Finished with training

Training
So I have been here in Uganda for about 3 months and have decided it will be easier to update a blog then it will be to send individual email to everyone on exactly what is going on here.
Anyways I have just recently finished my training with the Peace Corps for 2 and 1/2 months we lived in a small Uganda town with a Ugandan family and learned everything from how to cook on a charcoal stove, bath using a bucket of water, wash clothes with hands and how to use a pit latrine. All skills we will need to use throughout the 2 years here. While the Ugandan families were teaching us these skills the Peace Corps was teaching us the Ugandan culture, a local language that would be used at our work site and technical skills that would better help us serve the people.

Training was great and I shared it with 49 other Americans who came over in my group but it is know time for to leave training and head off to our sites and begin the work we came here to do.

Dairy Farming
I guess growing up on a farm is going to pay-off at least a little bit. I was placed with an organization that is working to develop the dairy industry here in Uganda by organizing groups of farmers into cooperatives and creating income opportunities for rural populations. This allows the farmers to organize enter the market a bit easier. They can take advantage of the larger volumes of milk which help to lower the costs of transportation, marketing, management and equity investment.

The organization is working with one of these farmer group in a town in Eastern Uganda and that is where I will be working. The group has just purchased a cooler and placed it the middle of town. The way it will work is that the we will purchase the milk from the farmers who are part of the cooperative and then sell it at an increased price to the people of the town.

So for the past two weeks I have been working the organization in the capital city just learning about how hey operate and what they are trying to accomplish throughout the country. It has been a great experience and has given me some knowledge that will be helpful when I head for my site on Monday.

I will give an update once I get to site and settle in.