Posted by: WMI President, Robyn Nietert;  February 17, 2012

Leaving Buyobo after 2 weeks was difficult.  The women are so grateful for the WMI loan program and show it with their warm hospitality, visits to the guest house and never-ending invitations to their homes.  As the pictures reveal,  poverty is evident everywhere – but significant and lasting improvements in  household living standards are also evident: new homes, new roofs, paved floors, stocks of grains, beans, and maize, healthy  livestock and long streams of children dressed in school uniforms marching alongside the roadway weekday mornings.  The mood in Buyobo is joyous and optimistic as the entire area is experiencing an economic boom spurred by WMI borrower businesses.

Elders Akaiza and Nelson were on hand to give a send off to Olive, Jackline and me as we left for a week of visiting WMI loan programs and bankers in Kenya.  Olive planned our itinerary as her daughter Liz looked on.

Because all petrol and most consumer goods enter Uganda by truck from Kenya, the border crossing at Busia is always busy and the little immigration office packed.  As vehicles slowly cross the border, moneychangers run alongside to make a deal.

 The road to Siaya, our first stop in Kenya, is paved with potholes and the biggest danger in the 6 hour journey is overturned fuel trucks.  Villagers flock to the scene to collect spilled fuel and as Dominic, our driver, explained – errant sparks from hammering to break open the tank can cause an instant conflagration.

Pulling into the village of Ting Wangi, on the outskirts of Siaya, in the late afternoon, we were met by the WMI ladies in the SIKABU loan group, who led the van into the village center.  The children also got into the act!  We held a staff briefing and planned strategy for our meeting the next day with Co-Operative Bank to discuss the plan to begin transitioning SIKABU ladies to bank loans.  SIKABU’s leadership: Florence Bala. Margaret Akoth, Millicent Adhiambo and Mary Ongao were very conversant with the Co-Op Bank products.  

That evening Mary hosted us in her home, which she was very proud to be enlarging with profits from the business she started with her WMI loan.  Her husband was also on hand to greet us and show off their livestock.  We were given our own private hut for the evening.  By the light of a kerosene lamp, Jackline made our notes for the next day’s meeting.

 Pulling into Siaya town the next day, the 2 main features that stand out are the 2-story bank building and the ubiquitous Coca Cola dealership, which seems to be located in a giant shipping crate.

 The meeting with the bank’s branch manager, Nelson Kwamini, and operations manager, Beatrice Suba, went extremely well and we outlined the transition program terms. Olive and I had a chance to snap a photo with the SIKABU representatives, Florence and Mary, and the bank team.  Later we met with all of the SIKABU ladies to hold a workshop and discuss loan program operations.

The next day w visited WMI borrowers who were just beginning to set up their kiosks in the marketplace.   The SIKABU ladies reported they are doing extremely well with their businesses and those selling produce, grains, milk, flour, salt and other consumables where experience brisk business.

Our Siaya visit was followed by a 4 hour drive to Shikokho village.  The ladies in the Shikokho Women’s Group (SWG) joined the WMI loan program in January 2012.  The village is outside the town of Kakamega, which was bustling with activity – the Shikokho ladies bank at the Co-Op Bank Kakamega branch in town.

 SWG, led by Susan Gusinjiro and Jennifer Miheso, organized a group meeting and Olive and Jackline led a training workshop. 

 Later in the week we had a chance to visit numerous businesses and the owners’ reported that they were carrying on quite well.  The first 20 businesses include a small store selling air time, produce and used clothes vendors, and farmers with very large plots under cultivation.  One of the first WMI borrowers in the SWG lost her husband recently, but has been able to keep her children (who posed in front of their home) fed, clothed and in school with the profits from her business.

One of the most unusual businesses was the gold mining enterprise run by Timina Butichi.  She cares for the 3 children of her daughter and provides jobs for her sons.  With their help she demonstrated how they extracted gold dust from rocks – a practice started by the British when Kenya was a colony.  The rocks are crushed into sand and the grains washed with water until the gold dust separates.  Mercury is then added, which crystallizes the dust and turns it white.  The tiny crystals (weighing about a gram in total) are heated over an open flame so that they turn yellow again, then poured into a small paper tube for sale at the local market, where gold fetches $25.00/gram.  It is a time-consuming and exacting process that Mary reports she learned from her grandparents.  She also reports it is extremely profitable.

   Jennifer hosted us in her home for several evenings and showed off the supply of firewood for sale that she had accumulated with her WMI loan.

At the end of the week, we headed toward Kisumu on Lake Victoria, where I boarded a plane for Nairobi and Olive and Jackline headed back to Buyobo with Dominic.  It was sad to leave the BWA team after nearly a month together, but the time was extremely productive.  In Nairobi, a very cosmopolitan city of about 2.5 million, I met with Co-Op Bank officials at the main office for follow-up discussions on transitioning the Kenya loan groups to bank loans.  Barbara and Richard Jones (the sister and brother-in-law of WMI board member Deborah Smith)  were  my very accommodating hosts.  Richard, an agricultural specialist with the International Fertilizer Development Center (a non-profit focusing on critical issues in food security) has just joined the WMI advisory board.

This trip saw much progress among all of the WMI loan group partners.  Olive Wolimbwa now manages a staff of 17 in Buyobo and supervises all of the other loan hubs as well.  She has become the face of WMI in East Africa.  She and her team are doing a tremendous job on behalf of rural women throughout the region.  They are bringing about transformative change in the ability of poor, rural women in East Africa to access financial services and join their countries’ formal economy.

 Twenty-one hours after leaving Nairobi , WMI’s month long visit to East Africa ended with a smooth touch down at Dulles Airport.  Lots of photos, videos and reports to follows in the next WMI Update!

Staying in the Mafabi guesthouse next to the WMI building provides a chance to experience the rhythm of everyday life in rural Buyobo.  Mornings start with a visit from Wamboza and his little brother Mafabi.  They like to touch anything left on the sitting room table.  Lilian rules the kitchen.  On the drain board she usually has some freshly picked greens, like skumaweeki (literal translation: “push to the end of the week” – so named because it is cheap and if you are broke it can get you through until the end of the week).  Uganda’s popular soap – Imperial Leather – seemed to have a very odd name until someone pointed out the second word had one “e” too many.  During the day there is always time for a visit with village elders Nelson Gutaka and Akazia Wesomoyo, who live near-by.

