The fires can’t quench the flame
A few weeks ago, I received a text message about my savings group in Sinhara. I’ve been working with them over the past several months organizing their savings group. The text message informed me that their community had suffered heavy losses from the run away fires on that crazy Monday where the smoke was so thick it looked like it was snowing. Those fires, we later learned covered much of the two central provinces, in many communities where MCC partners work. Several people in their communities lost their houses, entire year’s grain supplies. One of the Anglican preschool teachers lost 8 metric tons of corn, house and all her belongings. The savings group’s box burned and all the money in it.
So, Joél, my parents and I went to visit the savings group. When we got there, the Anglican church which usually has a thatched roof with an open roof veranda area, was the opposite—roofed veranda area and no roof over the sanctuary part. The fires had destroyed the roof and the group had put a light thatch roof on veranda area in anticipation of our visit.
Since July, the group of 15 people had saved 5795 meticais (about $244 USD), 702 meticais (about $29.50 USD) in the social fund (to help with emergencies), 400 meticais (about $16.85 USD) in interest from loans that people had taken out, and 100 meticais (about $4.20 USD) in fines to group members. This is a considerable amount for a group this size to accumulate in two months. In the fires, they lost their box of money, except for 136 meticais in coins and one 100 meticais note burned in two places and 700 meticais that someone has out as a loan.
I asked what they wanted to do with their group. They said they wanted to continue. I clarified, keep going now or next year? No, they wanted to keep going now. So I asked what they needed to start over – a box. We then remembered together the rules of the group because the secretary’s book with the rules, all accounts and register of members, burned too. They added rules and I think this time around their rules give the group better parameters – they’ve learned from their experience already. They decided to meet separately with the secretary (who was absent that day) to review their accounts.
We were at the end of our meeting when I brought out a new box for them. The
mood of the group completely changed. They went from being just survivors and moving on to being joyful. My mom said that their faces shone when they saw me walking from the truck back to the church with the box in my hand (when I learned that their box burned in the fires, I decided to bring them a new box). It made their day.
I like days like that. It’s really sad how the fires destroyed people’s homes, food supplies and communities. But what was good was to see how the community came together. They had seen how the savings group could really help them. Even though they didn’t have a box, lost almost all their savings, they wanted to continue. The fires can’t quench that kind of flame, the flame of hope, empowerment and knowledge.
A few weeks ago, I received a text message about my savings group in Sinhara. I’ve been working with them over the past several months organizing their savings group. The text message informed me that their community had suffered heavy losses from the run away fires on that crazy Monday where the smoke was so thick it looked like it was snowing. Those fires, we later learned covered much of the two central provinces, in many communities where MCC partners work. Several people in their communities lost their houses, entire year’s grain supplies. One of the Anglican preschool teachers lost 8 metric tons of corn, house and all her belongings. The savings group’s box burned and all the money in it.
So, Joél, my parents and I went to visit the savings group. When we got there, the Anglican church which usually has a thatched roof with an open roof veranda area, was the opposite—roofed veranda area and no roof over the sanctuary part. The fires had destroyed the roof and the group had put a light thatch roof on veranda area in anticipation of our visit.
Since July, the group of 15 people had saved 5795 meticais (about $244 USD), 702 meticais (about $29.50 USD) in the social fund (to help with emergencies), 400 meticais (about $16.85 USD) in interest from loans that people had taken out, and 100 meticais (about $4.20 USD) in fines to group members. This is a considerable amount for a group this size to accumulate in two months. In the fires, they lost their box of money, except for 136 meticais in coins and one 100 meticais note burned in two places and 700 meticais that someone has out as a loan.
I asked what they wanted to do with their group. They said they wanted to continue. I clarified, keep going now or next year? No, they wanted to keep going now. So I asked what they needed to start over – a box. We then remembered together the rules of the group because the secretary’s book with the rules, all accounts and register of members, burned too. They added rules and I think this time around their rules give the group better parameters – they’ve learned from their experience already. They decided to meet separately with the secretary (who was absent that day) to review their accounts.
We were at the end of our meeting when I brought out a new box for them. The
mood of the group completely changed. They went from being just survivors and moving on to being joyful. My mom said that their faces shone when they saw me walking from the truck back to the church with the box in my hand (when I learned that their box burned in the fires, I decided to bring them a new box). It made their day.I like days like that. It’s really sad how the fires destroyed people’s homes, food supplies and communities. But what was good was to see how the community came together. They had seen how the savings group could really help them. Even though they didn’t have a box, lost almost all their savings, they wanted to continue. The fires can’t quench that kind of flame, the flame of hope, empowerment and knowledge.
(Photo: the group, Joel and I and the new box. They were really happy but people are serious when they pose for photos.)
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