We made a trip to Lilondwe National Park for the
weekend. It was a long trip over 800 Km’s there and
back and it was made even longer by the many police check stops that we had to
go through, but we made it safe and sound and enjoyed some of the most beautiful
scenery. We were able to take a boat
safari and where we saw many hippos and other wild life. Unfortunately the elephants did not come to
the river while we were on our tour, but it was well worth it just to see the
hippos. We stopped at a few markets
along the way where our driver bought live chickens, charcoal and fresh
mangos. It was back to work today and we
spent our 2nd day with the Fodya Sacco.
Friday 27 January 2012
We made our way out to the Fodya
SACCO today. This SACCO is closed bond
to employees of the Alliance One Tobacco company. We started the day meeting some of the Board
of Directors then spent the remainder of the day with the staff Brian and
Rita. This is a small SACCO with only
two staff members and 5 Board of Directors.
They have 440 members and are looking for ways to compete with the two
other Tobacco company SACCO’s. As the
branch is very small we spent most of the day sitting outside the branch
reading policies and talking with members.
It was a very good day and we got to meet a lot of members. We also learned the proper hand shake greeting
for here in Malawi. We are moving into the weekend and will be spending
Saturday and Sunday touring around Malawi and will be back with the Fodya on
Monday morning. I hope everyone has a
great weekend and will start posting my blog again on Monday!
Thursday 26 January 2012
Mwaswera bwanji (Good
Afternoon)
Although it is evening here
it is still afternoon in Thunder Bay. I
was a rainy start to our day here in Malawi today with it clearing up in the
afternoon. With all the rain we have had
here in the evenings and morning I can see why everything is so lush and
green. We have fallen asleep to the
rumblings of thunder almost every evening since we have arrived. We had to say goodbye to our newly made
friends at Mzinda Sacco today. After
presenting the Board and Management with our report and their certificate of
participation they presented us with a very nice wood carving and some of their
beautiful Credit Union cloth. We will
definitely miss working with the Mzinda Staff.
We are looking forward to starting our work with Fordya SACCO
tomorrow. Well as it is getting late I
will sign off for now.
Mugone Bwino
(Good Nite) Lennie
We say farwell to our FRIENDS at Mzinda SACCO |
Wednesday 25 January 2012
We woke up to one of the most
beautiful days we have seen since we have arrived here in Malawi. We spent our second day at the Mzinda SACCO
(Savings and Credit Cooperative), we had the pleasure of meeting with two of
Mzinda’s members. Philemino and Robert
both have been long time members and both are very happy with what their Credit
Union has accomplished over the years.
Robert was one of the first members of Mzinda over 16 years ago. He shared with us the story of how the Credit
Union recently helped him when his father fell ill and then passed away. It brought tears to our eyes to hear how with
the support of the Credit Union he was go and see his father and then settle
his affairs after he passed away. As he
was the first born it was very important for him to be able to do this and he
did not know what he would have done without this support. He is very proud Mzinda SACCO member. We spent the rest of the day working hard on
our report which we will be presenting to the Mzinda Board of Directors
tomorrow.
Gertrude the Lending Officer at Mzinda SACCO |
Robert a Member of Mzinda SACCO |
Tuesday 24 January 2012
Malawi Group |
Greetings from the Malawi Coaching Group. The group had to say goodbye today as we headed out to our assigned Credit Unions (Sacco's). My partner Rocio and I are lucky to be staying right here in Lilongwe while the others are travelling out to Blantyre and Mizuzzu. Once the others were on the road Rocio and I headed to our first Sacco Mzinda. Mzinda Sacco has been operating for 16 years. They have 1865 members and they were recognized as having the best membership growth for the region by the Malawi Credit Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives in 2010. They currently took on the task of fully computerizing their Credit Union which entailed them shutting the doors to their members for 3 weeks while they input all the member ledger cards into the system and prepared the system for new business. They had just opened the doors again yesterday and their members where anxious to see the new system and to get access to their money again.
The Banking Hall was full of members once the doors opened |
Manager Oliver with Membership growth award |
Members were suprised to see Azunga's (white people) |
Monday 23 January 2012
Work begins
We had a great first day working with here in Lilongwe. We had a meeting with Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives today or other wise known as MUSCCO. Mr. Kadzola the CEO and his staff spent the day giving us the history and background of MUSCCO as well as some of the Credit Unions we will be visiting. Credit Unions here in Malawi are known as the SACCO's which stands for Savings and Credit Union Cooperatvies. They stopped calling themselves Credit Unions quite some time ago as people where focusing to much on the "Credit" and there was no focus on Savings therefore they were only coming to the Credit Union for loans and keeping their savings elsewhere. They feel the name change definately helped solve that issue. We had the chance to exchange our currency into Kwacha (Malawian dollars) and found out what the term a "stack of bills" really means, as you can see Dave showing off his half a million Kwacha which was equivalent to $2600 US. I think I might need a bigger wallet!!
Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives offices in Lilongwe Malawi |
Mr Kadzola and his senior management staff |
Dave you are going to need a bigger money belt!! |
Arrived at last!!!
Well after a few wrong turns in London's Heathrow airport and three very long days of travel we have made it safely to Lilongwe Malawi Africa! As it is the rainy season here everything is lush and green and the flowers are in full bloom. It was a beautiful drive from the airport. We have not had much time yet to get out to the Credit Unions yet however we have a full schedule starting tomorrow. I will be able to start posting pictures shortly. Until tomorrow Mugone bwino (good nite). Lennie
View from the airplane as we landed at the Lilongwe Airport |
Family heading home from working their field |
Roadside maise stand |
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