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| Uganda, the three dots are where I will be posted. |
Well its official, I will be traveling to Uganda on January 20th to do my second assignment for the Canadian Cooperative Association. I am extremely pleased that once again the Board of Directors has allowed me the time to volunteer for this assignment. It is great to work for an organization that not only supports local social responsibility initiatives but global initiatives as well. I have attended several world credit union conferences and it is truly amazing to witness the scope of the credit union movement. The world credit union association is referenced as WOCCU (World Council of Credit Unions). Their website is http://www.woccu.org/ which displays amazing work being done by credit unions throughout the world. There are 188 Million members being served by 53000 credit unions in 100 countries. I have the rare and unique opportunity to visit 3 of those credit unions in the Central Region of Uganda. I have just received my postings and look forward to visiting my assigned credit unions. The three credit Unions I will be visiting are on the outskirts of Kampala, the capital city. There are 32 Million people in Uganda, in a 241,038 sq km area. The main exports are coffee, fish, tea, tobacco, cotton, corn, beans, and sesame. I am sure the fruits are amazing as they were in Ghana.
I will be updating my blog daily on my activities once I leave the airport on the 17th of January. I am hoping that I can ascertain internet while I am there to keep in touch with everyone. Personally I am excited about going and working with these credit unions despite the long travel commitment. I am sure my teammates in Canada and Ireland are equally looking forward to providing guidance and assistance to our friends in Africa.
Credit Unions are doing good work in this area of Africa. I have had the time to review one credit union in particular and in 2008 they had only 432 members and in 2010 they tripled to 1425. The startling statistic is that out of the 1425 members, 1257 hold active savings accounts. In a country that has seen such poverty, 88% of the membership attempts to save money. Surely a lesson for us Canadians!
Keep watching for updates!!
Cory
2 comments:
Good Luck Cory, I know you will find the Malawi people as freindly and amazing as I did
Brad Hopfauf
Hi Cory! Have a fantastic time in Uganda! You will absolutely love this country as much as Ghana. I didn't think that was possible after my assignment in Ghana in 2008 & 2009, but when I went to Uganda in 2011 I totally changed my mind. The countries are very different, but both are amazing and the people are even more amazing. Make sure you go to Jima and see the source of the Nile! Unbelieveable!! Enjoy your journey. Have a glass of wine at La Figa for me. :) Cheers.... Robin Goetz - Envision Financial Branch Manager and past coach for Ghana & Uganda.
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