Kirua Good Hope Women’s Cooperative

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Kirua Good Hope Women’s Cooperative

Friday, August 11, 2006

An philanthropic traveler approached Exquisite Safaris partner Universal Giving to assist her aiding women in a small village near Arusha, Tanzania. The village where these women live, Lasso Kirua, has about 800 residents, half of them children. It is located on the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, about a 45 minute walk from the nearest transportation and even farther to the next largest village where this is a weekly market, a few stores and a medical clinic. Most of the families are extremely poor, earning a dollar or two a week from the small plots of land where they farm bananas, corn, coffee or garden vegetables which they sell in the market. About a year ago, the women organized themselves into the "Kirua Good Hope Women's Cooperative" which now has a membership of about 27 women and their families and has a leadership structure which includes the local school principal and several long term women community leaders. They made up a list of things they wanted to accomplish for their village.

During the first meeting with the villagers "Eli" (also known as "Amon") discussed the village's most important needs. They later prioritized their goals which resulted with the sewing project.Eli, the local contact in Arusha, has become the "point man" for overseeing the program for the villagers.

One of their chief goals-and something that is a struggle and a profound worry for almost every family-is finding the $25 or so each year for school uniforms and supplies required to send each child to school. The project goals are to get sewing machines and knitting machines so the women can make their children's school uniforms-thus increasing the likelihood that they will be able to afford the cost of schooling their children. (In Africa, about 50% of children don't attend school, mostly due to financial barriers.) The group has divided themselves into teams of 6 women (each with a specific workday) and come up with a detailed plan about how the women who know how to use the equipment will train the others and how they will work together to produce the simple sweaters, shirts and skirts or pants the children are required to wear to school. They also have plans to sell uniforms to other families in the village and nearby villages and to start a custom seamstress service for the former villagers who return each year for Christmas and like to have traditional clothing made for themselves.

They are also hoping to start a small computer training program for their children. Though most people don't have electricity, there is a house in the village which functions as a community center and has electricity and space for 7-8 computers. The chairman (mayor) of the village wrote a letter which he gave to me requesting help with this project and agreeing to provide the electricity and organize the community to build the benches and tables if the computers could be donated. There is also a very like-able young man who has helped out with the community for several years and is quite knowledgeable about computers. He is currently finishing a class in computer repair at the university extension program in Arusha and is eager to coordinate setting up a computer center and teaching the community children on a volunteer basis. We also discussed bringing back volunteers to work on community projects next year.

Initial funds were provided to get the sewing project started and they are now raising further donations for these projects. The "Good Hope" group has a fairly good structure. We are impressed with the answers to many questions and their thoughtfulness about how to organize the sewing project.

The seed money for these projects will be fairly limited-a few thousand dollars but as one of the women told us, the money is important but so is the energy and encouragement they get from knowing that other people are interested and believe in what they are doing.

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