MEET MAMA SHALE
Mama Shale lives deep in the southwest region of Tanzanian, Africa. She has been a participant in the Africa Bridge dairy cooperative program since 2008. Prior to getting involved with the Africa Bridge dairy co-op program, Mama Shale was barely making ends meet through subsistent farming. She was only growing enough food to feed her family, but not enough to participate in an economy. At that time, she was living in a mud house with a grass roof. Her daughter and seven children were sharing her tiny 500 square foot mud home.
Once Mama Shale became a co-op member, she received a female heifer from the dairy cow co-op named, Going Forward. All cooperatives are given names as is each cow. Once Mama Shale received her first cow, she was well on her way to creating a better life. Her first calf was repayment into the co-op. Her second calf, a female, she kept. And, her third calf she gave to the Most Vulnerable Children’s Committee (MVCC).
Fast forward to 2012, Mama Shale was visited by the Africa Bridge team, and the changes and her success were evident. Mama Shale no longer lived in a mud hut with a grass roof. She now lives in a roughly 1,200 square foot concrete home with a tin roof and windows. Because of her economic advance, Mama Shale was able to build a bigger home, supply her children with the food and necessities they needed, and was able to take in more of Tanzania’s Most Vulnerable Children. In fact, she welcomed four additional children into her home without any threat to her own family’s existence.
Mama Shale’s participation in the cooperative program generated both hard and soft benefits; benefits that extend to all cooperative members. The hard benefits are basic needs that must be met, such as perpetuating an income, proper housing, food and clothing, education, and medical care. The soft benefits include participating in the modern world (Mama Shale recently discovered cell phones), and skill development and training (computers and software education). Because of this additional knowledge, Mama Shale gained considerable advancement in social standing.
WOMEN IN TANZANIA
Women typically are not at the forefront within the Tanzanian culture, and generally don’t get the opportunity to be in authoritarian positions. For example, in a village meeting prior to the development of a cooperative program, women would sit quietly in the back and not speak. However, women that began participating in the program, gained respect and social inclusion, moving them to the front row and speaking at meetings.
Why? Each co-op has an executive committee and Africa Bridge mandates that no governing body can be less than 50% women. This has begun to shatter gender gaps in Tanzania allowing women economic and social advancement. In fact, roughly 75% of co-op participants are women; women tend to be natural caretakers, and caring for a MVC is the most critical co-op requirement.
Women that participate in Africa Bridge cooperatives also develop skills and education on how to run a co-op, manage money, administration and record reconciliation, all of which give credence within the community. Since cooperatives are democratically run, many women branch out beyond the cooperative and get involved in community politics. Land ownership by women has also increased through cooperative participation. Although Africa Bridge’s mission is primarily focused on caring for Tanzania’s Most Vulnerable Children, the side effects of female advancement is a welcomed transformation.
BUILDING A COMMUNITY
Cooperative programs give its members a sense of identity, belonging, and community. Members are not separate people anymore, and are not alone in their battle with poverty. They understand that together, lives can be transformed. Like Mama Shale, members feel part of a larger entity that benefits the community, and ultimately benefits the Most Vulnerable Children.
Mama Shale is grateful for her participation in the dairy cow cooperative and how a single cow transformed her life! By giving the gift of one cow, you too, have the power to change a life.
Written by Rita Romine-Black
Africa Bridge Blog 