Children are everywhere in the village.  Uganda has a population of about 31 million and over 50% are under the age of 18.  Whenever I am out walking children typically yell, “Muzungu, how are you?”  I always answer, “I am fine.  How are you?”  And they parrot back in perfect, clipped English, “I am fine.”  If I speak first in Lugisu they laugh and carry out the usual exchange of greetings in hysterics.  If I get as far as, “Bukulanga nano?” (What is your name?), they are too breathless from laughing to even answer!

Attending school is a high priority and every morning the road is full of students walking to class.  After school, children help with household chores.

The three new classrooms constructed and decorated with assistance form the Walt Whitman High School interns look great.  Teachers use the huge wall map of Africa for geography lessons.  All classes have regular library hours when students can check out one of the 2,000 donated books collected by WMI supporters.  The teachers are extremely grateful for all of the support.  They held a meeting to report that student performance on the national exam given at the end of 7^th grade has vastly improved in the past year.  They attribute it in large measure to the new classrooms and books.  They are also extremely grateful for the “tea and bun” program funded by the interns.  Many walk a great distance to school and they appreciate the small refreshment that awaits them.

Most of the Buyobo Primary School classrooms are a wreck; however, hope may be in sight.  A discussion with the Regional District Commissioner during the graduation ceremony led to follow up meetings at Sironko District Headquarters and a pledge of support for repairs in 2013.

The WMI building is being well maintained.  The small annex that was just finished in January adds much needed storage space.  During the day there are typically staff members on hand to sort documents and update records.  The fabulous Allen Namerome, WMI’s secretary, is usually at her post typing local coordinator reports.

When we travel with the WMI staff, Dominic’s van is jam-packed.  He is usually helping in the never-ending search for gas for the cylinders, which are used for cooking.  There is a shortage throughout the country and frequently no supplies are available for days on end.  It doesn’t take long to make daily rounds of the local petrol stations.

Whether being invited into homes, stalking goats, feeding animals, checking out the brick-making, touring businesses, hanging out at the local shops, chatting with the ladies, or visiting my favorite baby across the street who reveled in his daily mashed avocado feast, there is dawn-to-dusk activity in Buyobo.  I am happy to report that villagers attribute much of the economic activity to the WMI loan program and the impact it has had jump-starting small business development.

We were very happy to hit the road to visit the borrowers in WMI’s loan hub in Konokoya.  It is a mountainous area about 3 hours from Buyobo.  The roadside is lined with hundred year-old trees that were planted to shade the way for travelers.  Unfortunately, most had been cut down, branch by branch, for firewood or construction.  The road is now exposed to the full force of the intense sun (Uganda is on the equator) so it is a hot and dusty trip for the villagers who walk it each day.  Most of the time we end up driving on the side of the road, as the huge potholes would wreck the van’s suspension.

Barbara Wybar at the Bududa Vocational Institute partnered with WMI to organize the women’s CBO in Konokoya and launch the loan program there in January 2011.  Jackline Namonye, Irene Wetaka (one of WMI’s senior trainers) and I made up the travel team.  We spent the evening together in the AAH guesthouse, sharing a room where I had time to tell them about the uniquely American tradition of Pajama Parties.  They thought it was hilarious that a teen-age girl would pack up her overnight bag just to go down the block to sleep at another teen-age girl’s house for absolutely no reason – and that mothers would permit this!  Then I demonstrated a pillow fight.  Sharing cultural traditions is a big part of the WMI experience.

The next day Konokoya borrowers were very happy to host a repeat visit – it had been almost exactly one year since I had last been there – and the welcome was warm and raucous.   Jackline and Irene held a training workshop with the highlight being the presentation of the WMI gift of a lantern to the best savers from the previous loan round.

The borrowers were very marginalized when the loan program started and are now doing quite well.  The third loan group of 20 launched in January and the ladies were eager to show off their businesses.  Anna Apio, a tailor, made a dress, which the loan group presented to me as a gift, and I asked her to share her story:

Anna got her loan last year and with it bought a bundle of used clothes, which she sold quickly.  She then used the profit to buy a sewing machine and began making clothes on order for customers.  Very soon thereafter her husband was in an accident and broke his thighbone.  He could no longer work, and she became the sole support of her family, which includes 3 small children.  Anna began making school uniforms and obtained contracts for aprons.  She paid for her husband’s medical bills and all of the family expenses out of her profits.  Anna estimated that the supplies for a ladies’ dress cost about $7 and it takes her about 3 hours to complete.  She sells each dress for $12- $15.  Her husband has just now started working again.  He is from the far western part of the country near the Congo border, so his relatives were too far away to help when he was ill; but now that he is traveling again, he scouts out different fabrics and materials for her to use in her own dress designs.  They are planning on adding only one more child to their family, and she is hoping for a girl so she will have 2 of each!  Anna was very frank in explaining that without the WMI loan and her tailoring business, she does not know how she would have supported her family during her husband’s illness.

Betty Bigale is the loan group’s head coordinator, and she took us to see her stationary shop where she posed proudly with her son, a teacher, who helps out on school holidays.  Betty said the shop is doing extremely well as she and her staff can use the computer and the Internet to provide much needed communications services for the local villagers.

Betty Bigale

Janet Wakhata is also a tailor.  She’s 38 and has 4 children.  She owned a sewing machine and bought material and supplies wit her WMI loan.  She mostly makes custom order items for women and their families.  She has improved her home with the profits from her business, including purchasing many simple household items (like dishes) that her family could not previously afford.

Fareeda Mahyali was eking out a meager living by making and selling charcoal – a difficult and dirty business.  When she got her WMI loan she bought an inventory of shoes.  These brightly colored plastic slides are worn all over the country.  She sells at least 20 – 30 pairs a month; but during the holidays or when school terms begin she sells many more.  With her profit she has purchased chickens and a goat.

