alan Brutlag, a MN farmer and our guest for the week was the featured guest on the show. With Itiweni interpreting Alan discussed co-ops in the US. Shortly after he finished talking the calls started coming in. Questions raised were “How do co-ops help the farmers in the US?”, “What do the co-ops do to help with prices?” and so on.

We were pleased to hear a question the next day at Tungamalenga that told us that people were listening and interested in how US cooperatives have helped the American farmers through the years – but that is fodder for our next blog!

As you perhaps have guessed, we are a few days behind in our blogging. That’s because we have been putting in such long days that by the time we return to our apartment we are “too pooped to pop”, as the saying goes.

It is a pretty drive up the hills to Itungi.

We were met by the Pastor and SACCOS officers.

A great view from up here.

Even the littlest ones get candy from the "candy man."

We visited the children at their lessons.

We each made opening statements.

Stella Nyaluke, a 40 year old mother of 5 told us that she and her husband have been struggling to support their family of 7 on their 3 acres of corn.