Third day in Uganda

SixSeeds friend Andy Mills has created "The 5810 Project," predicated on the belief that while “teaching a man to fish” will provide him with a fish diet for a lifetime, it will not lead him out of poverty. To escape poverty people need to develop sustainable business activities. The 5810 Project’s vision is to help people build businesses and break the poverty cycle in Uganda. SixSeeds will be posting blogs from our friends as they go through this journey.

Last night, we had dinner at the Coppedges, and another missionary family who was visiting from Khartoum, Sudan. We learned that because meat is so expensive in Arua, most Aruans only eat meat on Christmas and Easter. Therefore, since Billy and Joanna want to be like the people, they hardly ever eat meat. The Coppedges also told us that the Aruan people are hungry. In Arua, they have two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season, which each happen two seasons per year. The rainy season just officially ended, however, there wasn’t really any rain during the rainy season. Therefore, even though the crops look tall, they were not fruitful. The Coppedges have a real heart for the Aruan people, and we could feel their broken hearts when they told us, “The people are hungry.” They said that most families are down to one meal per day, which they eat at night so that they can sleep.

Today, we had the first day of the Business Vision Arua 2009. We had 61 business people there throughout the day! In between fun activities such as lunch, jokes, and writing our names with our waist, Andy and Ted gave talks on business opportunities in Arua while DJ took down notes on his computer to hand out to the business people tomorrow. Also, the Ugnadan Minister of Transport was there (only an hour late) to give the opening remarks after the first hour of Andy’s talk. The business people were very enthusiastic during the sessions, intent to give their input and state their mind. They all seemed to be very driven entrepreneurs who want to succeed in the business world which was very encouraging.

Andy and Ted talked about identifying needs, cost structures, the value chain, competitive advantage and available assets, especially geared toward Ugandan businesses. (DJ, on the other hand, got an orientation into what he will study next year in college.) Andy and Ted are trying to help train these Aruan business people on how to crate sustainable businesses. They are also trying to change the habit of just giving money, but instead investing the money in potentially successful businesses.

After the seminar was over, Ted and DJ were able to make a visit to the middle of town, to the marketplace. On the way there, we rode on a boda-boda, a motorcycle taxi-service, where they rode on the back of a motorcycle into town. Then, on the way back, we rode on a bicycle boda-boda.

After eating a 6,000 schilling buffet of Ugandan food (less than $3), we went to bed after a long day, preparing for the second day of Business Vision Arua 2009.