The Bank That Only Takes Cheese

This bank only takes cheese. Send this to whoever thinks banking cannot get stranger. In the hills of northern Italy, a bank keeps a vault holding more than half a million wheels of cheese.

Benki hii inapokea jibini pekee. Mtumie yeyote anayedhani mambo ya benki hayawezi kuwa ya ajabu zaidi. Katika vilima vya kaskazini mwa Italia, benki moja ina hazina yenye zaidi ya nusu milioni ya magurudumu ya jibini.

The cheese is Parmigiano Reggiano, and it belongs to local dairy farmers. Instead of waiting years for the cheese to age and sell, farmers hand their wheels straight to the bank as collateral for a loan, and the bank pays them a large share of the value right away.

Jibini hilo ni Parmigiano Reggiano, na ni mali ya wafugaji wa ng'ombe wa maziwa wa eneo hilo. Badala ya kusubiri miaka mingi jibini likomae na kuuzwa, wakulima hupeleka magurudumu yao moja kwa moja benki kama dhamana ya mkopo, na benki huwalipa sehemu kubwa ya thamani papo hapo.

While the loan runs, the bank stores and ages the wheels itself, checking each one and rotating them like a library of cheese. When the cheese finally sells at full price, the farmer settles the loan, and the whole system starts again with the next harvest.

Wakati mkopo unaendelea, benki yenyewe huhifadhi na kukomaza magurudumu hayo, ikikagua kila moja na kuyageuza kama maktaba ya jibini. Jibini linapouzwa hatimaye kwa bei kamili, mkulima hulipa mkopo wake, na mfumo mzima huanza upya na mavuno yanayofuata.