High heels and Coffee

Deo was in town the last two days.  Maybe you remember him from previous posts… he’s the one I went on the adventure into the villages of Kabale with in April.  I know I never got the time to finish fully detailing that story, but it was epic to say the least.  (6 days of mountain climbing [not for pleasure, but to get from point a to point b] and talking to local people, basically)

Anyways, Deo was in Kampala yesterday and today.  We are working on a coffee project, which is why I went to Kabale with him in the first place.  We did research there.  So we needed to do some work on the project, I think he came as a motivating force.  I haven’t done much on the project in the last few months.

Yesterday I cooked some food and we worked some on the proposal, and also brain storming ideas of places we can submit the proposal to for funding.  And we also made a plan for today.

So, this morning, I put on “my muzungu face” as I call it.  Basically, I was white… and I mean really white in how I handled myself throughout the day.  I don’t mean pushy, I mean professional.  It was funny because this side of my very rarely comes out, and yet I am actually really good at being a professional type.  After all, I am an international development practitioner, right?

I put on a nice grey skirt, purple shirt, and black suit jacket with pink pin stripes.  It sounds ridiculous, but actually looked awesome.  And, heals.  That’s right.  I very very rarely wear heals, but I felt that it would complete the whole looks. (Note:  I carried flip flops with me, and took off the heals whenever we weren’t in an official type building.  That’s the only way I could actually get around without injuring myself.)

First we went to Uganda Coffee Development Authority.  We were hoping to be able to meet with someone to look over our various thoughts and needs for our project.  However, no one was available at the time.  So out came a business card, and a collection of pertinent phone numbers was obtained.  (Side note:  While I was at UCDA, waiting for Deo, the minister of Agriculture walked by me.  That’s like seeing a celebrity here.  Ministers are big deals, apparently) 

I thought we’d just stop there, but Deo had some other ideas.  So we hopped a boda to the East African Development Bank.  Now, let me qualify.  When I say “hopped a boda” I mean it was one of the most unpleasant experiences I’ve had in a long time.  The skirt I had chosen, while very nice, was very in conducive for 3 person boda riding.  I ended up sitting on the bar on the back of the bike.  Let’s just say that is the most uncomfortable place to be for any amount of time.   And our boda driver didn’t actually know where he was going.  Oh the joy.

We went into the East African Development Bank and I put on my “of course I know exactly what I am doing” face and high heels.  I got through to the regional director for Kabale District, and we had a nice chat on the phone from the lobby.  She said she was busy right then, but would be interested in meeting at a later time.  More contacts, another business card and away we go.

Deo has one more stop for us.  So for the 2^nd time, off come the high heals, and on go the flip flops.  We walked down Kampala road, back towards where we had come from.  We went to NEMA, I think it stands for National Environmental Management Authorities.  But whatever it stands for they have a super nice building and very comfy red couches.  Sadly, we just missed the executive director by minutes.  The woman at the front desk was accommodating enough, and once again gave us direct lines to people higher up.  

We headed back to my apartment.  Important phone numbers, and some hope later, we finished working on the proposal and I started to make a logo for a letter head.  It is something like this…

(note:  i am not a graphic designer.)

Deo had to leave for Mbarara in the mid afternoon.  After we finished the proposal and parted ways. 

It’s good to know that I am doing real, good, work.  Sometime, especially when I’ve been sick for a few days, I lose that perspective. 

But today, I worked to bring coffee as a cash crop to 46,000 households which will increase household income by 50,000 USh per months within 5 years of project implementation. And this is what I love.

I really hope we get a grant for this… from 12,500 USD, we can impact a huge number of families raise their standard of living.

What did you do today?

Oh, I also went swimming, finally.  With Susanna.  And it was glorious.