Interview btwn Technician and Amina (homeowner)-
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You take the remote control
You take your remote and press here
on this red button, and the TV will come on
Um, we should call my grandson. To show me is...
No, it's ok let's try
Here your TV is on now, and after
we choose what we want to watch
We press here to select
So we press and it takes us here
We then choose what we want to watch by using the arrows
for up/down and either side
This helps you select
When you're finished, you press this one in the middle
Then, the volume control is here
Where?
Here
Here?
Yes, here.
This is the one to reduce the volume, and this one increases it
So here I am reducing the volume
If I want it to be louder?
If you want it to be louder then you press here.
This one here?
Yes, you press it like this
Then you get a full screen
Then that's it, we're done!
So if I want to choose something else?
If you want to choose something else you go back again
You go back by pressing STOP here, so you stop the show
And then you press here, for the menu
So when you press the up and down arrows like this
It shows you what options you have to choose from
If that's the one you want, to choose it you press here
And then, to make it full screen you press here
Then you're done
If you want to turn it off,
You stop the show, and then you press here again,
the button to turn it on and off
Oh ok, so you stop it here first and then you turn it off
Yeah so you turn it on and off like this
Ok, thank you
And this is your radio
We turn it on here
So this is the station that you're listening to
To turn the volume up and down,
this is to reduce the volume,
and this is to increase it
If you want to change stations, you press here, or here
It also has a place to connect a flash drive if you want to listen to music
Right here?
Yes
And, there's a place to charge it
The place you charge it is here, on the side
by using that wire of yours
Also, let's go to the unit
This is the wire you use to charge your radio, so to charge it use this
This is what you use to charge your radio
If you're not charging though, you can just unplug it
Yes, if you want to charge it, you press here
But you have to turn your radio off first
This red light shows you that it's charging
It's lit up here? Yes
When it is green, it means it is fully charged
So when you're done you just unplug it
Plug it in so it can go ahead and charge
So it charges up? Yes
So you can just put it here,
roll it up and keep it here.
I'll put it here like this
So after this I'll show you how to turn on the lights
Yes, that's right, please show me
These numbers one, two, three means that you have five lights
So this is your first light, which is that one over there that's on
The second light is outside, I think
The third...
is this one, I'm turning it on there
So here we turn it on, this is for low light
And this is for bright light
That's it.
And this one I think they've installed it so that at night it turns on by itself
Yes, over there it turns itself on
Yeah ok, so it's just that
Let me turn them all off
So to turn them off, you press here twice
Ok
So do you know how to check your balance? It shows you
I don't know how to do it, but the girls do
To add credit, if you press here
Wait so, what if on some days I don't have any
and I get ten thousand in between, am I able to put it on?
There you could be topping up, like today, you put it into your account
If it's two thousand, however many thousand, you save it
Until the end of the month arrives,
When I have my thirty?
You'll find you've kept a little bit of money to top up.
And here it shows you have eighteen days left
Right now right?
Yes
How you turn the lights on
We turn it on, this is the low light, bright light
The second one here is the same
Go ahead and try turn it on yourself, the third one here
The fourth one was this one here,
And this one
I'm busy here, take it to Zai
And this one is the one that's for the bedroom
The brighter setting
That's it
To check the balance on your unit,
There you've turned off the lights.
If you want to check your balance,
you can press the hash or any of the buttons
And it shows you, here it's showing you the meter number
This is the number of your unit
If you press here,
Star
It shows you how many days you have left
And this right now is showing you that you unit is charging
You can turn this one on
I can turn this one on?
Yes
Done, it's on the bright setting there
It's brought me light,
It's made it possible that my grandkids don't struggle so much
Even if I'm living in a house built of sticks
I said to myself 'let me try hard for them so that it's not as difficult'
Because darkness, sometimes someone comes in the dark and there's nothing
And still, they say that electricity is coming but we don't see electricity
So that attracted me immensely,
because now I'm happy that I've managed to get lights and electricity like normal
And what were you maybe using before?
I was using oil lamps
And was that affecting that children somehow, maybe...
Sometimes they weren't studying, like when my grandchildren came
Or it was getting them sick maybe?
