At the end of last year, Canaan Gondwe, a SIA partner living in rural Malawi, gathered together forty-one other people to form the Manyamula Village Savings and Loans group (MAVISALO). They applied for and received a small grant from SIA to start a poultry house that would serve as the start-up capital for their loan fund. Members also bought member shares of about USD$6.50 each to join the group. Since their start in 2010, MAVISALO has generated USD$950 from three rounds of

This week’s post is a journal entry I wrote as we were leaving Malawi and heading up to Kenya in August. I know that this short description doesn’t even begin to explain the complexity of life in Manyamula village, I’m just sharing my reflections on a few of the interesting experiences we had there. — Tanya Cothran ************************************************************************************* August 1, 2011 Lilongwe, Malawi Boyd and I had three days full of visiting,

How’s your garden coming along? In Minnesota, our garden (mostly cared for by our wonderful housemate, EB), is at its best right now. We have tomatoes, kale, carrots, and much more. You may be surprised to know that this is very similar to what you might see in Malawi! “Hungry Season” About 90% of the population in Malawi live in rural areas, so there are farms and “kitchen” gardens everywhere you look. Many of the SIA Small Business Fund grants in Malawi provide families wit

What an amazing month! Boyd and I are home now, after 10 days in Malawi and 20 days in Kenya, visiting SIA partners. I learned so much on this trip. Now that I have been there and seen the situation on the ground, my work for Spirit in Action – building relationships and strengthening people through support and encouragement – will come a bit easier. I have seen the challenges that people face when there is a lack of infrastructure when they are excluded from the financial sy

Three more days of packing and planning before Boyd and I board the plane to Malawi! We are so excited and blessed to go visit Spirit in Action-supported projects in Kenya and Malawi over the next month. Some of the highlights of our visit are: We will be visiting 5 SIA grant projects, interviewing project participants and listening to feedback from our partners. We will meet with all 8 Small Business Fund Coordinators, training and working together to make our micro-enterpri