Read the update report from Fr. Alfred (Septmber 2020)
The Snack Baking Project in Matumba has trained 36 women. Read the report from Fr. Alfred (January 2020)….
JULY 2015 (Njuli)
Good Shepherd Parish-Njuli
- INTRODUCTION
Good Shepherd parish, Njuli is one of the parishes in the Archdiocese of Blantyre. It was established in 1965. It has 7 outstations, namely; Matengo, Ntalika, Chinkomwero, Ching’amba, Chinseu, Padoko and Goman. The parish has 6 primary schools namely; Njuli, Mapazi, Matenjere, Malimba, Nakazimu and Mphati. It has also two community Day secondary schools, namely; Njuli and Mapazi.
- ESTABLISHMENT OF TIMANGE UMODZI MICROLOAN REVOLVING FUND
Good shepherd parish, Njuli has established a Microloan project to assist the Catholic Women Organization (CWO) in poverty alleviation. The name of the Microloan project is “Timange Umodzi Microloan revolving fund” Timange Umodzi means “Let’s bring unity of mind and purpose so as to achieve our goal.” This project has been made possible through the assistance of Corps Christi Parish, Tonbridge Malawi twinning microloan project. We are very grateful indeed for this assistance which has already begun transforming the lives of the CWO women and their families.
The revolving fund has the following objectives.
- To assist the Catholic Women set up small businesses as income generating activities to sustain their families.
- To assist the women develop skills of setting up small businesses.
- To generate local commerce for the benefit of the whole community.
- SAMPLING ACHIEVEMENTS MADE SO FAR
We will for the moment sample narrations of success stories of three women who are doing well having received the Microloan from the fund. The rest of the narrations will be in video clips which I will be sending to you in due course.
The Microloan revolving fund is proving to be an effective way of changing peoples’ lives. This has been revealed by how the beneficiaries (Women) are showing notable changes that have happened in their lives in a short period, courtesy of the Timange Umodzi Microloan revolving fund.
One of the beneficiaries of the Timange Umodzi Microloan revolving fund is Lita Kumbu from Dokotala village, she sells sugarcane. According to her, she used to buy a bunch or two of sugarcane because that is what all her money could do. With the loan she now buys the entire sugarcane garden and she is making much more profits than before. As at the moment of interview she said she had 35 five thousand Kwacha cash. An amount she has never made in her entire business career.
One other woman is Agnes Paul of Chinseu Village. Agnes sells potatoes and vegetables. She says the loan is helping her a lot and is better than any other loans she could get. She had a loan before but because of the high interest rate (50%) she was not enjoying any profit. She was simply returning all the money she could get to the loan agency. She has paid all her debts thanks to Timange Umodzi Microloan revolving fund, her business has grown and she is supporting her family in many ways than before.
At the moment there are 20 women who are already benefiting from the revolving fund. It is our sincere hope that gradually the beneficiaries to the fund will increase with time.
There is a greatest excitement and expectations from the women that good things will come out of the fund.
From these and many other testimonies, Timange Umodzi Microloan revolving fund is doing a great job in changing peoples’ lives and their communities in general.
Good Shepherd Parish would like to thank the Malawi twinning project of Corps Christi parish-Tonbridge for their generous donation to the parish. It is our sincere hope and prayer that more assistance will be given to the Timange Umodzi Microloan revolving fund
Fr Alfred Nsope
JUNE 2015 (Njale)
The loan scheme programme now is complete with one hundred members. Thank you very much for approving the money I requested for this has been great.
The construction of the nursery school shed has started I hope by end July it will be finished, what will remain will be the outside playing materials such as seesaws and the like.
The construction work of the grocery building is now complete. I am very grateful to all people who have helped me to make this project complete. Attached are the photos
Fr. Francis.
APRIL 2015 (Njale)
I am very grateful for your kindness and the help you always give us.
As I stated last time that the loan scheme is going on well, we have eighty members as of now my aim is to reach one hundred members so if I can get help to reach that far I will be very grateful.
The shop building is almost done what is remaining is painting and electricity very soon this work will be over.
The shelter for the nursery school is far from over. l have collected enough bricks and bought half of the required iron sheets at the moment we are doing local fundraising, so we also require more help for this project.
