Sunday: 29 July 2018. 15:30
Sammi, Huda, Joe and I are on our way back from our stunning
trip to Sipi Falls in East Uganda and stop for “lunch” in Jinja (lunch can
happen anytime between 12-4:30pm depending on how long we’re in the field). I
call Bashir and tell him we’re in town and would love to meet up, but it starts
pouring rain and of course you don’t boda in the rain. We eat matooke, posho,
rice, pumpkin, avocado, and chicken while we wait for the rain to relax. It
takes awhile, but the storm passes and Bashir shows up, a little wet. He gives
Joe and I a big hug and strikes up a lively conversation with Huda and Sammi
about their research with All Across Africa.
The conversation turns to our work with Tugende, and Joe and
I tell him about our plans to survey 300 completed clients and shadow a credit
officer in Kampala. Now, Joe likes to take credit for a lot of things, like
bringing up the idea of shadowing Bashir in Jinja (he’s a credit officer), but Bashir
and I had already joked about staying the night in Jinja and shadowing him
earlier this week, so it wasn’t Joe’s great idea this time haha. I also
remember trying to convince Joe that we should stay in Jinja for the night, and
he finally calls John Henry and gets an OK. Bashir takes Huda and Sammi to the
bus stop and helps them get on a bus back to Kampala. In the meantime, Joe and
I draft an email to Isma, the branch coordinator at Jinja telling him about our
plan to shadow Credit in Jinja. Apparently, it would breach Tugende’s protocol
if we showed up at the office Monday morning with Bashir, without the branch
manager knowing our plans. He would probably feel betrayed oops. That would not
be good.
After dealing with bedbugs and no water at the hostel, we get
supper at the Rolex Joint with Bashir. Afterwards, he gives us a ride back to the hostel so we can
rest because we woke up at 5:30am to see the sunrise at Sipi (separate blogpost
warranted).
Monday: 30 July 2018
8:00 – Joe and I check out of the hostel and search for a
hearty breakfast. We know that fieldwork means late lunch (like 4pm), so it’s
important that we eat. We walk all the way down Main Street to the Deli Shop,
and we both get chicken wraps that taste like California. As we waited, we
called Bashir and Isma to confirm we have the green light for shadowing. We
also call Peace and Edgar so they know what they need to do.
9:20 – We finally get our chicken wraps (I don’t understand
why food takes FOREVER to come) and a call from Isma. He gives us permission to
shadow Bashir and Liz, and we boda to the office. We figure out rides, print
out surveys, and get ready for a long day in the field.
9:55 – We boda down the street to vet the first client of
the day. He is a repeated client who finished his first Tugende lease last week
in 10 months (usually it takes 20). Liz gets signatures from two stage members
while Bashir looks up the GPS coordinates for the stage. All stage and home
coordinates of potential Tugende clients are recorded. So I wasn’t crazy when I
asked for a heat map of completed Tugende clients; Tugende has the necessary
data and just needs to put it in the right to make data collection in the
future easier.
After vetting at the stage, we ride to the client’s home to
get signatures and information from the guarantors. Each Tugende client needs
two guarantors who promise to pay the debt in case the client defaults. This
client’s wife is one of his guarantors, and she owns a retail shop and chips
business that he invested in with the extra money he keeps after owning his
motorcycle. These are the social impacts that Tugende wants to record, and
Bashir helps us do a survey with him after vetting.
Happy Couple
11:15 – The second potential client is much further away,
and we ride down Kamuli Road for a long time before reaching his stage. But
when we reach his stage, he isn’t there and his phone is off. Bash and Liz
called all clients in the morning before leaving the office, but situations
like this happen about twice a week. It’s not worth waiting around for him, so
we keep moving.
11:35 – We reach the third stage, and this potential client
is the stage secretary. Since he is in a position of power at the stage, credit
officers don’t spend as much time at the stage vetting. They know that this
driver belongs to the stage and has connections with the other members, so it’s
not necessary to do as much analysis on the client at the stage. If the client
disappears with the motorcycle, they have leads to track him down.
