Khadyjatou Ndiaye

CRESP & the Senegal Eco-Village Microfinance Fund (SEM) would like to thank all funders of Carabane! First things first, some background on SEM. Currently all SEM's operations are run through CRESP Sengegal, an international NGO, however we are in the process of independently incorporating and gaining non-profit status in the US. Once this happens, our relationship with CRESP will remain intact, however SEM will be a stand alone entity which will help us to faciliate further capacity building and reach many more rural villages in Senegal. We added Carabane last year as our second funded village. Our plan is to continually add villages each year. We have had great repayment rates from 2005 and expect the same in 2006! The loans will be used to continue the development and marketing of products from solar cookers. We intend to distribute the loans in early May this year. More to come soon!

SEM Co-Founder Nan Guslander traveled to Senegal to visit the villages we operate in and helped to distribute the 2006 loans in Ndiaye. We distributed the money to two women's groups. The money will be used for various microenterprises, both for individual  start ups and for bolstering existing enterprises. This is our first time lending money in Ndiaye and we are extremely pleased to have funding from our wonderful partners at kiva and all the individual backers that make it possible!

The attached picture is an example of the solar cookers. This is not in Carabane but is from the organization that is providing the cookers in Carabane. All the 2006 loans have been distributed! Thanks to all who have lended their support!

The post below stating Monies distributed is for another of our initiatives in Nder. We inadvertantly posted to the Carabane page. We apologize for any confusion.

Anyways, we have distributed all the loans in Carabane for 2006 and are very excited about what this new year will bring in terms of the microenterprises the loans support. Our repayment rate from our 2005 loans in Carabane was very high so we are extremely pleased with our track record in this village!

Thanks to all who have lent support to this project!

 

The Carabane village women’s group has repaid in full the previous $1400 loan that they received last summer, and this year’s new Kiva loan funds have now been disbursed to them.  Each borrowing member of the group has received a loan of $70 to fund her own commercial activities.  Several women are using the new funds to purchase fish, shrimp, and other fresh seafood from the local fisherman, which they then smoke or salt and sell at a profit in the island’s weekly market.  Others are renting canoes so that they themselves can go out on the water to harvest oysters for sale in the nearby villages.  A few borrowers are buying fruit and other produce from mainland farmers for resale on the island, and others have started little bakeries and cake-and-doughnut businesses with their Kiva loans. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this possible, and we’ll continue to keep you updated on Carabane’s progress! 

 

Please note:  The agreement with the Carabane group was that they would repay the entire Kiva loan at the end of the borrowing period rather than in instalments. 

The Diola people who live on the mangrove islands of the Casamance River have developed a complex trading system in which each island village produces its own specialty good, such as dried shrimp or palm oil.  Small-scale commerce is traditionally a women’s activity here, and the Diola women spend a lot of time crisscrossing the river in handmade wooden canoes to buy and sell the various island products.  The island of Carabane is especially well known for its oysters, which are reputed to be among the best in West Africa, as well as for a strong wine made from the pressed fruit of the cashew tree. 

This month’s featured microentrepreneur is Virginie Diatta.  She has long supplemented her family income by purchasing cashew wine from local farmers and reselling it from her house in the village.  According to Virginie, cashew wine sales have been especially brisk lately because the summer rainy season has interrupted palm wine production in Casamance.  Many of the women of Carabane also own canoes which they use to harvest oysters, and Virginie often purchases the oysters from them to sell along with the cashew wine.  

Virginie has used her Kiva loan to expand her business activities to the sale of Carabane oysters in the neighboring country of Gambia.  The loan has enabled her to pay a “bush taxi” to transport her and a canoe load of smoked oysters overland across the border, where she sells the oysters at a profit.  Part of the proceeds are used to purchase a return load of vibrant Gambian batik cloth, which is scarce and in great demand in the village of Carabane.  Virginie now offers batiks in her store as well as the cashew wine and fresh and smoked oysters.  The journey from Carabane to Gambia is long and gruelling, but Virginie plans to continue to make the trip regularly as the long-distance trade is fairly lucrative and has allowed her to boost her income and improve the living standards of her family.

The wet season has begun in earnest and the rains are falling heavily in the south of Senegal, yet the villagers there are as busy as ever. The rice harvest is under way in Carabane, but that doesn’t stop the women from carrying out their commercial activities, especially on the weekends when the villagers stay home from the fields. At this time of year travel is less frequent because the men stay home to keep an eye on their rice paddies, and the women take advantage of this time to develop their small enterprises.

This month’s featured microentrepreneur is Adeline Diatta. Adeline’s primary business activity is the production and sale of the salty dried fish that give the national dish of Senegal, ceebu jen, its distinctive flavor. The island of Carabane is not far from the border with Guinea-Bissau, whose fishermen often travel up the coast to sell their catch in Senegal. Adeline has arranged for some of the Guinean fisherman who visit Carabane to supply her with fish, which she cuts in half, coats in salt and puts on a homemade rack to dry in the strong African sun.

Adeline’s Kiva loan has allowed her to market her dried fish in the capital city of Dakar, where they fetch a much higher price than in the Casamance region where Adeline lives. The journey from Carabane to Dakar takes a full two days – Adeline must take a canoe to the mainland, then a series of “bush taxis”, or makeshift country buses, north across the narrow country of Gambia, back into Senegal and out along the peninsula to Dakar. The fish are shipped separately, in a boat that travels up the coast from the Casamance region to Dakar. The price of fish fluctuates so much that it is hard for Adeline to predict what she will earn once in Dakar, but she estimates her profit from each trip at 25,000 to 30,000 francs (about $50-$60). She makes the journey to Dakar three times per month.

This month’s featured microentrepreneur is Anna Badiane. Anna also engages in inter-island trade, with a neighboring island called Hayère. The villagers of Hayère specialize in the sale of palm oil, which is used in traditional cooking all over West Africa. Palm oil production is a very work-intensive process that involves harvesting the nuts of the oil palm, boiling them until softened, pounding the boiled palm nuts in a big wooden mortar, then returning them to the boiling water until the bright orange oil floats to the top and can be skimmed off. Anna is using the funds from her Kiva loan to pay for a pirogue or handmade wooden canoe to take her out to Hayère about twice a month, where she purchases forty to sixty liters of palm oil at 700 francs (about $1.37) per liter. She then transports the palm oil back to Carabane, where the price of palm oil is 1,000 francs ($1.95) per liter. Anna thus earns between 12000 and 18000 francs ($23 - $35) from each trip, enough to leave her with a modest profit after her transportation and loan repayment expenses are paid.

Today SEM loan officer Doudou Mbodj contacted Anna for an update on her business. Her response was as follows: “The beginning of classes this year has gone well for me. It’s true that school supplies are expensive, but thanks be to God, I was able to buy everything for my children, and this was truly thanks to the loan I received. I was even able to buy two new school shirts for them, and I am so relieved.”