An amount of money is given to the parish priests to enable them to make loans to selected residents in the community. This will enable them to set up their own small business and earn a living using their particular skill. The loan is gradually paid back to the priest out of money earned and is then loaned out to others. This project is especially helpful to widows with children who rely on growing food for their subsistence. It also helps the community to develop.
Fr Francis
MARCH 2015 – Karonga
The first batch of chickens are now ready for the market.
FEB 2015 – Karonga
Update on the Micro-Loan and Chicken Projects
The funds were disbursed on 5th January 2015 after the women completed their training and established their groups. The groups have set-up guidelines and by-laws for those who defer the repayment of the loan. They meet once in two weeks to check on each other’s progress in their respective small scale business. They have engaged themselves into small businesses like selling fish, scones, doughnuts, soft drinks, bananas, oranges, vegetables etc. At the end of February the women will repay the loans with a 10% interest and re-distribute on the same day, each according to her needs.
Positive Impact of the Micro-Loan Project
The women have some money with which they are able to buy some food and clothes for their children in the family.
- The women are able to support their children with school fees, note books and uniform.
- The Loan scheme has enhanced the unity among women because of the frequent meetings and the sharing of successes and challenges.
- More women participate in the CWO prayers and activities because those who have not benefitted from the loan this time round aspire to do so when the loans have been repaid. Good attendance at CWO prayers and meetings is a pre-requisite for benefitting from the loan scheme.Chicken ProjectThe project commenced on 15th January with the construction of the “Chicken-House” in the Presbytery back-garden. On 30th January 2015 200 broiler chicks arrived from Lilongwe where they were hatched. They will be sold after 8 weeks. So far they are all healthy and growing quickly. From the MK500,000.00 which was injected into the project the women hope to realise a profit of MK70,500.00.The CWO members take turns to clean the “Chicken House” and give fresh water and feed to the chicks. There is a retired Vet Officer who gives them free technical advice on feeds and drugs.
- On behalf of the members of the CWO and all parishioners here at St. Mary’s Parish, I would like to sincerely thank the Parish Priest, the Malawi-Twin Committee and all the Parishioners at Corpus Christi – Tonbridge for your concern for the underprivileged people in Malawi and Karonga in particular. You are reaching out and touching the lives of many, many people here. God bless you!
Fr. Denis
St. Mary’s Parish – Karonga
REPORTS
KARONGA – August 2013
REPORT ON THE REVOLVING FUND – CWO
Following our report dated 27th October 2012 concerning the loans made, the Catholic Women’s Organisation now present an update.
The Father Superior, Vicar General Denis Chitete, increased the loan amount by K150,000, making a total of K350,000.
This helped us to give out loans to more women. A total of 37 women were granted loans of K10,000 and of these, 27 were from St Mary’s Parish and 10 were from the Lughali zone of our Parish. Both centres were allocated K270,000 and K10,000 respectively.
In this second loan disbursement we agreed to charge an interest fee of 10% so that our capital should grow. Out of the £385,000 the remaining K15,000 was saved under the Parish account.
As per our first report, the benefit obtained by these women cannot be over- emphasised. Many have improved their livelihoods: they have developed their existing small businesses. A great change has been experienced in their general lives.
As a church group, women are now better able to contribute towards church activities, because of the loans obtained.
The number of targeted women is large and not all have yet been included in the loans project. We would therefore request that we be considered if more funds are made available to help those so far not included.
To our Father Superior, we would like to thank you for coming up with this idea. We have not only been saved from poverty, we have also been encouraged to work hard to develop our small businesses.
All catholic women of Karonga Diocese greatly appreciate and value this assistance.
G A Mwambutwa T Jede CHAIRLADY TREASURER
NJALE – July 2013
Dear Brian,
I have some photos for you showing women involved in the loan scheme, I had a chance to take some photos on 1st July when they were meeting, they meet once a month. There are two groups, the first one with twenty members and the other with twenty four members. The other group prepared a gift for me, I was glad to receive a set of drinking glasses. As you can see on the photos women are very happy with the scheme and things are going on very well. I can assure you that things are working here if there is something more you can do to help the scheme don’t hesitate; your help has a direct impact in reducing poverty. Thanks also for the dolls children like them; I have a photo of children from our nursery school, we cannot afford these things in a village like this.
These dolls help in early childhood development.
Lastly greetings to you and Family,
Fr. Francis.