Blog, Mission Possible, Oct 2016. The Joy Of A Beneficiary.
On the third day of the Mission Possible deployment to Tanzania, the team of volunteers was faced with having to make decisions on which beneficiaries would receive the means to establish their livelihoods, either throught the provision of livestock or with help in setting up new shops complete with stock.
It was time for the final decisions for the allocation of the two cows and we all had very different opinions on three out of the five candidates, all of them being very strong contenders. On this occasion the girls dominated the boy and we chose Pili (the first interviewee who was the sole breadwinner for her family) and Daniel, the young man who was responsible for his mother and orphaned nephew. Our team communicated and worked really well together.
The first stage following this was to meet the beneficiaries who were not successful on this occasion. This was a very difficult task as everyone was deserving.
We met Nesta Ali first. She was a lady in her 60s with vision problems. Second was Adamu, the gentleman in his 60s and lastly, Amina, a grandmother in her 40s. Yasini (our Tanzanian IH team member) relayed our news to all three individual and each one thanked us for taking the time to consider them.
Amina summed it up well for everyone - if something is meant for her, it will be. The positive of this was that even though they weren’t successful on this occasion, there would be future opportunities.
The team then went to meet Daniel - the poor lad was so nervous when we approached him. Rahul was responsible for passing on the news and he played up the situation making Daniel wait for the news.
The expression on Daniel’s face was priceless when he was told that he was one of the chosen two for the cow. Words cannot describe the excitement and gratitude that Daniel expressed. It was an amazing moment for all of us to experience.
We then went to meet Pili and again Rahul led with sharing the news. Pili was totally unaware that we had already notified all the other candidates and when we shared the good news, she was so appreciative and thanked us for choosing her.
The second project was the tuck shop. We came to this decision very quickly as we all came to the same conclusion. We felt some of the other beneficiaries either would not prioritise the shop as their main trade was agriculture or the need wasn’t as great.
Initially we decided to let the beneficiaries know the reason why they hadn’t been awarded the shop. However we wanted them to feel optimistic so we mentioned people’s strengths.
When it came to notifying the two beneficiaries who would not receive the shop the process wasn’t as difficult as anticipated as Yasini translated for us and they were understanding. When we notified Maroush he was really happy. He was honoured and had big plans with the shop. It was clearly his passion and these were the reasons that we chose him.
The next task involved getting the shop ready. We had to finish it off , us merry band of three. We allocated different sections to each other painting the bottom half black and top half light blue. Yasini told us we had done a better job than the locals. Kashfa, being an artist, was proud of our work.
Finally we had to carry the stock from the chairman’s house to the shop itself. The stock included drinks, rice, flour, soap, batteries, padlocks as well as other items.
We placed all the stock in the shop and while Kashfa and myself bonded with the small children, Nasira rearranged the stock and shelves to give Asda a run for its money.
Finally Maroush signed a contract and he was handed the keys at which point he began trading immediately.
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