Five...four...three...two...

The day draws near and I can hardly contain my excitement!

Mike and I have had a full week of pre-departure training and exams. Thankfully, today we both finished our last exam - Economic Development, how fitting :) Last Monday and Tuesday we had our CIDA funded training, which turned out to be a little more general than we may have liked.

(In case you haven't heard, Mike and I (as well as Sarah) have been awarded grants from CIDA - the Canadian International Development Agency - to cover the expenses of our trip. We were each awarded $10 000! It has lifted the financial strain of trying to work and fundraise as much as possible, that has been such a relief! As much as the trip is so worth it, its nice not to be in debt at the end of it all.

As well, a huge thanks to the Rotary Club of Lantzville who donated $1000 and the Canadian Federation of University Women - Parksville/QB who donated $650 to my trip - both those amounts go to cover the expenses that CIDA wont let me charge (like tuition and pre-departure supplies). Your help is so greatly appreciated!!)

On top of the CIDA training, we also sat down with the manager of International Education at VIU, to do some of the "scary stuff". Mike says I walked out of that meeting looking a little stressed - a list of every possible disease and parasite I could catch, and a foreboding warning about every danger zone and potential mugging tends to have the effect on people. I got over it pretty quick though - we started talking about Mike's wife who had been treating some Norwalk patients at the hospital where she works and we realised there are potential risks and deadly viruses no matter where you may be.

We had the pleasure of meeting our 'boss' over the weekend - the president of Ainembabazi Children's Project (ACP), the organization we will be working for (see link below).We had the chance to get to know her, the history of ACP, and what to expect in Uganda. It was so great to have a first hand account of a Muzungu's (white person) experience in Mbarara (the city we will be living in) and what we can expect while we are there. We also had the chance to go over our work plans for the project - she has broken our assignment into three parts for us each to feel as though we have a focus of our own. I must say, Mike and I walked out of that meeting absolutely beaming! Hearing what she expects from us, and what we will be working on for the project was so exciting - the project is exactly what we had been hoping for! From what our boss told us, we are working on the very foundations of the ACP microfinance project - making the people connections, laying the lending framework, and setting up the support systems for after loans are made.

For anyone who is unsure of what we mean by microfinance, I encourage you to read this short article:

http://www.grameen-info.org/bank/index.html

If you want to learn more about it, a must read is "Banker to the Poor" by Muhammad Yunus - Founder of the Grameen Bank, Microfinance, and winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize!

I could go on and on, but Ill let you go about your ways for now. Hopefully I will have the chance to write one more update before we go - only 5 more days left! Thanks for everyone who commented on the blog, its nice to know you're interested in what we're doing.

All the best,

Linds