Friday, January 26, 2007

Adventures in micro-finance....




In January of 2004 James Walsh and I had the privilege of going to Uganda with Dr. George Hutchinson, the director of an organization called Church Planting International. During our time in Uganda we made a lot of friends with whom I stay in pretty regular contact via e-mail. Two of these friends are Paddy & Mark Mutumba, young men who lost their parents at an early age and have been forced to do their best in caring for each other and their younger siblings. Obviously, this is not an easy task as they have tried to balance raising funds for their education with the demands of putting food on the table and providing for accomodation. About a year ago Paddy proposed the idea of getting a "boda boda (a moped)," saying that he and Mark could lease it to a driver in Kampala as a source of steady income. I thought that this was a great idea, and after consulting with George we we're able to make arrangements for the necessary due diligence to be done by our friend Apollo Mugwera, who is the pastor of the church where Paddy & Mark attend. George and I agreed to split repsonsibility for raising the $1,100.00 needed to make this project possible. I'm happy to report that with the help of many folks within the Communality community I was able to mail a check to George yesterday, and he will be going to Uganda on February 1 and will oversee purchase of the boda boda at that time. So, thanks to everyone who helped out with this project, and please pray that things will go smoothly as Paddy & Mark move forward with this venture.

No comments: