Dear all,

Just to let you know that thanks to the support from Ginger a new digital camera could be purchased to better document the projects and the progress in the village. Thank you so much, Ginger! Emmanuel, I am looking forward to the nice pictures to come.

Emmanuel and I are also working on a summary of all activities of 2009 and a plan for 2010 stating the goals the village wants to achieve in 2010 and the tasks that you could help with. So stay tuned for news to come.

Have a good week-end,
Maria

Dear all,

You might wonder why there is so few activity around here. Unfortunately some problems occured within the group and I think the rule of transparency obliges me to tell you about it. Basically, the chairman of the group did act rather in his own interest than in the interest of the group. He will be re-elected now. This all is very sad news, but Emmanuel, Ginger and I are now investigating the case and hope that we can build on this bad experience and get reengaged in the projects very soon. I am very sorry about this news, but I would also like to reassure you that Emmanuel has a very strong will to get Wakitaka going further and has been engaged in investigating very thoroughly the issues that occured in the village.

I will get back to you very soon with further details. Thank you for your understanding and further commitment. I still think that it is worthwhile.

Maria

Hi Neighbors,

As communicated to you by Maria, the youth elected their new Chairman on 21st February, 2010. He is called Gideon Balinkwe. He has replaced Richard Wairugala. I am also almost done with writing the 2009 projects report for your review. I will be attaching it in a short while. The report cites project progress, expenses, net profits, challenges, how the youth have tried to overcome the challenges, and the way forward.

Regards,
Emmanuel

Hi Neighbors,

Find attached the 2009 projects report detailing the performance of the youth projects in the village. We will also have a chat tomorrow on skype at 3:00pm Ugandan time. Whoever is interested should join us for the chat.

Regards,
Emmanuel

Wakitaka_Project_Report.doc

Hi All,

The youth had a meeting on Saturday 27th February, 2010 chaired by their new Chairman and some of the critical issues on the agenda that were discussed included; how to secure bigger acreage of land for farming, getting involved in a community based health campaign, and the getting prepared for the forthcoming eye camp.

Eye camp
The youth are eager to host the event in the village. The homes so far approached are very positive about the event and are anxiously waiting to benefit from the camp. In the same event, the youth suggested that they look for some funds to make at least 30 T-shirts that they will put on while conducting the event. In their reasoning, this would act as a sign of identification as they get involved in the current and future community activities.

Malaria/HIV seminar and campaign
The youth discussed ways on how to get involved in the activities aimed at helping the community. They agreed to contact some of the nearby health workers to help educate the youth who would later on share the knowledge with the community. The Chairman also informed them that the search is still going on to identify sources of mosquito nets that could be donated to a few homes in the community.

Land
One youth suggested talking to his guardian to find out whether it would be possible to provide part of his land for the youth to farm. He however noted that the targeted land was quite far away from the village about 2km. The youth also agreed that each of them acts responsibly to look for any possible solution to the issue since nowadays the rains are readily available so the crops wouldn’t suffer from water stress if planted early enough.

Regards,
Emmanuel

I'm glad the youth are still feeling very positive - that is a great sign!! I think it would be good to let us know how much it would cost to buy 30 nets in Jinja -I guess with your logo on it, and also what you mean by a 'few mosquito nets. Is that 10 - 20 - 30?? makes a very big difference - even if we only pay $2.50 a net. I would be happy to send a $100 donation for the nets if someone else can cover the shirts. How much will they cost???

--
Ginger :)

Hi Emmanuel

Great to see an update - your guys are doing well!

Wasn't really sure which task to post this under as I know you are looking for funding for several things....

Have you come across the grants from the American Embassy in Kampala?

Self Help Fund http://kampala.usembassy.gov/self_help.html
Community Grants http://kampala.usembassy.gov/community_grants.html

Applications close 1st April for one, 31st March for the other. Full details of eligibility and application forms are on the website. I am sure there will be LOTS of competition, and it takes a few months to get a decision, but it may be worth a try.

I suspect that you are most likely to meet the cirteria of the Self Help fund, as the other one is focused on HIV/AIDS and vulnerable children.

Mary

Hi all,

It is a pleasure reading all your postings! They are really energizing.

The youth had a meeting on 7th March, 2010. Matters that were discussed were very critical including organizing for a radio talk show on one of the local radio stations in Jinja in a bid to promote the youth activities. The new Chairman reached out the administration of the radio station to find out the charges and found out that it costs about 35$ to talk on air for 1.5hours. This would also be an opportunity to inform the people about the forth coming activities like the eye camp.

