From Snake Park to Morogoro

By Thokozile Mntambo

I have spent the most inspiring three days at Morogoro village in Tanzania, together with Eric Mokuoa from the Benchmarks Foundation. Upon our arrival, we met with Emmanuel Nguri from the organisation Norwegian Church Aid (NCA Tanzania), who was to be our driver for the three days. He was very kind and helpful and made our trip comfortable and informative.On the next day, we woke up early in the morning from Dar es Salaam to travel to Morogo village to meet with the villagers. Our trip to Morogoro from Dar es Salaam took 5 hours and 30 minutes. At Morena Hotel Morogoro, we met with Pius and Matthews who were assigned as our program directors for our tour. In Morogoro, we began a journey that will forever be life-changing for me, a resident of Soweto Snake Park. I was first struck by the beauty and novelty of Uluguru Nature Forest Reserve, which nestles in the village of Morogoro. It felt like I was walking in the gardens of Eden because everywhere we passed people planted vegetables and fruits, our driver even stopped and bought us coconuts that we drank fresh from the tree. They tasted natural and delicious. This was new to me as a person who grew up in Soweto Snake Park, surrounded by a toxic mine dump and today we suffer the consequences of the 1886 gold mine rush. The villagers welcomed us warmly, singing beautifully in Swahili. “Ndini mbari mbari! Uphendo, Hakhi, Namari!!,“ this is how each person greeted us during the introductions and it means love, peace, and unity. We felt at home. Our new friends Pius and Matthews introduced us to the organisation and explained our purpose to visit their village. We learnt how the organisation was formed. The Pilots of Agriculture Innovation is a programme of the Norwegian Church of Tanzania that addresses the organisation’s joint efforts on resource mobilisation. They empower community members to gain greater access and control over material resources and think critically about how power in society works where there is discrimination and unequal distribution of all resources. INTER-religious village community banks (IR VICOBA) have proved to be a great success in raising income and improving the lives and welfare of its members in various districs int he country. (IPPMedia) This resulted in the community starting “VICOBA” group, which is a village community bank. The name of the organisation is Kirvica and Mirvica. Jema Mziwanda, a 49-year-old farmer, was the chairperson of the organisation in 2016 when Norwegian Church of Tanzania came into their village. NCA (Tanzania) trained them and assisted the community to form the organisation as well as teaching them how to save money and buy shares from the organisation. It looks like the organisation is having an impact.“I am a single parent and unemployed. When I joined the organisation, I could not even pay my daughter’s university fees. I applied for a loan. I was able to buy shares in the organisation and pay school fees. I also started poultry farming with the loan money and I was able to pay back the loan within three years,” said Georgina Mwagala, a 46-year-old community member.I found myself encouraged by Mirvica and Kirvica networks that they could save money and use the funds to lend to members of the organisation. These members would have to pay back the loans with a small interest. What I also learnt was that community members can also get empowered to start their businesses instead of them depending on the organisation. All of this was made possible through agriculture. Kirvica and Mirvica have land where they started food gardens and they sell vegetables and fruits and save the money they get from the profits. This kind of development is economic empowerment through saving and an income generation activity. It was really new to me. My visit to Morogoro village transformed my ideas about agriculture and it enabled me to think big about economic empowerment for my community back home. Now that I am back at home, my head is filled with ideas and self-help strategies that will be of benefit to my community of Snake Park, where we started a phytoremediation project. As explained in another edition, this project aims to remove toxins from the mine tailings soil. The following is what I have taken from the Kivirca and Mirvica network:- Saving money in community banks (Vircoba groups) is what we call stokvels but it is rarely used in community organisations. As a cooperative, we can start saving money and also encourage members to save to add something to the group fund. Income generation activity – taking the saved money to borrow from members as loans and they can pay it back with interest. Agripreneurship – an entrepreneur whose business is agriculture, as we are advocating for our community as activists, we can also create opportunities for activists through phytoremediation. Access to finance resources – members of the organisation can be able to borrow money from the cooperative. Access to independent income – members of the organisation can also own their own business. Owning assets, controlling assets – members of the organisation can also buy shares from the cooperative. Reduced vulnerability at the time of financial crisis – everyone is independent and can participate in decision making.

