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Current Project: THE OIL PRESSING MACHINE
This is hopefully just the beginning of a bigger
project that will improve the quality of life in the Humla
region and educate the Irish on the benefits of microfinance;
emphasising and promoting trade, not aid.
Initially we have supplied an oil pressing machine
to the local women's co-op. This is hydro-powered as, besides
limited solar power, there is no electricity. There will be
a small charge per litre to use it. This will go into a fund
to pay for a wage to run and maintain the machine and to repay
the loan over 3 years.
Currently a litre of cooking oil costs about
€0.50 in Kathmandu. In Simikot, after middle men and
transport, the same litre of cooking oil costs about €1.80.
At the moment the villagers have three choices: Buy the oil
at the higher price, walk for 3 days with locally gathered
seeds to another village and get the seeds pressed there for
€0.20 or knead the oil out of the seeds themselves by
hand. The last is an incredibly laborious project yielding
minimal results.
Right now local Nepalese engineers are working
with the women's coop and Nicky to find the best location
to house the machine. It needs to be within easy walking distance
and on a fast flowing stream that doesn't dry up in the summer.
With the machine in place and an excess
of oil, new projects should be possible. The first and most
obvious seem to be soap and candle making, both of which require
oil as a major ingredient. They also deal with the greatest
problems in the area: health and light.
New projects
This Humla district is one of the poorest in
Nepal. No one is starving, as the government provides everyone
with a ration of rice and other staples, but children suffer
from vitamin deficiencies. Life expectancy is 53. The infant
mortality rate is 30%. One of the ladies that will be on the
programme has lost 5 of her last 6 children when they were
babies. The only hospital for the district, with a population
of around 50,000, is usually closed as the doctor rarely shows
up, and he lives in Nepalgunj. Many women die in childbirth
- the women we spoke to could count 25 women they knew that
died last year. So while the people are very warm and welcoming
they require assistance.
Health, infant mortality, women in childbirth
and education are the real problems in the Humla region. They
get worse in the smaller villages surrounding Simikot. These
are the bigger issues we eventually want to tackle. Micro
finance creating at first a simple but effective local economy
and eventually an export trade is the vehicle.
We welcome any suggestions or solutions you
can add to the project.
Micro Finance: links
and examples
http://www.indianngos.com/issue/microcredit/successstories.htm
http://www.squidoo.com/microfinance/
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