We finally got in contact with Tabitha, the one NGO that we had a connection with befo
re we left. We had our first chance to visit one of the villages participating in their programs. Tabitha is an organization that works to build communities and infrastructure. They have several projects that they run in villages that agree to work with them. They have programs such as house-building, savings and banking, well-digging, and others. It was cool to see what the savings program has done. Tabitha chooses the most poor communities and families and presents their program to them. Often it is difficult for the people to trust them to do what they say they will do and really help them. So the gist of it is that families will save a certain amount of money each week. They will give it to their community Tabitha representative who keeps it in a sort of bank. They are given 10% interest on everything they put in to the bank. The
y deposit a certain amount each week and then they receive the interest at the end of each 11-week cycle. The families, not the NGO, then decide what they need the most. They decide how and when to spend their savings. It was interesting to see what different families had chosen. Some improved their houses, invested in personal businesses, or purchased better modes of transportation. The beauty of what Tabitha is trying to do is in allowing families to make their own decisions and start to really help themselves. We will be going out for two full-days next week with one of Tabitha's full-time employees who works out in the various communities. She will be taking us out to a village that is just starting the program and also one that has recently graduated from Tabitha's program. We are hopi
ng to gather some before-and-after information. It should be a good couple of days.
re we left. We had our first chance to visit one of the villages participating in their programs. Tabitha is an organization that works to build communities and infrastructure. They have several projects that they run in villages that agree to work with them. They have programs such as house-building, savings and banking, well-digging, and others. It was cool to see what the savings program has done. Tabitha chooses the most poor communities and families and presents their program to them. Often it is difficult for the people to trust them to do what they say they will do and really help them. So the gist of it is that families will save a certain amount of money each week. They will give it to their community Tabitha representative who keeps it in a sort of bank. They are given 10% interest on everything they put in to the bank. The
y deposit a certain amount each week and then they receive the interest at the end of each 11-week cycle. The families, not the NGO, then decide what they need the most. They decide how and when to spend their savings. It was interesting to see what different families had chosen. Some improved their houses, invested in personal businesses, or purchased better modes of transportation. The beauty of what Tabitha is trying to do is in allowing families to make their own decisions and start to really help themselves. We will be going out for two full-days next week with one of Tabitha's full-time employees who works out in the various communities. She will be taking us out to a village that is just starting the program and also one that has recently graduated from Tabitha's program. We are hopi
ng to gather some before-and-after information. It should be a good couple of days.
1 comment:
I love the color of that house! How would you describe it? Kind of teal-ie?
Those kids are adorable, especially with the glasses upside down. :)
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