It has now been over a week since I arrived back in the UK. Being back at university has brought home how affected I have been by my experience in Tanzania, and how much I learned.

Since my last update, I managed to sneak in the obligatory trip to Ruaha National Park, which was a fantastic experience and far cheaper than some of the better-known safari destinations like the Serengeti. I also got a chance to shadow Immaculate, MBF’s project coordinator, to a client meeting in Illula, a rural town a bumpy daladala ride outside of Iringa. Watching Immaculate work tirelessly for four hours, counting and recording repayments, and discussing clients’ issues, I couldn’t help but be impressed by her stamina.

After saying my goodbyes to the Neema Crafts workers and the MBF staff, I began my journey home – which unfortunately involved a bus that should have taken a measly 6 hours eventually arriving in Dar Es Salaam 12 hours later. After collapsing in my hostel bed, I awoke the next day to be shown round a Dar primary school, the Fountain Gate Academy, which is the project of one of MBF’s Board members, Japhet. Seeing the school’s focus on extra curricular activities like sports, and the pursuit of ethics and values through initiatives like charity days and life lessons was really encouraging. After my tour, I waited a few hours until it was time to go to the airport and my time in Tanzania was over.

My time at MBF and Neema was really enjoyable and I met some amazing people. I am really thankful to Five Talents for sending me out to the project and giving me such a fantastic experience.

Dave

My name is Dave and I am currently out in Iringa, Tanzania as a volunteer for Five Talents. Following on from Priya’s blog about the Mama Bahati Foundation (MBF) below, Five Talents have asked me to give you a little flavour of the work I am doing, life in Iringa, and the work that the Mama Bahati Foundation is doing to help the poor in and around Iringa.

I have been following up on various points raised by Priya, and also issues arising from the weekly skype calls between MBF and Five Talents. One of these has been to look at the MBF Loan Tracker – the program by which the MBF team record and monitor loans. As MBF continues to grow, the system they have in place has become harder to manage in its present form. Therefore, in partnership with David, Mama Bahati Foundation’s accountant, we have updated the Loan Tracker to be faster, as well as protecting parts of the system that are prone to errors.

In addition to this, myself and Five Talents fellow Anne Figge have been working on incorporating various ‘indicators’ that arose from Priya’s interviews with clients into the Loan Tracker. This information is now collected as part of the initial loan application for clients, and can provide useful information as to how loans are benefiting clients, and in what parts of their lives. One key differentiator between MBF and other microfinance institutions based in this area is MBF’s focus on clients’ overall development, not just their financial development. This includes, for example, training in various aspects of business for clients who want to learn how to improve their businesses. It is therefore important for MBF to be able to track the progress made as a result of these services.

In addition, I have also been working at another project partnered with the Diocese of Ruaha, Neema Crafts. Neema employs disabled workers and makes an increasing range of handmade products – everything from kangas to solar panels. Working at Neema is very exciting because every worker there has a unique story and an incredibly inspiring drive to learn and better themselves. Life at Neema is also in constant motion – this week should see the installation of a new internet café in the building, to add to the continuing list of projects that Neema has started. For my part, I have been helping teach employees basic computer skills, with the hope that some of these will then be able to take responsibility for the internet café in the future, and also help in the office. I have also been involved with discussing with Destory, the financial director, his workflow and suggesting improvements.

I have two weeks left in Tanzania, and the time has flown by. What I have been both at Mama Bahati Foundation and at Neema Crafts has both been inspiring and challenging, and I am sure it will continue to be so.

I snuck in my first ever safari over the weekend and the experience couldn’t really have been any better. In the 24 hours in the park we saw lions and their cubs, zebra, giraffe, elephants, kudu, impala, mongoose, warthog, baboons, black faced monkeys and more birds than I can remember the names of. And the food, service and accommodation made it an exceptionally comfortable experience. We stayed at the Mwagusi Safari Lodge in bandas, wooden roofs with tents inside. These are no ordinary tents; they have hot running water, showers, a lounge area with reading pit, hammock comfortable beds, they offered the best night’s sleep I could remember. The bandas are set along the Ruaha riverbank so animals can be seen from your bedroom. The evening meal was in possibly the most stunning dining location I have experienced. We were met at our bandas by staff with lanterns who escorted us along the brief path to the Ruaha riverbed for a drink by the fire and dinner under a star filled sky. The banks were teeming with lanterns and the evening was so picturesque I nearly had to stop myself from proposing to one of lions heard in the distance.. And the piece de resistance – tea brought to my bedside in the morning, I could get used to this.

