Tra il dire e il fare ...

There is a saying in Italy and in the United States that between saying something and doing something there is an ocean of distance. I am discovering that is truly the case with our microfinancing efforts here in Ghana. While it was easy to say that we would be teaching business classes and giving small loans to people in Abomosu, accomplishing that is turning out to be fairly difficult.

For example, in a normal loan situation, the institution giving the loan asks for some sort of collateral to guarantee the payment of the loan. But, when you're loaning to somebody whose only property is the mud hut they live in, what do you ask for as collateral?

So, what many microfinance institutions do and we are trying to do as well is trying to build insurance and responsibility into each loan we give. It works in this manner: first, we require anybody seeking a loan to join a group with other people seeking a loan. When we have organized a group of 4-6 loan applicants we begin granting them loans. But, we require each loan recipient to set aside a portion of their loan in our bank account. If that loan recipient fails to make a payment, rather than penalizing them or seizing their collateral, we allow them to use the set aside portion of money to cover that payment. We then encourage them to recharge that money as soon as possible. Now, if they miss a second payment and have not yet recharged their insurance fund, we require their group to make the payment. By doing this, we make each member of the group responsible to each other. Should they miss multiple payments it won't be the obscure Americans they are hurting, but their own neighbors. The group structure and functions are actually quite a bit more complicated than this brief description shows but hopefully this gives some insight into what they do.

That is just of the complications involved in microfinancing. There are certainly many others that I cannot get into now.

There are a few other things that I should report on. First of all, we do have quite a bit of free time here. In my free time I have decided to try and write down as much of the history of Abomosu as possible. Now, Abomosu is not a very populous place and it is doubtful that anything that has happened here or ever will happen here has had or will have any drastic impact on the future of the world. Nevertheless, studies of small, inconsequential towns like this often offer some of the best portrayals of what everyday life is like in a place. Things I want to focus on are the legendary history of Abomosu (i.e. what people say has happened here but don't have written records for), the settlement of Abomosu, the arrival of foreigners in Abomosu, the nature of pre-Christian religion in Abomosu, the history of the various Christian denominations in Abomosu, the economic history of Abomosu and so on. I figure as I go along I will encounter more and more things to write about.

Other than that, I should just say that life is pretty good here. We start teaching classes next Tuesday and I am excited for that. I shall do my best to report on our progress.

Abomosu

I sit outside on the front porch listening to the almost deafening sound of crickets chirping, the occasional bleat from the random miniature goats ambling around the yard, and the hint of Ghanian music and singing that permeates through the thick jungle to meet my ears. On the wind I catch the smell of cooking fires, rain, and of course, my own sweat. As for sights, the temperamental street light illuminates our patch of jungle and the living space our hosts have carved out for themselves and us inside of it. No stars. While tonight seems like a relatively clear night, the ever present clouds high in the sky block out any extraterrestrial light that might otherwise be reaching us.

Ghana, particularly Abomosu, is a pretty great place to live. It is swelteringly hot all the time, but I think you kind of get used to it. You go to bed sweaty, wake up sweaty, eat sweaty, and sweat profusely any time you do any exercise. There are those brief, celestial moments in the shower each day when the only water you feel is pouring from the shower head and not your own pours, but it doesn't last too long; just right when you shower before going to bed and right when you shower after waking up. Within seconds of turning the shower off you can already feel the humidity creeping back as it were to cling to your body. For someone used to the subarctic but dry temperatures of Logan it is quite a change.

I digress. Here are some of the great things about Abomosu: First of all, our hosts are wonderful. We live with an older African couple named the Abus. Actually, we don't know them very well yet because they went to the capital city of Accra to attend a funeral the day we got here. But, they left us in the very capable hands of three young women and a guy a little older than me named George. They have been cooking for us and answering our questions. George is pretty awesome. He speaks English quite well and has a fun sense of humor. He is in construction but since we are entering the rainy season he doesn't have much work right now. So instead he gets to baby sit us. I am pretty sure he is related to the Abus in some way but I am not sure how.

Another great thing is the jungle. And when I say jungle, I really mean it is a jungle. It has huge trees, bamboo thickets, ferns, palm trees, vines, and all sorts of bugs. There are big lizards too that I am sure would have JJ going crazy if he were here. The only ones I've been able to find out a name for are the "red-headed lizards." They don't look anything like Lou and Moss though...

As far as our work goes, it has been more than a little confusing. There is a guy named Nkansah that the interns before us contracted as our loan collector that has been helping us out. He has been taking us around to meet people and we will go to the bank with him tomorrow. But, he often says, "Your wish is my command, uh hah, yeah." For four lost students seeking direction we kind of wouldn't mind being commanded rather than doing so much commanding. Oh well.

To help ourselves out, we have been reading Banker to the Poor by Muhammed Yunus. It is an amazing book that I highly recommend reading. We have been getting ideas from that on how to run our project. Hopefully we'll be teaching classes and loaning out money soon.

Anyway, I will end my random thoughts. It's great here and I'm excited to learn more and do more. Love Supe.