Everywhere the kids!!!
It seems that every seminar is near a school. That isn't really surprising since there are so many schools. In fact, some of the groups even run schools. And it never fails that the kids will ask "Hi. How are you?" and the only acceptable response is "I am fine. How are you?" The younger ones don't understand the response and the older ones do but are so amused by us that they simply keep asking "How are you?" anyway.
But I had a seminar on Monday that was pretty typical of the school kids in the more remote locations (i.e. even less familiar with white people if that is possible). After the seminar it was lunch hour for the kids so they were all outside and they gathered around the building in which I was teaching. Once everyone left I was cleaning up with my translator and they were just staring. The ones peering through the window ducked away when I looked towards them and the ones at the door were to scared to cross the threshold. So I pulled out my camera and got the guaranteed reaction: they swarmed into the room and posed for their picture (way to close to get them all in). Given these ones were so timid they actually lined up for the picture and then once I took it they bolted for the door again...until I turned my camera around to show them at which point they overcame their fear and tripped over each other to get closer and pull the camera to where they could see it. It never fails either. They all love it.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Good things happen in 4s!
I started off with a hot shower, something I haven't had much of recently.
Then they were out of bread for breakfast so they made 'drop scones' which are like pancakes in taste but are thicker like scones (and light and fluffier than pancakes). They were so good.
Then Emily found all her picutures she thought the driver had deleted the day before by accident (turns out to be some glitch with her memory card or camera), so the video of the group singing is salvaged.
After breakfast, we headed out for a seminar and the group was also running a school on the side. They ushered all the kids in to the room where we were waiting to teach and they sung us the sweetest song of welcome. The kids were so shy too, much more shy than usual; kids normally call out "Hello. How are you?" whenever they see us and get so excited when we take pictures and show them.
Running a school on the side is surprisingly normal here. Every group has an interest in giving back to the community. It is amazing, but it often detracts from their business, which is unfortunate from the point of view of investing but is truly inspiring, especially since it is so common. People here help each other so much, even if the people they help are in direct competition to them.
Then they were out of bread for breakfast so they made 'drop scones' which are like pancakes in taste but are thicker like scones (and light and fluffier than pancakes). They were so good.
Then Emily found all her picutures she thought the driver had deleted the day before by accident (turns out to be some glitch with her memory card or camera), so the video of the group singing is salvaged.
After breakfast, we headed out for a seminar and the group was also running a school on the side. They ushered all the kids in to the room where we were waiting to teach and they sung us the sweetest song of welcome. The kids were so shy too, much more shy than usual; kids normally call out "Hello. How are you?" whenever they see us and get so excited when we take pictures and show them.
Running a school on the side is surprisingly normal here. Every group has an interest in giving back to the community. It is amazing, but it often detracts from their business, which is unfortunate from the point of view of investing but is truly inspiring, especially since it is so common. People here help each other so much, even if the people they help are in direct competition to them.
My Typical Day
Get up, eat 2 slices of bread with jam and a malaria pill, wash hair (or even shower - warm if before 7, cold otherwise), purify water for the day, walk across the compound by 9am.
9-10 wait around for driver and other staff to get organized and take tea.
10-1 drive over very bumpy dirty roads through rural areas. Arrive at group location, usually someone's house, get shown project, wait 20 minutes for other group members to arrive, teach 2 1/2 hr business seminar.
1-5 eat lunch, often provided by the group receiving first seminar (consisting of chunks of beef in a soupy sauce, ugali (tasteless, heavy, flour and water loaf), and sukuma wiki (kale)), drive to second seminar, arrive at group location, get shown project and wait around again for other group members to arrive, teach seminar.
5-8 return to farm, relax, chat, wash, read, play soccer, do laundry by hand, or exercise (yoga, walk, jog).
8-8:30 eat dinner
9:00 go to bed.
9-10 wait around for driver and other staff to get organized and take tea.
10-1 drive over very bumpy dirty roads through rural areas. Arrive at group location, usually someone's house, get shown project, wait 20 minutes for other group members to arrive, teach 2 1/2 hr business seminar.
1-5 eat lunch, often provided by the group receiving first seminar (consisting of chunks of beef in a soupy sauce, ugali (tasteless, heavy, flour and water loaf), and sukuma wiki (kale)), drive to second seminar, arrive at group location, get shown project and wait around again for other group members to arrive, teach seminar.
5-8 return to farm, relax, chat, wash, read, play soccer, do laundry by hand, or exercise (yoga, walk, jog).
