Friday, May 23, 2008

Musasa Bike Shop Update

Not knowing what I would find when I arrived, I am pleased to say that the Musasa shop is well on its way to completion. We ran into some accountability issues with the budget, but after some stern negotiating, the cooperative and BTR came to an agreement about how to finish the shop and get it up and running, stocked with tools and parts.
You may notice the shop is quite a bit larger than the one at Karaba (our first shop)...
this was part of the issue. We will be helping out a bit more financially, but the coop will take most of the responsibility to complete the structure.

By explaining that this model will be used at cooperatives all over Rwanda - we
were able to have these farmers show some pride in getting the thing open. We left tools tools of the most necessity. Rich Whitekettle from Chris King made this visit with me, helped out a ton. Thanks Rich!

After this meeting, SPREAD contact, Simeon and I have decided that there should be two sizes of shops (one to handle larger coops with more bikes and the Karaba model). By having this standard, with budgets, hopefully we won't have as many surprises.

Pictures to come, connection is scarce and a bit weak.
Best to all!

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