Elevation

Monday, Jan. 27, 2014

Today was a full day at Damongo Credit Union.  We met with the Board early this morning and delivered our recommendations.  Nancy and I are feeling better and better, if we had another few weeks here we would be golden!  When we were done, I asked Madame Cecilia, the Vice Chair, if I could walk her back to the market and chat with her.  She said yes, and (although I was planning on closng my eyes to all the guts and flies there AND holding my breath because of the smell) we set out down the road.

Madame stopped and took my hand and said "Thank you for wanting to hear my story."  I really did want to hear her story, I knew that the credit union had helped her immensely and I really wanted to hear from her.  She runs "God's Glory Cold Store" in the Damongo market, selling frozen fish to the community.  Madame Cecilia told me how she started with a small borrowed freezer and how she would travel to Tamale (2+ hours away) to buy fish twice a week because she didn't have any room to store extra fish.  She opened her small savings account with her meagre profits and when she had saved enough money the credit union gave her a loan to buy another freezer.  She was so proud of the fact that it only took her a year to pay off that purchase, and then she took another loan and built her freezer inventory up to three,  Now she didn't have to spend ten hours a week travelling, she could buy enough fish in Tamale to get through an entire week!  Madame paid that loan off and guess what?  She bought another one with a credit union loan and now rents out space in that freezer to other marketers who need to freeze their fresh meat.  Credit unions here elevate women.  We have heard many of their stories on this journey, although there are many, many more who still need help to move them out of the stifling poverty that surrounds their entire families.

Madame Cecilia Vice Chair and business owner

Meat cutters at the front of the market

Madame's husband is a pastor, and they both spend a great deal of time helping their community.  She knows that education is one of the keys to breaking the cycle of poverty, and is planning on taking future loans with her credit union to send her children to university.  She was so inspirational the way she showed such pride in her accomplishments, and in the Damongo Dioscesan Credit Union, that I was bursting with pride to be a small part of this great worldwide movement.

When I had taken too much of her time, and met many of her customers, I thanked her and started to leave.  She stopped me and told me to wait, then walked me back to the branch.  She took my hand again and said, "Thank you for learning from me."  She handed me a carved bracelet, then another one for Nancy and took her leave.  I watched her walk down the red dirt road leading back to the market and thought what a wonderful teacher she had been for me today.

Nancy and I were very excited, we were going back to the palace in Tamale!  Hardi, the manager, walked us to the truck and gave each of us another bracelet, thanking us for our help.  Then he showed us our new necklaces and put them around our necks.  What a great feeling to be appreciated and to have these reminders when we go back home.

We actually thought they were going to remind us ALL the time.  Unbeknownst to either of us, Nancy nor I could get the necklaces off.  We both went to our rooms that night, stood in front of mirrors, twisted, turned, pulled, inspected and virtually tried everything to get them off.  No luck.  We both had a shower and slept with our new treasures.  And we both probably thought the other one liked their new trinket immensely when we met the next morning and we were both still wearing them! 

"Awwww, you're wearing yours too!"

Yes, yes I am.  And I'm really not sure for how long.