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.