11:50 – We boda to his home nearby. The wife is his second
guarantor, and she’s a farmer who grows maize and coffee. The credit officers
consider if the guarantors have the capacity to pay if the client disappears.
Bashir gives a long speech/lecture about payment and the role of the guarantor
(I don’t actually know what he said, but that’s what I think he was saying in
Luganda) and asks the wife about the farm, how much she makes, and how she
would pay if anything happens. She says she has cows, pigs, and goats that she
can sell to pay because Tugende doesn’t take collateral. But that seems good
enough. Liz fills out paperwork and gets signatures, and we move on.
12:20 – In Buzaaya vetting another repeat client. It starts
to rain, and Liz fills out paperwork while Bashir waits with other stage
members. This would be prime time to talk to completed Tugende clients at the
stage and collect impact data. I bring up this idea with Bashir, but nothing is
as easy as it seems. While Bashir vets the clients, he has no idea which other
boda bodas work with Tugende. He recognizes one client that he vetted last
year, but of the twenty Tugende clients at the stage, he knows none. It starts
to pour, and we wait for the rain to stop.
12:55 – We venture out on the road, only to be caught in the
next downpour (or maybe we were moving faster than the clouds and caught up to
the storm). We pull over and wait for the rain to pass. It’s crazy that the
weather affects the day-to-day business of Tugende; I can’t imagine being at
the mercies of nature for my livelihood, but I guess that is where faith comes
in? So we sit and wait and wait and wait and wait…
Wet
14:15 – After a half hour boda ride in the rain, we reach
the next client’s house. The red, silt road turns into slippery mud so we can’t
ride too fast. It’s hard to imagine that it was hot and humid just a few hours
ago. No wonder the officers wear gumboots, rain jacket, and snow pants (they’re
not really snow pants but I don’t know how else to describe them) even in the
hot sun, because you never know what the temperamental weather will do. Credit
officers really have it rough, and it’s such an important job for Tugende.
Without them, Tugende’s repayment rate would not be as high as it is and
Collections will probably be impounding many, many more bikes. The officers
must love riding motorcycles or their job will drive them crazy!
15:00 – We come to the last client’s stage. The sun comes
out and everyone smiles. The sunshine makes the colours of Uganda more vibrant,
and I can’t help but take pictures while riding at 70 kmph on the back of the
boda. This client applied once before but was rejected because he was new at
the stage and members didn’t know him. After six months, he’s back (and paid a
second vetting fee of 95,000 Shillings) and is getting vetted again. I hope he
receives a bike!
Here Comes the Sun
15:30 – We go to the home of the last client. His guarantor
is there and he receives the same lecture from Bashir. The children at the
village watch us from behind the tree; they’re so cute when they smile. Joe tells
me not to take so many pictures, but I don’t like it when he tells me what to
do, but that’s just my pride getting in the way. It’s fine; he’s not an artist
and doesn’t understand visual/aesthetic documentation.
Vetting the Guarantor
16:00 – Bashir takes me and Joe back to the office. Liz and
our driver, Brian (a collections officer) go to a client's father's funeral. I think this is why the Jinja branch is doing so well. It is a
relatively small branch and empathy and humanity are still an integral part of
its work ethic. This is what Tugende needs to retain in order to remain successful: It needs to continuously care for its customers, thank them for timely payments,
even play a few friendly football (soccer) matches with the boda boda drivers.
16:30 – We stop at a local place for lunch. It’s been a long
day and Bashir’s day is finished, but he insists on helping us get more
surveys.
17:10 – We cross the Nile to talk to Tugende clients at the
stages. Everyone loves Bashir because he’s awesome. In an hour, he helps us get
seven surveys, and we end the day with eleven. Only 7 more until we reach 300!
18:45 – Joe and I board a taxi headed back to Kampala. I
said my first meaningful goodbye here in Uganda, and there are so many more to
come… I don’t know when we’ll meet again, but you are such a thoughtful,
loving, and endearing person, Bashir. Thank you for all that you’ve taught me
in our brief time together.
It’s now August! I’ll be home soon. But hopefully I’ll post
about our weekend before I go. Sipi looks like this:
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