Little changes for the future

Wednesday March 3

I woke up early this morning in an attempt to get to the internet before we went out to visit a few more CEDO clients. I headed to the one computer of this hotel, which makes up part of a man's office (I don’t know what his job is but it seems to involve a lot of rendezvous with the female staff, punctuated by yelling at me for playing with the computer cables). Of course, the power was off so it was a fruitless mission. I headed to breakfast and went through what’s now my standard routine: an obscene number of African teas and whatever takes my fancy at the buffet. I do love a country that doesn’t judge me for wanting fried potatoes and cake to start the day.

Our first CEDO client today was Giida. Giida had lost her husband to HIV/AIDS and was supporting a house of 14 people, including her mother and a granddaughter. She is HIV positive herself, and is on medication for it. CEDO has provided her with a lot of training and information about nutrition and hygiene, to keep her and her family healthy. At the moment, her front verandah is piled high with corn, and two rooms of the house have been turned into make-shift storage sheds. Because of this, the family sleeps in the tiny living room. If she had tarpaulins then she could keep the corn outside without compromising its quality. Giida also harvest beans, which she gets through CEDO via women’s group Muculve. Her most successful harvest yielded more than 600kg of beans from 30 kg planted. She repaid her loans, bought a cow, and was able to pay some of her children’s school fees for that semester.

All of the CEDO clients we visited mentioned many of the same issues. Tarpaulins and spray packs seem to be in need so quality of the product (and therefore market price) can be maintained.

Giida was also planning on getting into a method of farming called Zero Grazing, and had begun constructing a small paddock with natural fencing. Most cows, sheep and goats I have seen are tethered to either a fence or a tree… sometimes to a power pole. The idea of tethering is that they won’t run away, and they’ll just eat whatever they can reach. Sure, it’s not animal-friendly, but in terms of producing quality milk for sale it’s also the wrong way to go. Dairies usually have a milk:fat ratio that any milk they buy must adhere to. When cows are allowed to eat what they want, the quality of their milk suffers and it's hard to keep track of their health. Zero Grazing is when a small stall is constructed for a cow, where they are kept at night. During the day, they graze in a small fenced area, either without grass or where the grass is maintained. They are fed during in the stalls, so the farmer can monitor what they are eating and how much they are eating. Kenya country manager, Carol Mulwa, who joined the trip, explained that there are a few small things farmers can do to ensure the health of their cows, including artificial insemination. Breeding a cow with any neighborhood bull has a high chance of leading to syphilis, making carrying a calf to full term almost impossible without medical help. Artificial insemination is the safest way to guarantee the health of the cow.

It was interesting to hear of the different farming methods that could be applied here. Not necessarily expensive options, but ones that require planning now to ensure future prosperity. I'm looking forward to our next client - a lady who operates in a family unit of three other wives and all of their children. Amazing!

Going bush to CEDO

Tuesday March 2
Kampala - Masaka

This morning we checked out of our Kampala hotel hit the road to head south to Masaka. After quite a bit of milling about in the lobby we loaded into the van for the journey, which went a little something like this:
Hour 1 - Traffic, honking, traffic, honking, an interesting market (more varieties of sweet potato than I've ever seen)...
Hour 2 - Road. Pothole, pothole, pothole. Road. A lot of greenery - the equator! We had a quaint little demonstration on the way water drains in each hemisphere, then on the actual equator. I also heard some good news that you weigh three per cent less when you stand on the equator. (So I must've looked pretty fit there for a minute.)

Hour 3 - Arrived at Oikocredit project partner CEDO's offices.

CEDO - the Community Enterprises Development Organization
The general aim of CEDO (very briefly) is to improve food security for vulnerable groups in four districts in southern Uganda. They work only with groups (rather than individuals) and provide most of their loans in the form of bean seeds, which are then repaid in seeds again. We spoke with Rosemary Mayiga (CEO), Charles Katabalwa (monitoring & evaluation officer) and John Kayabula (rights-based program officer).

The areas the NGO works in have a 12% rate of HIV/AIDS positive people - double the national rate. Apparently, during the 90s the area was a ghost town, with thousands killed by the disease. Many still believe it was witchcraft. Since 2008, CEDO has had a loan of 260,000 UGX (about 93,000 euros) over four years. I'll explain more how CEDO works as we meet some of its clients over the next two days.

We went to an empty little place for lunch (where I ate an entire Tilapia fish - that's him below, fresh from Lake Victoria). Charles from CEDO explained a little about the woman I was about to meet. A woman who cares for 13 children - six her own - because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Her and her husband's sisters and brothers have been lost to the disease and now she relies on her own agricultural projects to keep the household running.

Meet Margaret Nakibuule
She's a member of the Dduka Obwavu Grower's Cooperative Society, which translates to 'Run away from poverty'. Margaret has received bean seeds from CEDO's loan program and used the profit from the crop to buy a sewing machine for one of the orphans she cares for. She's also taken part in technical training from CEDO officers for agricultural and animal husbandry, hygiene, nutrition and general family health. Because of the health education, she says the rate of sickness in the family has gone down. The quality of her produce, maize, vegetables and beans, has also improved with some technical training from CEDO.

