We have an introduction to make. It is long overdue, and it is not to be taken lightly. Because this Sseko employee is not to be taken lightly. Her name is Agnes, and Sseko would be lost without her. Agnes began last September as a procurement intern. We didn’t even know we needed a procurement intern, but Aggie’s intelligence, initiative, humor, and usefulness convinced us otherwise. She made herself a permanent fixture at Sseko by proving herself to be irreplaceable and now we can’t imagine life at Sseko without her.
Aggie is graduating from University this month with a degree in Procurement. We are so proud of her hard work and dedication. And we are SO looking forward to welcoming Aggie to our full-time management team. She will be filling the newly created role of Procurement Manager and will keep herself busy with supply purchasing, inventory monitoring, supplier relations, etc.
She has worked for us for a part-time basis and we can’t wait to have her in the office every day. She is a joy to be around, confides in us about her addiction to Spider Solitaire, and is a pleasure to work with professionally. I can’t believe what a stellar team Sseko has assembled. Being surrounded by incredible staff and peers is a true privilege.
We need Aggie. Not in a fluffy, I need a cup of coffee way. But in a very real, we’d be seriously struggling without the skills, dedication and professionalism she brings to Sseko kind of way. Did we mention she is also our resident-realtor? She’s got some killer negotiation skillz, yo. And she usually puts us to shame with her impeccably stylish outfits.
Here at Sseko, we spend a lot of time thinking about our relationships with our African friends. And I have come to believe that needing each other, in an authentic and mutually dependent way is one of the most beautiful things we experience in this adventure together. We believe that being needed and valued and having a place and a space to contribute and create does more from the human spirit than any one-sided “giving” we could ever accomplish.
Around here, in our little corner of Kampala, there is no ‘giver’ and no ‘receiver.’ Or maybe it would be more appropriate to say we are all both givers and receivers. If you walked into our compound and were asked to identify the ‘benificaries’ from the ‘benifitors’ you might be tempted to identify the Americans and the Africans and draw conclusions. But if you really looked and listened, you’d get really confused, really fast.
We are Team Sseko. We need and we love and we give and we receive and we are in it together.
Sink or swim.
Together.
And we’d have it no other way.