Frances Hoffman

There was no blog yesterday; so there will be a healthy one today. There will be no blog tomorrow, either, as we begin the Safari bright and early tomorrow morning.

This was not a same-old-same-old day. We began with monkeys stealing bananas from the banana basket at breakfast. Then headed to the Kachere, the community based organization we visited last Friday—a community center run by local women or grandmothers all affected by Aids, helping in the care of orphans in addition to other sick members of the community.

We witnessed one of their weekly meetings for their newly developed micro bank/microfinance. They begin with a gift of 20 Kwacha each, which equates to approximately 5 cents, pooled together should one of their own fall ill or require assistance. The total collected was 440 Kwacha or 1-dollar Canadian, which may seem small, but is enough to provide some food and drink. After, the ladies sold shares amongst the members. Each member may purchase 5 shares at each meeting, a share being worth 200 Kwacha. The group of ladies saves this money each week, which can later be loaned to the members to use as capital for entrepreneurial activities. The money a member withdraws must be paid back within one month, and the interest rate agreed to by the members is 20%. For an environment where it is challenging for an individual to save enough, the strength of community shines through.

What was interesting was the box these women kept the money in; there were three locks with three different keys held by three different ladies and another lady who took the box home. Each woman also held a “pass book”, which marked all of the shares purchased by each member. It is completely transparent how much each woman invests, who borrows how much money, for what reason the money is being borrowed, and whether the money is paid back on time. At the end of 9 months, all profits are paid out based on the number of shares owned by each woman.

Next, the Rotarians split into two groups. Half the group walked with the women of Kachere to visit families in the nearby community who are in need, the other half took the bus to homes too far for us to walk, but nothing for the Malawians. We visited 6 villages, including a number of homes of the grandmothers of Kachere. The homes ranged from a small structure with a thatch roof shared with the animals to larger homes with a garden. We walked through fields of mais, kasava, sugar cane, sweet potato, beans, and groundnuts. Though it has been said many a time before, the countryside is astonishingly beautiful. It is also a maze of pathways. We would have been lost with out our guides. I was impressed with the physical capabilities of the elderly here. The ladies were all upwards of 60 and walk the 5km trail several times a day with no problem. There was also an 83-year-old man that was working hard on his farmland when we arrived at his home.

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