Sunday, March 16, 2008
In my last entry I wrote about building a school in the bush. Things aren’t looking good. The PCPP doesn’t sponsor such large projects or projects that are the responsibility of the government. We received reply from only one of the several Namibian companies we solicited. They turned us down because they said if other schools found out about it, then they would be solicited by more and more schools. And they argued that it was the responsibility of the government. Can’t say I disagree. So it doesn’t look like that project is going anywhere.
After developing a relationship with the bank manger on this issue, I asked him if he would be able to give a loan to a worker at my school. You remember the woman who benefited from the donation of a sewing machine? She has formed a small group that makes and sells some things. A few weeks ago she was asking some teachers at my school for a small loan (N$500) to purchase materials. The teachers all refused so I told her I might be able to help her out with my contact at the bank. I asked the bank manager after one of our meetings if he knew about micro-financing. His eyes lit up like he did in fact know what I was talking about, but it turned out he thought it was the same as a small business loan. He started talking about loans of several thousand dollars. I chuckled and re-explained the situation. A small, personal loan seemed more suitable, if she qualified. But I am perplexed how a bank manager in rural Africa doesn’t know about micro financing. I am wondering if anyone reading this knows a little more? Possibly a worldwide database or a country by country guide?
During the loan negotiations I became irritated with the ridiculous banking fees and it slowly became apparent the meme was not going to get approved simply because she did not make enough money. The fee that really set me off was a $500 administration fee on a $5000 loan. That’s 10%!!! The interest rate was only 3%. My immediate repulsion got him to show me the document explaining the fees. There was no explanation, just a paper showing the minimum and maximum amounts for administration fees based on the principle. All the maximums were highlighted! When I asked why, he said that the information came from a circular (meaning it was declared by the corporate office in a memo). Ridiculous, but not unexpected. Whenever I take money out of the BOB (ATM) there are monthly fees, transaction fee, transaction duty, S/fee, admin fees, and a laughably miniscule interest payment. I no longer will laugh when I see commercials offering free banking and checking.
So it seems the meme is up a creek, for now. I am hoping to be able to find a micro-lending source.
Also since my last entry I have had my hours reduced from 37 to 30. It’s been less than a week, but it has made all the difference. I can now finish some of my lesson planning and school work during my off periods – not to mention having less lesson planning and grading to do. I’m really thankful that I’ll have fewer exams to grade in a month when the first term ends. I was hoping to be relieved of one of my grade 8 classes, but it was one of my two grade 9 classes. It’s ok, though. My remaining grade 9 class is my favorite class and they are much brighter. I’ll be able to work at a slightly faster and more challenging pace with them now that I don’t have the others holding them/me back.
This upcoming week is only 3 days. The Independence Day holiday is coming up, and with Easter Monday, that gives us a 5 day weekend and then another short week. Namibia will be now be legal – 18 years. We are traveling to Ruacana Falls, a waterfall in the northwest part of the country. I am excited for several reasons. First, the five day weekend. Second, we’re going to meet up with several volunteers we haven’t seen in several months, in particular our co-Missourian, Adam. Third, camping at a waterfall. Fourth, we are going to attempt to travel THE impossible road. That is, going west from our village. The road is “impossible” simply because it’s infrequently traveled and desolate. Most people to Ovamboland travel through Tsumeb on the paved road from Rundu. However, going directly west, will save us many hours and give us quite the sense of accomplishment. Adam and another friend, Paul, tried making the journey about a year ago and were left stranded at about the half way point. Suckers. It will really be great to rub our success in their faces.
Our next vacation, which will be to Tanzania, is approaching fast. We are going to spend a week at the village of one of my favorite colleagues, Mr. Urassa. The village is on the side of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the midst of lush jungle vegetation of bananas and coffee. Then we are going to the beach. We will stay for a few days in the costal city of Dar es Salaam and also the island of Zanzibar. To break up some of the traveling, we are also going to stop at Vic Falls (again) on our way back through Zambia.
I had been looking forward to March 4 (Ohio and Texas) as the day the election gut wrenching would be over. I was predicting more Obama victories and Hillary’s surrender. Sadly, it drags on. It’s amusing and confusing trying to explain state primaries and delegates to the people here. Superdelegates, endorsements, and re-votes are head spinning. The electoral college is foolishly antiquated.
I mentioned in my previous post that we were not able to return from the states with the 300+ books that had been donated to us. Now it looks like we might finally be getting somewhere on the shipping. A group of returned peace corps volunteers (or RPCVs for acronym lovers, or AL) from Columbia (CoMo) look to sponsor small projects from Mid-Mo PCVs, and may donate the part of all of the shipping cost. Also, a friend in Farmington has been collecting some money. Between these two sources we should be able to get it taken care of. We received the dictionaries purchased by the Farmington Lions Club relatively quickly, so we hope we’ll see these books added to our libraries soon, too.
