Should I be the Cheese Lady?

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We had our morning meeting where we mostly discussed the community meeting that they had on Friday. At the end of each month, RWO has a meeting with all of their community, club, and government partners. This meeting usually last 6 + hours so it was too long for them to keep translating for me which is why I did not attend. When the Club leader for the younger women I work with spoke she shared how much positive feedback she has received on the financial literacy classes. Many of the ladies told her that this is the first time they have ever thought about saving money. Other women have brought piggy banks the club so they can start saving. One of points we went over many times was that they need to have their savings out of reach so they (or their husband) are not temped to use the money. Along these same lines; RWO started a savings program for the peer mentors and club leaders at the office. Each women brought money that RWO will keep for them. If this goes well, they will do something similar for the women at the clubs. The club leaders from the groups I have not visited asked when is their turn for the program. We are hoping to find time that I can visit a few more clubs.



In the afternoon I met with my older/business owning group. I felt like I was really using some of my college courses when I went over S.W.O.T. Analysis of their business so they could set business goals using the S.M.A.R.T. method. Their homework is do a S.W.O.T. analysis of their business and then prepared a detailed goal(s). We will go over them on Wednesday.



It is officially mango season here. We are having mango juice from the tree outside our house today. And you see the children carrying home mangos they have collected.



After class we stopped to buy needles for the manual machines so sewing classes start tomorrow. The women have been told to be at the office at 11:00am real time, not African time. We will see how many of them show-up. It is a struggle to get them to show up to a meeting on time, but we don't wait for them we start the class in hopes it will encourage them to be on time for the next class.



One of the evening discussions after Hope and Irene tried a cheese flavored chip that I bought: maybe cheese isn’t so bad. There were no words for me to describe what they are missing out on, aside from the calories. I have barely had any cheese since I have arrived and man have I missed it. Uganda has a lot of goats and cows, but they do not make cheese with their milk. Perhaps I should start a cheese lady business here and become rich and famous for bringing cheese to the people ?

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Photos

Peer Mentor that we Gave Clothes to
Her job is to break rocks into smaller rocks and then sell them.

Comments

[Sarah Fuhs]

Wine and cheese
We will have to have a wine and cheese party when you return!