The chicken project was also talked about in the meeting and members suggested that since the chicken project ended up in big losses, they should turn the remaining funds into a cooperative for members to borrow money for own small businesses like hawking, making pancakes, etc and later pay back the money in installments at small interests that remain in the group.

The Chairman also reached out to one of the trainers of TASO who teach their clients how to make candles, juice, Vaseline, and soap. In their talks, she promised to visit the youth group to offer a similar training to the youth. However, all these activities to take place need some facilitation including new ideas. I told them to put everything on paper what they need the events to take place.

The land issue was also talked about but the challenge still remains of securing free land.

In summary, the youth are looking forward to;
-HIV/malaria training
-Training on how to make candles, juice, Vaseline, and soap
-Radio show to publicize the group activities
-Open up a cooperative

The meeting was well attended with 30 members present. I will be attaching the photos for you to see.

Regards,
Emmanuel

Good to see that you guys are progressing well Emmanuel. My only querry is how are you to ensure that these projects are sustainable? For juice you need fruits? Do you have the fruits availabe free or are you going to buy the fruits, i think if you are doing the later, it may eat much into your profits.

Candles , vaseline, soap; these go well with bee keeping. If you do bee keeping as a project in it self, you will end up with enough free wax for use in the above and also earn an income from honey.

I think your chicken project would have done well if you had more chicken. Am of the view that loaning the money for the youth to do their own business isnt helping the situation much. You are losing the little market you had secured for the chicken completely. If you used it to buy local chicken ( or layers) even 50 and hatch the eggs, you will get more chicken by the end of the year to help start off a serious coop chicken project for eggs and enable you sell some in future. I know you did a brilliant job but the numbers were against you from the start.

In view of the above, as you form a co-op ensure you got stronger foundations and dont allow a few hits and misses here and there put you off. You really need to get the current projects earning alot to afford loaning money otherwise demand will out do supply in a minute.

Send me your email and i will forward any info i may find useful to your projects.

Best wishes
--
Yours in Service
JIS Birungi

Hi Emmanuel,

Thanks for the update. I completely share Joanne's concerns. Why don't they want to pursue the current activities and make them work well? They chicken project only failed because they bought the wrong chicken - the first phase was pretty much a success, and this should be repeated to finally get real income and profit.
Could you explain a bit more what the rational is to restart new projects they are not even sure about if they work? The little remaining money should rather be used to make the current projects work. (how much is it by the way?)

talk to you soon,
Maria

Hi Emmanuel

Am pleased to see that the group members are still thinking of ideas and that the problems with the chickens has not discouraged them. But would agree with Joanne and Maria that they need to work out the best place to focus their efforts, so as to come up with successful business ideas that can make a reliable profit.

As well as learning the practical skills - chicken keeping, pigs, crafts etc, have they had the chance to learn some basic business skills e.g. how to research likely markets, calculate expenses and profits etc? I have a feeling they have, but cannot find the discussion and I lose track of which villages have done what! If not, this is something that may help them to come up with the best options for the group. I remember that Kimilili village in Kenya ran similar training and it was very successful, so you might be able to get hold of their training materials if nothing is available locally.

Mary

Hi Mary,

Just as quick reminder - the youth completed the training material made by Lieuwe http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/wakitaka/project/task/write-business-pl...

They learned quite a lot from it according to Emmanuel. But some further training might probably be useful. If somebody knows organisations that could be approached, please let us know.

warm greetings,
Maria

Thanks Maria

I thought I might have seen it mentioned somewhere but could not find it! You could try contacting Lia the Facilitator of Kimilili and see if you can get hold of their training material assuming its written down. I have some bits and pieces I have downloaded from various websites (which I am happy to post here if you want it), but having some stuff that has proved successful in another village may be a better place to start.

Mary

Hi Neighbors,

Following progress registered by the youth group in the village, some youth in the neighboring village who had been involved in the bee keeping project would wish to join the Wakitaka group. They tried out bee keeping business but collapsed due to factors that I am yet to find out. One of their members approached the WYDG Chairman to discuss the matter. I was also meant to meet him last weekend but left the village quite early before I could see him. The youth have some equipment that they were using.

I will be updating you on what areas they need the help and how we can incorporate them in the group.

Regards,
Emmanuel

Hi All,

A week back, another goat gave birth to a kid. Also the youth have booked 100 chicks that are expected around 15th April, 2010 to continue with the poultry project.

Regards,
Emmanuel