Trip to Uganda

I'll be traveling to Kampala, Uganda at 6:00am this Sunday, April 20, and I'll be there for a week working to pull together some opportunities for economic development up there. I'm going with Rich Smyth, Managing Director of Rwanda Meat Suppliers, the pork slaughterhouse we started. We'll be exploring the possibility of sending a truckload of pork to Kampala once a month or so, as well as finding out what FH beneficiary communities may be producing that has a market in Rwanda for the monthly trip back. We'll also be investigating the feasibility of setting up chicken egg incubation systems and honey production. Its all fascinating stuff that I never imagined I'd be legitimately investigating. But "whether you eat or drink [or analyze the central sub-Saharan Africa pork industry] or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God."

Kampala is about an eight hour drive from Kigali, and as soon as we cross the border into Uganda, we switch sides of the road. Rwanda drives on the right side and Uganda drives on the wrong [left] side. I'm glad I'm not driving.

Work
My job is getting increasingly busy and awesome. Rwanda Meat Suppliers (RMS) is scheduled to slaughter its first pig this coming Monday, the first of hopefully over 6,000 hogs in the first year of operations. This will equate to almost $400,000 going into the hands of rural pig farmers, creating an average income increase of about $400 per farming family in the first year, which would probably double or triple many of their current annual wages.

And we've recently won a government contract to manage a water treatment and distribution system that will provide clean water to 120,000 households in the Southern Province. This is a 15-year contract that will produce over $1 million a year for FH/ProCom, while providing quality, clean water to the public for 3 cents/jerry can (20 liters).

We're making plans to expand RMS to two slaughterhouses and a much more formal distribution channel by the end of the year. We're also looking into honey and chicken production, importing flash drives and other technology equipment and exporting handicrafts, among other things. Things are moving forward, sometimes too quickly to stay up with, but its really exciting and encouraging to see the possibilities that await us and the communities we are working with.