Thokozile Mntambo I have spent the most inspiring three days at Morogoro village in Tanzania, together with Eric Mokuoa from the Benchmarks Foundation. Upon our arrival, we met with Emmanuel Nguri from the organisation Norwegian Church Aid (NCA Tanzania), who was to be our driver for the three days. He was very kind and helpful and made our trip comfortable and informative.On the next day, we woke up early in the morning from Dar es Salaam to travel to Morogo village to meet with the villagers. Our trip to Morogoro from Dar es Salaam took 5 hours and 30 minutes. At Morena Hotel Morogoro, we met with Pius and Matthews who were assigned as our programme directors for our tour.In Morogoro, we began a journey that will forever be life-changing for me, a resident of Soweto Snake Park. I was first struck by the beauty and novelty of Uluguru Nature Forest Reserve, which nestles in the village of Morogoro. It felt like I was walking in the gardens of Eden because everywhere we passed people planted vegetables and fruits, our driver even stopped and bought us coconuts that we drank fresh from the tree. They tasted natural and delicious. This was new to me as a person who grew up in Soweto Snake Park, surrounded by a toxic mine dump and today we suffer the consequences of the 1886 gold mine rush. The villagers welcomed us warmly, singing beautifully in Swahili. “Ndini mbari mbari! Uphendo, Hakhi, Namari!!,“ this is how each person greeted us during the introductions and it means love, peace, and unity. We felt at home. Our new friends Pius and Matthews introduced us to the organisation and explained to them about our purpose to visit their village. We learnt how the organisation was formed. The Pilots of Agriculture Innovation is a programme of the Norwegian Church of Tanzania that aims to address the organisation’s joint efforts on resource mobilisation. They empower community members to gain greater access and control over material resources and think critically about how power in society works where there is discrimination and unequal distribution of all resources. INTER-religious village community banks (IR VICOBA) have proved to be a great success in raising income and improving the lives and welfare of its members in various districs int he country. (IPPMedia) This resulted in the community starting “VICOBA” group, which is a village community bank. The name of the organisation is Kirvica and Mirvica. Jema Mziwanda, a 49-year-old farmer, was the chairperson of the organisation in 2016 when Norwegian Church of Tanzania came into their village. NCA (Tanzania) trained them and assisted the community to form the organisation as well as teaching them how to save money and buy shares from the organisation. It looks like the organisation is having an impact.“I am a single parent and unemployed. When I joined the organisation, I could not even pay my daughter’s university fees. I applied for a loan. I was able to buy shares in the organisation and pay school fees. I also started poultry farming with the loan money and I was able to pay back the loan within three years,” said Georgina Mwagala, a 46-year-old community member.I found myself encouraged by Mirvica and Kirvica networks that they could save money and use the funds to lend to members of the organisation. These members would have to pay back the loans with a small interest. What I also learnt was that community members can also get empowered to start their businesses instead of them depending on the organisation. All of this was made possible through agriculture. Kirvica and Mirvica have land where they started food gardens and they sell vegetables and fruits and save the money they get from the profits. This kind of development is economic empowerment through saving and an income generation activity. It was really new to me. My visit to Morogoro village transformed my ideas about agriculture and it enabled me to think big about economic empowerment for my community back home. Now that I am back at home, my head is filled with ideas and self-help strategies that will be of benefit to my community of Snake Park, where we started a phytoremediation project. As explained in another edition, this project aims to remove toxins from the mine tailings soil. The following is what I have taken from the Kivirca and Mirvica network:- Saving money in community banks (Vircoba groups) is what we call stokvels but it is rarely used in community organisations. As a cooperative, we can start saving money and also encourage members to save to add something to the group fund. Income generation activity – taking the saved money to borrow from members as loans and they can pay it back with interest. Agripreneurship – an entrepreneur whose business is agriculture, as we are advocating for our community as activists, we can also create opportunities for activists through phytoremediation. Access to finance resources – members of the organisation can be able to borrow money from the cooperative. Access to independent income – members of the organisation can also own their own business. Owning assets, controlling assets – members of the organisation can also buy shares from the cooperative. Reduced vulnerability at the time of financial crisis – everyone is independent and can participate in decision making.