I’m writing from the comfort of my own home. We made it home safe and sound – and on time! I’m sorry that our communications have been infrequent in the last couple of days. The internet availability in our hotel was not good, and I had begun to feel increasingly sick, so the combination has conspired against more frequent updates.
Our final day in Kampala turned out to be very interesting. While in business I made it a point to talk to as many people as I could in the markets I served, because you would never know when you would gain an insight that could change the way one approached the market. We had two such meetings that day.
The first was our breakfast with the country manager for Partners Worldwide. You can link to PW from the home page of this blog. He had invited a local partner to join us to describe her work. She works with small farmers to increase the production of certain crops and helps the farmers to gain a higher part of the value chain by owning some level of primary processing, whether milling, crushing. Pressing or roasting. We had seen people try to do this in many places. The problem was that there was never a strong link between the farmer and the collective and so supply was uncertain, there was no funding for capital expenditures and farmers received lower value for their production. This young woman had designed a method of tying the farmer in to the process that is both logical a practical. It might have immediate application in a number of other areas that we have looked at this week.
The second important meeting was with a leading businessman from Arua who now lives in Kampala. He moved to Kampala a number of years ago for better schooling for his children. I had heard this comment a few times. His desire would be to live in Arua, but not without better schooling. He is currently evaluating the possibility of building a new private school. We talked about building schools and the economics necessary. During our next trip we will review progress with his plans. More importantly though, we talked about how many people had left Arua once becoming successful. It is hard for a community to be viable if all of its successful people leave. We talked about how to encourage this group to become recommitted to their homeland. He believes there could be considerable interest in this approach. We agreed that next time we are in Kampala we should gather a group of Arua exiles together and share a vision for reengagement.
Increasingly I am beginning to realize how major changes in Arua will be best served by the combined work of the church, the political establishment, business people and a team of leading citizens. Fortunately we are beginning to build good relationships with all of these groups. Perhaps we can act as a catalyst in the process.
In the next couple of days I will try to pull together all of my thoughts from this last trip and try to summarize for you all.
As always thanks for your prayers and good wishes. I have found quite a few responses to the blog in my e mail inbox and I have been encouraged by them. If you have any further thoughts, please write me at amills@tkc.edu
Blessings
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