One of the most informative experiences so far has been meeting the MBF clients at centre meetings in Iringa and surrounding areas of Mwembetolwa, Kilolo, Kihesa, Ifunda and Ilula. The weekly repayment meetings take place in a communal hall close to where clients live. At some of these meetings I was able to ask ‘Social Performance Management’ questions developed by Five Talents and being used by their partner organizations globally as a baseline measure of the impact of their work on the lives of clients and those they support. The questions cover nutrition, education, health care, the number of people they support and their access to other loan options. Speaking through Joram (MBF Credit officer) or Immaculate (Programme Coordinator) as translator, the interviews gave clients the opportunity to think out loud about their experiences since joining the MBF programme and how their lives had changed while we gathered information to assess their progress.

What emerged was the loans are not only used as investment capital for developing their businesses but also to assist with making ends meet. Many used part of their loan to bridge the gap from last season’s farming returns, for school fees, and in some cases, for food, as a supplement to rental payments or to develop their accommodation.

Joram and Immaculate with a client in Kilolo

Most of the clients I met do not have a water source in their home; they buy water by the bucket from the owner of a local tap or well. Many are the main breadwinners for their family; some were widows and may also support the children of other deceased family members.

The group lending system encourages solidarity, bringing clients who are already part of the same community closer together. Although clients often support each other through difficult periods, the interdependency also presents a number of challenges where disagreements arise, which the MBF team sometimes helps clients to navigate. It’s clear that clients need all the training, counseling and time that the MBF staff provide to help them progress through these and other hurdles. It’s time intensive for the MBF staff, especially as the towns and villages are spread out at satellite locations sometimes hours from Iringa town.

In other news, I went for a tour of Neema Crafts, a great operation established and run by Susie and Andy Hart. Approximately 10% of the Tanzanian adult population is born with a disability of some kind yet there is a large stigma associated with disability. Neema provides handicrafts training and employment to young deaf and physically disabled in their craft workshop, café and restaurant. The tour was provided by the energetic and welcoming Haruna who showed me the around the workshops and regaled me with animated stories of his trip with a Neema dance group to England last year. The workshop makes fabrics, jewelry, lamps, micro-solar panels and paper products cunningly made from recycled elephant poo. There is now a physiotherapy section at Neema where Steph, my housemate here is volunteering her skills as trainer to the permanent physio staff.

On my first weekend, Andy and Susie took Edd, Steph and I to play volleyball with a group of their friends at the Phillips’ farm. The house and gardens overlook the rolling hills of Iringa, the most impressive setting for a volleyball game I think I have ever seen.

Under a Tanzanian Sky

I am working with the Mama Bahati Foundation (MBF), a microfinance NGO partnered with Five Talents International and based in Iringa, Tanzania. Iringa is a hilltop town at approximately 1600m above sea level. It’s dry season here and a pleasant 26 degrees by day.

I’m here to provide support to the MBF team, to conduct client interviews based on social performance and to share more information about clients with Five Talents UK, donors and others.

I arrived in Dar es Salaam from London over a week ago and took the 8.5 hour bus trip to Iringa, passing through Mikumi National Park. The journey was livened up with giraffe, elephant and antelope spotting and conversation with my neighbour on board, Matthew who was planning to move to Iringa to study at Ruaha University.

Immaculate and Pendo, the MBF programme co-coordinator and credit officer were waiting for me at the Iringa bus stand and spotted me stepping off the bus. Ed and Steph, volunteers at Neema Crafts (more on Neema later) whom I am sharing a house with had dinner ready on my arrival. I realised I had landed myself among some kind-hearted people.

At first glance, Iringa seems unspoilt by intense urbanization. Streets are tree lined, flowers bloom and the market bustles with colourful produce, buyers and sellers. Christians and Muslims live peaceably alongside each other. At night I hear dogs, cockerels and in the early morning the call to prayer. But working with MBF is opening up the reality of existence for many of the area’s residents, many of whom struggle with being able to afford balanced meals, school fees, and necessary healthcare.

The currently all female clientele are mostly of the first generation of women in their families to have set up their own business. Many of them mix work on these enterprises with the traditional income providing work of farming. Their new endeavours are leading to economic and social changes in their communities and at the same time, increasing their sense of pride and accomplishment.  Over the next few weeks, I look forward to meeting more of these clients and other residents in Iringa to understand more about the reality that shapes their lives and working with the dedicated team at MBF.

Five Talents International began funding this program in early 2005 as a response to the tsunami that devastated the east coast of India in December 2004.  Our objective has been to build on the Diocese of Madras’ existing Self-Help Groups to help tsunami-affected people and then to expand into other parts of the diocese.

Five Talents is currently supporting 20,773 entrepreneurs in developing countries through business training and small loans.

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