Hello I'm Katie

Hello, my name is Katie!  This is my family, my husband Chris and my two boys Kolby and Logan.  We live in Uganda, Africa working with Global Support Mission as their International Coordinators on the ground.

We have known Travis and been friends with him for many years.  Back in 2007 Chris and I were leading missions trips through our church and we were looking for a place to go that summer.  Travis came down to the coast and we reconnected and he told us about Global Support and we all decided that it would be amazing to go to Uganda and support GSM and the organization, Bringing Hope to the Family, that they were assisting.  So, in July 2007, we came and life as we knew it would never be the same.  While we were on that trip God spoke to us and Travis that we were to come and live in this tiny village in Western Uganda called Kaihura.  When we returned to the States, the journey of shutting down our lives there and working towards setting up our lives here had begun.

In January 2009 our family officially moved to Uganda, and the life unknown was beginning.  Our time here so far has been amazing.  We love working for GSM and we love seeing its vision unfold.  We work here and serve alongside Bringing Hope to the Family doing whatever we can to help them accomplish their vision.  We do that in many different ways.  We work toward helping them create systems and organization.  Through Know.Think.Act we help fullfil their vision toward community development.  The ultimate goal is to get them to be self sufficient through cost reduction and income generating projects.   And this is where Red Earth Trading Co.'s vision comes into play also.

This past summer while Travis, Brady and others were in Uganda RETCO was birthed.  There are so many talented people who can do such incredible things with the local materials that they have available to them.  But, like Travis stated in his blog, there is a very limited market.  So why not help them and help ourselves which will in turn help them even more because more money will just be poured right back in.   It is a win, win, win situation!

RETCO not only has the vision to just help provide a new market for these Artisans, but also help them create new and better product.  So this is where I come in.  Along with the work my husband and I do for GSM, I also have been doing a lot of work for RETCO.  Here in Kaihura, Bringing Hope had a tailoring shop that they set up for income generation and to also create jobs for some of the best students that graduated from their vocational school.  Unfortunately this shop was causing them to lose money rather than make money.  But, this year I have made it a big project of mine on behalf of GSM and RETCO to help them get this business on the right foot.  This is easier said than done, but we have made tremendous headway and I am so pleased at the progress that has been made.  I have worked with them to create many new and better quality products.  Some of these products you can see when you visit a RETCO party or stand.  I am really looking forward to this next year to see what new things come about.  I also work with all the other partners we do business with and they are all so excited and so grateful for this partnership they now have with RETCO.  It is truly a life changer for them.  Thank you so much for supporting us as we do everything we can to support them.  I hope you love and enjoy the products.  There are amazing stories behind them!

stay adventurous>

Katie
East Africa Product Manager