What's my Job Again

Written July 23, 2010
I am understanding more and more every day what Duhamic Adri and CHF and USAID actually do and what my role is in it all, even though if i was not here everything would still go on just fine without me but that is besides the point. There are many cooperatives that already exist in the Muhanga area. What we are doing is helping them to develop. Many of them are not officially registered as legal cooperatives so we are helping with that as well. It is a very long expensive process that has to go through the district, sector and national level. Also most of these cooperatives are anywhere from 100 members to 600 members. Throughout the month of August and September my coworker and I will be traveling to different sectors to start up ISLG’s (internal saving and lending groups). The cooperatives already exist but we want to break up the members into groups of 10-20 people so they can start saving money together. There are 3 specific cooperatives of focus one makes tie die cloth, one makes baskets, purses and picture frames out of banana leaves and the other does farming.
Most people in this country do not know how to save at all. Even the rich don’t save there money. On their monthly pay day they take out all the money from the bank and spend most of it in the first week and then have nothing left for three weeks. They will go out to dinner, buy beer and fanta, or if it’s a women buy shoes and clothes at the market. Saving is a huge lesson needed all over the country. A friend of mine told me her supervisor says he cannot afford a car but he makes enough money each month where if he started saving he could buy one in about 2 years time. But they have this mentality that if they can’t afford it that month they can never afford it.
Though I do not particularly like having a real job to report to everyday (or even a few times a week.) I do love my co-workers and my supervisor. She loves to tell me that she is my Mom and I am her baby. (She has 4 children all grown up the youngest is my age.) I would prefer to just be a community volunteer as most people who join the peace corps are. But instead I am one of the 1,000 volunteers Peace Corps has who work with PEPFAR funding. (President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief.)
So that's pretty much the gist of my job right now.