Zambia

1. David Speakman - August 2008 - Starting small enterprises

I have been asked to go back to Zambia next month. When I was there in June, I had made a promise to a young entrepreneur that if I had the opportunity to return to Zambia, I would show him how he could make the lamps for sale in his community.

From there I hope to be able to get people in a wider range of communities to get involved in manufacture and sales.

My In-laws who have the lamps are very impressed, but have so far not received any feedback from the American woman who bought the ones for the charity.

The job that I had been offered in Kampala has been put on hold for a while, as there has been a problem with people fraudulently applying for work permits. As a result, permits are taking longer to be processed, are harder to get and are more expensive. However, as soon as I can get back there, I can pick up again where I was forced to leave off, and get a couple of widow's groups up and running with income generating projects.

2. Colin Smith - Charging mobiles