Ready to borrow money

We don’t often write about our programs here, mainly because this blog is meant to be more about other parts of our lives here. But I do get excited about our “OSAWE” programme. OSAWE stands for Own Savings for Assets and Wealth crEation and it is a fantastic way of empowering communities, particularly women. The idea is simple; a group of people come together to form a “Savings and Loans Club”. They develop their own constitution (particularly on rules for defaulting), appoint office-bearers and undergo some basic training on process (which is about the only input from Plan). Each month they meet and contribute from 20,000 to 50,000 kwacha ($4 to $10) as decided by their rules. They will also collect a few dollars each for a social fund (which is available to help out with funerals and other social obligations) and fine each other for turning up late or allowing their mobile phones to ring during meeting (something that should happen in every Zambian meeting!).

Depending on the size of the group (usually about 12 to 15), they now have about 500,000 kwacha, which is then split up and lent out to members. The next month, they will all contribute another 20-50,000 kwacha, collect the repayments and interest and have an even bigger amount to lend out again. They usually like to lend out everything, reducing the risk of some money being left that could be stolen or pilfered. Amazingly, they will charge each other between 10 – 25% simple interest, per month! Can you imagine! These high interest rates show what a barrier access to capital is for poor people here, given that they make money out of their businesses while still paying this huge interest rate.

However, what people do with these small amounts is amazing – and very entrepreneurial: eg buying goats in the local area, transporting them 4 hours to the Congo border and selling them at a 200% mark-up; little restaurants; making and selling school uniforms and the like.  The exciting stage comes at “share-out time”, when all the loans come back into the group and all of the money (including interest) is split between members, depending on the size of their monthly savings amount. It can be up to 3,000,000 kwacha ($600) per member, a huge amount in a poor, rural community. The share-out season is usually about September, allowing members to get lots of cash they can also use for seed and fertiliser for the planting season.

I love meeting these groups, talking to the members about their business ideas and hearing what they did with the share-out. Usually, it is about getting their own assets (their cow, not just their husband’s), doing something to their house (a metal roof to replace thatching) and helping their children (school fees). They speak with confidence, vision and pride when they talk about their own businesses and the activities of their clubs.

Recently, we have expanded the concept to young people. Meeting with a group yesterday, it was just as inspiring to listen to how a 13 year old boy had saved 180,000 kwacha which he had used for his own school fees and a uniform. Another, slightly older boy had his own photography business, a little story that even made The Guardian newspaper.

And the men? Some men have started up their own groups, but in mixed groups they are only 30% of members. It seems, according to the women and men members, that most men can’t be trusted. As soon as they borrow, they use the money to drink! An amazingly sad, but consistent commentary. However, there seem to be more boys in the youth OSAWE group, so maybe the next generation might be better.

The gift of rain

Hopefully - not too much rain

Between April and the end of October it usually doesn’t rain in Zambia. At all. It’s a long, dry season. But the wet season makes up for it, with days of torrential rain, usually with all the special effects of clattering thunder and lightning across the sky. After a particularly hot October, we’ve enjoyed the big change that the wet season brought to everything. All of sudden there’s lots of activity in the open fields around Lusaka, as people prepare the soil and plant their beloved maize. Everyone’s mood seem to change; even for folk around the office, moods seem to lift a little and everyone enjoys the downpours and the hope that the rains symbolise. For us too, it is always nice to sit by the window on the weekend and look across a garden totally drenched and turning emerald again after the brown dryness of the last few months. We’re pleased to watch our mangoes grow and to have an excuse not to go out in the rain on a bike-ride!

Colours of Autumn, in the middle of Summer

Much of Zambia is covered by a particular type of temperate rain forest, miombo, which amazingly has its growth period just before the rainy season hits. This is when the country is at its most beautiful, with stunning vistas of green and every hue of red. This forest extends across most of central Africa (a total of 2.4 million hectares) and also acts as an important part of the eco-system, since it holds the rain like a sponge and then releases it slowly throughout the year, contributing to Zambia’s wonderful system of rivers, watercourses and dambos. Unfortunately, Zambia has a high rate of deforestation (it was the second highest in the world per capita) which could one day destroy this valuable world resource and impact on the stability of the wonderful rains the country receives. Let’s hope the country, the African continent and the world acknowledge the gift of rains, and that we all do not neglect the need to look after all the world’s resources.

