My time here so far has been marked by an almost endless stream of highs and lows, often occuring within the same day to the extent that by the time I go to bed I don't know whether the day has been productive or not. This week has seen that level of contrast increase dramatically.
I'm currently sitting on the veranda of Sunset writing this in peace and quiet. Celisse, the volunteers and Lisa have gone to the beach for a swim and some food and I'm making the most of the time on my own to get back onto studying some portuguese and writing this blog. Its amazing what a cold beer and some peace and quiet can do for getting your head straight.
There is also a powercut at the minute so the discos which blast music and movies on an almost constant loop are, for the moment, quiet. There is a good breeze and a blue sky and life looks pretty rosy. The dog is still alive and after getting a taste for life outside his small half-built house has started competing with me on his ability to escape and my ability to prevent him. Currently I'm winning (he's still there) but who knows what tomorrow will bring. This week also brought in the first proper rain since I got here. Monsoon style rain pelted down for a few hours, filling every bucket we could lay our hands on to save money on having to buy some from the well. Fun at first but when theres leaks throughout the straw roof, no power and no ability to go outside, as well as a very wet dog, the novelty wore off pretty quickly.
Anyway, onto serious things. I started my feasibility study in earnest this week. The study will consider financial, legal and social requirements of setting up a formal banking structure in Mossuril and will hopefully be researched, written and put in a shiny folder before Christmas. I have employed an assistant (yes, I have an assistant) to conduct surveys of local people and help me to speak to bank managers, government officials and other bigwigs to see if its all possible. He is called Sale (Sally) and is an English teacher at the local secondary school. He is originally from Nampula City and has dabbled in various business activities before settling on a career in the public service (predominantly for the benefits for him and his family which such a career carries with it). I'm paying him out of my own pocket for now as I don't really know who to ask to fund a small feasibility study but hopefully the investment will pay off when the study is written and we get to the stage of setting up the bank.
The survey will interview local people across Mossuril District to assess demand for banking facilities as well as ascertaining how much people need the relative functions of the bank (savings, loans, insurance, etc) and will hopefully conclude that it is possible to create, though I am realistic enough to know that if the numbers don't add up on a feasibility study then they certainly won't add up in practice.
The legal side of the study will be predominantly done through speaking to contacts of Sale and a few other friends of mine here who work in the Administration, the highest government level in the district. I need to write some letters, meet some people, guarantee my trustworthiness and request an awful lot of permission before I even think about the financial implications. Its a big project and much of it scares me due to the language, money and seniority of the people involved but its very exciting. Sale is savvy in business and is realistic in how much he is asking me to pay him. At some point I'm going to need to get paid too but for now I'm just going with the flow. After Christmas can be a time for applying for funding.
A lot of people both here and in the West claim that micirofinance is not viable in Africa due to a variety of reasons. The form of charity which has dominated this continent for decades is aid, the giving of things and the reliance on those things. This has stunted the ability and need for people to create their own businesses or attempt to become self-sufficient as 1) If someone is giving you lunch, why do you need to buy lunch and 2) why set up a shop selling clothes if you don't know whether the following week a truck will come from Manchester giving away loads of free clothes and making you bankrupt. On a side note, when you donate clothes to a truck going to a developing country, the most common thing that charities do with them is sell them to intermediaries so as not to harm local business and to make some money on the side, though not necessarily donating them as they say in the brochure. Saying that, don't stop giving clothes to charity!
Although I recognise the value in this thinking and the fact that it was our methods which created this situation, I don't want to write off the chances of rural microfinance in Southern Africa even before I've started. This study will hopefully be able to give a better impression of whether Africa can compete with the massively successful provision of microfinance in Asia (a continent with more of a history of capitalist practice but which has still suffered due to the way aid has been distributed) and define what my next step will be in the process. If nothing else, its exciting, interesting and will stand me in good stead for the next opportunity which comes along.
This next week is pretty uncertain just now. We're going to Nampula tomorrow to update visas but aren't yet sure whether its possible to do it in-country or if we have to cross the border into Malawi to be able to get new ones. The train east towards the border leaves early on Tuesday morning but if it is possible to sort it in Nampula it would just save a lot of time, money and hassle. Also it would mean we would get to Cuamba, the middle of nowehere, on Tuesday evening just at the time of Scotland's vital game against Spain on Tuesday night, not the best situation to be in. Whatever time we come back we'd be looking to come back with a motorbike. Its a good investment to make here and the ability to leave for a pint or a swim at any point is always nice. Things are starting to move here and Africa is a nice place to be when things are moving.
No comments:
Post a Comment