Alas, we have reliable internet now, so I hope these blog posts can be more frequent.
After developing a relationship with the bank manger on this issue, I asked him if he would be able to give a loan to a worker at my school. You remember the woman who benefited from the donation of a sewing machine? She has formed a small group that makes and sells some things. A few weeks ago she was asking some teachers at my school for a small loan (N$500) to purchase materials. The teachers all refused so I told her I might be able to help her out with my contact at the bank. I asked the bank manager after one of our meetings if he knew about micro-financing. His eyes lit up like he did in fact know what I was talking about, but it turned out he thought it was the same as a small business loan. He started talking about loans of several thousand dollars. I chuckled and re-explained the situation. A small, personal loan seemed more suitable, if she qualified. But I am perplexed how a bank manager in rural Africa doesn’t know about micro financing. I am wondering if anyone reading this knows a little more? Possibly a worldwide database or a country by country guide?
During the loan negotiations I became irritated with the ridiculous banking fees and it slowly became apparent the meme was not going to get approved simply because she did not make enough money. The fee that really set me off was a $500 administration fee on a $5000 loan. That’s 10%!!! The interest rate was only 3%. My immediate repulsion got him to show me the document explaining the fees. There was no explanation, just a paper showing the minimum and maximum amounts for administration fees based on the principle. All the maximums were highlighted! When I asked why, he said that the information came from a circular (meaning it was declared by the corporate office in a memo). Ridiculous, but not unexpected. Whenever I take money out of the BOB (ATM) there are monthly fees, transaction fee, transaction duty, S/fee, admin fees, and a laughably miniscule interest payment. I no longer will laugh when I see commercials offering free banking and checking.
So it seems the meme is up a creek, for now. I am hoping to be able to find a micro-lending source.
Also since my last entry I have had my hours reduced from 37 to 30. It’s been less than a week, but it has made all the difference. I can now finish some of my lesson planning and school work during my off periods – not to mention having less lesson planning and grading to do. I’m really thankful that I’ll have fewer exams to grade in a month when the first term ends. I was hoping to be relieved of one of my grade 8 classes, but it was one of my two grade 9 classes. It’s ok, though. My remaining grade 9 class is my favorite class and they are much brighter. I’ll be able to work at a slightly faster and more challenging pace with them now that I don’t have the others holding them/me back.
This upcoming week is only 3 days. The Independence Day holiday is coming up, and with Easter Monday, that gives us a 5 day weekend and then another short week. Namibia will be now be legal – 18 years. We are traveling to Ruacana Falls, a waterfall in the northwest part of the country. I am excited for several reasons. First, the five day weekend. Second, we’re going to meet up with several volunteers we haven’t seen in several months, in particular our co-Missourian, Adam. Third, camping at a waterfall. Fourth, we are going to attempt to travel THE impossible road. That is, going west from our village. The road is “impossible” simply because it’s infrequently traveled and desolate. Most people to Ovamboland travel through Tsumeb on the paved road from Rundu. However, going directly west, will save us many hours and give us quite the sense of accomplishment. Adam and another friend, Paul, tried making the journey about a year ago and were left stranded at about the half way point. Suckers. It will really be great to rub our success in their faces.
Our next vacation, which will be to Tanzania, is approaching fast. We are going to spend a week at the village of one of my favorite colleagues, Mr. Urassa. The village is on the side of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the midst of lush jungle vegetation of bananas and coffee. Then we are going to the beach. We will stay for a few days in the costal city of Dar es Salaam and also the island of Zanzibar. To break up some of the traveling, we are also going to stop at Vic Falls (again) on our way back through Zambia.
I had been looking forward to March 4 (Ohio and Texas) as the day the election gut wrenching would be over. I was predicting more Obama victories and Hillary’s surrender. Sadly, it drags on. It’s amusing and confusing trying to explain state primaries and delegates to the people here. Superdelegates, endorsements, and re-votes are head spinning. The electoral college is foolishly antiquated.
I mentioned in my previous post that we were not able to return from the states with the 300+ books that had been donated to us. Now it looks like we might finally be getting somewhere on the shipping. A group of returned peace corps volunteers (or RPCVs for acronym lovers, or AL) from Columbia (CoMo) look to sponsor small projects from Mid-Mo PCVs, and may donate the part of all of the shipping cost. Also, a friend in Farmington has been collecting some money. Between these two sources we should be able to get it taken care of. We received the dictionaries purchased by the Farmington Lions Club relatively quickly, so we hope we’ll see these books added to our libraries soon, too.
Alas, we have reliable internet now, so I hope these blog posts can be more frequent.
