Saturday, October 30, 2004
The rainy season has arrived with a vengeance. We have had rain off and on for the past five days. Everything has suddenly turned emerald green. My neighbors are talking about planting their gardens. I must get a roll of chicken wire to goat-proof the fence around my own little cornfield.
My friend Paul has been dropping by frequently to talk. Paul is the guy who is raising chickens to support his family, trying to increase his flock from 100 to 400. At present he is about to buy 200 chicks for the new poultry house he has built, and after the current 100 chickens stop laying he will expand the old poultry house to accommodate 200.
But meanwhile, he has learned that the school system is about to go on a major building campaign and will be looking for qualified building contractors. Paul is a certified tradesman for masonry and carpentry. So he is now deeply involved in setting up a Corporation so that he can go after the school contracts. He needs to find Directors and an accountant for his company, locate office space, and go to Dar es Salaam to register the company. If successful he will turn over the chickens to his wife, at least for the short term.
I’ve been encouraging him, and introduced him to the manager of the ExIm Bank downtown. I’d also loaned him some money before when he needed it, and he has been extremely faithful in paying the money back in regular amounts. I will probably need to help him again a bit to pull this plan through. But he works so very hard and has a good grasp of his expenses and potential, so it feels good to be able to help him this way – and to actually do something REAL to promote economic development in Tanzania. With a loan, not a gift or grant. Risk money for a good cause.
My friend Paul has been dropping by frequently to talk. Paul is the guy who is raising chickens to support his family, trying to increase his flock from 100 to 400. At present he is about to buy 200 chicks for the new poultry house he has built, and after the current 100 chickens stop laying he will expand the old poultry house to accommodate 200.
But meanwhile, he has learned that the school system is about to go on a major building campaign and will be looking for qualified building contractors. Paul is a certified tradesman for masonry and carpentry. So he is now deeply involved in setting up a Corporation so that he can go after the school contracts. He needs to find Directors and an accountant for his company, locate office space, and go to Dar es Salaam to register the company. If successful he will turn over the chickens to his wife, at least for the short term.
I’ve been encouraging him, and introduced him to the manager of the ExIm Bank downtown. I’d also loaned him some money before when he needed it, and he has been extremely faithful in paying the money back in regular amounts. I will probably need to help him again a bit to pull this plan through. But he works so very hard and has a good grasp of his expenses and potential, so it feels good to be able to help him this way – and to actually do something REAL to promote economic development in Tanzania. With a loan, not a gift or grant. Risk money for a good cause.