Olivia Wabwire is 39 and has 3 children aged 7, 12 and 17.  She said she is not having any more children because she is too busy with her business!  She runs a well-stocked, double-wide shop and small café, selling everything from, soda, beer, snacks, airtime, batteries and pens to laundry detergent.  Soda and beer sell very quickly in the hot dry months of December – March.  One crate of soda costs her about $6 for 24 bottles and she sells the crate for $10.  These days she sells about 3 crates/day, making a profit of about $12/day on soda alone.  The daily profit on beer adds another $5/day.  She was proud to report that each and every day she saves $2 in a small box.  She was also proud to report that she uses her profit to pay school fees for the children, all of who are doing quite well.  Betty, Jackline and Irene enjoyed one of Olivia’s sodas on the house.

Sarah Mutano is 36 and also runs a shop – hers stocks basic food supplies, like bread, sugar and salt.  She used her loan to buy inventory and the shop is going on very smoothly.  She smiled and said she was very happy for the WMI loan and has used her profits to buy medicine for the family and to expand her business inventory.  While we were there a bodaboda driver stopped by, called his wife on his mobile, and then bought a loaf of bred and zoomed off on his motorbike.

It was wonderful hopping from business to business on Konokoya’s main street and seeing all of the economic activity spurred by WMI loans.  There were many more businesses in the hills, surrounding countryside, and further down the road that we did not get a chance to visit.  Next year!

(Disclosure: All the really good photos in this blog were taken by Greenlight’s Perry Shimon or Erick Mafabi)

February 5, 2012

Graduation Day and So Much More!

The annual WMI Graduation Day is a major event for borrowers.  Planning takes weeks – it’s their special celebration to acknowledge all of the hard work they put into running their businesses and administering the loan program all year long.  It also honors those borrowers graduating to bank loans with PostBank Uganda through WMI’s transition to independence program.  The ladies assembled early and Olive began the day with one last practice session for their new song:  “Where WMI Found Me: Deep, Deep in Poverty”

Before long, controlled chaos took over.  The 3 mile march to the Sonoli Trading Center and back in 95 degree heat was a raucous event.  The borrowers wore their support group colors and took great pride in marching to the beat of the local brass band.  The WMI muzungus (“foreigners”) hung in there for the entire duration – but were pretty beat by the time the WMI building came back into view!

Olive Wolimbwa and Jackline Namonye (WMI’s Director and Assistant Director) led the graduation festivities, while dignitaries enjoyed the ceremony under the shade of a canopy.  With a little help from above (and coaching by the ever-helpful Erick Mafabi), I was able to deliver greetings and a short speech of gratitude and encouragement entirely in Lugisu (with only minor translation by Jackline).

The guests from The Greater Contribution (TGC), led by Karon Wright, President, were introduced and Karon had a chance to talk to the ladies who are the beneficiaries of TGC’s much-appreciated contributions to WMI.  As representatives of Greenlight Apparel, Perry and Nikki (attired in a traditional Bigisu gomezi) were also introduced to the crowd and Perry had his chance to congratulate the ladies on their success.

The Woman Counselor for Sironko District was one of the guest speakers.  She was just elected last year and is a WMI borrower.  The ladies were very proud to send one of their own “daughters of the soil” to the regional government.  The daylong event had some time for offline discussions with local officials, including the Regional District Commisioner for Sironko District.  In his speech, he talked about possible local funding for Buyobo community projects and a few minutes of private discussion led to some important follow up meetings.

The TGC team was invited to participate in the ceremony, handing out gifts to best savers and ladies graduating to independent loans.  All of the gift giving was followed by ladies dancing in joyful celebration.  Not to be outdone, the boys in the band got into the act with some precision teamwork.   They were followed by a group of young ladies singing an ode to WMI, accompanied by some pretty well coordinated dance moves.

It was a great day for the WMI loan program, the Buyobo community and the ladies of BWA.  And, the next day we got up and did it all over again as we traveled 2 hours to Bududa, where the WMI partner CBO, The Maya Agiri Economic Development Group, held its first graduation celebration.  In April, the first group of borrowers in Maya Agiri, who started in the program 2 years ago, will transition to bank loans.  Imagine our surprise when pulling up to the town we were met by the same brass band from the day before!  While the ladies marched, The WMI contingent was treated to a ride in open top vans.  Looking like Lawrence of Arabia, Nikki found herself a perch for enhanced picture-taking.  Naomi Mugdawa leads the loan group and she was very proud to be accompanied by her husband to the festivities. Ladies brought a great variety of crafts and homemade clothing to show us the types of businesses they operate.  Again we were treated to singing and dancing and songs praising the WMI loan program.  The Regional District Commissioner for Bududa was the guest of honor.  He was very impressed with the WMI loan program and let the ladies know it, to their enormous delight.  Once again to our great surprise and delight we learned that the representative for Women to the Regional Government in Bududa was a WMI borrower.  Arlington Academy of Hope, WMI’s partner in the Bududa loan program, was extremely generous in allowing the ladies to use their meeting hall for the festivities.

While the WMI representatives, TGC contingent, and BWA ladies trekked to Bududa, Perry decided to stay behind and investigate the options for starting a business of making scarves from local fabrics and then selling them on the Greenlight web site.  First he indulged in a bead bath, entranced by the colors and texture of the handmade jewelry.  He and Erick tracked down beautiful bolts of cloth in the marketplace, hired Phoebe, a local WMI funded tailor to run up the scarves on her machine, and then Erick was the model in some shots for their web site.  Perry thinks the scarves will catch on with young men – we’ll let the ladies decide!

