Earthcharter

Sitting under a tree next to the plaza, I was talking with one of the village elders. "What do you need to improve the economy of your village?" I asked. He smiled. "Start up capital."

Monday, 12 July 2010 16:47

Sitting under a tree next to the plaza, I was talking with one of the village elders. "What do you need to improve the economy of your village?" I asked. He smiled. "Start up capital." We went to Shapi Village near Mansa to meet with the villagers. The women met us with a joyous song, accompanied by the men on drums. The women were in colorful wraps and the men mostly wore suits. They led us to the plaza, where for the next few hours they completely took over our minds. We had introductions, speeches, dancing, and demonstrations. Mildred set up the solar cooker to make a cabbage dish. We went around the cooking hut trying all the various village foods. Peanut butter, papaya stew, ground nuts and the leaves of squash, cassava, roots, and, of course, nshima, the maize dish. Delicious mostly, unfamiliar sometimes, but shared with real friendship. We toured the waterless toilet. I turned down the opportunity to model it to the village. We walked through the village to the fields of cassava being grown on the edge. We saw one of the homes, then returned to the main village for lunch. We ate in the Chief's house, and we had more massive amounts of the food we had tried earlier. The cabbage dish from the solar cooker was exceptional. Then we had the most moving experience so far. The villagers put on sort of morality plays centered on the Earth Charter. They took important principles to them, and then acted them out. They showed the reality of their lives in which food insecurity leads to AIDS, how disrespect for women leads to violence. We all had tears. I recorded it on video and plan to put it on the ECUS website. We kept the party going until after dark, when the mosquitoes drove us back to our lodge. The next morning we returned for more serious talk. We answered questions of the villagers, and we gathered information for our end of the bargain. But the most interesting conversation was with one of the village elders, which I related above. These people are hard working, born entrepreneurs. They understand finance and investment better than the ordinary American on the streets. They know they cannot get capital to start a business because they lack collateral for a loan. They cannot afford the high interest rates on a micro loan. But they loved the idea of the partnership. COPE is planning to train the village cooperative to become an equity holder in the businesses they finance, rather than bankers expecting interest on a loan. This will allow the business person to take the time to grow the business, and allows the village cooperative to acquire more capital through sharing the profits of the business. It is a model that the villagers are eager to pilot. On the long ride back to Lusaka, we brainstormed the entire time about how to meet the challenges we saw in Shapi It was both exhausting and exhilarating. But the event that inspired us all to put our efforts into helping our new partners came during the final farewell speech by the village spokesperson. He said that the our coming was a momentous event in the life of the village, because they did not think anyone anywhere cared about them. And now they knew that at least Earth Charter US cares.

---