Wednesday, March 3, 2010

A Day of Celebration in Burundi


Today I got to be part of something that I talk often about in my work but have not yet been able to experience.

In our savings-led microfinance methodology, savings groups form and meet together over a period of one year to save their money and access small loans from their group’s savings fund. As the year continues, the savings fund grows, and loans are taken and repaid with interest. At the end of one year, the group conducts an annual “share out” ceremony, in which their total savings fund is divided out to each member according to what they have saved plus a dividend of the profits they have earned through the retained loan interest and fees paid in by members who violate the group’s constitution. It is a time to celebrate hard work and accomplishment, and to reflect on how they have grown together as a group.

On this day, I was honored to able to attend a share out ceremony of two groups in the Ruziba commune in the Bujumbura province of Burundi. Shigikirana Savings for Life – World Relief’s partner savings program in Burundi – mobilized, trained, and mentored these two groups over the past year. The drive out to Ruziba from the nation’s capital of Bujumbura was short, but it took us to a very rural area on the outskirts of the city where poverty is high and access to formal financial institutions low. We trekked along muddy paths, products of Burundi’s currently occurring rainy season, surrounded by small children who seemed to be leading the way for us. They whispered to each other in the national language of Kirundi, most likely exchanging comments about these strange visitors who had shown up in their commune. We arrived at a large church to greet the two groups who, upon entering the church, were singing and beating on drums to greet us.

The ceremony was conducted in a very formal manner. Speeches were given, songs sung, prayers said, and the day’s main event: the share out. The group members broke out into their two groups and sat in circles around a table where there 3-lock metal box, holding their passbooks and their years worth of savings, was placed. Both groups had carried their boxes to the ceremony that day in plastic baskets, with the boxes wrapped tightly in cloth to disguise what they were carrying. As the three key holders unlocked the boxes and the funds were poured out onto the tables, I was immediately impressed. Piles upon piles of bills in the local currency of Burundian Francs spilled upon the table as they began to sort through and divide the funds according to the number of savings shares each member had recorded in their passbooks. Looking at these piles of money, it’s important to remind oneself that not a cent of this came from any outsider. No infusion of funds was given from a bank or a microfinance institution. No wealthy Westerner walked into this poor community and, seeing the need and the barefoot children in ragged clothing, poured dependency-creating relief upon the people in the form of US Dollars. All of this money was theirs – they had earned it, and they stewarded it. Now they were experiencing the joy of seeing how their hard work and discipline had not only created for them a lump sum of money to support their family and investment needs, but had resulted in a return on their savings of 60% in one group and 65% in the other! Far better than any interest rates you’ll find for a savings account in the US! Together, the two groups, a total of 41 materially poor people, mobilized over $5,000! Incredible to see how powerful people are when they come together and commit to grow together.

After the funds were shared out, the whole group gathered again to listen to speeches from the groups’ leaders, the pastors of the two churches the groups had come from, and the leadership of Shigikirana Savings for Life. Even the commune’s Administrators came to participate in the event. One of the pastors explained that after seeing Shigikirana groups operating in a nearby commune, he knew that this program needed to be brought to his community. Now, having seen the success of these groups and what they have achieved, he says they are ready to go and teach other communities. A member of the group, when I asked the group at large what the most important aspect of being part of a group like this was, stood and animatedly said this: “There is love. In this group there is love for each other. When we have a problem now, we go to our group. There is a great love we have to support and help each other that we didn’t have before.”

At the end of the ceremony, we feasted together. The groups together had contributed from their funds to purchase a goat, which we ate as we drank Fantas and Coca Colas and the celebration continued. I don’t believe that I ever stopped smiling the entire ceremony, from talking to and listening to the members of this community, to watching pint-sized children outside from the open door of the church as they danced joyfully to the music being sung inside the church. It was a truly memorable experience, one that motivates me to continue working hard in the job I do to help ensure that thousands more people get to experience this day of celebration and feasting.

Wendy

All photos by Trina Chase

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