In the Field
“We’re going to climb today to visit another savings group, remember?” Yes I remember, visiting farmers in the field is the best part of the week for me. The clouds look thick this morning, I am anxious and ready to move. He notices my eyes glancing towards the door, “We can’t get there before 11 AM, because the farmers are in the fields all morning,” says John. Yes, I remember this too, but all the same once the daily rains start the mountain roads are slick trenches of mud. “Good, you wore your good boots today, you will move very well,” John says appreciatively.
John is the Manager of the Buweswa Growers Cooperative Society (BGCS), located in Mufufu village. We have been working closely together since I arrived at site a fortnight ago. The BGCS property is the center point of the village, and my little colonial-era cinder block house is right on top of its hill. I can see mountainous coffee farms covered in mist from my front porch.
This will be the ninth savings group that I have visited. Our window of opportunity is narrow because the rains begin at 1 PM, or earlier. We begin trudging up the muddy road, still sticky from last night’s showers. Boda Bodas come from both directions hauling supplies going up, and people coming down. Villagers are heading to the main road several kilometers down the mountain. We reach the tiny village at the top of the mountain behind my house, about a 45 minute hike, and we keep climbing. I haven’t had a chance to really explore these high altitude villages because of the rainy season but this morning the clouds parted, and we feel the full force of the equatorial sun on our faces. Small holder farmer families have built their homesteads close to the mountain road; they tend to their various plots spaced throughout the district. We stop to greet everyone; they are all curious to hear a foreigner greet them in Lumasaaba.
After another 45 minutes of hiking, we reach the savings group who have gathered in a church building on top of an adjoining mountain. The church is missing a wall, a welcome open-air shelter. Our group of farmers are all very much at home, calmly looking over the coffee farms and mountain vistas, comfortable in the cool mist. “Let the meeting commence.”