The WMI loan program’s reputation for supporting rural women is spreading throughout the county, particularly in Eastern Uganda, where it was launched 4 years ago.  Olive and her team are contacted almost daily about starting loan hubs in new villages.  Because the loan program has maintained a 100% repayment rate and also because we have limited resources, we are very careful and strategic about expansion.  The BWA ladies and I hit the road to visit new groups in the Mbale area and investigate the possibility of adding them to the Buyobo operations.  All of the drives start out passing through Mbale, where the traffic and haze are near constants. The drives are can be long and dusty, with the van bumping down dirt roads seemingly to nowhere, until a town pops up on the horizon.  Ladies are always eagerly waiting to hear Olive speak about the WMI loan program model.  Representatives from other villages also travel to Buyobo to inquire about the loan program.  While I was there 2 pastors from Kapchorwa, about 3 hours by public transport, came to meet with Jackline and me to see if we could bring the loan program to the poor women of their village, perched on the steep hillside on the Wanale range.

Back in Buyobo it was loan repayment day.  What a sight.  Women streamed to the WMI building in public vans, squished 3 to the back of a boda-boda motorbike and on foot and in groups crushed shoulder to shoulder in the back of pick-ups.  Children cavorted outside the building (with boys turning every stick they could find into toy guns) and one women hoeing nearby completed her payment and then returned to her work.  Inside the building, WMI’s Local Coordinators collected the loans and carefully tracked the payments in their ledger books.  Then the PostBank van pulled up and their clerks went to work.  Using the internet café as an office they accepted savings deposits from borrowers and filled withdrawal requests.  WMI Coordinators also went to the window to deposit the loan repayments.  PBU setting up a remote banking facility every 2 weeks in the WMI building is an enormous asset to the rural community and people have appreciated the efforts PBU has made to serve the needs of rural Ugandans.  Plus, the armed guards make everyone feel more secure with so many cash transactions being handled.

There was some time left in the week for staff training and team-building.  The BWA Local Coordinators and trainers gathered in the WMI building for an afternoon of camaraderie.  We did an exercise where everyone drew a picture of a dream they have for their future or something they like to do.  Staff members picked the pictures out of a bag and tried to guess what the picture was about and who drew it.  Then the artist had a chance to explain her drawing.  It was a great way for the women to learn more about each other and to discover new aspects to each other’s personality.  Some of the drawings were quite extraordinary. I can assure you that these women are dreaming big and working hard to make their dreams come true.  They are also open-hearted, generous and extremely community minded.

This exercise was followed by a hilarious jigsaw puzzle session where we tried to assemble a puzzle of the world.  The ladies loved the idea of working together and understood how each piece was different and important to assembling the whole picture – jut like each team member is different and important if the team is to reach its goal.  So that point got made long before the puzzle was completed.  I kept suggesting that we put it away and finish another day but the ladies were on a role and determined to complete the world.  They would not quit.  Caution: when buying jigsaw puzzle for first time users it is better not to get one where three-quarters of the puzzle in blue ocean!  We were there until well after dark.  Thank goodness for the solar lights in the building.

Gulu to Buyobo

After the training of the new loan group in Gulu was completed, the second week of the trip found us heading to Buyobo.  It’s a 6 hour journey over a very dusty, crumbling road. Leaving Gulu-town the contradictions stand out. Many NGOs are operating in the area because of the international aid available to rebuild conflict zones. New facilities to serve the NGO community are evident.  But the economy was shattered, so most people are still living well below the world poverty line for the very poor – those existing on less than $1 per day.  Those in the city live in closely confined shacks, while many in the surrounding villages live in traditional mud and wattle huts with grass roofs.

Before leaving town, we stopped to visit the PostBank Uganda branch manager, Vincent Oneka, so that Olive could introduce herself as WMI’s Local Director.  Eventually, the ladies in the WMI loan hub in Gulu will transition to bank loans from this PBU Branch.

The road from Gulu to Buyobo offers lots of opportunities for commerce.  Doing our part to spur the economy, we stopped to scoop up some great looking potatoes and oranges.

Our purchases were loaded into the empty water cask we were carrying.  School is out during all of January so there were lots of children helping their mothers sell produce along the roadside.

Welcome In Buyobo

While we were traveling from Gulu to Buyobo, WMI’s first set of guests, Perry Shimon and Nikki Hodgsen from Greenlight Apparel in California, had arrived in Mbale and were trying out the boda-bodas while they waited for us to pick them up.  Boda-bodas (motorbikes for hire) are the most common way to get around bustling Mbale town and the surrounding villages, but are not especially safe.

Greenlight is supporting WMI with a percentage of the profits from its T-shirt and apparel business.  The company sent Nikki and Perry to Buyobo for a week to make a short documentary about the WMI loan program.  Nikki blogged about their experience and you can read about her impressions of Buyobo and the WMI loan program on the Greenlight web site: greenlightapparel.com.

We finally met up with these two intrepid travelers a mere 36 hours (with no sleep) after they had left the San Francisco Airport.  They pretty much drowsed and fell asleep soon after climbing into our van, only to be shocked awake 45 minutes later by a human tsunami.  Dusk had descended by the time our van arrived in Buyobo, but as soon as we slowed down near the village center, a cheering crowd of women surrounded the van, flung open the door and pulled all of into the singing throng.  Ululations pierced the still night air as we danced our way to the WMI building.

Interviews

After a great night sleep at the new Buyobo guest house built by the Mafabi family, I used my limited cooking skills to show everyone how to make French toast on the gas cylinder in the kitchen.  Perry provided the attire for the day: Greenlight T-shirts, which Erick Mafabi (left), and Shafick, our dedicated driver, modeled.

Perry and Nikki headed off for a day of interviewing borrowers and filming them at work at their businesses. Jackline Namonye, WMI’s Assistant Local Director showed off her passion fruit juice making business, which she compliments with a supply of freshly boiled water packaged into small plastic bags so that school children and laborers can buy a long cool drink of clean water.  She also sells sodas and was able to buy a refrigerator with profits from her business.  Her business is doing extremely well and she has moved on to an independent loan of $500 with PostBank.

Ester’s jewelry business was next on the tour.  She has become an expert at beading, creating her own designs, and selling her jewelry at marketplaces between Kampala and Buyobo.  She has switched from renting to living in a small house she built on the outskirts of Kampala.  Sometimes women in the village assist her in beading when she has large orders.  Ester also now has a loan directly from PBU.