A Gift of Hope

For anyone looking to support a small but incredibly worthwhile organisation, working with one of the most marginalised groups here, let us remind you – again – of Vision of Hope. This organisation works tirelessly with teenage girls from the streets of Lusaka, offering shelter, life skills, counselling and love. Currently, there are twenty girls with four babies among them. If, in the midst of all your Christmas activity, you would like to support this group, you can be assured that anything you give will have an important impact. It can all be done on line at http://www.visionofhopezambia.org/ (or send us an email if you want it to go through us).

Lastly, we’re back in Melbourne for three weeks over Christmas (24^th Dec to 17^th Jan). If you are around and have the gift of time to catch up, that would be great! Either way, we hope you have a great Christmas.

Election fallout (1)

Last time, Meredith (she insists that everyone knows she wrote it) reported on all that had happened around the Presidential elections. It has since come to light that there was a lot more happening behind the scenes. African Confidential, a reputable newsletter about issues across Africa, reported that former President Banda was keen to hang onto power and was looking to mobilise the army and the police to take control. (Other sources claimed that Zimbabwe’s Pres Mugabe was calling him urging him not to accept the electoral defeat.)

Some African leaders blame Banda for giving up power

Fortunately, Banda did not seem to have the support of his own troops, who apparently even let down the tyres on their trucks rather than go into an opposition area to stop demonstrations. They made it clear that they would not fire on their own people. The US Ambassador was also heavily involved behind the scenes, trying to convince the former President that he had to accept the will of the people. Another rumour has it that even President Obama was involved, supposedly to call Banda and tell him he had to go. This last bit probably says more about how people in this part of the world view Obama and his power rather than any link to real events.

All of which does raise the question as to what incentives were offered Banda to make sure he left peacefully, possibly even indemnity from any future prosecution, but this remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the really important thing is that Zambia made this transition without any real violence and the nation can justifiably feel proud about the turn of events.

The new President has proved to be a man of action, sacking many government boards because of corruption, changing the name of Lusaka’s Airport almost overnight (to Kenneth Kaunda International Airport), lowering the price of petrol and promising that people will see benefits within 90 days. Expectations are now very high and people are not used to things happening so fast, particularly not in sleepy Zambia!

Election fallout (2)

One of the more bizarre stories coming out of the election was the campaigning style of the former Education Minister. She addressed her electorate in forthright terms, telling her constituents that she divorced her husband because he was lazy in bed. She also told the men in the audience: “You men here, are you not admiring me? Are you admiring each other’s beards? You men! Can you enjoy touching each other’s hard bums instead of a woman’s?” The men are said to have replied in unison: “We admire a lot, especially your buttocks!” There is some evidence that she may have been a little tipsy at the time. She was re-elected but is now in Opposition. We could only wonder at how such an election campaign would have gone down in Australia.

An addition to the family

Somehow, since our last blog post, we have become (foster) parents again. Our (foster) son is a delightful fourteen-year-old boy from Australia, who we have known for all of his life, and most of his mum’s. It’s a long story about how he came to be with us and we are both aware that it is slightly unusual for a boy to get uprooted from life and school in Australia to come to Africa, but after 2 weeks, it seems to be going well. We’ve all had our moments, including Meredith’s bike being ridden into the swimming pool (!), a few interesting times at school, but for the most of the time it’s been great. We are learning what it’s like to live with a boy, after two girls of our own, especially a boy who eats his way through the pantry every three days. We’re also learning to appreciate new musical genres.

Wait! That's my bike!

It’s been particularly interesting to see the transition from an Australian school where everyone is on guard, and many kids at pains to take advantage of the teacher and each others’ weaknesses, to a small school where everyone is so nice, welcoming and keen to co-operate, even with teachers (shock!). You can imagine that it is not easy for any kid to make the transition between these very different worlds. This too is a tribute to the people of Zambia, who – generally – are the epitome of openness, cooperation and good humour.

