The SCA in Lower Shire
Hope for a better tomorrow

Floods have hit Chikwawa and Nsanje Districts in Malawi many times, resulting in loss of people’s lives and property, as well as causing serious food insecurity. These two districts are in the Shire Valley, at the south end of Malawi. These floods have contributed to famine in the area, and also the declaration of Malawi as a state of national disaster. However, while many people seek ways to mitigate the impacts of these calamities, , members of various savings and credit associations (SCA) in the region are living with hope for a better tomorrow.

Through SCAs, people are able to build up capital for sustainable businesses, build strong houses that withstand floods, buy food for future use, and create social communities for dependence and cooperatives . The SCA meetings also give people time to pray, worship God and grow in spirit.  

Fainess Kaudzu, a mother of two, Priscilla and Olama, is a member of Tikondane savings group at Kakoma Church of Central Africa Presbytery (CCAP) in Chikwawa. She joined the savings group in November 2015 in order to boost her tailoring business, which she conducts at home. She has a sewing machine and tailors as means of earning money to support her family. Her husband, Wilson Kaudzu, is a teacher at Kakoma Community Day Secondary School, and together they provide for the needs of their family.

Fainess Kaudzu and her family at their home in Kakoma, Chikwawa

Tikondane savings group is comprised of 8 women who meet at Kakoma CCAP every Saturday. The members borrow money from the pool of group savings and repay with interest within a few weeks. The members use these loans to boost their small scale businesses. Fainess Kaudzu takes small loans to buy materials for her business. “I buy pieces of cloth and make clothes that I sell at a profit,” says Kaudzu. “My husband and I are now able to provide for all needs for our two children, and also help with community development initiatives such as contributions for roads rehabilitation and addition of classrooms at Kakoma Primary School.”

Kaudzu has future plans of building a modern house in her home village in Zomba District. She says this dream will soon come true through her participation in the savings group. The group plans to invest its accumulated savings in pig farming in order to increase productivity of the group’s savings. “As a group, if we do a big business, which we can do because we have a reliable source of capital, we will be able to generate more profit. More profit will mean larger share out in the end ,” says Kaudzu with a wide smile. “Pigs are easy to raise as they feed on almost everything, and markets are found easily with good prices  to enable selling at good profits”. Kaudzu further says that pig farming would be a symbol of women empowerment in the region, and serve as a model for others to follow.

Fainess Kaudzu is an Inspirator who has broken the barrier of traditional belief that tailoring is work for men

Kaudzu also commends that her savings group has become fountain of hope for its members and will be an example to the whole community. “I like our savings group because, apart from savings, we also get a chance to hear and share the Word of God,” she says.

Savings and Credit Associations of HOPE International and its partners are uniquely distinguished because of the spiritual integration in their operations, providing its clients and members with both physical and spiritual support while they take giant steps out of perpetual poverty.

“Now we have hope for a brighter tomorrow, knowing that every step we take, we take with God on our side,” concluded Kaudzu.

HOW SOME TAX  REGIMES DISCRIMINATE AGAINST WOMEN IN SMALL SCALE BUSINESSES

Look at the picture carefully. This is Grace Kaitano, a 20-year old woman who sells doughnuts in Area 24, Lilongwe, Malawi. Grace is married and has a one-year old daughter, and also lives with her two younger sisters. When she makes the doughnuts, she sells them at Ngwenya Market, which is operated by Lilongwe City Council. Per day she is able to produce doughnuts worthy MK4,000, from raw materials such as baking flour, sugar, yeast, cooking oil and firewood worthy MK2,500. Whenever she goes to the market to sell her items, she pays a market fee of MK100 as a tax revenue to LCC for the market welfare. It means, in one year she pays LCC MK36,500.