Allen and her husband Ambrose buy and sell beans, coffee and produce, switching inventory as the growing seasons change.  Allen too has an independent loan with PostBank and her business profits allowed her to build a new house and send all four of her children to boarding school.

Sarah is an expert pancake-maker, assisted in the business by her sons and their friends. She has a steady stream of customers at her shop all day long.  Truckers also stop on a regular basis and buy in quantity, then resell the pancakes along their truck routes.  She is now able to pay school fees for all of her children and is thinking of opening another pancake shop.

Sylvia is a nurse and operates a drug store.  She is authorized to dispense antibiotics and other drugs that would require a prescription here in the USA.  She has added on a store room and is thinking of expanding to add a diagnostic room.  She is also in the transition program and now has a loan directly from PBU.  Across from Sylvia, a WMI borrower left her husband in charge of her well-stocked shop as she went to town to buy inventory.

Olive then translated as Kamida told her story of her growing restaurant business that has provided income for her family to expand their house.  She is catering throughout Sironko District now.

Grace, also running a drug shop, was treating a man who had been injured by a panga.  Both drug shops carry on the spot malaria test kits, HIV test kits and SDS test kits.  This is a huge service to the community as people can now obtain these simple diagnoses in the village instead of traveling all the way to Mbale.  These services were not available before these drug shops were able to obtain inventory with their WMI loans.

Muzungus trooping in and out of borrowers houses all day long was pretty disruptive, but the borrwers loved talking about their businesses.  The filming generated a lot of curiosity among the babies and village children.

Field Day Practice

Next on the agenda – practice for the sporting competitions the ladies decided to add to the WMI graduation ceremony this year.  All the favorite events were represented: 100 meter dash, three-legged race, sack race, bottle race and the highly skilled and fast moving netball.  It’s like basketball (but the hoops have no nets) without dribbling.  Once you catch a pass you can not take a step, you can pivot on one foot and must pass to another player who is free.  The blocking was quite vigorous, pretty much anything is legal and there was a lot of hacking going on to prove it!  Somehow I was coerced into running the 100 meter dash despite being old enough to be everyone else’s grandmother.  I am pleased to say I suffered my wide-margin last-place loss with dignity.  WMI representatives prevailed in the next heat as the quick-footed Nikki edged out the competition to win by a nose.  The whole village turned out for practice each day and for the final competition.  It was a wonderful family event and people thoroughly enjoyed all of the competitions, cheering boisterously all day long.  The only breaks in action were to clear livestock from the field that had wandered into the midst of the chaos looking for greener grass.   Helping organize the event was a terrific team building experience for WMI and BWA and a way to give back to the Buyobo community as a whole.  It was also a thank you to the ladies in the loan program who consistently maintain a 100% repayment rate.  Organized community social events like this are not that common and everyone appreciated the effort that went into making it a success.

Mutufu Market

The next day the second set of visitors arrived – a contingent from The Greater Contribution in California, led by the organization’s president, Karon Wright.  TGC has been a huge supporter of WMI for the past two years and their financial contributions have helped enable the loan program to continue its expansion.  WMI greatly appreciated the adventurous spirit of the entire TGC contingent in traveling all the way to Buyobo!  The five guests wanted to see the WMI loan program in action first hand.  Kim, Alison, Melba, Susan and Karon were able to participate in the WMI graduation ceremony and see the joy and pride of hundreds of ladies who are involved in the loan program.

The afternoon was spent at the Mutufu Market – a huge open air dirt plaza of free enterprise where anything and everything is available under the broiling African sun of late January.  The marginally organized chaos is an assault on all the senses.  Produce, traditional herbs and medicine, regional textiles, dry goods, second hand clothes, knock-off designer purses, local fast food and entertainment vie for your attention. The blind accordion player sang a poignant song entreating listeners:

“Just because I have disabilities does not mean that I don’t have any abilities”

The view from John's boma.

On January 2nd, I arrived in Tanzania near the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. The mountain’s snowcapped crater glistened in the afternoon sun on an unusually clear day. It was a 3-4 hour drive from airport to the town of Karatu, which is the closest town to Alailelai Village, where the loan hub is located. In Karatu, I met John Kitamwas, who runs the Alailelai Maasai Sustainability Organization (or AMSO), which is a local NGO that is already operating a scholarship and goat project with support from Judy Lane and the Maasai Sustainability Initiative. In Karatu, I also met up with Judy and her niece Margot.

John (at right) with his friend Ng'tait in Nainokanoka.

Together we drove out to the village, which took another 2.5 hours made more difficult by the fact that it was getting dark and after you pass through the conservation area gate (20 min from Karatu) none of the roads are paved.

However, we eventually made it and were welcomed by John’s wife, Ngalai. She shared her home with us, and we fell asleep quickly (although the first night I woke up a lot because I was cold—at 9,000 feet the sun is really strong during the day but then as soon as it sets the temperature drops significantly even though you are more or less on the equator).

The next 3-4 days we spent meeting people in the community, organizing the documents and training materials for the launch, setting up accounting and administration protocols for the various projects (goats, loans and scholarships), and opening bank accounts. Opening bank accounts took an entire day because we had to drive to and from Karatu (a 5 hour round trip) as there are no banks closer to the village. Many people invited us into their homes to have a cup of tea, and some women gave Judy, Margot and I gifts of jewelry or in Judy’s case a beaded walking stick.

Ngalai writes borrowers' names into a notebook which she will use to keep track of loan repayments.

Langajang and his wife Teresia with their daughter. Langajang will be assisting John with the scholarship program.

The landscape around Nainokanoka and Alailelai.

Alailelai is nestled between craters in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and geographically is quite different than other places WMI has worked in Uganda and Kenya. The land is savannah-like, and there are few trees. Bomas (groups of circular houses) are located hundreds of feet apart, and there are no roads connecting them. People have large numbers of livestock and the hillsides are speckled with small groups of cattle, sheep and goats generally tended by boys in bright red and purple shukas—textiles, often plaid, worn by the Maasai (see first picture).

