WCFJC News

October, 2009

WCFJC Founder Visits George Mason University: At the invitation of the Department of Women Gender Studies in Fairfax, Virginia, on October 20th WCFJC Founder Dorothy M. Tuma spoke at a student brown bag and participated in a roundtable discussion on Women Entrepreneurs as Peacemakers. The events were an excellent way of delivering firsthand information on development work to the university students and faculty. The events also provided excellent networking opportunities resulting in discussions on possible partnerships between WCFJC and the university as well as WCFJC and Paper to Pearls, an organization based in Northern Uganda. Recently, the Department of Gender and Women Studies raised funds to purchase 38 she-goats for WCFJC beneficiaries.

Goat Program:
In September we were pleased to launch the WCFJC Dairy Goat Breeding Center. During the month of October however, the repeated incidences of disease among the animals we purchased caused us to question their quality. We finally decided to return the animals to the farmers’ association we purchased them from. With the refund, we will purchase new animals from a different highly recommended source.

On a happy note, the existing WCFJC herd of goats grew by seven (4 bucks and 3 does) during the month of October. To date, 12 of our initial 13 beneficiaries have passed on a goat to another WCFJC beneficiary.

Poultry Program:
The performance of participants in the Poultry Program Phase II is considerably stronger than participants in Phase I. With the exception of 1 beneficiary who almost lost her entire flock to a disease break-out which she did not report to our local field staff until it was too late, every other beneficiary is doing well. Bird losses among the other beneficiaries amount to one or two per chicken coop.

Hair Salon Program:
Earnings were down in October versus previous months because most of the would-be customers are busy tending to their gardens with the onset of the rainy season. Year to date earnings: US$ 1,627.

School Program:
Each month, the WCFJC beneficiaries running a school ask for the same thing – financial support for the purchase of land on which permanent school buildings may be constructed. WCFJC will continue looking for sources of funds for this initiative