Mount Kili
Aside from working on our project, we've been trying to get into shape, specifically morning runs while working around a robust dieting schedule involving three meals and two tea times daily. Having learned of Sam's skittish attitude towards fish, Frida has prepared a custom-made meal to cater to his "allergy" while cooking dagaa, Zanzibari sardines, for those more inclined t o Tanzanian flavors. Every morning, we eat uji for breakfast and attempt to leave for our run but have been thwarted twice by tea time, which arrives so promptly after breakfast that we barely have room left.
In search for a good run route, we were kicked off what seems to be a private, overgrown soccer field being mowed by hand before stumbling onto a more accepting field across the street from a university. Our run begins with a giant hill on route to the field and ends with multiple laps around the field. We've calculated the field to be a half mile -- the treacherous holes and cow manure compensate for any generosity in our estimation. Although our initial runs have been short, we've resolved to hit the 10 mile mark by the end of our 6 months. We'll let you know how we fare after tomorrow's three mile jaunt.
Besides full stomachs, our runs are hampered by snoring-induced insomnia. Our third roommate, Frida and William's son, although a wonderful character who means well, makes noises that resemble a hibernating bear riding a motorcycle. We often rush to bed soon after dinner in the vain hope that if we fall asleep first perhaps his snores will not disturb us. Alas. Jake, who has shared a room with him in the past, doesn't recall this being an issue, but it seems that the snorer has also taken up drinking heavily, often wandering into the room with glossed-over eyes. We have suspicions that he may be sleeping with a family friend helping Frida out during summer vacations. We don't fully fall asleep until he wakes up at 6:30 a.m.
After our own amicable confrontation, Frida offered him a stark choice: give up pombe (drinking) or sleep on the couch. He chose the couch, but an earthquake emanating from the living room assured us that he was near. Sleep is now a guilty pleasure, though one we're glad to embrace.
At the end of our first internet cafe visit, Jake was surprised to learn that an old friend from Loliondo, a remote village about 14 hours from Moshi by bus, had traveled east to greet him on arrival and had been waiting for several days for him to establish contact. Perplexed, Jake purchased his first mobile voucher and rang Elikana, a Masai chief, who agreed to meet him in Moshi the next morning. At breakfast, Elikana told Jake about an ongoing land dispute, and the two made plans to go on a safari together. Jake also met Elikana's second wife and their new baby and was happy to walk away from the rendezvous without having been asked for cash. Upon learning that Elikana is connected to an internationally-recognized NGO, Jake jumped at the opportunity to submit a job request for next year.
After breakfast, we went to a local mzungu (white people) place called the Coffee Shop. Sam chomped happily on a chicken sandwich while Jake, who had eaten with Elikana, journaled feverishly and attempt to knock off the rest of the Western canon with War and Peace, which Virgin Atlantic, upon seeing it in his carry-on bag, required him to check at the gate.
Eager for their first meeting with the Duma Group at 4 p.m., Jake and Sam wrote an outline for their impending presentation. The outline is as follows:
Introduction
- How we got here
- Backgrounds
- The Grant
Jake's Thesis Research
- NGOs as arbiters of imagined landscapes
- Political conflict in oppressed populations
- Intensification of conflict with impending introduction of resources
- Gender development objectives
- men
- women
Goals
- Sustainable animal farm managed by the local community
- Facilitate a micro-finance operation using livestock with the farm as a training source for loan recipients
- Educating kids on properly raising livestock
- Possible supplementation of school funds and/or providing employment to local community members
Structure
- While we have various thoughts on the approach to be taken, we want these to be driven mostly by community members with input from the NGO, village government, and the school
- Purchasing animals of community's choice
- A Grameen model approach to micro-finance using animals as capital
- Lending animals out to families with form of interest presumably being portion of offspring
- As the stock grows, the project will grow increasingly self-sustainable profitable, and accessible to the greater community
- One structural thought we had was a supervisory board made up of Representatives from the community, the school, Duma Group, and these appointments might be made on a rotating and/or democratic basis
The meeting was fantastic. Present were Francis, the head of the NGO, Frida, and 8 volunteers. We introduced our plan, stressing our Obama-esque philosophy toward project management involving pithy debate and deliberation amongst stakeholders. We emphasized that the buck stops not with us but with the people of Shimbwe. It was encouraging talking in a group filled with intelligent and articulate people who clearly had put a lot of thought into development practice. The Duma Group is currently starting a similar pig program (hereafter known as PP2.0) sans a central farm that will act as a bank for micro-credit, the idea is to give pigs to groups of women who will raise them and pass offspring onto additional groups of women. The group flirted with potentially merging the two projects, and we have a meeting tomorrow to consider the ways in which our own proposal might interface with the pre-existing PP2.0 in more detail.
Besides the credit aspect, the key difference between the two projects is that ours attempts to appease both men and women since women prefer development schemes that allow them to work from home. A past project (PP1.0) involving a community pig farm run by women in Shimbwe has engendered conflict: women accused their partners of skimping on responsibilities and once asserted their elected manager was skimming personal profit off the top of collective earnings. Nevermind that the project has lost money from the start, mostly due to internal bickering and missallocation of project resources. Two American tourists, sympathizing with Shimbwe's women, imposed PP1.0, however generously, from the top. We hope our project takes and will take more of a cue from the grassroots, allowing us to avoid the mortal obstacles faced by the women in the ill-fated and discouraging PP1.0. We think that Duma's Pig Project 2.0 is on the money with its decentralized approach. Just as importantly, the fact that it uses pigs, traditionally considered women's' properties on Kilimanjaro, helps to bolster women's' economic rights against men in the development process, which is a quality of the project that the women of Shimbwe are likely to appreciate.
In addition, the group discussed whether loans should be made to only members of the Duma group or all community members. While we were initially in favor of animals being loaned out to anyone in the community, other volunteers suggested that the initial loans be made to Duma members or that scholarships be awarded to high achieving students whose families are non-members. Other interesting suggestions (not to toot our own horn) were to have a certain percentage dedicated to Duma members and the remainder to the greater community or different methods of loaning to Duma members versus community members (e.g. in some self-help groups, loans are made to multiple members simultaneously, whereas in the Grameen method loans are made to an individual in a group and passed along to the next member without interest if the loan is repaid). We have a lot of details to work out.
One financial knot to untangle is how to measure interest when working with animals. Interest on cash loans is easily quantified. How many chicks, piglets, or calfs does it take to repay a loan of their mother? Cash might lose value but it doesn't get sick or die. What do you do if an animal dies be it the mother or offspring? Who is responsible for the inevitable veterinarian fees? Any suggestions from our readers would be deeply appreciated.
We truly aim to make this a participatory development project and are implementing lessons from People First. To Sam's Ugandan study abroad compatriots: jokes on you. (With all the love and kindness in the world).