Vision of Hope

We continue to maintain contact with the wonderful Chitalu, the director of Vision of Hope, the project which is working with street girls. Someone has called her Zambia’s Mother Theresa. We’re pleased to say that the project is close to getting its own premises, which will help in terms of stability for the girls and for their own income generation and sustainability. If you are interested in supporting a great project, it comes with our strong recommendation. Best of all, they now have their own website http://www.visionofhopezambia.org/ where you can make a donation straight to the organisation.

(written by Tim)

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) established a website to provide up-to-date coverage, but after reports of hacking, it was closed till further notice! Then the independent TV station and newspaper were banned from reporting voting updates (the government-run TV station’s news is pure propaganda) and the ECZ declared it would only release results for each electorate once all votes were double checked and verified. The black out just made everyone ever the more jittery as they imagined the government finding a whole stack of last minute, false ballots to push them over the line – something many Zambians believe occurred in 2008, when the ruling party came from behind to mysteriously win at the eleventh hour by only 35,000 votes. There were even a few reported cases of ruling party “low-level cadres” (read thugs) caught with boxes of pre-marked ballot sheets, triggering pockets of violence as the perpetrators were bashed and their ballots set on fire.

With many verifiable stories of vote rigging and corruption in the 2008 Presidential Election, some Zambians were primed to erupt in mild-mannered, Zambian outrage if, yet again, a last minute surge of ruling party votes swung the results. In 2008, a friend was an election monitor and tells how he was dragged into the District Commissioner’s office after he had signed off the count. He had refused to sign a new count sheet that converted his booth’s results from a small ruling party win to a much larger one. The District Commissioner threatened him in the presence of a higher official, a policeman and a jailor but he refused to cooperate. How many others would have succumbed to such pressure? With some evidence of this occurring again, everyone felt sure that the public would not stand for it this time round.

So, by the second day of counting, students from the main university were marching to the ECZ tally centre and throwing rocks at passerbys. Riots were erupting in the Copperbelt, an area dominated by opposition strongholds disillusioned by the lack of work and poor working conditions in the copper mines. And by 12 noon, offices were closing and a steady stream of cars were heading out of town, stopping only to empty out the supermarkets and stock their pantries, fearing the worst. Or as one Zambian described it: “heading home to hide under their beds.”

The ECZ had promised an announcement within 48 hours and as the clock ticked by, the National TV broadcaster played music videos and documentaries on rice growing in Asia! No regular updates, no interviews with candidates or vox pops – just endless, boring time fillers. All was too quiet until the midnight deadline came and went, then suddenly around 12.30 am, the entire city erupted as the ECZ announced that the opposition had won and the incumbent President was conceding defeat! And the celebrations continued throughout the night with vuvuzelas, car horns and lots of singing and chanting everywhere. Everyone is ecstatic! Even those who voted for the old party, I think, are at least relieved that democracy is working and a smooth transition is occurring.

It has been an interesting campaign to watch – the ruling party had lots of resources, new cars, posters, billboards, lots of incentives to give out (including fertilizer, clothes and even lollipops with the President on the wrapper), but this just made many question if it was all being bankrolled by the mining companies or by tax revenue. In the last two months, road-works started up all over town but cynics pointed out that this happened last time and the road-works stopped the moment the election was over.

The opposition, with far fewer resources, developed a very clever campaign, based around the phrase “Don’t Kubeba”, or “Don’t Tell!” Not a slogan that would work in Australia, its meaning here was clear, “you can take their bribes but don’t tell anyone who you will vote for!” In two small words, the opposition cleverly inferred that the government was corrupt while reminding people that they were free to secretly vote for change. And it worked. Everyone was saying ‘Don’t Kubeba’ in the lead up to the election and it is the victory chant now!

Who knows what the new government will be like or if anything will change but at least democracy is working and that is something of which Zambians can be very proud. It is also slightly unusual in an African context and hopefully will put pressure on other regional leaders who refuse to acknowledge democratic processes. Importantly, a clear message of the elections is that Zambians did not like the way the previous government turned a blind eye to corruption.

I can also proudly claim that the new First Lady of Zambia helped push my car out of a ditch – we travelled together when we were both at a health workshop and she proved she was willing to get her hands dirty! She is an impressive woman and a health specialist so I hope this means some serious improvement in healthcare for Zambia!