Well well well – ain’t that Ironic. One day after reporting that the Iron Fox was nearly infallible…I get food poisoning. It was not a lot of fun. It will take me a while to go back to Edith’s restaurant. I guess I was expecting to get sick so its’ not a big deal. As my doctors in New York said, “Its not a matter of IF you’ll get food poisoning…it’s a matter of WHEN you’ll get food poisoning.”
I’m still proud of the Iron Fox for making it more than a month.
It was POURING rain when I woke up. FYI – there is a saying that “when it rains Uganda stops.” Okay, maybe not a saying – but it’s the way things work. Because a lot of the roads are mud and because a significant amount of travel is done via motorcycle rain is a serious hindrance to travel and just about anything else you want to do.
So…this whole week was an office week. Not very exciting for my loyal blog fans – but a necessity to make sure the Educate! funding model is in place when I leave.
Background - After I left Morgan Stanley and before I came to Africa I went on a microfinance networking tour in NYC. My goal was to meet as many microfinance people as possible. My time in NYC was productive…I met someone who was a formed microfinance director at AIG and is now at Harvard Business School…a person whose on the board of the NYC microfinance committee…a former microfinance worker at the bank of Uganda. Hopefully they’ll help turn up some good leads. Its not what you know but who you know – right?
I did this so when I came to Uganda, with no microfinance contacts, and limited understand of microfinance I’d be able to lean on them for advice, suggestions and contacts. I hadn’t emailed them yet because I’ve spent my first month in Africa learning about Educate!, meeting our students, adapting to the Ugandan culture and researching microfinance…but I finally decided to start reaching out to people and asking them to introduce me to local MF peeps. So yeah.
At 1:00 Sandrah (one of our mentors) came over with two of her friends that wanted my advice on their business. They had recently launched a small business-consulting firm. It was a really productive meeting and they were super happy they came over and I was happy to help them. After the meeting I turned to them, and said with a straight face, “You can address the check to Joseph Quaderer.”
Their mouths dropped.
“Sandrah didn’t tell you about my fee?”
Their mouths dropped further.
“Just kidding!”
After they left I created a questionnaire for out students to fill out. Basically they fill it out – tell me about their business, its strengths, weaknesses, limitations, potential…etcetera…I review it and help them figure out how to make their business better. Any revenue is usually given to students struggling to pay school fees.
At night I agreed to meet Suzi and Baati in Kampala for dinner at a place called “Café Pap.” I took a matatu into Kampala with Sandrah. It took an hour and a half. SIGH! Patience Joe. Patience. It’s a 10 minute drive without traffic.
After I got into Old Taxi Park I walked up Entebbe Road, to Kampala road and finally to Café Pap.
So Baati is a friend with a lot of people in Educate! and Suzi is a German social worker that runs around in the same expat scene as my friends. Suzi’s organization basically gives money to people with no other resorts – i.e. someone will come to her office and say, “I have no rent to pay our landlord. If we miss the payment we’ll get kicked out onto the street.” Suzi will then go and look at the apartment to make sure it exists, she’ll ask some other questions to make sure the person isn’t lying…and if its legit she’ll give the person the required money.
She’s a real sweetheart. Baati and I agreed to get dinner with her after learning her boyfriend of three months, A (lets just call him A), was basically a complete fraud. She was understandably upset, and feeling lonely because she was in Kampala by herself…so we agreed to get dinner.
Okay, wow, this guy A is a complete, certified sociopath. Like, scary.
So…A was always a SUPER nice guy – a bubbly fellow always quick with a smile and a laugh and a hug. I pride myself on my ability to judge people’s character and I thought this guy was a real sweetheart.
Anyways, he and Suzi had been dating for 3 months. They seemed like a happy couple. He was a black guy who had lived in Portugal most of his life. She was a white girl that lived in Germany her whole life. He had been educated in the Netherlands and the UK. She went to school in Germany. He had a job in Kampala. She had a job in Kampala. They were living in a house which he apparently had purchased with his old GF, but after their break up his old GF had moved out and A continued living there. They met in Uganda. They were happy. Life was good.
But then the ball of lies started unraveling. They were out one night and a woman walked up them.
“A! Great to see you!”
A acted disinterested, or like he didn’t know the woman and excused himself.
Suzi, curious, inquired into how the woman knew A.
“Oh, we went to secondary school (high school) together in Uganda.”
BUT – A was born and raised in Portugal?
When confronted, A assured Suzi the other girl must have been mistaken.
Another night Suzi was out when someone told her A was 22. But he had told her he was 27. Not the end of the world – but another disparity.
Hmm. Curious.
Then more suspicious things happened.
“Suzi – I lost my ATM card. It takes a few months for the card to arrive since my account is in the Netherlands. Can I borrow some money? I’ll pay you back.”
There goes a couple hundred thousand USH.
And…then…her credit card disappeared for a few days. But then reappeared. Hmm curious.
Suzi called her mom in Germany.
“Weird. I found my card again.”
Her Mom logged into Suzi’s online account. “Hmm that is weird because there’s been four purchases for several hundred thousand USH during that time period.”
Suspicion raging.
And…then…the bottom fell out. A’s supposed “ex girlfriend” came back from a sabbatical somewhere. Turns out A and Suzi were LIVING in A’s girlfriends house. He didn’t own it. She let him live there while she was abroad. A had the audacity to LIVE there with another woman.
A kicked Suzi out.
WHAT?!
A told Suzi she wasn’t allowed to speak to any of their mutual friends anymore. He told her not to go to any of the bars we all go to. He told her to get out of her life. She was crushed, not only by the fact that she was dating a man that turned out to be a complete fraud, but also at the thought she’d lose all her friends.”
I had to interrupt her at this point. “Suzi, I’m your friend. I’m not friends with people like him. If he has a problem with that tell him to call me.”
“Do you feel threatened?” I asked her.
“Yes – he has his back against a wall. If he loses this girl he knows he’s out on the streets.”
Oh yeah – A doesn’t really have a job.
Poor Suzi. I cant imagine how hard this is for her. All Baati and I could do was assure her we were there for her.
It was scary because this guy had me fooled. I remember actually thinking that it was refreshing to meet such a nice, happy person.
MALCOLM
“What will you do? Let's not consort with them.”
…
DONALBAIN
“There's daggers in men's smiles: The nearer the bloodier.”
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