The upcoming Guest House in Umalila/Italazia village Mbeya Tanzania

The remote village of Italazia in Mbeya Tanzania is characterized by good weather with plenty of rainfall and fertile soils. Rains normally start in October and end in May followed by the dry and cold season between June and September.

​The above picture was taken on route from Mbeya to Umalila showing the cultivated land. 

​The people in this village live in extreme poverty, experiencing high infant mortality, maternal death and unsupported treatable diseases. Despite the extreme poverty, the villagers are very energetic and determined. Their main source of income is sustenance farming. 

Houses are mostly constructed from mud and baked bricks, with roofs of either corrugated metal or grass with ventilated pit latrines. The main source of energy for lighting is a wick or hurricane lamp, while the main source of energy for cooking is firewood.  Umalila can be accessed by bus, though the road is dusty, bumpy, and usually full to capacity.

Despite the poverty, Umalia also has a growing economy which has now provided a base for those wishing to start businesses or to help stimulate small entrepreneurs in the area to grow.  Alfred Rogers, one of the Community Builders partners, has worked hard and is still working to help eradicate extreme poverty in Umalila. He partnered with Community Builders to buy a grinding for the village, as villagers had been forced to travel great distances to grind the grains they use for daily food preparation. This grinding mill has been of great help to the community. The picture to the left shows the grinding mill.

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Now, with the growing economy, guests visit Umalila without a proper place to stay. The necessity of a guest house was realized as a long time project, which will generate income and pay forward the profits to the individuals living in poverty to start up small projects for sustainability. 

The picture below show the villagers digging the trench for the foundation of the guest house. 

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Currently, the guest house is still at the foundation stage as seen in the above picture.  I will be sending more updates on this project as it progresses.

Different Faces of Pif

Pay it Forward (PiF) is an international micro business development program that provides grants to persons of extreme poverty.  Recipients pay forward naturally to other members of their community.

There are different types of PiF as follows.

Enterprising Non-Profit Businesses

These are grants that are designed for a person who has demonstrated that they are able to start and operate a non-profit business. This person will adhere to proper business practices like registration of the business, having proper accounting in place, and having a dedicated bank account and proper filing.  The main aim is to be self sustainable and then pay forward to people living in extreme poverty in their communities. These funds range from $2000 to $5000 depending on the person’s ability to demonstrate proper business practices.

Below are pictures showing one of the successful ENPs in Arusha Tanzani.  Jackson Naiman received funds to purchase tour and travel car. His business offers East African tours to visitors from all over the world. He has been paying forward over the years to Willson Ngaiza from Bukoba, who, in turn, distributes the funds to people living in extreme poverty to start up small micro-businesses for self sustainability.

The above picture shows Bertha, one of the CNI staff members, standing next to the car during one of her visits.

The picture to the left shows Jackson Naiman on the right, his wife and Bertha on the left.

Collectives

These are grants that are designed to help a group of people or a community in an area of extreme poverty.  This is normally done in the form of a community project, whereby every member of the community benefits from the project. This has been well demonstrated in DR Congo. For instance, in Kahungu DRC, their collectives are grinding mills. The whole Kahungu village has benefited. No one has to walk long distances anymore to grind their grains, like maize, for food preparation. 

The picture above shows one of the grinding mills in DRC Kahungu.

Small Grants

In this category we have PiF One and PiF Two.  These are grants that are designed to help any person in any area of extreme poverty as long as they have a desire to work hard and be self-sufficient.  At a minimum, participants must match PiF grants with their own funds. For example, a $100 PiF grant must be matched by another $100 in cash or business start-up materials. PiF Two is the same except that the participants are given between $500 to $2000, depending on their ability to manage and control a business on that level. 

A good example is Geoffery, from a remote village of Ngorotwa in Kasanga. He received funds to expand his pharmacy kiosk and paid forward to the ladies who later started small businesses. Now he has build a laboratory as well. These pictures show the location of the village and the pharmacy kiosk itself.