I never saw that they were getting sick, but they were struggling
when they came over, they weren't able sometimes, there was no kerosene,
I didn't have money, and they weren't able to study
But these days, when school is open,
they stay, they sleep here. They study until they get sleepy
Until they get tired! And it makes me very happy
I would ask that they give another,
that they give maybe this power
so that it helps us to build even one room and we can pay back slowly
Because we're tired of slapping mud [on the walls]
because I don't have any sons,
I'm struggling on my own with my grandchildren here
If they were able to help with with building one room
Say, 'We'll help you with one room and you pay, maybe in small amounts at a time"
Then I'll pay
We would go charge over there
And you pay for this?
Yes.
I was using kerosene lamps,
I would buy kerosene and use it in the lamps
And charging phones?
And phones at the stores way over there
On the road?
Yes, on the road with the electricity there
Yeah that's what I was using
Water was a problem?
And the lamps also,
sometimes they were a problem
when they were studying, they would go out. Sometimes they'd be like
'Mom.
I have a cough, grandma'
And they stop. They'd say they'll keep going in the morning
But these days they study until they're done by themselves here
These days they study until they sleep on their own in their beds
It's a lot of money.
It's a lot of money. Like now, I'd give one thousand
Including charging your phone?
Including charging my phone,
I'd pay maybe three hundred, maybe in one day I'd pay maybe
...in one day if I really don't have money I'd pay five hundred
I buy for the lamps.
So if you pay five hundred for the lamps,
you light them in the evening, and the next day again
when you need them, your told 'Grandma there's not enough kerosene'
You tell them here, take this and get some more
You find that you've used maybe two thousand in a day
So then you find that other times, you don't have enough. Just for cooking.
So we cook early, in the kitchen outside.
We'd sit, and we'd eat early and go to bed before seven
Now we don't go to bed sometimes until midnight, or 1am. Then we sleep.
Now I don't sleep until midnight sometimes
I lay here and I watch, by the time I get sleepy it's already turned itself off!
This, M-Power, has helped me a lot
I mean, so much....so much that
even my neighbors, until 11pm...10pm, they're here.
It's helped me so much that they're happy, and so I'm very happy too
It's helped me very much
Maybe if I don't have money for credit, but if I have money...
I'm completely at ease
Even with my grandchildren, I'm completely at ease
They've helped me. Some people say 'I'm not sure' but me, it has helped me
Because now, the Government electricity, if it's this year or next, it won't get here
We're out here in the villages, who will see us?
So I have to be thankful
I mean, everyone is thankful right now
Everyone is thankful for M-Power
So now it means that you'll have to design a new path
You look at us who don't have anything
and say 'Ma'am, let us build you one room and you can pay it back monthly. Yes, ok?'
Right now, me, right now,
if there's money on the unit,
then I use it at whichever time
If it's 8pm, I cook...if it's 9pm, I cook
If I decide to sleep at 1am, I sleep
Because my grandchildren don't have any problems, and neither do I
I mean there's light...maybe not if there's big rain storms
but even then if there's big rain storms, the light is still on like this one
If it's on like this, then this one over here doesn't work
yeah, it doesn't power it
But when it's hot, then it works all the time
So for you, before you weren't able to cook?
Yes now I just cook, I just cook and serve it
And what work were you doing maybe?
Do you farm and maybe you get home late to cook?
Yes, I mean sometimes I get back late...
but since we've had the unit the farming season hasn't begun
But now even if I'm late, I turn on M-power and put my stove here,
and I cook and my children eat
I've been able to make progress,
I've been able to make progress for my grandchildren
just with their studies
I've made progress.
They do well at school now?
Right now at school when they go, they come back, and once they've eaten,
they bend over [to study]
It used to be they'd eat, then struggle with the lamps and they'd sleep
But now I've made progress here
Yes, I truly have. Because they don't have difficulties studying
When it gets to 7pm and they've eaten or 8pm even,
They get up here with their books
They study...until they're overcome with tiredness
So I've managed to make progress now, absolutely, when it comes to lights
So now we'd like you to come up with other ways to help, like look at these mud walls
Help us. Find another way to help us.
Because, if you find another way
it's like, 'oh, this lady has no means'
'we'll help you build two more rooms and you'll pay every year'
That's it...
M-Power...my goodness. If you sign up for M-Power and they build for you too,
there will be so many people it'll be like this
'they'll build for you'...there would be so many people
and then you pay each year or each month
Until the day that the loan is finished, and you'd hand over my keys
No, I don't invest
I struggle, struggle...I save, I save
What do you struggle with maybe?
