A Hat Trick

When things work out, they really work out.  Today was a day when energy and enthusiasm aligned. Our first meeting of the day was at 11:00 with Victoria.  Victoria is an entrepreneur who runs a biomass briquette making business.  She is a former teacher with further education in project & business management.  Her business model is a great package of equipment, training, marketing, accounting with further options to enhance and expand your business down the road.  She ended up spending the day with us as the two other people we were meeting throughout the day fit so well into what she is doing.

David, Victoria & Aaron - meeting about biomass briquettes

Our second meeting was with Edie Mukiibi of Slow Food International.  He is the VP of the overall organization as well heading up the Ugandan chapter.  He is also leading the 10,000 Gardens in Africa project through his office in Uganda.  He will be visiting the school next week as we discuss sponsoring a school garden as well as a community garden.  The training and ongoing support this garden project provides will be beneficial to the students and members of the community.

Edie Mukiibi

We had a final meeting with Joint Energy & Environmental Projects (JEEP) about sustainable, institutional sized stoves.  The design of the stove uses wood (or briquettes) very efficiently.  With Victoria still being with us we were able to confirm that her briquettes would work with this stove. 

Frederick from JEEP meeting with James, David & Aaron

What was a common thread today was how each of these organizations provided not only the product or service they represented, but also provided training and a sense of community.  These three organizations were also pleased to be introduced to each other and were excited about what we are doing in Uganda.