Our 5,000 village friends in Sierra Leone have made excellent progress over the past three years. The Sierra Leone-Plymouth Partnership (OneVillage Partners) has worked closely with the villages to provide roofs for shelter, rice seed to increase food production, medical supplies for the health clinic, manual peanut-grinding machines to encourage protein consumption, clean water wells and hundreds of school scholarships.

The only way to eliminate poverty long term, however, is by increasing household income. Basic water, food and shelter have improved to the point that we’re now introducing micro loans – seasonal loans for farmers and business loans for entrepreneurs. Three graduates we supported through college will be loan officers in the three villages.

During our trip in May, we unexpectedly made our initial loans due to overwhelming interest by the villagers. These initial outlays of $100 to $200 were business loans for a group of 30 women making high-quality soap, a highly skilled blacksmith who needed to invest in a new welding machine and two enterprising young men who wanted to purchase bicycles to rent by the hour; both agreed to hire a handicapped person to help run the rental business.

We also laid the groundwork for seasonal loans for farmers. Our village friends told us how they harvest cocoa (a cash crop introduced during British colonial times) during the "hungry

 season," the months of July through October before harvest, when everyone in the country runs out of rice. Farmers in desperate need of cash and food sell the cocoa for about 20¢ a pound; some very desperate farmers even pre-sell cocoa in July for only 15¢ a pound. Yet if the farmers were able to hold their produce for a few months, they would be able to sell it for nearly 40¢ a pound in January.

Starting with only $25,000 in capital, our loan officers plan to make loans to 600 farmers that will help them make twice as much money for the same amount of work – or about $50 to $70 extra per farmer. Given that these farmers, among the very poorest in the world, consider themselves lucky to break even each year, an extra $50 is a tremendous financial boost that will have a dramatic impact on their food and health situation. Furthermore, as we expand the micro loan program into various seasons to help with their other main crops – coffee, palm oil and rice – it will have an phenomenal impact on their income.

Interest from the loans pays a healthy salary for the loan officers, creating non-farm jobs in the community. Well-paid jobs generate respect for college graduates, thereby encouraging education. As the loan officers work with individual farmers, they’ll become intimately aware of their financial situations and able to give business advice to help the farmers further. Our loan officers will learn to be effective leaders in the village and will continue to push for health, educational and economic progress.

OneVillage Partners has had at least 15 Plymouth members visit the villages the past two years, with more planning to go next June. If you’re interested, watch the bulletin for a mid-November trip meeting. For further information, visit www.OneVillagePartners.org.