Lots of stuff happening at work the last weeks. There are good and bad days, but recently it has been very exciting. I have now found the first two employees for Kumudzi Kuwale, so I will soon have some company. There is a technical manager and an accounting assistant. I think it`s going to be fine, although I am a bit concerned that during the interviews, none of the five accountant interviewees managed to calculate what 30% of 500 is, at least not without aid of paper, pen or calculator. Also, none of them mentioned corruption as a typical serious misconduct at work. Maybe I should take that as a good sign.
Apart from that, I am spending time preparing for the solar battery charging stations we are to put up, and looking at products for the shop that we are due to open soon.
My FK colleague Sille is also busy at work, here having her first class in entrepeneurship for the students at the vocational skills training centre.
In a nearby village, Mbewa, they are now collecting materials for training in how to make efficient cookstoves to reduce the use of wood and indoor pollution due to cooking with firewood. The training will take place as a collaboration beeween the villagers, the Ministry of Energy and the Environment and Nkhotakota Youth Organization. The plan is to in the future use Kumudzi Kuwales distribution network to get the stoves out to people in the region.
Meetings with NYO at the cultural centre also takes up a substantial part of the working hours. The meetings are longer than I am used to, but it is interesting to get involved with the organization and I get a lot of help from the staff there.
At home in my own kitchen, testing one of the Solar Home Systems (SHS) that we are planning to use and sell in Kumudzi Kuwale. This one is a medium sized unit, that with a 5W panel and a battery can power 4 lamps and charge cellphones. That can make a big difference for many families herebut the price of a bit more than 100 USD might be a bit stiff. So we will also have smaller units, and I am looking on how we can make it more available for the villagers by getting lower prices or changing the payment structure.
Geoffrey, my colleague in Kumudzi Kuwale, looking at the place we are planning to rent for the shop and office of Kumudzi Kuwale in Nkhotakota.
2 comments:
Wow, det skjer masse jo! Kult å se at det skjer masse og moro å se hvor dere tenker å dra i gang butikken. Kjempebra at det ser ut til å se ting med clean cookstoves også. Si hei til Geoffrey og de andre fra oss :)
Ja, jeg skal hilse! Takk for god oppfølging fra deg der hjemme! I dag har vi signert leiekontrakte, etter en god del om og men. Jeg tror vi ble enige til slutt, men det er jammen ikke enkelt å drive butikk i en så forskjellig kultur. Uten Geoff hadde jeg vært ganske hjelpeløs :-)
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