Death by focus group

Hello everyone,

So as the title suggests Katie and I have been having our fill of focus groups! What originally started out as an idea to occupy a couple days while we got settled and learnt more about the community has turned into a protracted affair. It has been very good to get to meet more of the clients and to hear first-hand how they envision the (bright) future of the bank. It is also cool because we are now being recognised by more people around the village. That being said, 11 focus groups are far more than the few we had planned for originally.

We managed to get through 3 on Monday and then 2 today, and all so far have seemed happy with the idea of a board of directors. I just wanted to share a few thoughts on how they have been going and what insights it has given us into the community.

First of all, we have now had the pleasure of experiencing how little regard the people of the village have for time. Today for example we started our focus group over an hour and a half late because people had been so slow to get there! I thought I was bad at being on time! It was interesting though as one person showed up ~30 minutes past 9, when the meeting was supposed to start so she was hanging out with us for around an hour. Not long before we started I got our translator Joseph to ask her if she found it frustrating that she had to wait for everyone, but she said it didn’t bother her and even seemed confused by the question. In one of the focus groups about 3 people individually showed up nearly 2 and a half hours after the original planned / advertised starting time. Maurice did make a good point that they rarely have to keep time though unless they work a steady full time job while it does not matter as much if they are an entrepreneur or farmer.

To kill time we had some fun showing Maurice some planet earth while we waited...We decided to start by showing him Ice Worlds (saying that it was like this in Canada sometimes). It was funny to see his reaction to penguins and also to whales. He was struggling to comprehend the size of the whales (as I am sure we all in reality do).

Maurice doing some translations for us before we got down to watching some Planet Earth

Second of all I have found it interesting to see for ourselves how religious the community is. Every single meeting we have had has opened and closed with a prayer, and every single time we have asked about what criteria they want in a board member they have answered: to be God fearing. Thankfully Maurice has been able to steer them towards God fearing rather than saying they must be Christian, especially since there are a number of Muslims that also live in the region.

Another interesting thing of note is how each focus group so far has said that the people on the board must be a) not corrupt and b) not a politician. Politics must have a bad reputation in the area. They have all said that it is important that they in the community must love each other if they are to reach their goals for the bank. Speaking of those goals...they are quite ambitious! A couple so far have envisioned the bank becoming a national, commercial bank, within 10 years. They see it offering interest on their savings, loans with low interest rates and with no deductions...that provides support to orphans in the community. It will be interesting to see how those goals are brought forward and discussed by the board once we have it assembled.

Maurice leading a focus group through the nomination form

All criticisms aside (which are mostly from the focus groups getting repetitive after doing far too many of them!) it has been very motivating to see how important the bank has been to many of the member’s lives since it was created. A few members I have talked to have said how it used to be impossible to save or plan for the future since any money stored in the house gets put towards the immediate needs of everyone, rather than saved for a goal. Our housekeeper Pamela (who was last year’s bank ambassador) was talking about how it has changed her views on money and what can be done with it, even allowing her to open the business she always wanted to open. From talking with her and Maurice, she seems to have a very supportive husband too, which is always good to hear.

Anyways today, after our second focus group finished, Maurce Katie and I all headed up to Holo. Tuesday is market day at Holo, and we were able to pick up some much needed food including some cabbage, green peppers, rice, tomatoes and of course some mangos. Yum. Thankfully one of the community health workers, who has worked closely with GIVE for a while now, offered to help us with our purchases (such that we wouldn’t get ripped off). That certainly saved us some time, and allowed Katie and I to try some lentil samosas that were delicious.

Holo Market

Holo Market