Time of the year

Monthly earnings give people more freedom than yearly earnings, vis-à-vis spending strictness, and financial stability. Though one may lose her job, it is often easier to find something new in town than in the village. If the harvest fails or the prices are low due to high supply and no increased demands, the yearly income can disappoint, and the farmers have to work a whole year to receive money again.

Whether the selling of the harvest was disappointing or regular, a few months before the new harvest, it is difficult for many villagers to make ends meet.

(2) Maybe when you have done manual work and have a ZKW 50, it is impossible to save that money, because at home maybe there is no salt or other things you need to buy. So, it is more difficult to have money than when it is harvest time.

(MCD Women Mbang’ombe) The women emphasize that there is no money left over in the few months before harvest, not for saving nor saving in secret. All the money they get through piecework or left-overs from last year's harvest must be used to provide for the household. After harvest, however, saving in secret is seen in a different light. When asked in the individual interviews what an appropriate time for saving in secret could be, some interviewees mentioned harvest time:

(…) you will find that most people find money through farming and doing piece works

together, but they start fighting at home because they are failing to share the money and the man goes to drink and does not even come back home. When the money finishes, that is when he decides to come back home.

(Individual Male Mbang’ombe 3)

When we have harvested because that money will also help us next season.

(Individual Female Mbang’ombe 1) The first point touches upon the need for discipline after the yearly income is generated. If one of the two spouses misuses a large part of the earnings, it means that the rest of the year both have to suffer. It would make sense for a spouse, who learned about this misbehavior of her partner, to secure a part of the yearly income secretly. In this way, not all of the money will be wasted.

For the second point, it is not completely clear if the woman means saving in secret from her spouse or with her spouse in secret from other people. She says that a part of the harvest sales should be reserved for saving so that eventually oxen can be bought; not all the money should be used in the coming year. A large purchase like oxen could not go unnoticed by the other spouse so that the saving will most likely not happen secretly either. However, thinking about the next farming season, and even further, is seen as apt. If one has a misbehaving spouse who will not change, any money saved will help the other spouse after separation (Individual Female Tiko 1).

The peri-urban area is less intensely affected by lean seasons; however, as farming is still an essential source for income for many people, lean seasons can mean difficulties here too. Additionally, when one spouse loses a job and times are becoming stringent, saving in secret is seen as unacceptable (FGD Women Tiko). When one spouse saves in secret while the school fees of the children cannot be paid or the family lives on one meal a day only, it becomes clear to the other that the marriage does not work and should be ended.

4.3.3 Conclusion

The time spouses have been together, increases their knowledge of each other’s behavior. Newlyweds have not yet spent much time with each other, and thus they are not as capable of judging the other’s behavior as people who have been married for a longer time. Saving in secret in the village has a definite meaning, and it signals that one spouse does not trust the other. Without good reasons to put your marriage on the line, it seems foolish to do so. Saving in secret can make life more bearable for spouses, but the other must not find out. In town, it is easier to save in secret, due to both the regularized income and the opportunities to carry it out. This takes away some of the heaviness of it. However, if a spouse does not want to lose the marriage, it is better not to save in secret.

Throughout the year, saving in secret is seen in different lights. More so in the village than in town, the way income is generated poses challenges to make ends meet. Most money that was made last year is finishing in the period running up to the new harvest. At this time, most farmers cannot save up money because every bit has to be used for the provision in the household. When the harvest is sold, however, money is abundant, and there are opportunities to save money and thus also to save money in secret. Whether in town or village, when times are rough, and there is close to no money available, it is unacceptable to save in secret. When money is available, saving in secret becomes imaginable.