Afternoon Exchange to Thinasonke, JHB

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The SDI Council Meeting provided some of the delegates with the opportunity to engage with the community of Thinasonke, who are part of the Zenzeleni Saving scheme and have been saving since 2003.  The community greeted the SDI delegates from Zambia, the Philippines, Nepal, Tanzania and Ghana with chorus upon chorus of both federation songs and gospel songs. After prayers were said, the community explained that after they had been introduced to the rituals of savings they began to discuss the issue of land.  As a community they saved R245,000 and approached the uTshani Fund and were able to leverage an additional R1 million and were able to buy 21 acres of land.

Their house models, as designed by the federation, are 56m squared and have access to water that the community has secured by themselves. They have 365 families who are part of daily savings. The community also has a health team, which is a new initiative and are lobbying the government in an effort to get them to build a health centre that would be open to everyone, not just the federation members.

Ruby Papeleras was a delegate from the Philippines and told of their federation’s struggle to deal with the most recent natural disaster, which was a typhoon that hit in September of this year. She described how the communities couldn’t return to their homes as they have been completely destroyed, and the land is now incredibly dangerous. Not only is health a concern but also emotional health and they are trying to support to those who have lost everything. The federation is trying to be proactive and make preparations for the next rainy season. The federation has built houses that are only 9 metres that are used primarily just as a place to sleep as the communities try to recover from the disaster.

Philip Kumah shared his experiences from Ghana, and highlighted how fortunate the South African federations were as they received subsidies from the government in contrast to the Philippines and Ghana who did not receive subsides. He gave a brief history of the Ghanaian federation being created in the wake of a slum wide eviction threat from the government, and through the savings groups, they did an enumeration of Old Fadama in Accra and were able to halt the eviction with public support.

The meeting ended with the members of Thinasonke thanking the SDI delegates for sharing their experiences and a renewed appreciation of the power of savings from the Ghanaians and offered condolences and support to the delegates from the Philippines