Four Days To Go!

Between getting all the papers I need, stockpiling the necessities such as medicine, and buying appropriate clothes, the fact that I would be leaving for the other side of the world in four days has snuck up on me.

My name is Mallory, and I will be a junior at the Kelley School of Business. I can't believe it was just three months ago that I received my offer from the Kelley Institute for Social Impact (KISI) to intern with the Foundation for Sustainable Development. Along with Laura, I will be in Jinja, Uganda - the second largest town in the country and gorgeously situated at the source of the Nile river on Lake Victoria.

I'll be working at a microfinance institution called Nakanyoni Good Shepherd Cooperative Saving and Credit Society, which lends small amounts of money to people in the community and provides training and support for them to start their own businesses. This amazing organization also provides child support, HIV/AIDS counseling to their members, and savings services to their clients. Nakanyoni's small loans and business training will create business in the local community, and alleviate poverty by generating income for the family and employing community members. As an International Business major, I'm especially excited for this opportunity to gain business experience working in Africa.

Since school has been out, it's been really

interesting to try and make the transition to living in Africa. All of my clothes have to be below the knee, which means lots of trips to Goodwill to find appropriate dresses for work. Before we left IU for the summer, Laura and I also bought fashionable headbands, since weather is hot and humid. A fair trade find too - very appropriate! (Mallory, left. Laura, right.)

As we get closer to leaving for Africa, I wanted to thank KISI for the opportunity to go overseas, and the Trockman Microfinance Initiative for providing me with a travel grant to help with my internship expenses.

The next blog post will be from Uganda!