That’s how Lazaro Mwati from Ragata village in northern Tanzania began telling his story during a recent visit. Our joint program with the Africa Inland Church of Tanzania Mara/ Ukerewe Diocese (AICT MUD) is a five-year project which is funded by the Canadian government (DFATD) to empower rural Tanzanians to improve their livelihoods and agriculture.
Lazaro Mwati and his wife have seven children who range in age from 14 to 25. In the past, he was involved in a number of small scale enterprises that did not earn much income. Then three years ago he learned about the savings and credit groups that AICT MUD started with World Renew in his village and he decided to join a group to try to improve his life.
The 50 members of Lazaro’s group called themselves Mwenda Pole or “go carefully and slowly” in Swahili. AICT MUD taught the group how to save money together each week, borrow loans from the pooled money, create a business plan, and begin income generating activities.
For the first time, Lazaro had access to capital to invest in his income-earning activities to improve them enough to earn a profit. Prior to this, Lazaro and his fellow villagers could only get money from friends or relatives to help in emergencies or with small endeavors; these were not reliable funding sources to invest in their businesses. There were no other money lenders or financial institutions who wanted to work with someone with so little collateral or assets.
Through the Mwenda Pole group, Lazaro was able to buy a milling machine to start a family business grinding corn and cassava into flour.
In addition, Lazaro started a brick- making business and is also raising a small herd of ten cows. He learned about busi- ness and financial planning through the AICT training, and that has helped him decide on these particular enterprises and run them profitably.
The self-help group and empowerment program also changed Lazaro’s personal life. Before joining the group, he had not really experienced any benefits from investing in the education of his children, especially considering the cost of school fees. As a result his eldest daughter was not educated beyond grade seven and was then required to help out around the house or mind the cows in the fields.
A group training from AICT MUD on the importance of formal education changed Lazaro’s thinking. He stopped construction on his family’s house to use the money to send his other six children to school, including sending the two oldest to a boarding school in Uganda to get a high-caliber education in English.
Lazaro’s involvement in the self-help groups program also changed his marriage. In the past, he made all of the family decisions independently and would dictate to his wife what she should do. Like most of the men in the community, Lazaro thought that men were su-perior to women. When AICT MUD taught the Mwenda Pole group that God values men and women equally, Lazaro saw the error in his thinking and came to value the role that his wife could play in family decision-making and running the household. Now they make decisions together, and he very much values his wife’s contributions and ideas.
Most importantly, the self-help group has transformed Lazaro’s relationship with God. His faith was weak, and he was distant from God. By being exposed regularly to the behavior of other Christians in his group and through the faith of AICT’s church leaders, Lazaro noticed that people who were close to God lived differently from those with no faith.
He said, “I noticed that people who live close to God look happier in their lives and use their resources well, while others wasted their time being idle and wasted their resources—especially those who abuse alcohol. By watching others who live their lives well by being close to God, I was inspired to get my life right with God and now I have a much stronger faith. I can say now that I am walking closely with God because of what I learned from the church.”
Lazaro’s plans for the future are to support all of his children while they finish high school and maybe go to college. He would also like to use his milling machine income to buy a piece of land to build a business center in town with shops that he can rent out to others. “My life is full of happiness and joy now. I have a changed life by joining the self-help program of AICT MUD and World Renew. I praise God for this transformation.”
We too praise God for transforming the lives of Lazaro and so many other people in our programs.
Chris Enns
Program Consultant
World Renew Tanzania
