Kilolo

Today we went out to Kilolo.  Kilolo is normally not a bad drive.  You go down the hill on the tarmac, make a right then left turn, and head down the dirt road.  The road itself is often not bad, but we had been told by many folks that the rains had turned it into a minor river.  We decided to hire a driver for the day (they only cost $20) rather than fight the mud.  To our surprise the road was dry! 

We have mentioned before that it was raining every day here for the last 2 months, but on Saturday it stopped.  There has been no rain since then and the forecast is for no rain for the next 10 days.  With the hard pack soil around here it tends to dry out fast.  While slick and greasy when wet, once the water disappears it gets pretty hard pretty fast.  As a result the road was more rutted than normal but dry and hard.

It is usually a 45 minute drive to Kilolo from Iringa, but today it took us a little over an hour; not bad for a drive that a few days ago was leaving trucks stranded and cars sliding around. 

Arriving at Kilolo we found only 2 people waiting for us – the new vice chairman and the old secretary.  The secretary started to make excuses that there were other church meetings, village meetings, etc. but Itiweni cut him off.  She smelled a rat and she was not going to listen to his excuses.

The Kilolo SACCOS has been slow getting started.  When we first went there in 2012 there was a group of 34 who were very enthusiastic and wanted to start a SACCOS.  The first year they collected a small amount of capital.  The second year they were given 3,200,000 TZS so they collected the remaining funds needed.  By 2014 we had gotten them to organize themselves and become a “group.”  This took a lot of work on our part and is the first step in registering as a SACCOS.  When we visited them last year they had made a few loans and the members had good results, but they had not grown their membership nor had they grown their capital.  At that point we were worried that they were becoming more of a “click” than a SACCOS, so we worked with them to expand their membership and finish their registration.  We talked with the pastor at Kilolo about this and he agreed, and said he thought the leadership was the real problem.

Late last year Peter went there with the co-op officer and looked things over.  The co-op officer chided them for making no progress and they once again promised to finish their work and admit new members.  Today it appeared that they had once again failed to follow through.

Tom started to talk and Itiweni politely cut him off.  “It is time for Itiweni to be the bad cop,” she said.  She then proceeded to lecture the two officials about their failings, the consequences, and what they needed to do.  The secretary had started to say they had repaid their loans and were working to move forward.  Looking at the records however it was clear that this was not true.  “Do not lie to me,” Itiweni told him.  He quit talking and said nothing from then on.

The new vice chairman, a “traditionally built woman” who owns a beauty salon, started talking and she and Itiweni talked for a long time.  Wondering what was going on we called Peter over to translate for us.  He said that the vice chairman told Itiweni that everyone was late on their loans.  They all said they were going to pay in a few months, but she didn’t believe them.  The old officers hadn’t done anything since they too were late.  She said that the real problem was that the group had decided that the SACCOS must be owned by the church and so they were only taking out “church money.”  Since they were all members they decided they did not need to repay the loans or do anything.  She said that the ringleaders of this were the old officers.  The old secretary said nothing, but just sat there. 

Itiweni reminded him that we do arrest thieves.  She reminded him that the money was NOT the church’s or his nor anyone else’s to give away.  She told the new vice chairman to make a list of what was owed and to go around and demand payment, making it clear that if they do not pay we will be back with the means to make them pay.

We also noted that the membership of this group has not grown nor changed in the years since they started.  Every year we are told of people waiting to join – but none ever seem to do this.  The new vice chairman laughs a little and says that this group does not want to let any others in so they have been happy to not have it grow.  New members would only make new demands.

We were very proud of Itiweni and Peter.  Every time Tom went to say something they told him that they had already said that or were doing that.  What a grand thing!  Five years ago when we started our work this would not have happened.  The change in these two is very gratifying (and, I believe, just what is needed to keep things working).  We had said that starting this year we would make NO decisions and run NOTHING here in Iringa since the MFI team and the Iringa Hope Joint SACCOS board can run it all themselves, and here was proof.

Peter and Itweni made a plan with the new vice chair to have another meeting in a week or so at the village center.  The meeting will be announced as a village meeting on the SACCOS.  At this meeting we will have the old officers thrown out and new ones put in.  By the time of the meeting the new vice chairman will have collected as much as possible.  We will then have the village chairman start the legal process to collect from everyone else.  We think that they will be able to collect all of the funds.  The members are clearly worried about us collecting and will likely pay quickly.  They have heard about us making arrests in Nyanzwa and they don’t want this to happen in Kilolo.

At the meeting other villagers will be invited to join the SACCOS.  This is a key step to breaking up the “click mentality”.  Most of the SACCOS are 85% church members and 15% from the village at large.  This type of mix seems to keep the SACCOS from becoming a small group and helps it work and grow.  For a SACCOS to really work well you need good participation.

Peter and Itweni seemed satisfied that this location will start working soon.  We hope so for the sake of the members of this parish.

As we left Kilolo and headed back to town Sandy and I were pleased to see that Itiweni and Peter  have grown so much and can handle things so well. 

Tomorrow we are off to Ilambilole.  Right after that we are heading to the town of Mbeya, which is about 300 km from here.  The University has asked us to go and take a look at their campus there and give them some advice on it.  They are hoping to cut costs and attract more students.  We will be going with their Vice Chair of Academic Affairs and the Interim Vice Chair of Resources Management. We will be gone until late Thursday night and so will not post until Friday.

We were told that a few days ago this road was a minor river.  The hard-pack here dries fast so today it is just a badly rutted road.

The secretary started to make excuses but Itiweni cut him off fast.  After that he just sat there and made a sour face.  He knew that he was in trouble.

The new vice chairman is a "traditionally built woman."  She listened as Peter and Itiweni chewed them out and told them what they had to do and how long they had to do it.

The new vice chairman seems very pleased to get things going.  She was happy we came.  "We really need this SACCOS here.  Other groups come and go, but I know that Iringa Hope is here to stay."

One thing Tom loves to do is give the children candy.  It seems however that Peter and Itiweni are now doing that too!  "What is left for me to do!" Tom whined.

Right now the crops look good.  If the rains really stop things should turn out well for the farmers this year.