Nora at Five Weeks

Almost a Month!

It's hard to believe that we've already had Nora for almost a month. The time has flown by so quickly, and we've loved every minute of it...except when she's screaming of course. Here she is being a happy baby, which is most of the time. :)

Two Weeks Old!

Nora is two weeks old and the perfect baby. She hardly cries and sleeps a lot at night. It's excellent. As you can see, she is growing very fast--probably due to how much she eats. We hope she's not walking by the time we are back in the US for Christmas!

Our Baby!

Nora Kenya MacKay
 was born on October 6, 2011 at 4:40 am in Mombasa, Kenya. I started feeling contractions at 2:15 am. At first I wasn't sure they were real, but after a few minutes Taylor convinced me to drive to the hospital anyway. We rushed to the car, got to the Mombasa ferry just as it was about to leave, and arrived at the hospital at 3:30 am. Natural childbirth hurt like heck, but it was worth it. She was two days early, weighing in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measuring 20 inches. Can you believe the whole labor (including meals, a night in a private hospital room, painkillers for the next week etc.) cost us just $380?

Eight Days Left!

You may be wondering what we've been doing all this time with no blog posts. Well, I've been growing a baby. As you can see from my lovely countdown chain and big belly, only eight more days until I'm due to burst! Since my mom had me two weeks early, I was hoping it would have happened already, but alas, the baby's taking her sweet time. When she arrives, we'll be sure to post ASAP.

Until then, more waiting...

the sweet smell of tear gas in the morning

I flew up to Nairobi this past week to work on my immigration status.  It took a few days of running around offices and internet cafes to produce all the required documents for my work permit.  It was such a hassle, but  my work permit is now officially "pending".

A midst the boring  monotony of bureaucratic immigration offices, there was a peaceful demonstration over government corruption.  Apparently government officials are hording corn flour to drive up prices and then selling it at it's peak.  Additionally the minister of education mysteriously lost all of the money set aside for public education.  Needless to say, people are upset.

We walked through the protest several times on our way to various offices.  (I might have cheered and shouted a bit).  I love seeing people stand up against corruption.  I suppose I'm somewhat of a closeted activist at heart.  The riot police didn't share my enthusiasm and fired a few rounds of tear gas.  I was far away from the center of the commotion but got a strong enough blast of the brew to keep me away.

I can't say that I'd ever been tear gassed before.  I guess there is a first time for everything.

We're having a baby

So as an official announcement via blogger, Mandy and I are pregnant (mostly Mandy).  The baby is due October 8.  We are super excited to be parents.  Unfortunately, we won't know the gender until the next ultra sound in August. 

Low-Cost Housing Project

Amani Village Site

Sorry for the big gap in time since we last posted.  We went back home to the US to be at Caitie's wedding.  But we've been back in Kenya for almost a month.  Since then, I keep asking Taylor to post something, since I feel like he's the one with exciting things going on at the moment.  But I guess his work is so exciting that he can't stop long enough to blog about it, so I guess I'll tell you about it instead. 

Taylor is working on a low-cost housing project they are calling Amani Village.  They are hoping to build a small community of one and two bedroom homes for about $3,000 each and work with the local banks to help people who can qualify to buy their own homes.  This is not a service currently being offered to the poor.  Most people either rent small apartments or build stick/mud huts to live in.  Affordable homes are not available to buy at such low costs, so many are stuck renting for life. 

It's all just in the beginning stages now, but here is a link to a blog that Taylor is starting just for the project: http://amanivillage.blogspot.com/  He plans to update it as the work progresses, and you can sign up to have the new posts emailed to you if you're interested in the work.

Kite Boarding

Louis and Chriss love Coca Cola.  Unfortunately, that didn't stop the Coke truck they were driving behind from randomly stopping in the middle of the road and then proceeding to back into their truck.  Since the truck is a less common one in Kenya, it's been sitting at the shop in Mombasa for more than a week now, waiting for a new windshield to be shipped in.

That leaves the rest of us with one car to share.  Let's just say we haven't gotten out of the house a lot this week.  Add an especially bad week of internet and you can guess how we were feeling.

But, don't worry.  Louis thought it was the perfect opportunity to take kite boarding (also called kite surfing) lessons down at the resort by our house.  Louis, Taylor, and I each had about six hours of lessons over the course of three days.  Only Taylor has managed to get up for more than a few seconds.  Still, it is a fun sport.  You basically steer a big kite while riding on a wake board in the ocean.  You can do it by our house since there's a lot of wind plus a reef that breaks the waves.  You wear a helmet and a harness.  Like I said, we are not at all good, but that was our excitement for the week.  And no, that picture is not us.  Sadly.

I am finding ways to be busy by doing some transcribing work and also studying for the GRE.  (Why not?)  Taylor and Louis are exploring options for the Asante Foundation.  They've visited a low-cost housing development and a fish farm in the last few weeks. 

Can't wait to see (most of) you in two weeks!

House Full of Visitors

This week, the house has been full of visitors.  Six young people who work for Ashoka, a prestigious organization that supports social entrepreneurs, came to the house for a retreat.  They spent a lot of time in meetings, but it was fun to chat with them in the evenings.  Really cool people doing cool things.

We also have a couple staying here for the weekend.  They are both from Nairobi, and they both got their masters degrees from Cambridge--one in business and one in environmental architecture.  Pretty impressive.  More cool people doing cool things.

Taylor and Louis are working hard to identify Yehu borrowers who want to take their businesses to the next level.  They want to connect these borrowers with foreign business people who are willing to invest time and capital into these small African businesses.  It's a new concept, but it's an exciting one.  We'll keep you updated.

I am still slowly plodding along on the annual report.  Luckily, Tay's mom sent me some audio files of interviews she is doing for school.  It took me four hours to transcribe just 25 minutes of interviewing, but I was so grateful for something to do.  I think those will continue to keep me busy for a little while, but if any of you out there think of other tasks for me, I am ready and willing.

After a week and a half here, we are starting to figure out life here in Kenya. Taylor has been going to Yehu Microfinance meetings each day, getting a feel for how the program is running.  I am working compiling the 2010 Annual Report and trying to figure out how else to spend my time.

This is a picture Taylor took at one of the meetings he attended.  The women are slowly paying back their loans and adding to their saving accounts.  Most of the people around this area are Muslim and the women wear head scarves like you can see here. 

Home Sweet Kenya

We can't believe that we're finally here in Ukunda, Kenya.  After a lot of traveling around, we are excited to settle down somewhere for a year or two.

Ukunda is about an hour's drive from Mombasa.  It is beautiful out here.  You have the ocean, some of the best safaris, and some of the most beautiful, warm people in the world.  It's a place most people can only dream of visiting, let alone live.  We feel very lucky. 

Here is our bedroom view from our new boss Louis Pope's beautiful home, which he and his wife have so generously opened to so many people including us.

Hyderabad Again

We had a great week in Hyderabad, India.  Back in September I got a job with a company in Hyderabad (SKS) so we bought return trip tickets back there when we left to come back to the states.  Since then I took a different job in Kenya, but rather than waste the tickets we stopped over in India on our way to Kenya.  We stayed with our friend Jane who works at the US consulate in Hyderabad.  Thanks Jane! We had a delightful time eating amazing food, hanging out with old friends, and visiting sites.  Here are a few pics from the past week.

This is a view of Golconda fort.  Its an amazing complex built nearly a thousand years ago.  The incredibly massive fort takes hours to explore.  I'd gone there this past summer, but Mandy hadn't been so we took a day and explored.  India has incredible history. 

Back in it's time, the fort must have been breathe taking.  All of the walls were beautifully inlaid with stones, plaster and carvings.  I'm amazed at what people were able to pull off so long ago (with thousands  of African slaves that is).

We had lunch with our good friends Pramod and Bharti.  They are an amazing couple in the branch and are the glue that holds it all together.  Bharti taught us how to make delicious Biryani.  We had a great time. 

All in all, India was great fun.  We will really miss all of our friends there.  It was a really difficult decision to choose Kenya over India, but who knows... maybe we'll be back someday.

Why It Was Time to Leave Kansas

Remember the big, woolly critter from our last entry?  Well, we knew it was time to leave when I started developing an uncanny resemblance to it. The only reasonable solution was to flee the country.

In other words, we're now in India for a week.  We'll reach our new home in Mombasa, Kenya this Saturday.

The Big Woolly Critter

So we're back in the US.  We spent some time in Utah, had a great Christmas, and then headed out to Kansas...which is where we are now.

There are a lot of great things about Kansas.  Among them is the big woolly critter (see picture).  The big woolly critter is our closest neighbor.  As you can see, he is a huge, hairy llama who guards the goats in the field across the road.  The dirt road, that is.    Anyway, I guess there's not a whole lot to say about him, except that he's here.  He's our neighbor.  He's big.  He's woolly.  

Good times in Kansas.