One day we went to a bi-weekly market in the neighboring village of Nainokanoka. Unlike Uganda, where villages are all on top of one another and you can walk 500ft and be in a new village, Nainokanoka was about 10-15km from Alailelai. Nainokanoka more closely resembled some of the villages in Uganda with buildings packed close together and square-shaped houses with tin roofs. The market was bustling as hundreds of Maasai had convened to buy and sell a variety of goods—livestock, beads, textiles, sugar, salt, cooking oil, and the ever popular Coca-Cola products.

People walking home from the market.

On Friday, at the local primary school, we held a review of some of the business training concepts that the trainers had taught in November. We also discussed the importance of the support group meetings. Because borrowers are so spread out, they are organized into support groups consisting of 10 members instead of 20. Ngalai was elected to oversee the administration of the loan program, and she helped those who had trouble reading and writing to take down some notes so that someone else in their families could assist them with bookkeeping.

On Saturday, John read out the loan agreements, and we officially issued loans to the first 20 borrowers (Blue and Red groups) amidst a lot of excitement and some initial confusion with the paperwork. Some people had walked upwards of 10km (maybe more) and were still there at 8am ready to receive their loans. Some of the women were accompanied by there husbands, who wanted to hear the loan terms. Later in the afternoon, John convened a meeting with the village elders to review AMSO’s projects (loans, goats, scholarships). After some initial debate, the elders approved the projects (they had also previously taken part in selecting the women who would be eligible to receive loans, the students who would receive scholarships and the poor families who would receive goats). Dealing with the distances and lack of infrastructure will certainly be a challenge, but with support from the community and AMSO, we hope that the first group of borrowers will succeed in expanding their businesses and repaying their loans.

Judy and Ngalai manage the loan distribution.

Ngalai helps Lahaine to affix her thumbprint to a loan agreement.

Ngalai hands someone a loan.

Nailogo uses her thumbprint to sign a loan agreement.

A number of borrowers from the Blue Group.

A number of borrowers from Red Group.

Sunday was our last day in the village, and we said our goodbyes and thanked people for their hospitality. In the early afternoon we made the long journey from Alailelai to Karatu. On Monday we drove to Arusha, a large town about 3 hours from Karatu and 50km from the airport. I made the final leg of the journey to the airport in a rickety bus, which customers literally had to jump on and jump off as the bus slowed down but didn’t often stop to pick people up or drop them off. Mount Kilimanjaro was shrouded in haze—none of the (quickly receding) summit glaciers visible, and small dust devils tore through the arid fields along the road that appeared to melt into the horizon in the heat.

Until next time—

Montana

Judy and Montana dressed accordingly for the loan program launch.

After a very productive week in Kampala, I hit the road to visit existing loan hubs and meet with women interested in establishing new ones.  Last Saturday we visited the women of our partner CBO in Wabulanga B village, near Jinja, about 2 hours from Kampala.  The ladies began dancing as soon as our van came into view.  Olive, Jackline and Penina from Buyobo were with me to train the loan groups for the January loan issue. This loan hub started in October of 2010 and the first group will transition to bank loans in October of this year.  Their businesses are doing very well, and we think there will be a smooth transition.

That evening we had a very scary drive back to the city on the Kampala-Jinja Road in the dark.  This is not a road one should be traveling after sunset, but the training had taken longer than expected.  The entire road is lined with stores selling every item imaginable and much of the stock will show up in the markets of Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the DRC.  It seems everyone’s favorite time to shop is Saturday after dark.  Bars and restaurants are numerous, their clientele spilling over onto the roadsides.  Children are off from school and outside in droves, weaving in and out of the merchandise displayed right next to the road.  The traffic is non-stop.  Giant trucks with men perched on the tops of huge sacks of grain try to squeeze through the most improbably small gaps between vehicles.  People think nothing of darting out into the road to stand in the middle and wait for a break in the traffic to sprint to the other side.  Kids love to run alongside the cars that are moving slow enough so that they can grab on to the rear fenders and get dragged along for a couple of yards.  It is nerve-wracking.  If you pick up one handy hint from this blog let it be: DO NOT TRAVEL THE KMAPALA-JINJA RAOD AFTER DARK!

After the harrowing experience of Saturday night, we had a tranquil drive Sunday morning to the town of Mpigi about 2 hours south of Kampala to meet with a group of women from Volunteer Action in Development (VAD), who would like WMI to consider opening a loan hub in their nearby village.  First stop of the day – banana purchasing so we don’t starve on the drive.

Led by Noeline Nagaddya, the women assembled to hear Olive talk about the WMI approach to microfinance.  They were extremely interested in the program and asked excellent questions about various aspects of program operations.  One of VAD’s organizers, John Boscoe Lubyayi, a former MP, joined the meeting to translate and offer ideas for financial support.  VAD has received funding for the past 10 years from Ilsa Schumer, who mobilizes funds for them in Germany.  Ilsa had learned of WMI through our web site and sent the information on to John, who then contacted us.  John was very optimistic that Ilsa would be interested in helping to fund the launch of a new program in Mpigi.

On the way back to Kampala the typically slow moving traffic came to a standstill as we neared the site of a recent car wreck.  A speeding tractor trailer truck had smashed into a van, totaling it – the occupants had just been rushed to a nearby clinic.

On the way back to Kampala we stopped for another snack at a roadside fast food place.

Monday morning we headed out for the 6 hour drive to Gulu, picking up Hope Okeny outside of Kampala.  Hope had contacted WMI last spring to see if we would consider starting a loan program with women she works with in the north. Gulu was the hub of fighting in what many characterized as Uganda’s 20 year Civil War between the Northern Acholi and Nilotic speaking people and the Southern Bantu speakers.  It was the site of many atrocities perpetrated by Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.  Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their traditional homelands and their children were abducted to become child soldiers.  The economy of the area was reduced to shambles and has been slow in recovering.  Gulu town itself is dominated by NGOs and their very noticeable, very shiny, very new, imported vehicles.  The road to Gulu crosses the Nile at the dramatic Karuma Falls.

This area of the country is wild.  The roadsides are lined with roving bands of baboon families that chase down your car until your chuck some food out the window.

