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Dear Friends-
Last month Sandy and I were working in Iringa. We planned to visit many of our locations; look at the new IDCs; meet with the architect, and builder for the proposed warehouse, as well as with government officials, and then attend our spring officers training session.
We left for Iringa on March 19th. When we left, the coronavirus was just making its appearance in the US. We debated whether or not we should make our trip, but thought that we had time to complete our three-week trip. To our surprise when, after spending only three days in Iringa, we heard that the US was banning travelers from foreign countries, so we made plans to return to the states as soon as possible.
I contacted our carrier to ask about possible return flights. The United Airlines representative (they work with Swiss Air in Tanzania) informed us that they had already canceled all flights out of Tanzania except the Wednesday midnight flight – and they only had two seats left on that one. We booked that flight and got busy doing what we could in the time we had left.
Actually, we were able to do a lot of work in a short time. When people found out we had to leave, everyone got busy rearranging their schedules so they could see us. Over the next few days we were able to visit three of our villages with new IDCs, attend a Sunday service at our partner parish, Ihemi, visit the Ihemi seminary project, look at the land for our Market Center project, talk with the builder and engineers for the project, visit with the District Commissioner on a variety of topics, have a long meeting with Bishop Gavile, a number of Diocese staff members, along with the VC of the University and several of his staff, go over plans with our architect, meet with the MFI staff, review budgets and finances, meet with representatives of the World Food Program (see the article below), and just before leaving Dar es Salam, meet with the Director of the African Development Fund (see the photo above). A whirlwind of a few days.
As we left the country was going into a limited lock down. The schools, universities, public spaces, and most government offices were closing. At the airport, most of the gates were closed, although our flight was full. Arriving at Zurich we noted that of the 20 gates in our terminal only 6 were being used.  On the flight board there were only a modest number of flights for the day and some of those were canceled as we waited (see the photo above). When we got to Chicago we found the terminal the most empty we had ever seen it. Despite news reports of long lines for screening and entry to the US we walked right through with no lines. It was the fastest we have ever cleared customs!
Back in MN we were under house quarantine for two weeks. During this time our children brought us groceries and visited from the other side of a closed door.
In Iringa we have canceled our spring training sessions, and closed our offices for most visitors. We have largely stopped making village visits for now since we normally are meeting with large groups of members and meetings of over 5 people are banned. Our staff is now working by phone whenever possible, checking with our officers, solving problems as best they can, and giving advice and counsel. We are actively advising everyone to stay home, stay apart, and stay safe as much as they can. Unfortunately in a place like Iringa where people need to buy their food in the market on a near daily basis and where much of the population needs to work on a daily basis in order to eat, this is very hard to do.
Sandy and I are praying that this newsletter finds you and your families well and staying home!
Blessings
Tom
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This year is the tenth anniversary of the formation of the Iringa Hope Micro Finance Institute (the IHMFI), an International NGO registered in Iringa, Tanzania. In honor of this milestone we will be holding a special event on November 1, 2020. So mark your calendars now!
In the meeting, Michael Dunford stated that the WFP was making a change in direction. In the future, WFP will have an objective to purchase 10% of their total demand for crops from smallholder farmers, where they could not only identify the names of the individual farmers and but also identify where the farmers are located. Tanzania will be the pilot location for executing the plan. We explained how Iringa Hope could help them to achieve that objective. Included in the meeting were Claude Edward Lawassi, Head of Their Procurement Unit, and Masasa Makwassa, Deputy Head of Smallholder Farmers. Dunford asked them to schedule a meeting in Iringa to meet our AMCOS members and to visit Iringa Hope village locations as part of their due diligence.
and Ifunda. The WFP representatives were very impressed with the Iringa Hope operations and staff. They were especially impressed with the AMCOS’ practices for storage, record-keeping, and the management of post-harvest loss. As a result of those meetings, Iringa Hope has received a request to register as a supplier to the WFP. WFP purchases 200,000 metric tons of maize annually for their needs. Iringa Hope should be able to supply 2,000 metric tons to WFP in 2020 for their smallholder program this year. 
AMCOS capability and membership. Iringa Hope is now attracting the attention of strategic partners such as the Consortium for Post-Harvest Loss and the World Food Program. These partnerships provide benefits to Iringa Hope’s smallholder farmer-members.
