Mwika

Our next adventure took us to Mwika for 3 loooooong days.  Mwika is up the road from Marangu, which is the village located near the Marangu Gate to Kilimanjaro National Park.  It is up in the hills -- lots of water so lots of bananas, corn and vegetables grown.  Wonderful views of Kili from just about everywhere. 

First stop was Kotela  Technical/Vocational School which is our partner for producing the school uniforms and school desks we sell as "Special Gifts" in our Asante Network online store.  Stan brought a suitcase full of woodworking tools for their woodshop and we had some experimental solar lights for them to try.   Turns out they didn't like the idea of giving battery operated lights to the students and then charging a few shillings to re-charge the lights using the solar system they have.  One more example of a great idea in our Western minds, but one which simply wasn't workable in the Tanzanian village reality.

Stayed at the Babylon Lodge (why on earth it is named that is beyond me!)  It is really lovely with a central courtyard, dining room, well appointed rooms, but . . . this is Tanzania, after all . . . no electricity in the entire area!  So, we walked down the road to Marangu, then way up the road towards Kili.  It is so very beautiful in this area.  We had dinner by candlelight, no cold beer, and only cold water in the bathroom.  So, it was a cold shower which is, of course, better than no shower -- especially after the dusty roads.

Next stop was to visit some of our micro-loan recipients.  Tuesday is market day in Mwika, so we were heading for the market to find Mama Irene, who received a micro loan to start a used clothing business.  She had done so well 3 years ago, that she is mostly paid up on her original loan.  We found her walking to the market so we took a sidetrip up to see her small shamba (farm).  Four years ago when I first met Mama Irene, she was living in absolute destitute poverty.  Her husband is an alcoholic; her children were malnourished and tiny for their age; she had no animals, no garden, nothing.  Only her occasional work with Miichi Women's Group provided her with a small income.  Today, her shamba is flourishing.  She and her neighbor cooperatively raised a cow; they sold it and split the money; she bought her own cow.  She saved a little from each market day, and bought herself 2 goats and a pig.  The pig had piglets which she sold for the money to buy a second pig.  She will purchase her second pig once she is finished enlarging the pig-pen.   She has chickens as well, so her children have plenty to eat.   They are doing well in school and her clothing business has been upgraded to a shoe sales business, which is more lucrative.  She is a stellar example of the power of micro-loans, support, hard work and good business sense.  But mostly hard work!.

We visited Glory next, who received a large loan to construct a workshop for her sewing/tailoring classes.  She has finished the workshop, purchased 9 sewing machines, does quite a bit of the sewing for Miichi Women, employs 3 people and currently has 2 students.  Unfortunately, she hasn't seen the necessity of paying back much of the loan, so we are working on ways to motivate her.  We are thinking of with-holding some of the payment for the clothing she sews for  Asante as well as reminding her that other women are unable to obtain loans since she hasn't repaid hers.  Priorities, and all that . . .

We also had the opportunity to visit a pre-school which is supported by Stan and Kathy's church.  One man from Mwika started the preschool 3 years ago -- he told us on our last visit of his dream.  I wanted to bring home every one of those little cherubs!  A friend from home had bought me a bag of the inflatable punching-bag balloons in blue, printed to look like globes.  I inflated one, then handed out the rest to the teachers, James, Stan and Kathy and the head honcho pastor in the area along with his wife.  We had so much fun blowing up the stupid things, and then playing with them with the little kids.  Talk about the room ringing with laughter and excitement.  Kids everywhere just want to play.  James is doing so well with the preschool; he is a woodworking instructor at Uwuwo Vocational School by day and runs the preschool in his spare time. His wife just had a baby, but the baby was born premature, so the wife and baby are in Dar es Salam at the hospital till the baby is big enough to travel.  James next goal is to open an apprentice-ship school for graduates from the vocational school.  He recognizes that they need some experience  before they can be certified and hired for employment, and his goal is to provide that opportunity.  He is one of the movers in the area!

Last appointment was to spend the day with representatives of Floresta (formerly Plant With A Purpose).  I've included their website on the "for more information" column.  They are an amazing organization.  Makes me want to go back to work full time, just so I could work for them.  I'll detail that experience in the next post.





Second night at the Babylon -- no electricity.  No electricity in the area also means no ATM!  And no ATM means no cash for Lydia to take to the market.  Probably a good thing, actually.  Cold water in the shower wasn't too bad but no water in the morning wasn't wonderful.