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November 2010 Trip Update 1
After a short 26 hour trip, The Work for Life team arrived in Uganda late on Saturday. There was no rest for the weary. Sunday morning, we were up at 7am to quickly throw down some breakfast and rush off to a children’s church located in a slum in Kampala. The team participated in dancing, singing and teaching with over 200 bright-eyed kids who were hungry for fun and affection. After a couple of hours in the slum, the team was off on a 1 ½ hour drive to the equator. It was quite fascinating to see a demonstration of the water on one side of the equator going down the drain clockwise and the water on the other side of the equator going down counter-clockwise. The skeptics in the group had the guy repeat the demonstration several times to become fully convinced. Then we made our way to a remote village located in the bushes of Uganda. We ate a traditional African meal cooked outside by the locals. It was quite an experience. The team spent the next hour or two walking around the lush vegetation in the village. Every type of fruit and vegetable grows abundantly in this particular village that usually has good weather. It was great to experience the National Geographic version of Africa.
Monday was packed full with one-on-one meetings with Work for Life applicants and a business training session. The 6 man Work for Life team divided into 3 two man teams and spent the day interviewing 20 applicants. Each applicant was given the opportunity to share the details of their business plan to help Work for Life determine which plans will be selected for loans on this trip. In addition, the two man teams provided instruction, guidance and recommendations to the applicants to help them strengthen their business plans. After a long day of interviews, the team delivered a training session from 6pm to 9pm on business basics. Each person on the team taught one core subject and shared some of their personal experiences in starting and running businesses. Core topics included strategy development, sales, marketing, operations, finance and HR. The audience was very attentive and engaged especially given the time of day. Following the training session, the Work for Life team met from 10pm to 1am to deliberate over the 20 applicants who had been interviewed that day to decide which of the applicants would make the short list to be invited back to spend time with all 6 members of the Work for Life team on Thursday. This process was very difficult since there were many great candidates and each of the Work for Life team members were passionate about championing the applicants they had the opportunity to meet. By the end of the (long) night and several timeouts for prayer, the team was able to arrive at a consensus. The 6 applicants that made the short list will have Tuesday and Wednesday to revise/improve their business plans based on Monday’s training session and one-on-one meetings so they can come back on Thursday to meet with the rest of the team and provide additional details on their revised plan. Meanwhile, the team is off on safari for 2 days to give them a chance to learn more about the country, culture and wildlife in Uganda. It’ll be a great break after 3 long days!
After a short 26 hour trip, The Work for Life team arrived in Uganda late on Saturday. There was no rest for the weary. Sunday morning, we were up at 7am to quickly throw down some breakfast and rush off to a children’s church located in a slum in Kampala. The team participated in dancing, singing and teaching with over 200 bright-eyed kids who were hungry for fun and affection. After a couple of hours in the slum, the team was off on a 1 ½ hour drive to the equator. It was quite fascinating to see a demonstration of the water on one side of the equator going down the drain clockwise and the water on the other side of the equator going down counter-clockwise. The skeptics in the group had the guy repeat the demonstration several times to become fully convinced. Then we made our way to a remote village located in the bushes of Uganda. We ate a traditional African meal cooked outside by the locals. It was quite an experience. The team spent the next hour or two walking around the lush vegetation in the village. Every type of fruit and vegetable grows abundantly in this particular village that usually has good weather. It was great to experience the National Geographic version of Africa.
Monday was packed full with one-on-one meetings with Work for Life applicants and a business training session. The 6 man Work for Life team divided into 3 two man teams and spent the day interviewing 20 applicants. Each applicant was given the opportunity to share the details of their business plan to help Work for Life determine which plans will be selected for loans on this trip. In addition, the two man teams provided instruction, guidance and recommendations to the applicants to help them strengthen their business plans. After a long day of interviews, the team delivered a training session from 6pm to 9pm on business basics. Each person on the team taught one core subject and shared some of their personal experiences in starting and running businesses. Core topics included strategy development, sales, marketing, operations, finance and HR. The audience was very attentive and engaged especially given the time of day. Following the training session, the Work for Life team met from 10pm to 1am to deliberate over the 20 applicants who had been interviewed that day to decide which of the applicants would make the short list to be invited back to spend time with all 6 members of the Work for Life team on Thursday. This process was very difficult since there were many great candidates and each of the Work for Life team members were passionate about championing the applicants they had the opportunity to meet. By the end of the (long) night and several timeouts for prayer, the team was able to arrive at a consensus. The 6 applicants that made the short list will have Tuesday and Wednesday to revise/improve their business plans based on Monday’s training session and one-on-one meetings so they can come back on Thursday to meet with the rest of the team and provide additional details on their revised plan. Meanwhile, the team is off on safari for 2 days to give them a chance to learn more about the country, culture and wildlife in Uganda. It’ll be a great break after 3 long days!
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