8-8:30 eat dinner
9:00 go to bed.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday Seminar
Yesterday I gave a seminar to a group who had a brick-making business, or at least they planned to. This group was pretty organized since they had a way to make bricks and they actually, amazingly, had already talked to people who would buy as many bricks as they could make. That there is a market is not unusual. That the group has actually identified it is rare. Brick-making is done by combining water and sand in molds and waiting for them to set, then burning them to seal/harden them. The group was worried that the rains would come and wash away all their work forming the bricks before they had a chance to seal them, so they wanted the capital to build a storage shed or to buy plastic sheets. It was pretty good because it gave us a specific topic and example to go through to show them about business planning and forecasting.
Normally though, our seminars start out with the basic concept of a business and move through basic bookkeeping, understanding profit, marketing, forecasting, and finally into loans and in particular writing a business plan to obtain financing (which is very simplistic by North American standards).
The coolest thing about yesterday's session though was afterwards the group sang us a song as a thank you. It was so cool. Emily, a newly arrived volunteer who was watching me got it on camera too. Today, she gave a seminar and one of the drivers borrowed her camera to take a picture and ended up deleting all the ones on her memory card. She lost it all including the song. What a bummer!!
The last two days have yielded spectacular sunsets. I have some great pictures but they take forever to upload from these slow internet cafes. One of the other volunteers saw one of my pictures and said exactly what I was thinking - "this is a paradise."
Then again, the generator is broken and we have had no power for 5 days and when I went to take a shower (cold), the well had run dry...
Normally though, our seminars start out with the basic concept of a business and move through basic bookkeeping, understanding profit, marketing, forecasting, and finally into loans and in particular writing a business plan to obtain financing (which is very simplistic by North American standards).
The coolest thing about yesterday's session though was afterwards the group sang us a song as a thank you. It was so cool. Emily, a newly arrived volunteer who was watching me got it on camera too. Today, she gave a seminar and one of the drivers borrowed her camera to take a picture and ended up deleting all the ones on her memory card. She lost it all including the song. What a bummer!!
The last two days have yielded spectacular sunsets. I have some great pictures but they take forever to upload from these slow internet cafes. One of the other volunteers saw one of my pictures and said exactly what I was thinking - "this is a paradise."
Then again, the generator is broken and we have had no power for 5 days and when I went to take a shower (cold), the well had run dry...
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Recent Questions
To answer a couple of the questions, the goat was roasted (basically cooked over an open flame). The beer is really good, but not quite as good as Creemore. It is comparible to Heiniken.
As for the loan program, the banks claim repayments of about 98%, which is probably fairly realistic. The beauty of the concept is that the borrowers for groups and get a group loan on which they are all co-borrowers/co-guarantors. If one or two members fail to pay their share then the others are required to. The loans are based on the ability of the businesses to pay if the business already exists, so they don't really have a problem there. They do also lend occassionally to start-ups but then the loans are small enough that the other group members would be able to repay the loan if other members fail at their businesses. Also, since they cannot get additional bigger loans unless they successfully pay back the first loan and build up a reputation (just like a credit rating), it is in their interest to make sure they pay back in full.
ICODEI has a much lower success rate due to two major reasons: 1) they lend more to groups that are start-ups and that often do not have the business accumen to be successful to the same degree (which is why so much of what I do is education); and 2) volunteers are here from 1-3 months typically so there is little consistency in the administration of loans. At certain times, there are no (or not enough) volunteers to follow up on loans so they can linger in delinquency for months before the issue is addressed. This is why we were visiting the banks this week, so that we can leave the lending to those with the proper resources and practices in place to manage their loans.
Interestingly though, as a whole, micro-finance is both a solution and a problem. We see in Kenya that it gives capital to those who otherwise would not have it and allows them to make businesses from which they can raise themselves out of extreme poverty. On the other hand, it also creates a million micro-businesses while there are no large scale operations. So the country as a whole is grossly inefficient because there are no benefits of economies of scale, which is particularly important where large investments are concerned. In a place where people are starving due to poor crop harvests during the current drought, being able to produce more with less is vital. They will still require massive investments and aid to reach the tipping point where they can become self-sustaining.
As for the loan program, the banks claim repayments of about 98%, which is probably fairly realistic. The beauty of the concept is that the borrowers for groups and get a group loan on which they are all co-borrowers/co-guarantors. If one or two members fail to pay their share then the others are required to. The loans are based on the ability of the businesses to pay if the business already exists, so they don't really have a problem there. They do also lend occassionally to start-ups but then the loans are small enough that the other group members would be able to repay the loan if other members fail at their businesses. Also, since they cannot get additional bigger loans unless they successfully pay back the first loan and build up a reputation (just like a credit rating), it is in their interest to make sure they pay back in full.
ICODEI has a much lower success rate due to two major reasons: 1) they lend more to groups that are start-ups and that often do not have the business accumen to be successful to the same degree (which is why so much of what I do is education); and 2) volunteers are here from 1-3 months typically so there is little consistency in the administration of loans. At certain times, there are no (or not enough) volunteers to follow up on loans so they can linger in delinquency for months before the issue is addressed. This is why we were visiting the banks this week, so that we can leave the lending to those with the proper resources and practices in place to manage their loans.
Interestingly though, as a whole, micro-finance is both a solution and a problem. We see in Kenya that it gives capital to those who otherwise would not have it and allows them to make businesses from which they can raise themselves out of extreme poverty. On the other hand, it also creates a million micro-businesses while there are no large scale operations. So the country as a whole is grossly inefficient because there are no benefits of economies of scale, which is particularly important where large investments are concerned. In a place where people are starving due to poor crop harvests during the current drought, being able to produce more with less is vital. They will still require massive investments and aid to reach the tipping point where they can become self-sustaining.
School kids
Thursday we went to visit 3 sites that had taken loans out with us in the past. The first had paid it back but wanted to see us again anyway...to ask for another loan of course. They wanted 50,000 KSh (just under $1000 CAD) to build a shed for covering their bricks that they make before they are fired so that they don't get ruined by rain. They didn't actually have anyone to sell bricks to, which doesn't seem to be a consideration here. Amazingly enough, since they paid back their first loan they obviously can sell their bricks eventually and they probably will get a second, though perhaps not as much as they want.
The second group was so fun though. They have a sewing business and masonary as well, but they run a school on the grounds. As we were pulling up on the "road" all the kids (about 100) were outside and saw the van coming so they started cheering. We pulled into the yard and they swarmed the car on the side I was on so that when I got out I was surrounded. It was exactly like being a rock star, as Dave likes to point out. There were so many I just held my hands out and they all reached up to touch me.
After the visit, the leader of the group pointed out his daughter who was attending the school and happened to be standing to one side. I pulled out my camera and took a picture of her and tried to show it to her. She became an instant celebrity herself as all the other kids saw the camera and jostled for a good look. I then took a picture of them all and showed them. The kids just love to pose and to see themselves on the digital image. It was hard to extricate myself to leave but I managed to make it out intact.
The second group was so fun though. They have a sewing business and masonary as well, but they run a school on the grounds. As we were pulling up on the "road" all the kids (about 100) were outside and saw the van coming so they started cheering. We pulled into the yard and they swarmed the car on the side I was on so that when I got out I was surrounded. It was exactly like being a rock star, as Dave likes to point out. There were so many I just held my hands out and they all reached up to touch me.
After the visit, the leader of the group pointed out his daughter who was attending the school and happened to be standing to one side. I pulled out my camera and took a picture of her and tried to show it to her. She became an instant celebrity herself as all the other kids saw the camera and jostled for a good look. I then took a picture of them all and showed them. The kids just love to pose and to see themselves on the digital image. It was hard to extricate myself to leave but I managed to make it out intact.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Obama
Yes, they are Obama crazy here. I guess, since his real father was Kenyan, he is their pride and joy, even though he likely won't be great for them as a country (though he'll be better than Bush...how could he not be?!).
Saturday night we went out for live Kenyan music at a very local Kenyan bar. We stood out so much that the band dedicated a song to us and to Obama. The song? "Congratulations Barak Obama." It was a good band though and an interesting experience.
Yesterday (Monday), I went out to do another training seminar and afterwards this lady came up to me and explained that she was a widow with 3 sons. She then offered me her son. She asked the translator and then she asked me directly in English to tell her my contact info so she could give me her son. Thankfully I didn't need to respond because the translator got me out of it but it was funny, sad, and disturbing all at once.
