Choosing a Second Village

The work we are beginning in villages is incredibly exciting. Modest investments show the potential to change thousands of lives. And we are addressing the problems of hunger and poverty at its root. We are interested in value chain development and agricultural investment. But what makes our program really unique is that we ask people what they want to do. We don't tell them. Most of my time on this trip has been related to this effort.

We have already chosen the village of Ilambilole to work with. This was where our church had been engaging for more than a decade. After a review with local people, there was strong agreement that it was a great place to start. It was hard working, highly productive, and has a pastor that has stood up to corruption.


(Pictured, corn fields near Ilambilole)

There is a risk in starting with only one village. For example, a drought could delay or cause a failure in the project. Local leaders argued that we should start with three villages to assure the ability to demonstrate success. But there is risk in being too aggressive, as well. The first time you do anything is the hardest. We have things to learn. So we compromised on two.

We needed to choose a second village.

It would be handy if it was near the first one, but then it could suffer drought at the same time. So it needed to be geographically at some distance. As we talked about it, we thought we should find a different climactic area altogether.

(Pictured, a typical meeting with village leaders)

Tanzania is quite remarkable this way. There are numerous micro-climates. At times you find yourself in a new climate every 20 miles. (Because of the poor roads you might be going only 20 miles an hour, too.) We decided to go to a really different climate. Ilambilole is flat and tends to be very dry half of the year. We decided to find a wet region that was also in the same district. We consulted with local and American agricultural experts. Then we talked to local people that could talk about the 'character' of villages. There were about 75 to choose from. Finally, we narrowed it down to four.

Then we spent a half day in each village meeting with leaders and surveying the local outputs. It was a wonderful experience. We posted the results at our website, including the original survey of Ilambilole. They are really interesting:

http://www.cheetahdevelopment.org/cheetah/docs/iringa_district_village_survey.pdf

Here are some highlights and impressions:

1. Ilambilole is a stand-out and was a great first choice.
   
2. There is a strong distinction between villages that are truly subsistence (they eat all they grow) and those that have begun to sell some of their crops. The latter are thinking about markets, profit, and quality.
   
3. The terrain is amazing and beautiful.
   
4. The people were all passionate and hard working. Every meeting ended with speeches by local people. They carefully made their case for why they were the best village to work with.
   
5. I was amazed to see that farmer cooperatives are nearly inevitable. If you ask people how they will solve their problems, they already know that they need to work together. Please realize that in Tanzania farmer cooperatives have been models for stealing from the poor for about 40 years so this is not an answer that I expected.
   
6. People don't want handouts, they want opportunity. They are looking for a way to succeed with dignity.
   
7. I wanted to choose every village I was in.
   

Well, except for Bomalang'ombe. The road was so bad. The springs on the truck were cracked and so there was no rear suspension (a later failure was coming). Three hours later I literally arrived in pain. I thought to myself, 'I never want to come back here again.'

I felt the Spirit move in my heart as I thought this…'You might be surprised.'

(Pictured: the fields around Bomalang'ombe - CLICK ON THIS ONE!)