Ghanaian Greetings: Village visits

Hello again,

We went into the field a few times with work the past couple weeks. It’s really an eye opening experience going into these villages and talking to the people about their loans. It really lets you see the other end of things and how such a small amount of money could make such a huge difference in their lives.

On our trips into the villages we accompany a loan officer at his repayment meeting. There are weekly repayment meetings per each group and a loan officer can have anywhere from just a couple groups to 10 or more. The group organizes a meeting spot and a time where they will start paying back a portion of their loan. The program is called Credit with Education, so the loan officer will also give a short educational talk on different subjects such as financial responsibilities, repayment procedures, and health. Although this meeting is completely in Fante (the local language of the nearby villages) we don’t really have a complete idea of what they’re actually saying. Another aspect of the meetings are to collect “susu”, which is a traditional method of savings, where the loan officer will collect a small percentage of the member’s income (usually about 10% of the loan they take out) and put it away for them. The reason they do this is because the amount they save is very minimal and modern banks will not take such a small amount to create an account for them. The members are welcome to take their “susu” at any time, but most continue to save up for big things like buying land or building a house.

Then our job is to interview each of the members of the group and ask them questions about their business, how the loan has improved it and what their plans for the future are. Many of the clients are very excited to talk to us and they are extremely grateful of the money they’ve received. We will then upload a short journal entry into Kiva’s website for the donors to see how their money is being used.

I really enjoy this part of the internship because you really get a glimpse into the other side of a microfinance organization that many others don’t get to see. Yes, we know what these MFI’s are intended to do and we assume the money is being put to good use, but rarely do we actually get to hear from the recipients themselves and see how much it actually works. Some of the stories are amazing, for instance, I’ve spoken to numerous women who are single mothers who have 6 or more children and will still strive to send each and every one to school. This is a big accomplishment for these families, especially in rural villages where school attendance is not viewed as an important aspect of a child’s life.

Another exciting aspect of this part of the job is that most of the villages that are located further from town have rarely seen an “Obruni”, let alone interact with them and they are excitedly waiting for us to arrive, as they’ve already heard we are coming. The groups also want to take pictures with us, and will argue with each other to be the one standing next to us or even just touching us for the picture. I had a few ladies literally sit around my legs just to be that close to me, it’s such a humbling experience and I always feel so welcome in a place is didn’t think I would.