Cleverly, she has diversified her projects, engaging in poultry farming as well as agriculture and she hopes to further venture into goat and pig rearing. Margaret's husband, Vincent, is an artisan who makes cloth from the bark of trees which he sells for about 15,000 UGX each (around 5 euros). Not only can Margaret's ventures add to the household income, but the benefits are clear in other ways. Improved food production means Margaret can use some of the vegetables she grows to feed the family a balanced diet, rather than buying produce from elsewhere.

From her pristine garden to the 'Tippy-tap" (photos to come) there's no doubt Margaret is a smart, proactive and inspirational woman. "I have new energies, more perseverance, unlike in the past," she said. "I feel more empowered than I ever have been."

We crammed into the front room of her small brick house and she served us peanuts from her crop and fresh banana juice. It was incredible to meet a woman who cares for 13 children, has lost countless family and friends to HIV/AIDS and works like a machine... yet she couldn't stop smiling for us. We left, completely in awe of her.

On the road to RUCREF

Monday March 1
Kampala

Finally! Today, we're out and about meeting projects and their beneficiaries.

First up, we set out in three vans to the Oikocredit Uganda offices. The group met Judy, the regional manager for East Africa, Carol (Kenya's country manager), as well as Edith (Uganda's country manager) and the Uganda staff, Peter, Jessica and Esther.

The study tour participants fired every possible question at the team, which they answered with their impressive field knowledge. Unfortunately, we were out of time to discuss the big issues (interest rates and overindebtedness in microfinance are always conversation-starters) and each group had to run to their respective project partner visits.

We visited Rucref, a microfinance institution that's bounced back from some serious situations. Rucref originally grew from a credit department of an NGO, VEDCO. When the program became successful, Rucref was registered as a separate MFI. But poor management meant the MFI wasn't succeeding, and in 2007, the entire management team and board was replaced.

Now, with Kasasa Moses (right) at the helm, the future seems bright. He said although it was difficult to 're-brand' the MFI in the eyes of the community, they've done the job.
"The Rucref we have today is precisely because of the relationship we have with the people," he said.
The aim now is to become accredited to operate as a bank (and hence be permitted to take savings, for example), he said.
"It's exciting. Being challenged to grow into a bank gives me the encouragement to come to this desk everyday."

Today, Rucref has a 50/50 split between rural and urban clients, throughout four branches. After lunch with Moses, we headed to meet one of Rucref's 'urban' clients - although it was quite a drive and felt more like a small village .

Meeting Gladys Katwe (right) made for a very entertaining afternoon. I'm not sure it can be completely attributed to her three microloans, but she sure knows how to laugh! Gladys also seemed to enjoy handing me a three kilogram live chicken to hold while we had a chat in the chook-shed. For some reason she could tell I wasn't a farm-girl.

Apart from the chickens, which she sells for meat, Gladys sells second-hand shoes and clothes to stores. She was originally a member of an all-women's lending group. She used her part of the money for the chickens and her business of having old clothes sent from England (where her husband works for an Indian driving company). From there, Gladys got an individual loan of two million UGX to support the businesses and a second and third loan of three million to further expand. Gladys has a small farm nearby where she keeps six pigs, has two workers, and hopes to use her current loan to construct an area to bring in laying-chickens.
"I want to be a good farm manager, with cows and 500 chickens," she said.

After a million questions and photos we headed back to the hotel, and briefly celebrated the success of our first project visit with a round of stroopwaffels. Tonight, we'll have to pack for the next two days in the rural areas. I'm heading to Masaka, in Uganda's south. I'm promised it's a two hour drive, unless the traffic strikes....

Welcome to town

Friday February 26

After two hours and some fairly essential attention to the 'faulty brakes' of our aeroplane, we were on our way to Uganda. We arrived at Entebbe airport and met our Oikocredit Uganda colleagues and Taxwa, our Taxi driver (who "has a better job than name"). Taxwa was kind enough to give us a quick introduction to Ugandan driving and the roads that go with it.

But it was a Friday night, and throughout the bumpy car ride the life of Kampala and its surrounds was scattered in the darkness. At almost midnight, small barber shops were doing business in the dim light of cramped sheds, music was pumping and barbecues were smoking on the side of the main road.

That 30km in the car - from airport to hotel - made me wonder exactly what's behind the facade of those places. Motor-cycle repair, phone accessories, barbershops, beauticians, general stores - most of them were locked tight. How many of those places have been opened with a microcredit loan? Maybe from an Oikocredit partner? From the car, we were outsiders looking in.

I hope that over the next two weeks, we'll get to meet the people who have taken out small loans or joined a co-operative to get a fair price for their product. We'll meet the people who oversee those loans and co-ordinate the practical training that empowers their clients.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we'll meet with the photographer who is coming to see a few of the projects, and get prepared before the rest of the group arrive... Over the weekend we'll be busy with preparations for Monday - the day when finally everyone is here and it all begins!