Olive, Penina and Irene traveled to Gulu to train the next group of borrowers.  This is one of the poorest rural areas WMI serves.  The women had been waiting for three hours by the time we got there and still they paid close attention to the training, with those who could write taking copious notes.  One woman was deaf and she had her daughter sign for her during the entire training.  She was literate and by the end of the day had created a perfect reproduction of the WMI training presentation in her notebook.  This group especially enjoyed the songs Olive and the ladies have made up to convey business skills principals, so we sang quite a few of them over and over again.

I spoke to one of the women from Blue group, Susan, who had launched her produce business in October with her WMI loan.  She told me that it is doing quite well, and she appreciated WMI coming to the Gulu area.  Even though the area has few resources, she said trade is beginning to pick up as they are located on the road to South Sudan.

After the training was over the ladies treated us to entertainment by a dance troupe of former child soldiers.  These young men and women were trained through the efforts of Hope Okeny.  She is trying to establish a cultural tourism business for them, linking up with the nearby lodges of Murchison Falls.  Their dancing was electrifying.  Notice the stuffed mongoose on the back of one of the dancers – as he undulated back and forth it appeared to be biting his neck.  As soon as the drumming began village children came running form every direction and were mesmerized by the performance.

Greetings from Uganda!  I arrived a week ago for a month long visit with all of the ladies in the WMI loan hubs.  This past week was spent in Kampala holding discussions with other  NGOs to form partnerships, arranging for advanced book keeping and accounting training for WMI staff and  experienced borrowers and meeting with PostBank Uganda (PBU) to review ways to improve the transition to independent banking program.

The highlight of the week was WMI’s 3 hour discussion with the managing staff of PBU.  WMI’s partnership with PBU to transition rural borrowers from WMI village-level loans to conventional bank loans and the formal economy is unique in the microfinance world.  Our linkage with PBU is breaking new ground in obtaining access to financial services for poor, rural women in East Africa.  2011 was the first year of WMI borrowers moving to independent bank loans and we looked forward to the evaluation meeting with PBU with both anticipation and anxiety.  Although WMI has been tracking the performance of the independent borrowers throughout the year, and was very pleased with their progress,  it was still the first time the program would be assessed by PBU and critical decisions about the future of the program would be made.

Because of the importance of this meeting, Olive Wolimbwa, WMI’s local director, and her colleague, Jackline Namonye, WMI’s Ass’t Dircetor, travelled from Buyobo to Kampala to attend.  Denise Kalule, WMI’s Advisory Board member in Kampala, who was instrumental in assisting in the negotiation of the terms of the agreement with PBU, also joined the meeting.  Hope Kazahuura and Enos Tweteise from WMI’s loan hub in Kabale, traveled to 8 hours to Kampala to meet the PBU management for the first time as their inaugural loan group will transition to PBU loans in 2012.  PBU was represented by senior management: Olive Namutebi, Head of Business Development, Jimmy Adiga, Head of Credit, Paul Ndhego, Head of Microfinance and Stephen Maasi, Eastern Regional Manager.

As the 6-member WMI delegation waited on pins and needles for all players to settle in the board room, tea was served.  The meeting opened with introductions around the table.  The WMI contingent quickly introduced themselves, anxious to hear PBU’s preliminary assessment of the first year of independent borrowing.  A smile crept across the face of the Head of Credit for the entire bank as he announced the PBU was “very, very pleased” with the results of the first year of independent borrowing and he pronounced the WMI Transition to Independence program a huge success.  PBU calculated that $71,000 in loans were issued and the same ladies had accumulated $70,000 in savings.  There was 100% recovery throughout the year.

The WMI team couldn’t help but break into a round of applause.  We knew the program was moving on quite well but did not expect to have reached these levels of integrating WMI borrowers into formal banking so quickly.

Discussions continued on how to improve the program by fostering higher savings rates, improved training and streamlined procedures.  Suggestions came from all of the meeting participants’, evidencing the ease with which WMI staff is now handling their relationships with their counterparts at PBU.  The Managing Director of PBU, Stephen Mukweli, then joined the meeting to recap the years’ performance and discuss future plans.  He chatted with Olive as an equal, comparing different methods they each use in their respective operations to handle challenges.

This was a wonderful day for the WMI loan program, not just in terms of having the impact of the first year of the independent banking program judged a success by PBU, but also in terms of expanding the capacity of the local women who administer the WMI loan program on a day to day basis.  They are truly taking control of the program and managing its performance.

Please take a look at the pictures and enjoy seeing our WMI ladies in action.

Jackline, Olive and Robyn review WMI’s presentation before the meeting begins

The WMI and PBU teams discuss ways to improve the loan program

Hope and Enos talk to Paul about the transition bank loans as Denise looks on.

Jackline and Olive talk to Paul, Jimmy and Steve

The Conferees take a break

Stephen Mukweli, the Managing Director of PostBank Uganda, greets Olvie Wolimbwa, WMI’s Local Director

The Managing Director, center, poses for a picture with the PBU and WMI teams.

New borrowers enjoy the business training

Hello again to all!

I am Ainsley Morris, Assistant Project Director with WMI. I have just returned from a trip to Tanzania where I worked with Judy Lane’s organization to start a loan program at WMI’s newest loan hub. Judy’s organization, in the process of becoming a US NGO, already has a scholarship program for secondary students and a project that gives goats to the poorest of the poor families in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania.

We came across a lion on our way out of the village one evening!

Judy, Rachel, and Linda attend the Business Training

Upon our arrival in Arusha, TZ we were met by WMI trainers from Uganda and Kenya. WMI’s local director, Olive Wolimbwa, travelled with her assistant director, Jackline Namonye, from Buyobo to Arusha by bus. Their trip took around 36 hours from start to finish—including 2 nights spent on buses. Margaret and Millicent (Milli) arrived from WMI’s loan hub in Siaya, Kenya. Margaret was travelling with her 6-month-old daughter, Montana—named after WMI’s Project Director, Montana Stevenson! We also met up with Rachel Blackmore and her cousin, Linda. Rachel Runs WTWT (Weston Turnville Wells for Tanzania), a NGO based out of England that works next-door to Judy’s project.

