Mkimbizi

Today we had a pretty easy day.  I say “easy” because we went to visit Mkimbizi.  Mkimbizi is located on the north west part of Iringa, not too far from Tumaini.  The drive over is short and easy to make.  Being in town the members of this parish are mainly “in business” with less than 10% farming.  (Being in business includes raising live stock for market – probably the main activity of the members)

When we got to Mkimbizi the pastor was waiting for us.  We went over to his office while he called the members to come to the meeting.  While we talked about their companion relationship, the church, and their SACCOS start up efforts, the members were gathering in the meeting room.

“Immanuel Lutheran has been a very good partner,” the pastor told us. “They have sent 24 students to school, they have supported a CVP demonstration plot, they have sent money to start our SACCOS, they have helped us in the 1,000,000 tree project, and they are now helping us with a motorcycle,” he proudly said.

When we went into the meeting room we found that there were still only a few members there.  Tom took the occasion to give candy to children in the street.  Finally 14 members gathered and we began.

This SACCOS currently has 61 members.  Among these are 10 non-Christians.  Since the SACCOS is in town there are alternative micro finance banks around.  I asked the members why they wanted to start this one rather than use one of the existing ones.  One woman told me that the other ones she had belonged to charged 4-5% per month and she could not make any money paying that much (we suggest 2% per month).  Another person said that she kept trying to get a loan from a different SACCOS, but the loan committee there only gave loans to their relatives (possible).  Another one said that the SACCOS she had belonged to was guaranteed by the government so the members often defaulted on their loans.  Whenever they did this the members lost part of their capital.  Overall there seemed to be a variety of reasons that people had for not feeling that they had real alternatives.

We proceeded with our meeting.  Itiweni gave them some lessons Rights and Responsibilities of  SACCOS members.  She urged them to come to Tumaini soon and get a constitution that they can register (they have not applied for registration).  They promiseed to send their leaders to the next training session at Tumaini. When the meeting was over we interviewed two of the members, both of them women.  This SACCOS has a large majority of women members; 49 women to 12 men.

The first woman we spoke with was a Muslim who had joined the SACCOS last year (10 out of the 61 members are non church members).  Farida, 39, had borrowed $140 to develop a clothing “kiosk”.  She explained that she took her clothing from village to village where it was auctioned off.   Her second loan was for $400.  She used this to expand her merchandise and upgrade her kiosk.  Taking her profit from this kiosk she is now able to pay school fees for her children (one is in technical college and two are in secondary).   She is also planning to raise chickens.

Esther, 61, and her husband Weston, 70, took a loan of $140 to buy some cows.  She gathers the scraps and grass from her neighborhood, fattens the cows, and then sells them in the market.  Her second loan was for another $140 which she used to buy some pigs.  She now has piglets which she will raise to sell in the market.  She currently has 2 children at college.  She is using the profits from her business to pay school tuition. Her next venture will be to buy some “better” cows from which she hopes to get milk!

Overall the people at this SACCOS seemed to be working well together.  They have made 21 loans so far (it has been running less than 2 years) and have a 100% repayment rate.  They hope to get another $10,000 in capital to loan to their members.

We got home today at 2 PM – amazing!!!  Tomorrow is Sunday so we are not doing any visits.  We will most likely go to Cathedral with Itiweni and her daughter.  We try to go to different local churches when we are here.

We arrive at the church.  Mkimbizi is located on the far end of Iringa near Tumaini University.

The pastor fills us in on the many things they are doing with Immanuel.  Quite a difference in his office from the village churches!

The meeting finally got started.  I think that the introductions and closing comments took longer than Itiweni's class!

A member of the SACCOS stops by to tell us her story.  She was very enthusiastic telling me that her loan was "a must."

This woman is a Muslim member of the SACCOS.  She has developed a portable clothing kiosk she takes to villages.

Esther is 61.  She is fattening and selling cattle to help her children go to school.