Mt Kilimanjaro, TZ – Family learns to save and invest as part of VICOBA – 1 June 2016

Family chicken coop.

The ADK family is learning to save and invest money as members of a VICOBA community banking group. As a result of their saving, they recently received a loan from their VICOBA group to purchase 10 chickens and 3 pigs.

The family started their organic vegetale garden with Lise Bora in May 2015. They knew the garden was reducing their food expenses and sometimes they would sell vegetables and get a bit of income. However, these small benefits never seemed to add up. Then the family joined a VICOBA group. The group encouraged members to save money each week and to purchase shares of other local businesses. The ADK family began using the savings and income from their garden to invest in the VICOBA. This made it easy for them to see the small benefits add up over time.

They are excited to begin earning money from chicken eggs and from selling the piglets they will fatten. They hope to use some of the income to pay school fees and invest the rest back into the VICOBA.

Lately, the family has had challenges maintaining a productive garden during the dry season. Lishe Bora is working with them to implement water efficient techniques like mulching and cover-cropping.