In the Land of Blue and Green

My wonderful holiday in China (and Hong Kong) gave me the refreshment and break I needed to come back to Uganda renewed in energy and spirit. My flight landed early and though before 9am, the day was already warm and clear. My mom, sister, and uncle met me at the airport and it was fantastic to see them again. They had all dressed up for the occasion and even gave me a rose. We made it back to Masaka around 2 and I spent the remainder of the day resting, unpacking, and socializing with the family. 

Monday morning I was back at work. Back to reality… My supervisor wasn’t in so I worked on a few things and returned home for lunch. Tuesday I met with my supervisor and came up with a plan for this week and next. Because the whole organization just returned back from holiday, this whole week was dedicated to the end of the year reports for 2013 and Thursday and Friday were set aside for presentations. Each department, program, and project gave a presentation on their successes and challenges from 2013 and the plans for 2014. It was good to hear about all the different things Kitovu Mobile does. On Friday, I was tasked with giving a report to help the staff better understand how the SACCO will work. Unfortunately, the power went out just as I was ready to present so I had to shout the whole thing. Luckily, it was well received and we’ll be moving ahead with plans for its registration.

The plan for next week is to meet with the community where we are going to be setting up the community demonstration farm on Monday to sensitize them about the first project we will undertake. My budget for a seed nursery has been approved so hopefully next week we will purchase the necessary materials and begin construction. At Monday’s meeting, we also plan to get feedback from the farmers about what they would most like to learn or what they feel would be most critical to improving their lives. Their responses will hopefully guide the remainder of my time here. I hope that now that the CDF is in motion, I’ll be more active and be in the field more. I’m ready to get my hands dirty!