Week Four

We survived our first month in Ghana! This week has been kind of a
lull week due to the fact that we’re finishing up the last phase 3
class in Senkubenase and we’re still waiting to start teaching phase 1
and phase 2 in the other villages. Because it’s been a bit slow, we’ve
had lots of time to refigure the databases we use and to figure out
more effective ways to work with our loan collectors and pod leaders.
There have been a couple times that there was a discrepancy as to
whether the pod leader was withholding some of the money he collects
or whether it was the loan collector. So, we’ve created a new system
where the pod leader has to give the loan recipient a receipt when
they collect their monthly payment. The pod leader takes the
signatures and the money to the loan collector. The loan collector
counts the money and then signs on the pod leader’s sheet. If there is
any sort of discrepancy between any of the parties, we’ll now be able
to track it to its source. The power has been out for several days,
but we hope to have those printed and out for distribution by Monday
for June collections.

Another momentous feat we’ve been working on is the database. Douglas,
the head collector, is fairly new to Excel and thought he should use
“save as” every time he put new information into the database. As you
can imagine, there would be 5 or 6 documents that all were “the
database” but no one knew which one was the most up-to-date. We taught
him how to “save” his changes in the same document and things have
been working out great. We’re trying to create an Excel program that
would allow us to run statistical analyses to figure out which
villages do the best, if there is an ideal age for students, what
businesses are most likely to be able to pay back on time, etc. Each
of us here has an area of expertise and so it has been fun to see how
individually we can create value for the larger scope.

On a non-SEED related topic, Stephen Sr. bought us puppies!!! We have
two little puppies that we’ve named Old Dan and Little Ann. When we
found out they were brother and sister, we couldn't resist naming them
after the dogs in Where The Red Fern Grows. We’ll upload pictures when
we get to Accra next.

Till next week,
W.W.A.C.
(Wayne, Wendy, Andi, and Carter)