maybe it will rain, maybe it will just thunder

some random updates.

- Afrigadget is freaking awesome. its all about ingenious africans making something out of nothing. inspiring stories about creativity, entrepreneurship, and general boot-strap lifting.

- we're voting for teachers this week. the suubi group is already divided into three ordering sub-groups (A, B, C) now we're subdividing again to make three sections in each group (A1, A2, A3, B1...etc) and assigning a teacher to each section of 10-ish women. this week, we're having group meetings for each woman to nominate three teachers for her group. here's my criteria:

How to select teachers:

Good Character: HONESTY AND RESPECT. Someone who is a role-model. Someone who can both talk and listen. Someone who can solve problems and reduce conflict.

Good Commitment: HAS ENOUGH TIME TO ATTEND MEETINGS. Someone who has the time to organize the members in their section. Someone who can move around to meet the members one-on-one if needed. Someone who can follow through and complete tasks and paperwork.

Good Necklaces: KNOWS THE DESIGN. Someone who makes necklaces correctly. Someone who understands how necklaces are made and can learn new designs easily. Someone who can teach others.

Each person will nominate three people who they believe will be good teachers. They will write three names on a piece of paper and turn them in.

Light Gives Heat staff will count the nominations and interview those people with the most votes.

two of the three groups have voted on monday and tuesday. the third will vote on thursday. we've identified 4-5 people from each group to interview. i'm working on a rubric that will take into account the number of votes, a rating from each staff member from the interview, and a review of their necklace balance over the past few months.

the next step is to find some interview questions. i think i'll just adjust the ones i've been using for tailor interviews.

- the tailor interviews are fascinating. first you have to determine which language the applicant feels most comfortable speaking in: english, luganda, lusoga, luo. the applicants are very nervous and tend to clam up when you get them at the table. there is a fine balance in creating a warm, conversational environment where they'll actually give you some information and spoon feeding them questions that don't really tell you anything.

- collecting 10 random necklaces from 93 women is hard. they piled up on my lap and i clasped them and put bundles on my knees and shoulders and the back of the chair. eventually, i couldn't keep up with closing them and paying the women and having them sign and give us their bank account information. we've made this process a lot more complex. they are getting paper, we are subtracting that cost from their payment. they are selling us black plastic bags for 100/= each. (the bags are for the next epoh design) we add that to their payment. they're bringing in the "balance" of necklaces that were rejected for the previous week. they're bringing in their random necklaces plus those of friends. i am very thankful some observant suubi women saw me drowning in necklaces and assisted us in closing them and wrapping them before the end of the meeting.

- went to the unfortunately named, fabio office here in jinja. they are working on a map and directory of bicycle tracks in the area. still looking for a bike. i'm still waffling between a single-speed giant, heavy african bicycle and a mzungu mountain bike.