One of the highlights of my visit to Manyamula Village last May was the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremonies for the Manyamula COMSIP Cooperative Training Centre. This centre was the great dream of Canaan Gondwe and the Manyamula COMSIP membership and I was so proud to see it realized and open for business! The Training Centre is so much more than just an office for the savings and loan cooperative. It’s already generating income for the cooperative and building a stronger community. Let me show you around! (Click on the photo for a larger version)
On the day of the opening ceremonies, May 24, 2017, Manyamula COMSIP Cooperative members, local officials, and SIA Small Business Fund members gather around the central gazebo of the new Training Center. Behind the gazebo (from left to right) is the new dormitory, the administrative offices and the kitchen/meeting hall.
This is the room where I stayed at the Manyamula COMSIP Training Center dormitory. The electricity had just been connected the day before we arrived! The plastic chairs were bought with a grant from SIA. Some of the guest rooms are rented out to teachers at the nearby technical college.
The meeting hall is used for educational and training events. It is also being rented to church groups on the weekends. Pictured are Tanya Cothran (back to camera, wearing a skirt made from COMSIP fabric), Canaan Gondwe (in suit) who was master of ceremonies that day. SIA Team members Dana Belmonte and Boyd Cothran observe.
The Cooperative employs attendants and watchmen who fetch and heat water for guests to use for bathing. In the background is the goat house. This is here for demonstration purposes to educate local farmers on good care of goats. The house is elevated so that the goats hoofs will be out of the muck throughout the night. This also allows easy access to goat manure for farming. The goats go out to graze during the day.
In the shell of the under-construction warehouse at the Manyamula Training Center, women cooked over open flames to provide three meals a day for us. We ate eggs and potatoes, nsima (made from corn/maize), vegetables and chicken. The warehouse will help farmers to safely store their harvest, especially corn/maize and groundnuts (peanuts), until they can sell it collectively for a good price. The national COMSIP organization is investing to finish this construction. The COMSIP grant came after they saw the good work that the cooperative is doing to help farmers and community members. Manyamula has a population of about 25,000.
During the open ceremonies, Canaan said, “We built this centre with local materials, especially local bricks. The building of this center is a source of pride, duty and community. Now we are distinguished in the world. The hall is used for church services and youth empowerment programs. We hope it will soon be a place for indoor sports, and as a recreation center, to watch soccer on TV, and as an internet café so that youth can learn computer skills.”
