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.

Does this look like the Indian Consulate?

We'll be stopping in India for a week on our way to Kenya in January since we already had tickets to return there.  To save time and money, Mandy and I were hoping to get our tourist visas for India while here in Paraguay.  The Indian visa website lists a consulate here in Asunción, Paraguay.  We scribbled down the address and began walking around the city trying to find it.  We found the right street, but we couldn't see the consulate anywhere.  We were so confused.  We asked several people for help, but they could only point us in the direction that the address should be.  Finally we went into Goodyear Tires and asked one of the employees if he knew where the consulate was.  He just simply pointed to the Chevy dealership and said, "It's up there."  [Insert our blank stares here.]

Sure enough, on the second floor, inside the dealership, above the car salesmen's desks, lies the Indian consulate of Paraguay.  It's a small closet with a desk and a few chairs.  The Paraguayan woman who operates it explained that they don't really do visas.  They only collect people's needed documents and mail them to the embassy in Argentina...for a fee.  Of course, she explained that we could do the same thing for less money using DHL.  The whole process takes at least a week.  Needless to say, we don't have our visas yet.

And though we still have no idea what the Indian consulate in Paraguay actually does all day, we do have to thank the Indian government for their contribution to the American auto industry.

Martin Burt featured on I Prize Peace

I don't know how many of you have checked out our other blog www.iprizepeace.blogspot.com.  Each Monday, we post a short spotlight of a social innovator.  It's a fun side project for us.  It helps us learn about social entrepreneurship, do graphic design, and write.

Anyway, this week's post is about Martin Burt, who created the self-sufficient school where we are right now.  We thought it was fitting to spotlight him before we left this school in Paraguay.  If you are interested to learn more about him, there's a short bio, website links, and a cool youtube video on our I Prize Peace blog.

Only one more week in Paraguay.  Crazy.

Graduation & Summer Begins

Graduation was one week ago.  Fifty students received their diplomas to thunderous applause from family, friends...and us.  After the ceremony, there was a fancy dinner, an awards ceremony, a promenade, and then a dance for everyone outside in the courtyard that lasted until 2 AM.  So, basically we ate, drank, and were merry.  Though some of us were only drinking Fanta.  We had never seen the school so busy and loud and festive.  It was a lot of fun. 

The next morning, the school was silent.  Summer had officially started here at La Escuela Agricola San Francisco.  Apparently the slow life here can get even slower.  But not just for us.  Now everyone seems to be moving at a snail's pace.  But that's probably a good thing because it's really hot.  Don't want to overexert ourselves and pass out in the sun.

But this past week has been a good one.  I finished the English curriculum, which is my biggest contribution in the past three weeks.  That and some English classes.  Tay and I are finishing up a website for the school's hotel.  Tay's also finishing some advertisements that they've asked him to do.  Honestly, his graphic design skills have made him very popular here.  He has created stickers, order forms, and posters.  He has good designing skills.  Kind-of like Napolean Dynamite.  And self-sufficient schools only want interns with good skills.

Anyway, one more week here.  Then we'll be back home for Christmas.  :)