The past 2 days I spent with Dave going around the banks in Bungoma and understanding their loan programs for Microenterprise groups. It has been interesting work and it will be so helpful to provide the groups with this information to assist them in obtaining loans. ICODEI has a small loan program that they couple with the training, but it is problematic. As a charity, it is sometimes hard to ask for the money back or to pursue actions if groups are late. They simply do not have the capabilities to manage their loan program and don't have proper incentives or motivations for groups to pay back their loans. Continuing with the business training while leaving lending to the lenders would be a much better use of their resources all around. It's also great to be able to provide such strategic advice to ICODEI itself while we are here and to have a lasting impact on the program as well as the groups.
Saturday night we went out for live Kenyan music at a very local Kenyan bar. We stood out so much that the band dedicated a song to us and to Obama. The song? "Congratulations Barak Obama." It was a good band though and an interesting experience.
Yesterday (Monday), I went out to do another training seminar and afterwards this lady came up to me and explained that she was a widow with 3 sons. She then offered me her son. She asked the translator and then she asked me directly in English to tell her my contact info so she could give me her son. Thankfully I didn't need to respond because the translator got me out of it but it was funny, sad, and disturbing all at once.
The past 2 days I spent with Dave going around the banks in Bungoma and understanding their loan programs for Microenterprise groups. It has been interesting work and it will be so helpful to provide the groups with this information to assist them in obtaining loans. ICODEI has a small loan program that they couple with the training, but it is problematic. As a charity, it is sometimes hard to ask for the money back or to pursue actions if groups are late. They simply do not have the capabilities to manage their loan program and don't have proper incentives or motivations for groups to pay back their loans. Continuing with the business training while leaving lending to the lenders would be a much better use of their resources all around. It's also great to be able to provide such strategic advice to ICODEI itself while we are here and to have a lasting impact on the program as well as the groups.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Party Time
Friday, after my last post, I and the other 4 volunteers went to the bar to kill an hour before meeting some other Mazungus (literally British people but used to refer to all whites) for dinner. Eileen, one of the girls from Vancouver, got oggled and basically propositioned by a disgusting guy who already had 2 wives and bought us all a round of beer. Dave, the other MDP volunteer, actually ended up playing it up with him more than protecting Eileen in his role as surrogate boyfriend. But it was vastly entertaining, particularly since we'd basically only eaten a couple of slices of bread each for breakfast that morning. In the end though we managed to extract ourselves without incident, though we sadly had to leave some unfinished beer on the table. (I hope customs doesn't hear about that and not let us back into Canada!)
Dinner was roast goat and it was SO GOOD! We had been invited by some people who are working (i.e. paid) here as part of the One Acre Fund. We then went out and partied with them and ended up at a dance club. I must say, although it is taboo to show public displays of affection, guys often dance together here. I can't say I am comfortable (nor do I wish to become comfortable) with a guy intertwining fingers with me on the dance floor. But it was fun and we again made it safely home in one piece and in one group.
Saturday we got up early (and not too hungover amazingly enough) and took a Matatu (group taxi) down to Kisumu, Kenya's third largest city located on the shores of Lake Victoria. We then got rides to our hotel by Boda Boda, and then took a Tuk Tuk to the waterfront where we went Hippo watching by boat. It wasn't the best time of day for that but it was still fun, relaxing, and cool to see hippos.
Matatu is a van cammed with seats and each seat is crammed with people. They have set routes and you squish yourself in with as many people as can possibly find in such a confined space and then you try not to injure yourself as they bomb down the roads that are almost more potholes than pavement.
The Boda Boda are bikes with padding where the rat-traps typically would be. You sit on the back of them and the driver tries not to kill you as you weave through the traffic.
Tuk Tukare motor-vehicles that seat about 3 people (though we always cram all 5 of us in) that are essentially covered motor bikes. (Similar to those found elsewhere in the world, especially India and Bangkok - and like in the movie Amal.)
Dinner was roast goat and it was SO GOOD! We had been invited by some people who are working (i.e. paid) here as part of the One Acre Fund. We then went out and partied with them and ended up at a dance club. I must say, although it is taboo to show public displays of affection, guys often dance together here. I can't say I am comfortable (nor do I wish to become comfortable) with a guy intertwining fingers with me on the dance floor. But it was fun and we again made it safely home in one piece and in one group.
Saturday we got up early (and not too hungover amazingly enough) and took a Matatu (group taxi) down to Kisumu, Kenya's third largest city located on the shores of Lake Victoria. We then got rides to our hotel by Boda Boda, and then took a Tuk Tuk to the waterfront where we went Hippo watching by boat. It wasn't the best time of day for that but it was still fun, relaxing, and cool to see hippos.
