{ed. note: it’s that time of year again, and so all 2022 tax receipts have been sent out via Canada Post. If for some reason you have not received your envelope from us by the end of the month, please email us [erika (at) iseesolutions.org] and we’ll get it to you quickly. If you prefer a digital version please let us know and we’ll send you one that way. Now, on with the show…}

Greetings to you all,

Happy New Month as we like to say here. I hope everything went according to plan for you last month. This year is rushing too fast because we just started the year yesterday and here we are on month two. Where is the time flying to?

Here, we are doing well. January was extremely hot for most of the time but we survived. I am happy to continue this month with the good work we are doing down here and I have managed to accomplish a few tasks already. 

This week I received a call from Lorna K informing me that her stall almost caught fire when one of the stalls on her block caught fire. This fire started when the lady deep frying pork threw the pork in the hot oil and it started a flame. It quickly jumped to the wood as the oil atomized and in no time the fire was all over the place. In the attempt to save her shop, they had to quickly break her door pole to put out everything. Now as this happened, some thieves started picking up whatever was being taken out. She lost a couple of big pans and flasks. They managed to save most of the things and she is back to business as usual. The fire was eventually put out by the firefighters who (amazingly) showed up in time before more property was lost. Otherwise she is well but one of the boys who work for her was so traumatized that he fell sick and has not returned to work since.

I also visited Betty N, and she is doing incredibly well. The shop has been having a lot of business ranging from school uniforms to ordinary clothes. She is happy and her kids are starting school again this week. She has decided to invest in homeschooling as a way of helping her kids learn more effectively and also at a cheaper price.

Florence A is doing well. She has been working on clearing her salon space to create more working space for her. The business is doing okay and she is expanding it to create more working space for her. She had earlier split the room into two spaces, the salon and the sleeping space as this also served as her home. She is due in February so she is trying to quickly use this time to upgrade the space before giving birth. Otherwise, she looked happy but tired and lucky enough her son who was becoming a problem was moved to her sister’s place which they deemed safe for him and he will join boarding school too. Kisugu area is not the best of places to raise boys that age as they need close monitoring and constant supervision. Many youth here end up using drugs and other criminal activities.

I also went down to Namuwongo to shop for some scholastic items for Jordan as he prepared to start school the next week. Sadly Jordan lost his mother in December 2022 and will now live with his grandmother Francoise who has been taking of him for about two years or more now. He has been moved to a closer school so he can go by himself as the last school was a bit far from home and it was dangerous for him to go alone so Francoise had to walk him every morning sometimes presenting a challenge since she also has to work during the same time. He got all the books, pencils, and crayons plus a few items the school requires for him to start. His school fees were also taken care of so he will attend school smoothly.

I also went to Mityana to visit Prossy’s farm and she had sold the old pigs already, which was a good thing. The problem is that she has bought almost the same breed of pigs which will almost result in the same problem as the last ones. I was advised that she needs to take this farm more seriously as a business rather than a hobby. Pigs are bought by size and kilograms and the fatter the more it is priced. The solution to Prossy’s situation is to help her acquire a bigger pig almost ready to start producing as this will help deal with the feeding problem. This will also help her multiply her pigs much faster as she already has space to accommodate a bigger number. Otherwise, we will look at this problem longer than we want to. She needs to succeed in this venture to ease her life and work with these animals.

Margaret was scheduled to have cataract surgery this coming week. I visited her and she has been doing her tailoring business as usual. She has been working hard and I like to see her back at it again. I hope she will be able to continue with her tailoring after the surgery. She has come a long way with that hurting nerve in her foot but that did not stop her and now this cataract thing. I hope she can continue.

Pulakiseda is doing well with her stall. I stopped by to see her and also picked up my groceries for the month. I got my usual rice, sugar and posho supply. The fridge has done well this month because it was incredibly hot so there were a lot of sales in that department. She says she has saved enough money to send her last two kids to school already.

Amina is happy and has been making more chapati. She is still struggling to get other shops to supply chapati but has not given up. She keeps trying. Amar will be able to start school next week when school reopens for the term. She has been reading hard lately as Amina told me and this is good because it has kept her home and away from some bad company that Amina has wanted her to stay away from. 

It was a good week for me yet again as we were able to provide Rovence with some assistance for her dry foods to be able to manage her new market on the weekend. I also spoke to Hadija and she is doing well. She has not returned to her chips stall yet but says she will return soon. The chips stall is being run by her girls and it is doing okay so far. She has also been trying to look for a school to take her daughter to. 

Thank you for all your support yet again this time around with Rovence,  Amar and Jordan who will be able to return to school successfully. We appreciate you and your support. Nothing has been done yet with Jane and her water tank as she is dealing with some things to close the property deal. She has been struggling to ensure that the kids go back to school so we can continue with the tank.

Report by 

Andrew Echel

Director of Programs, Uganda

ISEE Solutions Society