Blog entry Thursday 3-20-08

3-20-08

Today we had our last academic day and included meetings that tied everything together. We finally got to get out of the boardroom and into the sites with the local people that run these SME's and receive the funding and support. We visited the offices of TASAF (Tanzania Social Action Fund) to learn how they specifically help vulnerable groups such as unemployed youth, disabled, and people living with HIV(AIDS).

After a brief overview of what TASAF does we went to visit two of their sites. Both were run by Tanzanians who are living with HIV (AIDS). I did learn today that HIV in Africa is actually different than the virus in the US. The virus in the US is type 1, while in Africa is type 2. Type 2 is much more devastating to the community since most can't afford medicine or health care and have to suffer through it with no aid.

We went first to a community started in 2006 of seamstresses who make clothes for people living in the highlands. They create sweaters, hats, scarves, skirts, and even jewelry. They talk about the struggles of raising capital to keep up with their orders. It was interesting to watch them work and talk about how their entrepreneurial skills allow them to go straight to the market without middlemen.

The next place we went was a Chicken Farm in the Yomono village where they purchased and raised hatchlings which would then be sold to market. Their struggles included rising food costs, a decreasing market price, and theft. This chicken farm was in a very poor village which gave us a real view of poverty in Tanzania away from the office buildings. I appreciated and learned a lot from today's meetings. Of course we just get back on the bus to the hotel where we have running water, a/c, and beds to sleep on. When in the village you have to think to yourself, could I live like that if I had to? Of course the answer is no and no one should have to. As Mohammad Yunus mentions, poverty should only be found in muesuems. Hopefully, with all the research we have done here over the past week we can make a difference.