As always, Angola is an adventure!

September 1st

I am at the same hotel in Huambo but a different room. Spent the first afternoon with the staff correcting some of the challenges: non flushing toilet,broken bedside lamp, no electrical outlet adaptor, air conditioner did not work, one TV channel set to English! They also brought back to me the hot water kettle I had during my last trip. So I have now “feathered” my nest as Mother would say! I will be in this room for 8 nights – then off to the bush!

Dinner last night was next door – a very local grilled chicken joint. As before, the chicken was excellent and the local beer tasted wonderful. Breakfast is in the hotel is good coffee with cooked eggs. There is also cereal (like Cocoa Puffs), bread (fresh with a crisp crust but not sourdough), juice, some mystery bologna (not for me), and cheese. Lunch is an energy bar and apple. I am currently sipping some Scotch (in a water bottle from home), watching CSI with Portuguese subtitles and getting ready for Cup of Soup. Can life be any better?

The Chipipa Cooperative has 39 Associations with >1,200 farmers. In the 6 months since I was here, the Cooperative building has been completed, the shed where I taught is now storage, the yard is cleaned up, and operations are in full swing. Crops are harvested and I saw: maize, cassava (a root crop that I first saw in Mozambique which is ground for flour), and “Irish” potatoes (neither our Russet nor red – in between). There is lumber from the Coop’s mill stored in another area, and several piece of rolling stock (tractors and trucks) were utilized. The building has several offices- along with some storage. An issue is no lighting but there are outlets in the room that I am using.

Today there were almost 20 people in the session – many more than we expected! Only 4 had been in the February training, so the President asked me to conduct the Financial Management training for the new association members. I will start tomorrow and for the next 3 mornings will talk about Business Plans, Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and talking with a Banker. In the past, the government provided fertilizer and seeds to farmers but that is not the case now. It is my understanding that the farmers are purchasing individually but will verify. I have asked all of the new Association Presidents to bring statistics with them tomorrow as we will create Business Plans. Other than Chipipa, none of the Associations have any computers. Chipipa has kept its records in Word format; so I will explore the conversion of that information to Excel which gives them significantly more functionality. Tomorrow we will meet the young man who is to be the accountant/bookkeeper. We will work with him individually each afternoon.

Well, the power strip has just frizzed so off to get a new one! Power like clean water can be a scarce commodity.