I sell things, I have some small ventures
I also am part of a savings group...I contribute there
If I find I have nothing at all,
I go and borrow some from the group...I ask 'please give me even fifty thousand,'
I borrow it. I take thirty thousand...and, I live well with my grandchildren
I know that since it's thirty days until it's finished, I'll have found [the money] by then
Oh, ok.
This work you do, what is it exactly?
Mostly, the business I do here is to bring firewood
I bring firewood by tractor
I sell it, and charcoal as well
I bring charcoal, I sell it
So, mostly we rely on the rain.
When it rains, then we get customers
We get customers, and that's it
And one of my children is working hard over in Njera, he works for someone
He sends to me, he sends and that's why I can pay here
That's why you find I don't really struggle so much
M-Power? No...the only business I do is
firewood is brought to me by tractor
I mean, maybe because you have lights now, more people come to buy from you?
Yes, at night right? Yes I take it out and sell to them with the lights,
even if it's raining
If they come here they buy from me
And right now it's really helping me, because sometimes
there's no power for three days,
people bring things to me to charge
I can get in a day sometimes [five] thousand
They ask me a lot
My neighbors want it too,
but they say that their plans aren't there yet
but many of them want it, a lot of them want it badly
They say to me 'these days you don't struggle anymore'
But, they say 'it's so much money that you pay, though'
I say, 'you know it's not a lot of money that you pay'
For me I use, just one thousand per day
Now, you add one thousand per day,
you put one thousand per day, at the end of the month it's thirty thousand
You've bought, and you haven't had any problems
So yes, a lot of people want it
And now, if you would have come and it wasn't Monday
Schools are open on Monday, you'd have found it packed here
They watch here
The neighbors want it very much
They say 'we still don't have any stable business, when we do we'll join'
They want it very much, but things are really hard
But they know that it's not necessary to take the units with a TV right?
There's other options that are less expensive
And they've bought those a lot! How come many people here have those?
They want the ones with a TV?
Yes now they want the units with a TV
This whole area here, people have them but only the ones for light
But now they want the ones with a TV
Because they ask me 'How much are you paying?'
I tell them 'I put one thousand per day'
Every day, I keep one thousand
Every day I keep it like this
Every day, I put the thousand on
When it gets to the day to pay, I get my electricity
and I relax with my grandchildren.
I don't want to worry
So it's not that I have to start looking for money, and get it
If you just put one thousand aside per day, it's enough
You cook, and if there's business I'll do it, I'll sell at night
I sell at eight, or nine
Someone comes and maybe they're out of charcoal
'I need some charcoal'
I weigh it for them outside there
You see? And now,
Mostly, the light here in the village
If I have lights like this
If there's a bad person who wanted to come
or a thief, they can't come in the door when there's light
They leave here and go somewhere else
Because they can be recognized?
Even if they left a bowl out here
there's no-one who would dare take it, because it's open and lit,
because they know, if I take this, someone will see me
They'll see me.
Yes, they'll see me.
That's helped me a lot
Now, right now truly around here with my neighbors
they have the units with lights
If you put it outside, where before there didn't used to be any
The theives would break into people's houses
You'd come, and see a door like this can just be pushed open
You'd find that stuff is gone, someone broke in
But now, no-one comes because there's lights
When it gets dark it's like being in the city here!
Even a house built from mud like this you'll find a light shining
There's no thieves, there's no-one who comes in
because they think 'If I go in here, the person over there will see'
So it doesn't happen, they don't break in
I mean, that's a big benefit that M-Power has brought
More than [Government] electricity, they bring it and only rich people get it
but now, M-Power sees the poor everywhere
Out in the bush...
we are so grateful
In the past there was nothing like this
Who will help you get electricity right now?
To bring grid electricity, you'll be told up to three hundred thousand
The electrical poles are right here, but you're told three hundred thousand to get it
Would you get it? You have no money...
I mean we are so grateful of you
So we are grateful, and they should find more...more ways to help us
In short, it helped me with security,
and helping me to be happy by having light
You see, even if I come from there,
my grandchildren have them on and they're not afraid, you see?
