Reinyon-an (The meeting)

     We spent most of Wednesday and Thursdays in meetings with the goat cooperative and then the new coop that will begin a microfinance project.  The meetings were full of people who came dressed in their Sunday best with hats and empty purses.  They came bearing gifts for Corey- eggs, coconuts and mangoes.  One woman, a blind woman, walked several hours just to let Corey know how much the goat project had made a difference in her family’s life.  We very much hope that this coop will be independent of the interests of us- the whites, the foreigners.  So, the last meeting was conducted first with and then without us.  Corey, of course, came prepared with lots of ideas based on his research into other microlending projects and strategies.  The community of Wozye came with ideas that will work in their specific community.  Finally, we came up with rules and the budget, guidelines for the new microlending project.  To make a copy for C’s records, they then took out another piece of paper and carefully hand copied everything down again.   

For now, the microlending coop will look like something like this:

1.  Three groups of five villagers will be chosen for each lending group.

2.  Each borrower will be given approximately $125US to start or grow a small business- taxi services, items to sell in the market, solar panels for charging cellphones, etc.

3.  Each borrower will have 6 months to pay back the loan with 4% interest.  2% will be returned to the borrower at the time of loan repayment.  2% will go to the costs of the project (phone cards, gas, internet use, etc.)

4.  If a borrower defaults on his or her loan, no one in their group will be eligible for an additional loan.

So, there it is!  It’s simple, but hopefully good and helpful.

The meeting

First micro-lending coop in Wozye