Women's Microfinance Initiative

SAVE THE DATE: SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2009
The WMI Annual Potluck Fundraiser will be held at the Carderock Club at 6.30 PM. Please join us for good food, good company and an update on the WMI borrowers in Buyobo, Uganda. You will be amazed at the changes. We have new pictures/ videos and purchased crafts and jewelry during the recent trip, so there will be a small bazaar!

THE SANDY STEVENSON PRINCIPLE
The WMI loan program has benefited enormously from the input of my father-in-law, Sandy Stevenson, an economist with the World Bank, who spent his career working in developing nations. Many Saturday mornings an assortment of WMI directors and I would stop by Sandy's to take his dog for an outing and we would have a chance to chat about microfinance. His take on development projects was that they frequently ignored the input of the people they were intended to benefit, and his advice was: Listen to the people. Sandy passed away this January at the age of 92. But his advice lives on in WMI's approach to lending and its commitment to take its lead from the women it serves.

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION IS UNDERWAY
Construction of the joint WMI/BBCDA building in Bulambuli village is underway. A contract was signed on February 24, 2009 and completion of the building is expected in 120 days. The Local Council in Buyobo has provided a surveyed plot of land in the center of the village for construction. The building will provide a permanent location for the WMI program, an indoor meeting space for the women, who are currently meeting under a tent, and a welcoming venue for community events. WMI is also planning to start a small lending library for children, with bookshelves covering one wall of the Meeting Hall in the building.

A local Mbale builder, Sam Wesamoyo of SAWE Contractors, was selected for the project and he is aiming to have the roof finished before the rains start at the end of March. WMI Advisory Board Member and real estate development consultant, Al Tetrault, was extremely helpful in outlining the preliminary building plans. John Shepherd, a retired water specialist with the World Bank, who had been to Buyobo many times to help oversee construction of the maize mill there through Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church, offered much guidance on how to site the building. In the last 2 weeks of February, my brother-in-law, Andrew Stevenson, who is an architect, joined the effort and generously produced all of the architectural drawings and plans for the building, so that Sam now has exact diagrams and measurements to guide him through the project. Without this dedicated team of experts, who graciously contributed their expertise free-of-charge, the building would not have been possible. Thank you!

WELCOME TO NEW WMI ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS: DENISE KALULE AND CAROL VAN OUDENAREN
On our recent trip to Uganda, Trix Vandervossen and I had the pleasure of meeting Denise Kalule, who lives in Kampala. She is Business Manager and Personal Assistant to the Head of Audley Limited, a diversified holding company operating numerous businesses in Uganda. She grew up in the United States and has an engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management. She brings a wealth of business experience to the WMI Advisory Board and is currently researching the options for a solar panel lending program to bring electricity to WMI borrowers in Buyobo.

Carol Van Oudenaren, from Bethesda, MD, has also joined WMI's Advisory Board. She is the librarian at Westbrook Elementary School and is a native of the Washington D.C. area. She has a B.A. in English from Oberlin College, a Masters in Management from the Sloan School of Management at MIT and a Masters of Science in Instructional Technology from Towson University. Before returning to school for her library degree, she worked in international banking and served as Vice President of a start-up high technology company in Cambridge MA. Carol is heading up WMI's initiative to start a small lending library in the new WMI building that is under construction.

BOARD MEMBER REPORT ON TRIP TO UGANDA
Board member Trix Vandervossen and I returned in early February from a two week trip to Uganda that was extremely productive and we have much good news to report. Here is a daily record of our sojourn, which hopefully conveys the achievements and progress of the loan program, as well as the quirky side of doing business in Uganda.

Friday, January 23 - Arrival in Kampala around midnight.

Saturday, January 24
Morning - Breakfast with Alene McMahon (Board Member Deb Smith's cousin) and her husband. She just arrived in Kampala 3 weeks ago and will be there for a 2 year AIDS project. She is interested in helping with WMI's project while she is in Uganda.
We then met up with Dominic Kizito, our driver and invaluable guide from last year. He was very happy to have a WMI contingent back in Uganda. We visited Board Member June Kyakobye's brother, Allan Baaya, who lives in Kampala, and has been very helpful coordinating WMI logistics.

Afternoon - Headed out to Mbale: the road had improved since last year and the drive took only 4 hours. About 5 km from Mbale we saw the FDNC band, marching down the street, in full regalia, heading to a graduation ceremony in a near-by village. We followed them and were greeted by Michael, the band leader, who was overjoyed to see us. He knew we were from WMI and had donated many of the instruments - we recognized some of the trumpets that we had cleaned before shipping them last year.

Evening - Dinner with Sam Watulatsu and his wife Irene. They filled us in on what's been happening in Mbale in the last year. Mbale town is bustling - there are a lot of new businesses and many buildings under construction. By a very fortunate coincidence we ran into Steven Mukweli, Managing Director of PostBank, at the restaurant. We had a meeting with him the following week - Sam recognized him and introduced us.

Sunday, February 25
Morning - Left for Bulambuli at 8AM; the road had not improved. The Sironko District is as densely populated as ever, the people are as friendly as ever, and children waved to us constantly, running along the roadside calling out hello to the muzungas.

Graduation ceremony - We arrived in Bulambuli to a joyous reception. All of the 8 borrowing groups were assembled, including the new Purple Group from Butandiga. They wore t-shirts in the color of their groups and a banner with all the group colors hung from the ceiling of the tent. The women danced, sang and ululated to celebrate our arrival. The dozen honored guests included representatives from all of the local government councils, members of the local community development organization and representatives from Butandiga. Speeches were given by the Local Council members; the BBCDA - thanking WMI for all of its efforts; Olive Wolimbwa; and, Robyn Nietert. Trix Vandervossen presented kerosene lamps to the 5 best savers in each graduating group.

Late afternoon meetings included Sam Wesamoyo, SAWE Contractors who interviewed for the building construction job and a budget meeting with BBCDA (Buyobo/Buteza Community Development Association), WMI's building construction partner.

Evening - Dinner at Sam Watulatsu's house with FDNC directors and their families. They made several speeches to thank WMI for its support of FDNC. We then had a delicious dinner, during which Trix and I basically fell asleep around 9:30 pm. Sam took pity on us and insisted we leave, but before departing we presented Sam with an Obama inaugural T-shirt. He could not have been happier if we had presented him with a lump of gold. He told us he would wear it the next day at the national celebration of Presdient Museveni's victory over the Obote II government 20 years ago. Arriving back at the Mbale Resort at 11 PM, we tried to figure out how to repair our defunct mosquito net and managed to turn off the hot water heater.

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