Nourish in Uganda

The second batch of students arrived in Iganga today. The facility is going well, but we have a few obstacles at the moment. The first one is a good one to have I suppose: demand far exceeds our current ability to supply. The second is that everyone wants to purchase the machine and make committments, but comittments are not the same as transactions. We need to figure out a way to close the deal better. I will advocate recording committments and making direct calls as salesmen....or perhaps we can hire local salesmen who will do a better job than us. But that's sales 101, we need to SELL the machine on top of marketing it. So far it appears as though everyone loves the machine, so selling it should theoretically not be too tall an order. Of course, I have been in Uganda for 2.5 days, so what do I know? Not much. Hopefully I won't stick my foot too far in my mouth during the trip.

Jock will be making a trip to Sudan soon and I am waiting to hear more details about that. Perhaps our biggest challenge will be finding useful activities for every volunteer as our group size will have doubled by the time Chaz, Ashley and Alex arrive.

Greetings from Kampala,

Written by Joel Thomas

Before I dive in, here are quick introductions for our team:

Jeff Rose -- Executive Director of the Full Belly Project
Roey Rosenblith -- Director of Outreach for the Full Belly Project
Jock Brandis -- inventor of the Universal Nut Sheller and chief engineer for FBP
Josephine Karianjahi -- Starting Bloc fellow and native Kenyan who made the trek to Iganga to see the facility Keep reading...

Greetings from Dubai,

written by Joel Thomas

Roey and I are staying in what is perhaps the plushest airport on the planet. We have an 8 hour layover, so we took a taxi ride through Dubai's financial district and saw the construction for what will one day be the world's tallest building.

On a project related note, we are going to meet Tom Nottebomme (spelling Roey?) in the airport this morning before we depart. Tom is responsible for 80% of Guatemala's macademia exports, and perhaps FBP's macademia sheller will be of value for him.

On May 25th we are meeting with Dr. Aliker, who we hope to recruit for further expansion of the nut sheller in Uganda. Dr. Aliker sits on multiple boards in Uganda, including Lafarge's. He is Acholi and has a deep interest in developing the north, so perhaps he can help with a location for another facility. But before I get too far ahead of myself.... Keep reading...

Hello from Uganda,

So it is day 5 on the ground here in Iganga. Fletcher, Maggie, and myself went out today to give two demonstrations of the nut sheller. Our first was with the Iganga District Farmer's Association. Upon first seeing the machine they were all very skeptic but when we told them it could shell 50kg./hour all of their jaws dropped to the floor. Unfortunately I thought I had video of this but being the bonehead I usually am, I forgot to hit record so I missed the first 15 minutes of the demonstration. Oh well. It was still a very good demonstration and one gentlemen asked if we could handle producing 200 machines! We were then postponed on our next demonstration with the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) but after waiting 3 hours left for the subcounty of Nawandala. Keep reading...

hey folks,

this is my third try today, i keep getting to the end of a long paragraph and the power/internet dies. so third time is a charm, which really just means this is going to be a cut and paste email from fletcher to parents that describes the first couple of days. I have not read this I will write more later when this is more reliable. cheers Jon

Hey dad & Lutrelle! I finally got to an internet cafe that works! There was a storm here last night and the power went out all throughout Iganga which kept us from accessing the internet or ATMs or anything. Its a fairly usual occurance around here so it doesnt interrupt day to day business, just outside connections. This is so much fun so far. Africa is a different world. Keep reading...

Hi Everyone,

The students have all arrived safe and sound.

We made a mistake in Maggie's number before. Here is all of the updated contact information we have:

Maggie: 256-752-429170
Jock: 256- 0773-14-2669

Cheers,
Joel

Hi Everyone,

If you absolutely need to get in touch with your friend/relative in Uganda, please use the following information. As we get more cell phones and contact information for where we are staying, we will update the blog. Please do not hesitate to post questions via 'comments'

o Maggie Salinger's Travel Cell Phone: 256-754-29170

o FBP Travel Phones: # TBA (Will be purchased in Uganda)

o Hotel Addresses:

§ Red Chili Inn

Come one, come all, to the greatest trip in the world. In an effort keep the rest of the world (friends/family/supporters) updated on our travels, we thought it would be a good idea to have a common blog for the team. This way, our parents and friends can have a way to read about our travels and progress in one, central location. Also, the Uganda blog is linked to blogs for the other trips Nourish students are taking this year, so this is a great opportunity to let them know what we're up to and vice versa.

The goal is to create a dialog between ourselves and the rest of the world about our work in Uganda. We have some powerful experiences on the road before us, and hopefully we can share some of them with others back home.