Week 5: First week of work

Did you know that condoms cause cancer and carry HIV? At least that's what some women here are led to believe. My first visit to the field -- where we meet the communities we are working to help -- was part of a condom education training. It was eye opening hearing these comments and all the more surprising because Uganda is actually an amazing success story. Not 5 years ago, HIV/AIDS rates were over 30%. Now they are down to 6%, but there is still ongoing work to educate people on its risks.

It was at the end of this visit that I had my first chance to discuss microfinance with the people we will be providing loans to. There was quite a lot of interest and a surprisingly high level of knowledge on how it works. Just as we were about to leave, one woman rushed up to me and told me how excited she was and that she already had a loan group formed (microloans are made to groups whose members guarantee each other's loans in place of collateral).

In all, the first week was hectic but great. I had a chance to do a lot of research so that I am more prepared to carry out my project, which consists of two main parts:

1) Developing a microfinance framework to guide the organization in administering loans starting in November.
2) Providing business training to members of the community in preparation for these loans.

I had a chance this first week of work to meet a lot of people and get a sense of what the needs are and feel more confident now that I know what to do!

Having finished work Friday, the week wrapped up with a nice taste of cultural life on Saturday. My host brother Ben took me to an "introduction" 2 hours northwest of Kampala. An introduction is like an engagement ceremony, but with very strict rules and hundreds of people. I was on the groom's side, which meant we had to come in search of the bride, be told she was not there, say we were sure she was there, and eventually be allowed in to where 200 people were sitting waiting for the rest of the ceremony.

With the groom's side before heading to the introduction: There were plenty of comments regarding my presence given that I was quite clearly the only non-African there -- they actually refer to me as being white here -- but they were all positive, and by the end of the night I was given a special seat at the front where I could eat on a table (other rows had to eat from their laps). A great end to a great week!