Matatu is a van cammed with seats and each seat is crammed with people. They have set routes and you squish yourself in with as many people as can possibly find in such a confined space and then you try not to injure yourself as they bomb down the roads that are almost more potholes than pavement.
The Boda Boda are bikes with padding where the rat-traps typically would be. You sit on the back of them and the driver tries not to kill you as you weave through the traffic.
Tuk Tukare motor-vehicles that seat about 3 people (though we always cram all 5 of us in) that are essentially covered motor bikes. (Similar to those found elsewhere in the world, especially India and Bangkok - and like in the movie Amal.)
Friday, February 6, 2009
Birthday Party
Internet access again. Woohoo!
So after I left the cafe yesterday, we picked up piles of candy and ice cream and we went and bought some shoes for the daughter of the owner of the farm who was having a birthday. It was extremely comical to have 2 clueless white guys trying to find school shoes for an 11-year old black Kenyan girl in the middle Bungoma, a place where white people alone is a strange enough sight. But you have never seen such a big, beautiful smile as when she opened them. They cost all of $15 (shared between us 5 volunteers) and were absolutely perfect. It is incredible to see such joy taken in the simplest of things, in something that most Canadians would be disappointed with if they got as a present. School shoes? You got me school shoes? Her brother's jaw was on the floor in jealousy when he saw them.
Heading out for my first beer shortly with the other volunteers and a couple of guys (1 from US and 1 from UK) that are working here. They came by the other night and invited us out for roast goat (a Kenyan specialty) and beer (apparently Kenya beer is good - I'll let you know).
...I'm working really hard. I swear.
So after I left the cafe yesterday, we picked up piles of candy and ice cream and we went and bought some shoes for the daughter of the owner of the farm who was having a birthday. It was extremely comical to have 2 clueless white guys trying to find school shoes for an 11-year old black Kenyan girl in the middle Bungoma, a place where white people alone is a strange enough sight. But you have never seen such a big, beautiful smile as when she opened them. They cost all of $15 (shared between us 5 volunteers) and were absolutely perfect. It is incredible to see such joy taken in the simplest of things, in something that most Canadians would be disappointed with if they got as a present. School shoes? You got me school shoes? Her brother's jaw was on the floor in jealousy when he saw them.
Heading out for my first beer shortly with the other volunteers and a couple of guys (1 from US and 1 from UK) that are working here. They came by the other night and invited us out for roast goat (a Kenyan specialty) and beer (apparently Kenya beer is good - I'll let you know).
...I'm working really hard. I swear.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Arrival and first day
Well I've safely arrived and am having a great time so far. I was lucky enough to get a row to myself on the plane from Amsterdam to Nairobi so I could stretch out and sleep.
I didn't see much of the hostel but Nairobi looked magical at sunrise on the taxi ride to the bus station. The driving is just something else here. They are as crazy as anyone, including the Italians, when it comes to road rules. The driver was running all the red lights so I asked him about it and he said they don't apply before 7am because "there isn't much traffic." Of course this didn't stop him getting into a game of chicken trying to merge with a bus. When he lost he beat the car door with his hand I guess because his horn sounded more like a bicycle horn than a car horn, but it was more of a congratulations to the other driver than anything like frustration. People here are far to easy going to get road rage.
The driving around the village where I'm staying is different basically because not many people have cars so the roads are covered in people on bikes and on foot. Somehow the drivers manage to get up to 80km/h while dogging people and mortor-sized potholes.
The farm is nice. There were 2 other volunteers here when I arrived and 2 more arrived last night, 1 day after me. And they are all Canadian!!! The 3 girls are part of the health care program so they run moble clinics where they drive to different local communities each day to provide care and medicine.
Dave, the other volunteer, and I work with the Microenterprise Development Program (MDP) and drive to local communities and groups to give seminars and administer micro-loans.
Yesterday, my first day, was so incredible. I was shadowing Dave as he gave a seminar to about 7 people and then they offered us lunch, which consisted of a chicken from their chicken "farm" and ugali, a tasteless substance of flour and water. (You have to eat it too because it would be offensive to turn down the food, especially when they have so little.) By the way, when I say chicken farm, I just mean the ground around the hut we were in, which served as a small church and living accomodations for the paster, each room being about twice the size of my cubicle at work.
