I have no idea what is interesting for you guys to read so I’m just gonna update you on pretty much everything… its all interesting to me, but I’m biased.
So had another follow up meeting with the Wadenya group today, the second group who wants to start a community garden by getting a loan. I might have been wrong about them seeming unmotivated, so I’ll hold off final judgment. Apparently they held elections for the group yesterday without me, which is awesome because it means their taking initiative, first step to capacity building and sustainability. But their still set on getting a loan to buy fertilizer and hose…things they really don’t need, but whatever. Today they wanted me to train them on how to write a loan/grant proposal. Uh… we missed THAT session in training too. Apparently, grant writing trainings for volunteers don’t happen until our In Service Training in September (which, inconveniently coincides with the first two weeks of school). So, I made it up. Hopefully I’m somewhere close to getting the right information out of them. I drafted up what I thought a proposal template should look like and wrote an example using a made up jam making group. I then spent a lot of time drilling them on how important it is to pay back a loan on time and to have a backup payment plan if the garden fails. I also told them that if the group can’t get the money together to pay it back they will not even THINK about asking me to front the money, because I don’t have it and it’s just asking for every person in Chikwina to ask me for money even more than they already do. What I’m really thinking, because it’s going to be such a small loan, is to set up a little microloan action myself. If they seem really serious about this loan business and put the right amount of effort into the proposal I’ll provide the loan myself and have them pay it back without interest over a certain period of time. Trick is to not let them know it’s from me. But this way we’ll avoid the actual waiting time to get a grant or loan approved, not have to deal with banks or high interest loan companies, not have to rely on other organizations, and still be in time for planting season. But if the proposal and motivation seems iffy I have no problem taking the proposal they write me, putting it into the right format when I know what it is, and taking it to another organization to take myself out of the equation. I’ll let you know how it goes. Also, is this stupid?
And the unnamed NGO’s water project I was telling you about a few posts ago has taken an interesting turn. The other Azungu in my village wrote a blog post about the water demonstration for the American visitors many weeks ago when it initially happened. However, her blog is connected to her University’s blog and has a much high readership. Also, her writing style about the subject, in my opinion, is a lot more sensationalist and opinionated and painted a much bleaker picture of the NGO. She was really out to expose the shortcomings of the project and the work ethic of the organization. Of course, her controversial post got a lot of press and it didn’t take long for it to be read by a lot of higher ups here in Malawi and got her a lot of attention in the village. The response was interesting. First, said NGO organized a Chikwina field day where they toted us and members of the district and the MP (Member of Parliament) around to all the projects they are doing around the area, reminding us Azungus and the press that showed up of the successes they’ve accomplished. We started at the topmost water tank where they explained how the project would work when it was completed…by the end of the year. Still skeptical, but ok. Then we hit up the orphanage (where, tragically, most of the kids were either orphaned by HIV/AIDS or were positive themselves) 15km away in Mwambazi, near Meredith’s site. We were met by a room full of the most adorable 4-year-olds in adorable little matching uniforms, each with a stuffed animal, singing to us adorably. They also opened the session with a prayer, which they all had memorized and tried to say louder than the little mushy kid next to them. After that was the fish farm, the women’s juice factory, and the community youth center computer lab. I stopped paying attention at this point though, because I was hungry. But the crowning session at the end of the day was the final discussion at the NGO office where everyone who was anyone stood up and gave a speech. I was really hungry. But I perked up when the MP (or was it the head of the District? I don’t know, everyone has weird names here, I can’t keep them straight) gave his speech, in English, so he was sure we understood. Essentially he, in a very politically correct, vague, and public way, chewed out the other Azungu for making Malawi and the NGO look bad to potential foreign donors. He made a good point though, even if he does benefit personally/financially from the NGO. On the other hand, volunteers on the project are now being paid 200kw per day to ensure that the project gets finished on time. Good did come from her shock and awe exaggerated exposure of the whole thing. They’ve given themselves five months to complete it. I still won’t hold my breath, though.
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