On the other hand, other business operators who have big shops in the same market pay as little as MK7, 000 per year as business fee to the City Council, and exempt the daily MK100 fee. This is done through annual registration and subscription to LCC, and comes with a certificate of operation. It means Grace pays five times more than the medium business operators. Grace does not know this because she is not well informed about tax and revenue collection, and she does not know how to calculate the amount of money she pays the City Council. 

Worse still, the market she operates in lacks almost all services and infrastructure that a market should provide such as a toilet, running water, sheds for shelter and general sanitation services. As a woman, she takes her small child to her business and she is not able to wash her hands whenever she wants to feed or clean up the child. As if this is not enough, while Grace pays her fair share of tax to the government, some other multinational companies are dodging tax through unfair tax treaties and tax havens. This is causing the Government of Malawi fail to collect enough tax revenue to improve living standards of Malawians. Grace is paying her tax, and she needs justice in how other corporate businesses pay their tax, which affects her day to day operations.

Now look at the picture again, but this time remove Grace from the picture and put a man. Do you think this story would make the same sense? Let alone, would you really expect a man to operate such a business and pay a huge tax than a medium business operator? 

"Would lack of market facilities and sanitation affect men in the same way they affect Grace?"

What I am trying to say is that there is no justice in terms of how local assemblies in Malawi collect revenue from small business operators, not to mention how they use the collected revenue to provide services to the people. Nonetheless, small business operators who pay higher taxes need these services more than medium and multi-national business operators, who are able to include a toilet and running water in their big shops. It is evident that most small businesses are operated by women who are struggling every day to meet daily needs of their families. Most of these women pay as much tax than their businesses would earn as profits in one year.

Tax injustices subject women like Grace to extreme poverty. Grace lacks awareness and empowerment to realize and challenge such injustice respectively. She should be given a justification as to why she pays exorbitant tax and still be denied services and sanitation that LCC is obligated to provide. Like Grace, there are also many other Malawians who are living in perpetual poverty because of tax regimes that discriminate against women most than men. I urge all activists to start advocating for tax justice in our localities and help to protect rights of vulnerable and marginalized people like Grace.

THE HOPE FAMILYHearts That Preach Messages of Love

Every time people ask me to say what I do in life, I hesitate to respond. Not because I lack an answer—I have answered this question many times—but rather I’m figuring out which response would best describe what I do. You see, I’m a field scientist by profession, an activist by passion, an artist by hobby, a Gospel worker by obligation, and, most recently, a HOPE Malawi fellow by day. Of all the things I do with my time, it never occurred to me, not even once, that I would work with savings and credit associations (SCAs).

When I enrolled at the University of Malawi, I thought I would end up building a career in field sciences as an environmental expert. While in college, I served as chairperson for the Environmental Club and delighted in doing a good job there. But little did I know that God was preparing me for a career beyond just “doing a good job.” I was made for stewardship of valuable things, to care for nature, people, and the spiritual needs of myself and others around me.

It wasn’t until I joined the HOPE Malawi family as a SCA programs fellow that I began to realize the potential I have in my God-given talents. Through my involvement with HOPE, I have come to know that there are four relationships that must be maintained—with God, with myself, with others, and with God’s creation. Learning from Roman 1:20, we see invisible qualities of God (divine nature and eternal power) through things created by Him. I’m grateful that my studies in environmental sciences have improved my knowledge of God in this way. However, I would not appreciate the full ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-21) entrusted in me if God did not give me a chance to work with the most underserved communities to understand material and spiritual poverty.

When I joined HOPE, I had a mixture of fears for the tasks ahead and also excitement for a new career opportunity. My fears were that my skills—accumulated in the domain of science—would not blend in with the work that HOPE and its partners do. Through prayers and mentorship, I’ve learned to use all the talents that I have to achieve the mission of investing in the dreams of families in the world’s underserved communities! My fellowship has included valuable trainings, lateral learning, and hands-on experiences that have expanded my capabilities and make me a better steward than I ever imagined I could be.

Thanks be to God for this fellowship and the wonderful HOPE family I now have!