We have been speaking of this place to everyone for a long time now, but no amount of reading and preparation can really accurately inform one of what is going on the ground. We are cycling across Africa and investing large amounts of time and effort into funding this project and so it was with a fair level of trepidation that we drove into Mbola. What if we found a disappointment? I had prepared myself for any other community development project that I have seen, which may be doing awesome work, but whose effects are difficult to discern… I was deeply concerned that I would be disheartened by what we saw. But we drove out of there incredibly positive about what was going on. It is a project that has tangible results and is substantially improving the lives of many people.
We congregated at the Millennium Promise offices for a brief introduction – Gerson, the Mbola project leader, introduced the project and gave some background. The project had initially started as a deforestation project and they applied to Millennium Promise explaining why it would be a good area to support within the program. The project is now only halfway through its second year and supports a cluster of communities totalling 33 000 people. The Millennium Promise team is 40 strong with 10 fulltime and 10 part-time government employees, and currently one American doctor as an intern.
The first stop was a primary school. There were 80 students per class and they were mostly sitting on the floor. Millennium Promise is in the process of building more classrooms to support the ever increasing attendance. Attendance has rocketed due to the introduction of a school feeding program, which basically ensures the children get at least one meal a day. They were so excited to see us, screaming “Mzungu!” and clambering at the windows to wave at us. I keep wondering what they think when they see these random white people walking through their village and disrupting their school. Are we very wealthy? Are we famous? Are we strange or mad or … are we just white? Are we being screamed at simply because we look so different? On the whole, the school seemed to be doing very well.
The project is only a year and a half old and as the program takes a holistic approach and tries to deal with all the areas of the Millennium Development goals simultaneously, there are clear areas where they are ahead of targets and exceeding expectations, and there are areas where they are struggling. The two areas that I was most impressed with were the agricultural and small business development areas.
Mbola is an area that has suffered from severe deforestation, more inconsistent rainfalls and large crop failure. For a community whose entire population depends on farming, this was fast approaching a crisis. Millennium Promise has created a scheme which teaches the use of fertiliser, allows farmers to organise themselves into farming groups for access to market, has created a learning program so that farmers understand the need to diversify their crops etc. I am not much of a farmer, but when you see the crops of those farmers within the program alongside the crops of those not yet within it, its pretty easy to see the successes that the project has. These farmers are able to improve their lot through reinvestment and saving...
The small business development is a program that is allowing women within the community to be taught the skills of bottling and making jams. We chatted to one of the women from within Mbola who is leading the project, and she explained the level of travelling she had been doing in order to exhibit her produce and take the collective produce to market. It is a fascinating project that again is all about aiding individuals to take another step up the poverty ladder.
It was an impressive visit and writing about it here simply doesnt do it justice. It will be fascinating to go back in a couple of years and see the developments. Who knows, by that time, Millennium Promise jam and preserves could be in our supermarkets.
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