Hello to you all,
Last month we heard from Alex about a new group of women who had been trained in the making of briquettes. Here is his report about the training of the new group.
Maendeleo Womens Group is a group of 36 women in Bulamba village, about two miles from Nansio town. They have been together for about seven years and are women from poor families. Some of them are widows and they all struggle to feed their children. They are exactly the kind of families LVC supports through outreach programmes. They work together in farms, comfort and help each other during funerals etc. What is interesting with these ladies is that they are women of the same character. They work together in strong numbers.
When introduced to the Briquette project, they were really excited and the first training course went very well at Lake Victoria Childrens Society premises. Further training was held in their village where I, and one of the ladies from LVC who is still working on the project there, reinforced the initial training that had taken place at LVC. The women are now qualified in all stages of their training and are looking forward to carrying on themselves, producing briquettes.
We provided this group with one machine, as you can see in the photos below, 5 large buckets (blue), 4 small buckets (white), one plastic sheet and one basket for storage. I strongly urged them to keep all the things safe and will be visiting to check on them. I want the ladies to produce enough briquettes first and use among themselves and then try to share with the rest of the community through selling them. What matters most at this stage is for the ladies to enjoy making the briquettes. Marketing will naturally follow and we will see how they get on. If what I have seen is anything to go by, I feel that they will do very well.
Although firewood is not a problem in the villages, my hope is that they will produce enough briquettes to try and sell them in Nansio. It will take time, but these women seem very determined and have the potential to make this project a success.
Alex Magaga.
Chabona, the Trainer from Lake Victoria Childrens Society, instructing the group in the village.
Women of the Maendeleo Group.
At this stage the women are now competent enough to produce briquettes themselves.
Briquettes which have been made by the group.
Alex with the women of Maendeleo group.
The women are enjoying themselves after successfully completing their training.
Thank you Alex for your report. We wish the ladies every success with their briquette making.
Until the next time.
Best Wishes,
Diane and Derek
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