John, Jackline, Milli, Olive, Margaret (and baby Montana) at Lake Manyara

The Trainers and Judy entering the Ngorongoro Conservation Area

With John Kitamwas, who runs Judy’s project on the ground, and Ponja Tayai, who runs Rachel’s project, we travelled to Karatu. After purchasing training materials, we travelled another 2 hours into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) to reach the village of Alelailai. The people living in the NCA are of the Maasai tribe—a tribe well known throughout the world for their warrior society and pastoralist culture. We were welcomed with open arms and a lot of dancing. Dressed in the local tribal dress, many pieces of cloth (shukas) tied in capes and draped in different ways, we walked and danced our way to the primary school where the training was to be held.

Borrower paying attention to Olive's training

Olive teaches while John Translates

This initial business training consisted of 40 women who were pre-selected by John Kitamwas and his team (consisting of both men and women). Olive, Jackline, Milli, and Margaret did a great job of making sure that the women were engaged in the training. The Maasai women especially appreciated the “dramas” when WMI’s trainers acted out a couple of women going to through the loan program from getting their loans to paying them back. The training lasted 2 ½ days.

Milli Teaches "Why Small Business Fail"

Ponja takes a turn at translating

Because of a lack of education and not much contact with other tribes, language was more of a barrier than it has been in the past. The trainers from Uganda spoke in English and John or Ponja would translate from English to Maa (the language of the Maasai). If the Kenyan trainers spoke in Swahili, the men would translate that into Maa. Full credit should be given to John and Ponja for their translating abilities that allowed the training to flow very well.

Paying Attention

A borrower participates in the training

After WMI’s trainers left to go home, Judy and I were hosted at John’s boma (home) in the village. A boma typically consists of a stockade for holding cattle, sheep, and goats surrounded by many mud houses. All cooking is done in a fire-pit in the middle of the house, causing the entire house to be filled with smoke for most of the day. However, we were made completely comfortable.

A boma with mountains in the background

A buffalo pokes his head through the bushes

As you can see from the photos, jewellery is a big part of the culture and the local dress. As we went to visit different people’s bomas, we were given gifts of jewellery.

Enjoying the "drama"

Many smiling faces while the Trainers act.

The initial loan issue will be this January. Montana Stevenson, Project Director of WMI, will be travelling to Tanzania with Judy to help with the loan issue and iron out any details.

Judy and Ainsley with the children of John's Boma

A young male lion close up!

WMI’s newest new loan hubs in Gulu, Uganda and Shikokho, Kenya were launched during October and early November.   Olive Wolimbwa, WMI’s Local Director, traveled with her training team from Buyobo, Uganda to both loan hubs to orient the new WMI borrowers and Head Coordinators who will be administering each hub.

To operate the Gulu loan hub.WMI is partnering with the Childcare and Development Organisation Uganda (CDO-U), a registered, local non-profit organisation working with orphaned children and families in the Gulu District.  CDO-U is a story of commitment by its founders, Hope Okeny and Hellen Akwero, to address the challenges faced by thousands of children in Northern Uganda, who have been orphaned by 23 years of civil war and affected by the HIV AIDS pandemic.  Hope and Hellen will run the new loan hub.

In Shikokho, Kenya, WMI is partnering with the Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church and the Shikokho Women’s Group to launch the loan hub, groups that have providing outreach services in this rural areas for the past decade.  The loan hub coordinators are Susan Busolo Gusinjiru (Suzie) and Jennifer Musanga Miheso.  Biographies and pictures of these new loan hub coordinators were just posted on the WMI web site:  http://www.wmionline.org/who/coordinators/local_coordinators.html

Jennifer and Suzie, head coordinators for Shikokho Women's Group

To  Kenya…

Olive and her team braved the fierce rainy season weather to organize the training in Shikokho.  They were joined by two trainers from WMI’s Siaya, Kenya hub, who will be the back-up resource for the new hub in Shikokho. This excerpt from Olive’s Report will give you an idea of the tremendous dedication of WMI’s local staff:

On Friday 14^th Oct 2011 I traveled to Shikoko to train Shikoko women’s Group.

I started the bus journey at 9:00am in the morning and reached at 8:00 in the night.  It rained throughout the day and the road from Sigalagala was impassable. I reached somewhere and I removed my shoes because they were too heavy at that time. The distance which I moved on foot was 3km, imagine.

   Millicent and Margaret from Siaya joined me later, they also arrived when they were wet and Margaret had a baby. We slept at Jeniphers place. Jeniphers and her husband were so welcoming and caring. In the morning of Saturday we went to Shikoko clinic where we conducted training, delayed a bit, and we started at the training at 11; 00am.  40 women turned up for the training and everybody was excited to get a loan, I told them 20 will get now and others will get after may be in January.  The ladies participated very well and they asked very many questions which I managed to answer.

One of WMI’s greatest strengths is the peer-to-peer training and back-up support that it provides to new borrowers and new loan hub coordinators.  The dedication of all of WMI’s local staff helps make the loan program so successful.  The local staff is extremely grateful for all the support provided by WMI donors here in the US.

And on to Tanzania…

On November 23 WMI’s assistant project director, Ainsley Morris, left the USA for Tanzania to assist Judy Lane, president of a new NGO working with Maasai in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NGA) of central Tanzania, in launching the first WMI loan hub in Tanzania.  Judy is partnering with WMI to bring the benefits of microfinance to the disenfranchised women of the Maasai tribe who has been isolated in a sparsely populated and extremely drought prone region of the country.   Previously residing in the Ngorongoro Carter, the women and their families were relocated by the government so that the Crater could be dedicated to tourism. On the same day Ainsley left from the USA, Olive and Jackline Nemonye (WMI’s Ass’t Local Director) left from Buyobo on an 18 hour bus journey to meet the Maasai women and conduct the training.  They were accompanied by trainers from WMI’s Siaya, Kenya loan hub, which will also provide back-up support to the newest borrowers in Tanzania.

We hope to have pictures from the field and an update from Ainsley on the Tanzania experience as soon as she finds a source of electricity!