The two loan trainings went great! With a huge turn out, Josephine, Ester, Levina, and Mary led enthralling lessons four days in a row. Our training follows the Women’s Microfinance Initiative model, in which groups of twenty women from the same village or area are separated into four groups of five neighbors. This concept implements a monitoring system so that the women’s’ loan repayments are guaranteed. The significance of this and determining how to ensure success – in terms of business, savings, and loan repayments – is all covered in the mandatory business training. Mary, a Maasai woman and the head of the entire loan program, deserves special recognition as she utilized her fluency in Kiswahili, Maa, and English throughout these inspiring four days.
Our first training was for Tloma village, where Judy and Katharine are residing. The loan training went great, the women enthusiastic to begin or expand their businesses. The leaders were so thrilled; they gifted Judy with a rooster – which we gleefully gobbled down the next night!
Our next training was a two-hour drive along the breathtaking rim of the Ngorongoro Crater in Alailelai village. Amidst the cows and the zebras, our ladies fantastically led the loan training in the kindergarten built and sustained by NCN donations! The second day of the training, Melissa, Katharine, and Judy meandered through the Alailelai market, interviewing some of the loan recipients about how they spend their profit, and the experience they have had with saving money.
We left the village, exhausted from all the hard work, but energized about the work that is soon to come.
