If this Thursday this must Mgama

Today we traveled out to Mgama.  Mgama is a 45 minute drive southwest of Iringa.  The greater part of the trip is on the tarmac, and then we take a dirt road heading south. 

It was raining very hard as we left town.  Between the rain, the windshield that would not clear, and the ground fog that was blowing around it was hard to see.  We stopped along the way to pick up a friend who wanted a ride and arrived in Mgama about 10:00.

When we got to the town there was a large crowd of people milling around. Surely these were not our members?  Once inside we found that only about 11 or so had come for our meeting (our smallest turn-out yet).  It turned out that there were two things going on today that involved much of the town and many of our members.  The first thing was the death of a village member who died suddenly yesterday; most of the members had gone to the funeral today.  This happens often here in Tanzania where the life expectancy is in the 40’s and burials are always within 24-48 hours.  

The second thing was that a 4 year old girl had been raped today and a number of villagers had formed a posse to go and get the man responsible.  When they got to his house they found a large field of marijuana growing there.  The group wanted to beat him but the local police (they are volunteers) managed to tie him up and take him to town.  

Transportation to town was by motorcycle, with the driver in front, the suspect, with his hands tied behind his back, in the middle, and a third man riding behind him, apparently a sort of village authority.  They were holding him in a small room behind our meeting room and when the authorities were ready to take him to town he was lead through our meeting space.  We were told that the victim would be taken to a hospital where she would be checked for HIV-AIDS and that if brought to the hospital within 72 hours of the assault, she could be given some sort of preventative treatment.  This was explained to us by non-medical people, so if you are up to speed on HIV-AIDS treatment, please excuse our ignorance.  We were also told that punishment for rape of a child was 60 years in prison. 

We met with the SACCOS officers in the SACCOS to get the basic information on how their SACCOS is performing.  Mgama is a fairly new SACCOS.  Last year it had 47 members.  This year it had shot up to 93.  We were told that once the farmers in Mgama realized that our SACCOS was really going to work to help them, there were many people eager to join.  The members of the SACCOS decided that instead of limiting the number of new members they would limit the loans!  As a result they decided that every member who applied would be awarded 180,000 TZS ($120) no matter how much they applied for.  As a result they felt that they could make 85 loans and admitted more members (there is still a waiting list of over 40 people).  This meant that most members borrowed less than half of what they wanted – but they all felt that it was better to admit more anyway.

Their repayment rate for these loans was 100% on time and in full.  Their SACCOS made a profit of 3,200,000 TZS ($2,000) last year and is projecting a profit of over 4,500,000 this year. 

We left the office and the general meeting was called to order.  We all introduced ourselves and Itiweni gave a lecture.  This area gets more rain than many places in Iringa.  As a result they can raise crops all year round.  Still, the soil is not the best so they must use fertilizer to get much of a crop. 

This SACCOS was another winner of our business plan competition.  They had made a plan to open a fertilizer shop.  Using the small grant we gave them (about $800) together with the money for the loans for fertilizer from members, they opened for business.  When we visited their shop they had been open for a few weeks.  Already they were down to a few bags of fertilizer. They told us they were just trying to break even for now, but they had somehow wound up with a $600 profit!  Their main problem was was that they did not have enough money to buy the necessary inventory to meet the demand.

After our visit to the shop we visited with the Ward Executive.  He told us that the SACCOS has made a great difference in the village of Mgama and that he wished that all of our villages in his ward could have a SACCOS.   We talked for awhile about how we work and why our SACCOS succeed when others fail. 

We interviewed Pastor Mgeekwa about the loan he had taken out.  Pastor Mgeekwa is 45, married and the father of four.  In addition to his children, he supports his aging parents, who live in the neighboring village of Ugesa.  He told us that he took out a loan for $200 early last year.  From this loan he made a profit of $400.  His second loan was for $120 (remember this is the amount that they decided everyone could have).  He used this for fertilizer and is expecting to have a $200+ profit from this.  He is using his profits to send his children to secondary school and for starting construction on a house.  He told us that he wished their SACCOS had enough capital so that all of the members could borrow enough to run their farms. 

Thursday night is the Microfinance radio show on Radio Furaha.  Tonight Tom is talking about how Iringa Hope gets capital and how it is used.

The road was long and wet today.

When we got to Mgama there was a large crowd milling around.  What was up?

The door behind Itiweni is where the police were holding the rapist.

This member rose to thank us for the business plan grant.  He felt it was a great benefit to the farmers in Mgama.

We interviewed Pastor Mgeekwa about the loan he had taken out.  Pastor Mgeekwa is 45, married and the father of four.

We went to look at the fertilizer store that they had developed.  They have earned $600 so far - but more importantly, the farmers finally got good fertilizer on time.

Inside the store it was almost bare.  Two weeks ago this are was full to the ceiling with bags of fertilizer.

Candy man Tom tried to give this little girl some candy.  She started crying so Rev. Request gave it to her instead.

As we left for Iringa the sky cleared up and the sun peaked out.