Today has been a day and a half already and it is only
1:10pm. Incidentally, we are supposed to
be having a development committee meeting at our house, with lunch (goat pilau
cooked by Gareth) at 1pm, but that is another issue. I have had to break out the UK dairy milk
(gold dust) and the strongest beverage I have in my reach: earl grey tea. Now you know how serious it is.
I can’t even begin to explain the complexities of starting
the café business, but let me give you the highlights.
I went, together with a random and differing assortment of
the six co-operative ladies (it seems frustratingly IMPOSSIBLE to get all six
together at one time for anything, no matter how important the issue to be
discussed), to a place we want to rent, that I heard about when I was on my
walkabout looking for the brass band a few weeks ago. We have decided to rent it but the landlord
has been saying we need to pay 15 months rent up front. This is 3 million shillings (£750) which is
not money they have just lying around, considering that they are still awaiting
to get their loan. The savings
co-operative place said that we should have a property before we apply for the
loan (thus begins the chicken and egg phenomenom) since they don’t do ‘start-up’ loans (since
when? He has known all along that we are
looking for this type of loan!). So
since the ladies don’t have 3 million they paid the 2 million that we had (from
donations) and asked the landlord to bear with them for the extra 1
million. We told him the loan would be
with us in a week, which is what the bank had led us to believe. Now. I
handed in the business plan (that I had had many sleepless nights and working
evenings struggling to complete with one or two ladies turning up here and
there to do it with me) and asked if there was an application form to go with
it to apply for the money. “No.” I was
told. The next day, Gareth went to the bank
to ask how the application was getting on. Speaking with someone else, he was told that
yes there was a form and that we should fill it in then they would look at it
for two weeks then decide on whether we have the loan or not. Uh-oh.
Since we already rented the place and are counting on the loan (the bank
clerk we had been dealing with informed us that it is highly likely that we
would get the loan and we should rent a place first…) now we have a dead line
of 10 days to pay the extra 1 million (£250) and are not sure when the loan is
coming!
I rallied the ladies, pleading that each should come asap to
sign this form and hand it in otherwise we will default on the rental agreement
and the place will be empty, effectively wasting money until the loan comes
through. One woman turned up. My heart sank and I got on the phone to the
others. Now at this point I must admit
that I had lost my cool and started getting a bit annoyed. One had gone ‘to the village’ (they never say
which one so it could be one mile away or several!), one had decided to stay
home and cook lunch. One had malaria,
one is pregnant (so therefore, by local culture, is ‘weak’ and is excused any
responsibility, as I was when I was pregnant here!) and one was at work as a
teacher (fair enough). So the poor one
who did turn up filled in the form
under Gareth’s supervision and suffered our bad moods with us. I also admit that I burst into tears of
frustration at one point, feeling the weight of the whole thing on me, feeling
very alone and wondering if I should just get on a plane and come home. The one that did turn up promised to rally
the others, take the form to the local councillors to sign (that could take a
week in itself!) and then hand it in personally to the bank clerk we have been
dealing with. God help her with that process.
So now it is 1.30pm and we are still waiting for the people
to come for the meeting. The goat pilau
is drying out and our stomachs are gurgling with hunger. The boys, thankfully, are asleep (together in
Sam’s bed – so cute!) and we have just had a letter from a friend asking us to
give him money for his sick children, of which he has eight and no way of
supporting them.
AND BREATH……………………………………………………………………………
No comments:
Post a Comment