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Tanzania can be frustrating. The people here can be frustrating. Because I don’t blend in, I’ve never made it through a day without being hassled, whether it is a sleezy guy calling me fiancé, or the conductor on the bus trying to overcharge me because he thinks I don’t know the real price. Just when I’m completely fed up with this place, someone or something redeems it. This time, it was the Iringa Rotary Club.
My funding for the year is coming from a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. Rotary is a worldwide humanitarian organization that focuses on fellowship and service. As an ambassadorial scholar, one of my requirements (and my favorite part) is to present to Rotary Clubs in my host district.
When in Iringa, I had the opportunity to meet with the Rotary Club there. It had been a rough day, but when I arrived at the meeting my mood did a complete turnaround. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly! They gave me ample time to speak about the work I am doing in microfinance, and everyone joined in the discussion by asking thoughtful and challenging questions. Although a small club with less than ten active members, they have carried out projects that significantly help their community. For example, in collaboration with a Rotary Club in Sarasota, Florida, they opened an internet library that is free to all secondary students. It is clear that the members of the club are committed to Rotary and doing good in their community. Overall, I was impressed that such a small club can do such great things!
Presenting a Hightstown-South Brunswick [NJ] Rotary banner to Angelina of the Iringa Rotary Club
The Rotary sign as you enter Iringa
Going to the same job everyday gets boring. I’ve definitely stepped forward since my days at Fannie Mae, but even Tujijenge can become routine. When the opportunity arose to get away from the Dar es Salaam heat and work with BRAC (Building Resources Across Communities) for a week, I jumped right on it.
BRAC is a Bengali microfinance institution and the largest NGO in the world. Since infiltrating Tanzania two years ago, they have already opened up 65 branches throughout the country and are serving over 100,000 clients. Three include the branches recently opened in Iringa – the ones we would be training on how to “do Kiva.”
Julie and I started with a presentation to 20 loan officers and branch managers. We covered what Kiva does, how it all works through the internet, and the partnership between Kiva and BRAC Tanzania. Although we got a few good questions, we mostly got head nods. Did they have any idea what we were talking about? We decided to just jump in and passed out the business profile form for them complete with made up information. To our relief, most filled out the form correctly with little guidance.
Now finally, the fun part: How to take a good picture. But possibly also the hardest part to teach. Many have never used a camera before. We started with the basics – how to turn it on, how to make sure everyone is in the shot and how to review the pictures afterwards. I guess it isn’t intuitive that tilting the camera upwards will get a head shot instead of a feet shot. The room finally filled with laughter as they practiced with their new cameras.
Our time was up and we had done our job. We headed back to the hotel and discussed whether we felt like we had gotten through to them or not. But we would find out at 7am the next morning when we would head into the field with the loan officers to practice.
We were happily surprised the next day when the loan officers filled out the forms correctly with few questions or problems. The picture taking took a bit more guidance. But the loan officers did a fantastic job of getting the clients excited. The clients had a blast having their picture taken, and then all enthusiastically crowded around the loan officer as she showed the group the photo. For most, it was the first time seeing a picture of themselves.
Satisfied with our work, we tagged along with the loan officers for the rest of the morning to verify the businesses of potential clients, the most inspiring part of the job.
This was the first time I taught the Kiva process from start to finish. A previous fellow had already trained Tujijenge, so the most I can do is fine-tune the process. Working with new BRAC branches reminded me of how difficult this concept of Kiva is to understand in the developing world. Not only are the clients working hard to expand their businesses and increase their income under difficult conditions, but the microfinance organizations are working equally as hard to get business profiles loaded onto the Kiva website.
To see loans being raised at the MFI I work for, Tujijenge Tanzania, click on the following link: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&partner_id=87&status=fundRaising&sortBy=New+to+Old&_tpg=fb
After the adventures in Mbeya, Julie and I headed to Iringa to train some new branches of the MFI she works for, BRAC, on how to “do Kiva.” While this was our main objective, we had something else on our minds. It was Tuesday, November 4th – the day America would elect a new president.
We arrived in Iringa around 4:30pm and immediately started on our hunt for a hotel with CNN. We found one with CNN on our second try, but at $40 a night, we were convinced we could find something better. I know $40 doesn’t sound like much, but to give you an idea, we were paying $6 each per night in Mbeya. With our bags in tow, we walked up and down every street (Iringa is pretty small), and entered every possible hotel and guesthouse. After two hours of lugging our bags around, it was time to call it quits as the sun was quickly setting. With our heads hung low, we returned to the $40 hotel and booked a room for the night.
We headed to dinner in our Barack Obama kangas and then immediately returned to the room to watch tv. With a few power naps in between, we watched CNN all night. When they officially announced that Barack Obama was the president-elect and showed pictures of people celebrating in the streets of Washington DC, we couldn’t help but feel a bit nostalgic for the country and city we had left behind. But when we went out in the morning to get breakfast and go to work, we realized how special it was that we were in East Africa – a place where the people feel a connection to Obama because of his roots. How often can you be half way around the world and the locals where you are share your enthusiasm for the election results? Immediately upon leaving the hotel, we were asked “Unapenda Obama” (do you like Obama)? When we nodded yes, the man pointed to a piece of wood on which he had written Obama. Our taxi driver excitedly told us that Obama had won the election. And when we arrived at the BRAC office and started our training session, a brief mention of Obama quickly broke the ice. I couldn’t help but feel proud to be an American – even in this faraway land.
They kept mentioning on the news that Obama was going to change the way people from around the world viewed America. What was exhilarating for me was that I wasn’t just hearing it on the news; I was seeing it happen right before my eyes.
