A long overdue update

Let me first apologize, I had hoped to post to this blog throughout the year. By about, oh, August-ish, I predicted that I could write and say: the project is well underway! The Batsiranai Fathers are making money!

And while I’m happy to report that – as of December – those statements are true, the scale and scope of the project is much smaller than we had hoped.

Let’s start by rewinding to mid-year…

I returned to Zimbabwe excited about the financial gifts I received from many kind-hearted friends and family. One Saturday afternoon, I had a meeting with the majority of the fathers at the Dzivarasekwa Community Centre, and at length we discussed how best to use the donated money to make more money.

Initially the steering committee formulated that, as mentioned in the prior blog posts, it made most sense to use the money to purchase tools and gear to help certain fathers regain their livelihoods: tools for carpenters or bike repairmen; appropriate implements for candle-makers or shoe craftsmen. In Zimbabwe’s hyperinflationary environment, purchasing assets is one way to “sustain the value” of the ever-devaluing dollar. It was envisioned that the selection of tools would be the collective discretion of the men and that money made from the use of these tools would then be shared with the larger group and eventually help to kick-start the poultry project (in conjunction with a loan or some other funding).

I’m happy to say that, collectively, the fathers’ decision-making was further-sighted than the plan initially imagined by the steering committee. The larger group of twelve debated and discussed, and ultimately decided that we’d use the money to purchase a tool that would also be used with the emerging poultry project – a deep freezer.

Very intuitive: by purchasing a freezer, we’d get an asset that would be collectively owned and would benefit the larger group as a whole, while also investing in an implement that would later be instrumental in the poultry project.

To begin, the freezer could be used for “buying and selling.”

Residents of high-density suburbs like Dzivarasekwa face a variety of challenges, but two of note here are: power and transport. Since the price of transport to town and major shopping areas is ever-increasing and power outages make refrigeration a challenge, there is a demand for the door-to-door sale of mincemeat and cutlets. The fathers proposed that one member could travel weekly to purchase mince and cutlets, and these could be kept in the deep freezer. Owing to the fact that multiple-day power outages are infrequent, the men believed that the items could be well-frozen in order persevere the outages, and thawed for selling as needed.

Next step: purchasing a freezer.

Two of the technically-minded fathers (Baba Edith and Baba Precious) and I travelled to various second-hand shops, but eventually we learned that someone within Dzivarasekwa had a used freezer he was selling. We negotiated a reasonable price, and the price was made more reasonable that delivery charges would be lessened: it could be transported across Dzivarasekwa via push-cart.

Good news: all fathers were pleased that the total cost of the freezer would only use about three-quarters of the funds raised.

The bad news: when the gentlemen were placing the freezer in Baba Edith’s house, one corner was dropped. The compressor broke, and the freezer is now inoperable.

I don’t know exactly what to say or how to explain, other than… well, these things happen. We’re certainly dismayed. And apologetic.

The fathers are now deciding the best way to proceed: at present, it seems that the cost of repair of might outweigh the purchase of another used freezer. The broken freezer could be sold to a repair shop.

In the absence of the working freezer, the fathers decided to proceed with some small-scale buying and selling. One father had some extra space in his freezer where unsold cutlets could be stored, and I’m happy to report that – in late October and through November – the men worked together to achieve moderate success in these mince and cutlet sales.

In general, the fathers are attempting to earn money doing some informal trading: buying and selling fruit and veggies from their small plots, doing small jobs like bike repair or light construction. Baba Paul has been most successful in his candlemaking and sales.

Overall, Perhaps Baba Precious is most right in his answer to my query of “how are you and your family?” He cracks a slight smile while ever-so-slightly shaking his head… “oh, you know, Mark, we’re somewhere between good and bad...”