We were driving back and the "road" (which was just a track through some people's back yards) was blocked by a tree and a half-dozen Kenyans standing around trying to fix a chainsaw. So we stopped and the driver and translator got out and hung out with the Kenyans while we waited for the chainsaw to be fixed. Nobody said anything about the delay. Nobody yelled at them to hurry up or to get out of the way. They just got out and casually sat around waiting. "Hakuna Matata!"
By the time we did our second seminar, Dave had to leave for a meeting in town so I was thrown head first into giving the seminar to about 12 people. It actually went pretty well, mainly because I plagerized all the stories from Dave's seminar and the translator convinced them all I was telling the truth. It is great though. Fascinating, beautiful, fulfilling, exciting...
Today we had to go visit a group that was delinquent in their payments by about 15 months. The officers of the group were away at a meeting (even though our meeting was pre-arranged - or perhaps because it was pre-arranged), so we met with just one woman who didn't have any of the paperwork (we're not convinced there is any). It was awkward for 2 rich Mazungus to say to a poor African woman that she has to come up with the equivalent of $25 in overdue payments or we would have to send an agent to sue her. To put that in perspective, we just bought lunch for 2 in town - 2 large cokes, a small meat pie, and a giant curry and fries - for about $3.
Anyway, I'm having an amazing time, loving every minute, I haven't had any issues of any kind so far (knock on wood!). Kenya is very much what I guess I expected - as stereotypically African in every way as portrayed in the western world. And I sure don't miss the cold!!
I didn't see much of the hostel but Nairobi looked magical at sunrise on the taxi ride to the bus station. The driving is just something else here. They are as crazy as anyone, including the Italians, when it comes to road rules. The driver was running all the red lights so I asked him about it and he said they don't apply before 7am because "there isn't much traffic." Of course this didn't stop him getting into a game of chicken trying to merge with a bus. When he lost he beat the car door with his hand I guess because his horn sounded more like a bicycle horn than a car horn, but it was more of a congratulations to the other driver than anything like frustration. People here are far to easy going to get road rage.
The driving around the village where I'm staying is different basically because not many people have cars so the roads are covered in people on bikes and on foot. Somehow the drivers manage to get up to 80km/h while dogging people and mortor-sized potholes.
The farm is nice. There were 2 other volunteers here when I arrived and 2 more arrived last night, 1 day after me. And they are all Canadian!!! The 3 girls are part of the health care program so they run moble clinics where they drive to different local communities each day to provide care and medicine.
Dave, the other volunteer, and I work with the Microenterprise Development Program (MDP) and drive to local communities and groups to give seminars and administer micro-loans.
Yesterday, my first day, was so incredible. I was shadowing Dave as he gave a seminar to about 7 people and then they offered us lunch, which consisted of a chicken from their chicken "farm" and ugali, a tasteless substance of flour and water. (You have to eat it too because it would be offensive to turn down the food, especially when they have so little.) By the way, when I say chicken farm, I just mean the ground around the hut we were in, which served as a small church and living accomodations for the paster, each room being about twice the size of my cubicle at work.
We were driving back and the "road" (which was just a track through some people's back yards) was blocked by a tree and a half-dozen Kenyans standing around trying to fix a chainsaw. So we stopped and the driver and translator got out and hung out with the Kenyans while we waited for the chainsaw to be fixed. Nobody said anything about the delay. Nobody yelled at them to hurry up or to get out of the way. They just got out and casually sat around waiting. "Hakuna Matata!"
By the time we did our second seminar, Dave had to leave for a meeting in town so I was thrown head first into giving the seminar to about 12 people. It actually went pretty well, mainly because I plagerized all the stories from Dave's seminar and the translator convinced them all I was telling the truth. It is great though. Fascinating, beautiful, fulfilling, exciting...
Today we had to go visit a group that was delinquent in their payments by about 15 months. The officers of the group were away at a meeting (even though our meeting was pre-arranged - or perhaps because it was pre-arranged), so we met with just one woman who didn't have any of the paperwork (we're not convinced there is any). It was awkward for 2 rich Mazungus to say to a poor African woman that she has to come up with the equivalent of $25 in overdue payments or we would have to send an agent to sue her. To put that in perspective, we just bought lunch for 2 in town - 2 large cokes, a small meat pie, and a giant curry and fries - for about $3.
Anyway, I'm having an amazing time, loving every minute, I haven't had any issues of any kind so far (knock on wood!). Kenya is very much what I guess I expected - as stereotypically African in every way as portrayed in the western world. And I sure don't miss the cold!!
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