One of our volunteers, Carrie Maldovan, sat in on a Village Community Banking meeting yesterday and wanted to share her experience. We hope that this gives you a better understanding of our wonderful VICOBA program!
The room was completely bare, aside from the old wooden benches lined up on either side. There was no power, or if there was there weren’t light bulbs in the sockets so power was unnecessary. A little boy played on the empty side of the room while 11 women sat quietly on the benches listening intently to the three leaders sitting at a table in the front. Two women bounced babies on their laps to try to keep them quiet. When I entered the room, one of the two WIA employees who had accompanied me proclaimed, “VICOBA!” The response was so succinct it sounded like the 14 voices were one, “VICOBA mkombozi wa jamii piga vita umaskini.” Roughly translated, this means “VICOBA redeems the community by waging war on poverty.” Strong words from strong women. This exchange of words was repeated throughout the meeting when a member wanted to speak and needed the attention of the group. It is a way to show the solidarity of the group, and its meaning is no doubt, powerful.
These women, who attend the weekly VICOBA meetings, take their group very seriously. One woman walked in late, and after she apologized to the group, my WIA counterparts assured me she would be punished later. Fines by the group are issued regularly for infractions like tardiness, cell phone use, or not paying back a loan on time. As I said, they take it very seriously. For many of these women, this is their first opportunity to have control of their own financial destiny – perhaps that means they can pay for a child’s education or simply provide enough food to have three meals a day. VICOBA gives them that opportunity and they realize how lucky they are. So each week, they come with their contribution to the cash box – however much they can afford – and after 12 weeks of attending meetings and contributing, they are finally permitted to take out a loan. They are then expected to pay the loan back in small increments. However, sometimes this does not go as smoothly as intended and the group must decide what to do with a member who has not paid back their loan – which I witnessed today. This particular group had a member who had taken out a loan back in December and still hadn’t paid it back. Even worse, she was employed as a teacher but still could not manage to pay. The other women were not amused. After much heated debate, which is in the nature of Tanzanian women, they decided to give her until the next week to start paying. I had no doubt that this would be her last chance. As I explained before, the group takes VICOBA very seriously.
In many respects, I think I would have an easier time trusting the VICOBA group than I would a bank in America. The women asked me if we had similar groups in America, and I had to explain that unfortunately most people only trust banks to keep our money. Everything within the VICOBA group is transparent. The group makes the decisions, the money is counted and recorded, the treasurer can be questioned if there are any discrepancies, and at the end of the meeting the box is locked, the keys are given out and the box remains closed and locked until the next meeting. What is so amazing about a group like this is that you don’t have to be wealthy to get a loan. There are no credit checks, no employment verification or proof that you are able to pay. You simply have to be trusted by the network of women within the group, and in this group, perhaps that isn’t too simple but it is totally worth it. VICOBA gives women the opportunity to make decisions for themselves. They can start businesses, make profits and be independent in a world that has long been dominated by men. They are empowered in ways that were not possible before which has many extremely positive consequences. VICOBA really does have the potential to redeem the community by waging war on poverty – and these women are well on their way to personal success as well as community improvement.
- Carrie Maldovan (USA)
As we leap into the wonderful world of technology, we invite you to come along for the ride! We hope to be able to keep you updated on all the events happening here at WIA – and to get you interested in pledging your support where you see fit! We rely on generous donors to keep all of our programs up and running so we really want to give our potential donors the ability to see exactly what we are doing here. We are also always looking for volunteers to come to Arusha, Tanzania and work with WIA, so if you are interested please do not hesitate to contact us!
