HIV/AIDS Development Fund, Widows Self Help Training

Today was an interesting day. Extra food continues this week. I will probably put on weight this week. Sunday after the Ordination Ceremony I attended two receptions and had take home food for a couple of day. Tuesday Yakubu was hungry so we stopped at Friendship Cottage Guesthouse for a large plate of spaghetti and fish. Wednesday Pastor Ruth wanted to out to eat so we went to Tastey Menu and I had a big plate of rice and Spanish Chicken. This evening I went out to see what the Widows Self Help group was learning and they were baking corn cakes in a charcoal oven and frying donuts in a pan of peanut oil over a wood fire. (What I call 3 rocks and a pot cooking.) Their training is organized by Devine Comforter's Ministires Intl.

Widows in Nigeria and many other African countries have difficult lifes.  Many tribes to not allow the widows to inherit their husbands estate. Many had never been trained for earning money but only for the life as a wife. Life as an African Women is hard. Go out early to collect fire wood and water. Cook pound some corn or other grain to make a porridge for breakfast. Swipe the sand in their compound and start lunch, wash clothes, help with the planting, etc,.

When a man looses his wife he usually remarries. But widows are not seen as someone to marry. Also many of the widows lost their husbands to HIV/AIDS and themselves have HIV/AIDS.

They are here behind my house. I stopped over to see what they were doing and got to sample their donuts and corn cake. The charcoal stove is hard to regulate the heat and they used too much charcoal. The outside of the corn cake was a "burnt offering". The corn cake is very much like cornbread you get Alabama but a little sweeter and firmer.  The organization is going to donate 10 charcoal stoves to the widows in Northeast Nigeria. Each stove is just under $100 (15,000 Naira). This is a lot on money for these women.The training includes soap making, jewelry making,  cooking and money management.   But when you are worried about where the money will come from to buy food tomorrow, it is hard to think about saving a few Naira to help you make more money in the future.

We discussed the concept used by Heifer Project with animals and farming. That a group 15 to 20 of women would get organized as an association. The would decide who will get the first 5 stoves based on who was most ready operate a baking business. The other women would know who will be 6th and 7th and so on. When the first 5 pay back enough to buy another stove the 6th person gets a stove. When the first six pay back another $100 then the 7th stove is bought. All the women in line for a stove are watching the others and making sure they are paying back the loans and not out buying new wrappers. They were interested in the idea.

The organizers and I were talking and I mentioned my solar cooker. They said the poor widows could not afford a cooker. So I showed them my cooker made from waste boxes and aluminum foil. Tomorrow I will have to put it out and heat up some ramin soup.

Tomorrow they will be making soap. I have never seen the process, except on TV. The Spring of Hope HIV/AIDS Support Group was trained last year but have not been able to raise the money to buy the equipment. They asked me to find them $400 in America. I offered to arrange a Development Loan the Spring of Hope but the women that were doing the soap project wanted a gift that they do not have to repay. I told them that they did not want to start a business they just wanted charity.

Farah James the Director of Spring of Hope told me that they have a development fund that is a rotating loan fund but it is too small for the soap project. They have collected Naira in small bills from members of the group and those who contribute can submit a proposal to a committee to get a loan. If the committee agrees that it is a sound proposal and the member is in good standing then the money is loaned.

 The LCCN Deaf Centre is also talking about starting a development loan fund. So I suggested that Farah get with Pastor Ruth to explain how their fund works. The amount of money is small so they cannot keep it in a bank account. The banks here charge fees for everything you do in your account. You can easily use up much of your money in fees if you only have a few thousand Naira. They have a locked box. The box is in Farah's possession as the custodian of the money. Three other people have the three keys for the three padlocks. To get any money out you need all four people to be present.

Most of my day today I was either working on Yakubu's Visa Application or drawing illustrations for the pump repair class we will have before I leave. Going out to talk with the widows, Farah and getting some free food made for nice breaks in my day.  Drawing in a 95 degree room is a challenge to keep the sweat off of your paper. I bought a student drawing board, a tee-square, and a set of triangles. Now to remember back to my drafting class from 1972. At home I would just do it on CADD and take it to Kinko's to print on their large format printer. This is my sketch to show that the underground geology in this area can be complex and not like the simple drawings in the Lifewater manual we will be using for our class.

It is already past 11 PM and I have probably used more than half a tank of fuel in my little generator. Time to shut down the electricity and hope the Power Holding Company turns on the power tonight so I can sleep under a running ceiling fan.