If they're late cooking, they cook here
I mean, I'm just so grateful
And its everyone, not just me
This house has light, that one over there has light
All of them, they have light
Yes all from M-Power
Like this one here is M-Power, that lady who was there has M-Power
If you go this way, you'll find all of them over there use M-Power
In the evening, there's light because people put them at their door
I mean, everyone, everyone is very, very happy
Because in the bush you visit eachother
I mean, you shouldn't let go of this approach
You have helped us immensely
For the Government to get here...where will we find the millions
So now some final words
Right now, people running milling machines
some of them are asking 'so couldn't they bring an M-Power mill?'
Because when the power cuts all the time,
we'll be able to mill with M-Power.
You see what I mean?
Shouldn't they bring a unit that could power a mill?
I mean it would make everyone rich
because when the power cuts, when the power cuts
you still take your maize and it gets milled for you
But right now when the power cuts, there's nothing!
You can wait for 3 or 4 days and you haven't eaten
So they should also consider creating that option too
WIth that they'd make a lot too!
When I'm here, when I turn on my radio
my grandkids are watching TV
Yeah, they watch the TV
They go and put on shows from outside
You know I can't read, see
So they watch and I struggle with the radio
For me, when the radio is on I listen to things from outside
and about all kinds of things
It makes me happy.
And religious talks too?
Yes! Religion I want also
So what if we buy that thing you call 'ungo'
If I buy ungo it is also nice right?
We just go slowly
Yes we'll go slowly ma'am
Also we're just so thankful
Continue designing other things
Right now people say 'truly, myself...'
I mean like the other day I went over to the shops
and there wasn't any electricity
Truly some of the shop owners there were saying 'shouldn't M-Power also bring a
machine that runs on M-Power so we can stop suffering?'
Because we're abused a lot here
Sometimes the power is out for up to 4 days!
So many days that the maize is piled up from here to there, it's this high
And nothing's being milled
Of course, a lot
And how many people were you selling to each day before you had M-Power?
Nobody would come until the afternoon
In the past before I had M-Power, people would only come in the afternoon or evening
They wouldn't come because they might get raped on the way.
They might risk getting raped, they wouldn't come
But now, people come from the shops if there's no charcoal there
They walk and when they get to the lights, there's light all the way until they get here
So you were selling to about how many people per day?
Well, sometimes like, on the days when...
...when it rains, I'd sell!
I'd sell
To how many people? More than 10?
I wouldn't count, but I'd find that I have one hundred thousand in here
When the evening comes, around 6pm, after I've done my prayers
after I've eaten, I turn it on and I look for the news,
I hear how the world is going
I put it right here, sometimes I'm lying down and I put it here
I listen to everything, and that makes me happy
And my grandchildren are happy watching the TV
And when they get tired of watching
they take their books and study
And I ask myself what else could the Lord give me?
I say 'Lord what else could you give me?'
Because...because
people like us, since when I was born to now
this is the first time that I've had this
Lights, inside
I have never said lies about me having lights or something
I haven't had them
Nor have I ever known what it is to have lights
I feel like I have electricity
I mean I have never lied about it, lies are wrong
This system I like very much
I like it very much and I am very happy
You've already taken us out of darkness, out of poverty,
when people see me they say 'you're not poor'
Because you have lights?
Yes!
You've already brought us out, we're not there anymore
I'd ask that everyone brings themselves ahead with M-Power
And here in Makuyuni, everyone is taking themselves forwards
I am so thankful, and I ask that they look for more ways to help people like us
They should help us with the milling machines
because we're tired of struggling with hunger
Ok, ok well thank you very much. We appreciate it
And we're happy that you're a customer of M-Power
Where was this?
This is Makuyuni village,
So I'll start by asking you your name
where you live,
and that's it
Ma'am, welcome to M-Power
What is your name?
My name is Amina Salim Omari
And what is the name of the place you live?
This place is called Makuyuni town
Makuyuni town?
Yes
Arusha,
Yes Arusha
Tanzania,
Yes, Tanzania
And the name I'm known by is 'Grandma Zai'
[Tech] Grandma Zai
Oh because of your grandchildren?
Yes because of the grandchildren
Even at the road if you ask for Bibi Zai you'll be brought here
Ok we really appreciate it, I'm happy to meet you
Right now we've got lights, please keep going and continue to help us
Don't let this system die
I mean even the fools are getting it
Thank you very much