Women's Microfinance Initiative

With the generous help of 110 supporters, who turned out on a balmy April evening for the Annual Potluck Fundraiser, WMI reached its 2009 fundraising goal of $60,000. This included the contributions made by those who responded to the call for action during the Global Giving matching campaign in March. WMI was thrilled to have been selected by GG as a spotlight organization in honor of International Womens Day and the $11,500 raised during the 3 week period in March was matched 100% by Global Giving, making Global Giving WMI's largest donor to date. WMI was the third largest fundraiser during the matching campaign and was recognized by GG with an additional $1,000 award.

The highlight of the Potluck, other than the delicious food and terrific company, was the 15 minute video of the women of Buyobo. With all the earmarks of an amateur production, the video nevertheless managed to portray day-to-day life in the villages of eastern Uganda, and the challenges, as well as the triumphs, of the women of Buyobo. Their beaming smiles conveyed their spirit and pride in the businesses they had built with WMI loans. Their heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities provided by the WMI loan program was evident in Jacqueline Namonye's closing remarks that ended the video, "On behalf of the Bulambuli Widow's Association, thank you for loving us so much."

It was a moment that made us all feel proud to be part of an organization that is bringing dramatic changes to impoverished women and helping them break the cycle of poverty.

Thank you to each and every supporter who made the Potluck a success and WMI's work possible. With your help we will continue to expand the loan program and provide more sustainable services to women living in poverty in developing nations. Special thanks to Beth Tomasello (our Potluck guru), Jennifer Gold, and Alison Ewing for their help organizing a great event.

MOTHER'S DAY
Several women have inquired whether they could make a donation to WMI in honor of a loved one for Mother's Day. That's a great idea! WMI will send a Mother's Day card with a full color picture of one of the borrowers in the loan program to acknowledge your gift. If you would like to use this alternative gift idea, you can make a donation online (http://www.wmionline.org) or send a check to: Betsy Gordon, Treasurer 8617 Fenway Rd. Bethesda, MD 20817. Then just e-mail Kathy Staudaher at WMI, (staudaher@verizon.net) with the name and address of the card recipient and the donor names. WMI will send out a card acknowledging your gift in time for Mother's Day.

APRIL 2009 LOAN ISSUE
The first week-end in April was a busy time in Bulambuli village. Olive Wolimbwa, WMI's Local Director, along with help from part-time coordinators, issued 40 new loans and 60 follow up loans. All 100 women received business training and record keeping lessons from Ruth Nanduli of FDNC. Olive said that the loan issue and training went very well. To date, WMI has issued 360 loans to 200 individual borrowers. The repayment rate is still 100% and many women are starting to employ helpers as their businesses grow.

BUILDING PROGRESS
Building construction is continuing at a rapid pace and is expected to be completed by the end of May. The roof is on and as you can see from the photo, it looks very smart indeed. With the building's completion WMI will have an enormous resource to expand services to clients. Plans include:

Children's Library - WMI Advisory Board Members Kathy Staudaher and Carol Van Oudenaren are in the midst of organizing books and materials to launch a children's library in a corner of the building. They have already collected hundreds of books and Christina Esposito's Girl Scout Troop 275 is readying them with pocket cards (remember those?) and preparing an inventory. With a little help from Carol's husband John, we hope to have the first shipment delivered to Buyobo by the end of May.

Pre-school/tutoring - With help from Alison Knight, WMI is preparing a one-hour pre-school curriculum for village children. An experienced teacher at the Bradley Hills Nursery School, Alison is contributing her knowledge to help launch this project for fall 2009. After school tutoring for elementary school-aged children will take place in two shifts for 2 weeks in May/June when WMI's summer interns are in residence in Buyobo. The notebooks and pencils WMI plans to provide to the children will be the first they have ever owned.

Health Initiatives - Fiona Gathright, President of Wellness Corporate Solutions is working with WMI to develop simple health/sanitation initiatives that can be implemented effectively in the villages. Preliminarily we hope to ship several blood pressure cuffs in May and offer screening to WMI clients. No doubt it will be the first time that the women have ever had their blood pressure taken. WMI will be able to offer classes and simple solutions to controlling high blood pressure. Fiona has also introduced WMI to Discovery Communications and Discovery is making small flashlights available to WMI - they will make excellent graduation tokens for the borrowers. WMI is also meeting with Discovery to investigate whether there is any synergy between Discovery's Global Partnership and WMI's work.

Fuel Efficient Stoves - Lifelines, a non-profit introduced to WMI by Sebastian Africano, Cecelia Escobar's son, will be visiting Bulambuli village in the next several weeks to demonstrate fuel efficient stove technology. An F.E.S. eliminates almost all of the smoke from wood-burning cooking and utilizes one-third the amount of firewood as open flame cooking. At $10 per stove, it is a cost-effective improvement in household health and productivity and WMI is looking at ways to make the stoves widely available to borrowers, including using the building as a distribution center.

INTERNS
BUYOBO-In May/June, WMI is fortunate to have 2 summer interns working in Bulambuli for several weeks. Tobin Jones and Dani Castraith, who are finishing their junior year at McGill University in Canada, will be traveling to Bulambuli at the end of May and staying in the village. Tobin will help Olive develop a computerized borrower data base and provide additional computer training. Dani will organize the Children's Library in the soon-to-be completed building. They will both follow-up on information developed in the surveys WMI administers every 6 months to borrowers.

Bethesda -While Dani and Tobin are tackling jobs in Bulambuli village, here in Bethesda 5 summer interns will be working on WMI program expansion plans. Emily Graham (Bowdin), Montana Stevenson (UVA), Laura Van Oudenaren (Davidson), Bryan Norris (Davidson), and Liz Scroggs (Tulane) will be researching foundation grant opportunities, finalizing WMI's solar panel loan program (currently in development) and analyzing data from the WMI semi-annual surveys. Tori Stevenson (Tufts) will provide support services.

NETWORKING
As WMI's supporter base grows, so does the opportunity for networking. WMI is a very collaborative organization and your ideas and suggestions are most welcome. During the Potluck and Theres Kellerman's International Luncheon the following week-end, WMI received offers of assistance in several key areas. Leanna Long has graciously offered to professionalize the 15-minute video. Barbara Selter, a professional grant writer, will give direction to the interns this summer. Mira Shapiro, a bio-statistician, has also offered to give some guidance to the interns this summer in the area of analyzing the data WMI has compiled on its borrowers. Victoria Hall, a member of the Bethesda-based Wednesday Morning Group, is working on getting a sample rolling water drum up to Buyobo for inspection by the ladies. Additionally, Zubedah Nanfuka from Uganda, who is studying at Southern Illinois University, is involved in media productions and documentary work and is interested in getting involved in a media project for WMI. Please feel free to contact any board members with your input.

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