Sunday in Kampala

Sunday in Uganda,

Today was our briefing meeting with the Uganda Cooperative Association.  We met with Leonard Msemakweli, who is the General Secretary… (General Manager), Butamany Billy, Manager of Microfinance, and Rose, Leonards’ assistant,  who oversees the UCA work in Northern Uganda.  We had a great meeting with Leonard who shared the history of the UCA work in Uganda as well as the goals UCA has with the Coaching Program and the CCA.  Each coaching team received a briefing binder about the credit unions they will be visiting as well as copies of their recent financial statements to review.  It appears loan delinquency is a common issue facing most of the credit unions in Uganda, so we will maybe see if we can help promote good lending practices during our stays.

After our meeting, we were treated to a wonderful Chinese dinner at a great Chinese Restaurant called FANG FANG..maybe some of the best Chinese Food I have ever had!!!  (imagine travelling all the way to Africa to experience the best Chinese food)

After our great lunch we decided to head down to the local food market and check out where the locals go to purchase their fruit and vegetables and meat.  It was a very interesting experience and was nothing like I have seen in my life ever.  Very interesting to see all the nuts, limes, grasshoppers, raw fish chicken and beef.  The fresh spices smelled wonderful…I wanted to bring some home to cook with.

Kampala is a wonderful city with very friendly and respectfully people.

Tomorrow we head out to Masaka, which is East of Kampala to begin our work with our first local credit union.

Keep in touch as best as you can…the internet service is sketchy so I will try to post as often as the internet will allow.

Stewart