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.