The work part of the trip is done!!
Here is the trip in numbers:
5 weeks
3 countries
Hours in a car = too many to count
3 Nights in a thatched roof hut
So many cups of chai shared
5 days gathering with our Small Business Fund Coordinators
6 languages singing “God is so good”
Tanya, Dennis and Barbara relaxing after a lot day visiting Small Business Fund groups in Eldoret, Kenya. Dennis has a huge heart for helping others and training people to be entrepreneurs.
We met with and visited:
9 SIA partner organizations (often meeting with big groups of members and visiting many homes/shops/poultry houses)
53 Small Business Fund businesses (in 7 areas)
9 Potential partner organizations
The amazing gathering of women who are all part of the Visionary Women’s Centre in Kenya. Economic empowerment through poultry projects and vegetable gardens.
Gifts from our partners and hosts:
2 plates of groundnuts (peanuts)
3 chickens
4 plates of “white ants” (termites) – source of protein in northern Uganda
1 bunch of kale
1 bag of tomatoes
1 pumpkin
2 bits of fried cassava
5 beaded handicrafts
Kathleen with the Manymula COMSIP Cooperative team in Malawi.
In the coming weeks and months, Kathleen, Barbara, and I will have so many stories to share of the people we met, the leaders and volunteers who inspire us, the challenges that people face, the amazing progress they are making towards self-sufficiency and economic security.
Barbara with two of the members of the Universal Love Alliance Inclusivity Clubs. They are leaders at their school for the movement towards gender equality as girls’ empowerment.
Thank you so much to all the wonderful partners who hosted us, drove us around, arranged for our visits, and made us feel so welcome.
Mbwenu’s goats in Malawi. He uses the goat manure to fertilize his garden. He trains others about sustainable agriculture.
Vincent, Tanya, Canaan, Mbwenu, and Sylvester consulting one Small Business Fund record book in Manyamula, Malawi. We train people to keep track of sales and expenses to understand how much profit they are making.
Gertrude and Tanya in Malawi. Gertrude’s organic garden is helping her pay for school fees for her 4 children. She built her own home with tin roofing and cement floors.
