Magubike

We had a very pretty drive out to Magubike this morning.  It is about an hour’s drive from town towards Ruaha National Park.  The town lies in a bowl surrounded by hills with tall rocks.  As we pulled up the Pastor came out from the church and greeted us.  His young son came wondering over and got some candy.  Sandy noticed that his shirt matched her dress, so we had to take a picture.  There were lots of laughs and more candy!

When we were last at Magubike they had 58 people here to talk with us.  At that time they believed that there were 150 or so people who would join the SACCOS.  One year later they are just submitting their paperwork to go from a “group” to a SACCOS.  It seems that after we gave them some lessons on what they needed to do many people decided to wait and see.  We were told that people were being cautious due a government SACCOS that was here not too long ago and went broke, taking people’s savings.  The government SACCOS had been charging insurance and fees that totaled 30,000 TZS plus interest at 3.5% per month.  The loans were only made for a maximum of 300,000 TZS for three months.  If you put this together you find that the SACCOS was charging 20% for three months or 80% per year!  As a result some people defaulted and others took their money out of the SACCOS.  The government manager started to make large loans to his friends who, of course, all defaulted.  Soon the funds in the SACCOS dried up and it went broke. 

We talked a little about the members and the area.  There was a government survey of this area two years ago.  At that time the average income was $400/year (the Pastor thinks it still is).  The main crop was tobacco but the villagers made very little from it.  They mainly grow maize, beans, and spinach.  Since they get good rains all year here they can grow 2 or 3 crops.  As a result most people have some crop to harvest several times a year.

About two months ago we opened a bank account for them and helped them place 5,250,000 TZS in their account.  Using this they made 14 loans of 300,000 TZS ($200).  Since it has only been a short while they do not have any results yet.

We reminded them that as soon as they get registered we have some funds which we are holding for them to use.  They thanked us for this and wanted to talk about our business plan competition.  Tom described what it was and then talked a little about what should be in a good plan.  This group has been  wanting to buy a press for sunflower seeds.  Tom had talked to them about it last year, then went over their plan, and tried to explain to them the many things they were forgetting.  This year they once again wanted to talk about getting a machine.

We talked about this and the many problems with this type of business.  Finally they seemed to understand and the pastor told us that he would take our advice and work with the members to try to find a simpler business to go into.

As we were leaving Sandy spotted a cow.  The pastor here is trying many new things.  He has a milk cow, a calf, some pigs, and a few goats.  He is selling milk, goat meat, and pork.  He hopes to build up his animal herd.

Finally we got in the car and headed to town.  Tom had meetings at the University and we needed to stop along the way to talk to the Mlendege pastor, Mangolisa.  We are hoping something can be worked out so that Isakilolo, the SACCOS we visited on Saturday, can have a sponsor.  The Mlendege preaching point, Njiapand, is near there.  Pastor Mangolisa offered to check with the Njiapanda evangelist to explore the possibility of linking the Isakilolo SACCOS to the Mlendege parish. 

The town lies in a bowl.

The rocky ridges are very pretty.

The Pastor's little boy's shirt matched Sandy's dress.

We met with the officers of the SACCOS.

  

Several female members served lunch.

On the way out Sandy spied a livestock pen.  The Pastor is raising cows (for milk). goats, and pigs.

It is really a pretty valley on the way home.