In September, our MYDG had a lot of activities that we carried on. We handed over two completed tanks at Makuche Primary School—which MYDG members and the community, including church elders, helped preside over the ceremony.
At the event, our Assistant Programs Manager, Ezra Kigondu, took the opportunity to brief the attendees about the other Friendly Water for the World offers. Ezra emphasized the importance of teamwork to enhance the spirit of cooperation between the community and the partners of this project.
We are happy as MYDG members, and we really appreciate the work being done by Ezra Kigondu, Eric Lijodi, and Getry Agizah. They are exemplary examples of visionaries and leaders.
Children at Makuche Primary had one message to send to the donors of this project: they are happy and really appreciate the time they can now spend focusing on school. They can now sit in class without interruptions every morning to go and fetch water and use that time to improve their academic performance.
As MYDG members, we give special thanks to church members for showing support for our community projects, demonstrating that we are all truly working together as a team.
We are hoping to hand over two tanks to Timbito Primary School as soon as possible in October. The project was delayed due to the school’s external government funding, leading to the inability to purchase necessary materials such as gutters. The headmistress organized with parents and the community to gather additional funds, and we’re hopeful that we can hand over the two tanks in October.
REPORT ON CONSTRUCTION OF TANKS
In September, we constructed four water tanks. We had two water tanks constructed for Chegulo Primary School and two for Namshya Secondary School. We appreciate our Masons’ effort, both from the Kambiri and Matsakha communities.
Thanks to excellent leadership, it has been effective for the two teams to work together. The local communities have embraced us greatly due to the hard work we put into the tanks at both schools.
At Chegulo, we are happy to share that the Headteacher updated us that they have already installed the gutters needed to move forward. We are grateful for the school’s cooperation in helping us complete the project! We’re hopeful that Namshya Secondary will also be able to install gutters soon so we can hand over both tanks in October.
Once we complete these projects, we will start focusing on making more bricks for future tanks. Our masons at MYDG have demonstrated their incredible capabilities, teamwork, and knowledge through their work, and we’re very grateful for them! Their talents are invaluable, and we’re happy they have learned new skills and technologies working with us as they continue to master their craft, especially when it comes to water tank construction using Interlocking Soil Stabilized Bricks (ISSB).
REPORT ON SOAP SALES FOR SEPTEMBER 2022
September’s soap sales were a slight improvement compared to August. We appreciate MYDG’s marketing team, who worked tirelessly to market our soap.
In September, we did not produce soap because we wanted to prioritize selling what we already had in stock. We hope to clear our inventory soon, and make new, fresh products.
Our chairman Alfred Muyumba did a tremendous job in September leading our marketing team, ensuring our communities knew about our available soap products. As MYDG, we are working hard to ensure that viable strategies are in place so that our meta-liquid detergent remains in market demand, despite the economic crisis our country is experiencing. One of these strategies is to utilize the conferences held in different churches as an opportunity to expand our marketing efforts.
Our marketing team did a good job and maximized opportunities to market our product. We hope that we will record higher sales as the country approaches economic stability. The demand for our liquid soap is still there, but due to the financial crisis, we offer the option to pay installments so that customers can continue purchasing and enjoying the product—which customers have really appreciated. We thank Getry, Ezra, and Eric for their continued support.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- We still recommend giving our customers meta-liquid soap and continue paying in installments.
- We are still struggling with the ownership of the soap by the community members. Most buyers buy as friendly basis. We would look at the need of launching our Meta soap to enhance publicity and ownership by the entire community. This will equally open the market and improve sales.
CHALLENGES
Most schools are looking at soap production as a way for students to learn livelihood skills. Some teachers might teach basic soap-making skills, and although it might not be standard, it is equally compromising our market. We have seen a couple of people coming to the office to ask if we can sell them raw materials, which, unfortunately, we don’t sell. This is common because teachers will send their relatives to Nairobi to buy the materials so they can bring them back, and students can make soap at the school.
Also, some women make soap locally and supply it to their children’s schools for a fee.
