Mateete Credit Union Visit

Leaving Masaka,

After I posted my blog yesterday, we met with a team from the Gates Foundation who were also working in Uganda at the medical clinics.  The too were staying at our Hotel in Masaka.  The shared with us, that they were not comfortable with all of the political build up around the hotel in anticipation of the Presidents arrival on Wednesday.  Eric and I had be having the same concerns, so after speaking with them the decision was made to depart from Masaka first thing Tuesday morning.  We would still work at our planned credit union on Tuesday, however rather than coming back to Masaka, we would continue down to Mbarara where the political activity was less of a concern and also where the rest of the coaches would be.

Tuesday morning arrived and we headed out to visit the Mateete Micro Finance Credit Union.  The town of Mateete lies deep within the African Jungle far off the main highway.  It was so interesting to travel for miles down a narrow one lane dirt road and see huts, and homes along the way.  Agriculture is the main source of income in Uganda and on our way we placed many Banana Plantations, Coffee Plantations, and maize crops.  We drove down this road for the better part of 45 mins until we reached our destination.

Mateete is a village of about 3000 people.  It is a very nice quiet town with really one main street.  As soon as we arrived we were greeted by the Board of the Credit Union, the Manager, and all the staff.  There are 7 paid staff at this credit union including the manager.  In the morning we had a meeting with the members of the Board and the Manager to discuss the inter working of their credit union and also the challenges that they were facing.  I found it very interesting that they were experiencing many of the same challenges that Credit Unions in Canada do…such as…encouraging people to join, members objecting to having to purchase a share to be a member, loan delinquency, and lack of opportunities for women to have the ‘good jobs’.  Needless to say, we had a great conversation.

We were served a traditional Ugandan lunch of Matoke, Rice, Cabbage, Chicken and goat meat.  It really was very tasty.

In the afternoon, we asked the Branch Manager if we could visit a couple of his business members who were close to their office.  They were more than happy to take us around to meet a clothing business, a suit making business, and pharmacy, and an electronics business.  It was great to interact with their business members and to encourage them to continue to support their local credit union. 

From Mateete, we travelled South East to Mbarara to meet up with the rest of the team…Wednesday is a National holiday, so we are not sure what our plans are yet.