Whew - What a Relief!

So my dad just read my blog and gave me an update - apparently after the final count, Prop 4 didn't pass. Woohoo! And here I was getting all cranky and everything... I'm still upset about Prop 8 though. Passed with 52% of the vote. How can a majority of only 2% change the state constitution? Argh! Though I'm holding out a tiny bit of hope - they're not officially calling this until Dec 13, so they can count absentee and provisional ballots. Better count mine!

There are also a few lawsuits challenging the validity of the proposition, so perhaps one of these will succeed. Crossing my fingers! Thanks Dad, for making sure I'm not getting too upset over politics out here so far from home!

- Veronica

Sorry for the Absence… Part 1

I am... over the malaria, luckily it was caught early! I’m going to focus this entry on the elections – will give a bit more info in a separate update (otherwise this’ll be a REALLY long one!)

OAF Update
We’ve been really busy in the last few weeks – so sorry for the lack of updates! Margaux left us today and did a terrific job putting the final pieces together for our child health program going forward. We now have an actual binder that we can use when rolling out the program in new districts (and when monitoring our existing programs). We’re also now selling deworming pills to our farm families, which is important to help keep kids free of hookworms and other nasty afflictions (it’s recommended kids take these regularly, but many families don’t have access to these medicines).

I’ll keep other OAF updates to the next entry. Meanwhile…

Enda Obama!
As I mentioned in my last update, election fever began bubbling up a while ago around here. You’d have thought Obama was campaigning in Kenya with the number of posters, calendars, buttons and signs everywhere!

(Obama pictured on the back of a matatu)

Even one of the butchers in town had a huge poster of Obama on his wall. The excitement was truly palpable – I bought meat from him on Election morning (the night before Election Day for everyone in the States) – it was all we could talk about. People were so excited to hear that I’d been able to vote all the way from Kenya – they were amazed to know that the United States allows absentee ballots, and kept commenting that this is why America is the best democracy in the world.

(Obama billboard near the Nakumatt MegaCity in Kisumu)

Here at One Acre Fund, we were also a-twitter with election jitters. Several of us decided to stay up all night and watch the election results as they came in, so we took a short nap after dinner and got up by 2-3am to begin watching. We had just set up a projector so we could watch movies on a wall in one of our houses, so we used that to watch the coverage.
(our election-viewing setup)

It was amazing – Melissa and I made scrambled eggs and toast, then baked chocolate chip cookies so we could celebrate/drown our sorrows with election cookies and ice cream (given we all had to work in the morning and weren’t getting any sleep, alcohol didn’t seem like a good idea despite the fact it probably would’ve worked better). Several of us had our laptops up so we could follow along online in case BBC, Sky News and Al Jazeera weren’t quick enough. I was instant messaging with seven or eight people throughout the night, so was able to get live updates from the States on what was happening. Thanks to all those of you who kept feeding me info!

As dawn started to break outside, it became clear that Obama wasn’t just going to win, but was going to win by a landslide. We started paying more attention to the Congressional and Senate races, wondering whether the Democrats were going to completely take over these as well. And I was checking online all night to see whether there were projections for California’s decisions on Props 4 and 8 (restricting abortion rights and banning gay marriage). I’ve rarely felt so full of hope and pride on an election day – it was such a huge difference from the last few that we’ve had!

When the electoral college results from California came up on our wall/movie screen, my eyes started to well up.

And when Obama was announced as the winner, Margaux and I couldn’t help but let some tears trace their way down our grinning cheeks. As we watched coverage of the Kenyan reaction (people dancing and singing with sheer joy), we cheered and felt like doing a jig ourselves.

We had elected a black man with ties to Africa and Muslims as our President!

We were not only getting rid of George W., but were making a statement that our country is ready to move forward with repairing its relations with the world and making significant shifts in its policies and goals. I honestly felt at that moment like Americans can do anything, and was so full of pride that I thought I would burst (that could’ve been the cookies and ice cream, though).

Unfortunately that pride was somewhat deflated when the results for California’s propositions came in. We passed both propositions by a narrow margin. I was devastated – just as we stood together to show we are capable of putting aside intolerance to pursue national goals, my home state voted to make abortion harder for young women who aren’t ready to be mothers and said that two people who love each other and want to make a commitment to each other aren’t allowed to because of their sex. I’m still tremendously proud of our country and the choice we made for President, but am incredibly disappointed in my state and the way we’ve decided to treat each other.

Though I’m still disappointed with the CA decisions, the excitement over Obama kept me from focusing on that for too long. Cosmos, our security guard, joined us in celebrating with cookies and ice cream and cheered along as Obama came out for his victory speech.

(Cosmos with home-baked election cookies and ice cream)

The President of Kenya declared the next day a national holiday. And later that morning, at a meeting with some of our farmers, I introduced myself in Kiswahili and told everyone I came from the land of Obama. The farmers erupted in cheers, and the feeling of warmth and pride from these poor farmers in the middle of East Africa was even more palpable than the pre-election nervousness. Even weeks later, people still stop me to congratulate us on electing Obama and to express their love for and pride in the American people. It’s amazing to see the difference in the way we’re treated already – we were always welcomed here, but when I first arrived there was a definite perception that America had become an unpredictable and dangerously unstable place. Everyone here is hopeful that their “Kenyan son” will change the world – I just hope we give him some time and recognize that he’s human; I’m sure he’s going to do amazing work! The Barack Obama songs are still in heavy rotation here, which makes for a pretty great soundtrack as we continue to work on behalf of our farmers and enjoy life in rural Africa. Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen, and to those who may have voted for McCain but are supporting our new President regardless. You make me proud!

The Fun Stuff/Highlights (Part 1)

• Eating election cookies and ice cream with our security guard
  
• Talking to a butcher about the Obama picture on his wall while he sliced meat off a dangling cow leg
  
• Introducing myself to a group of farmers by saying “Morienna. Li sin a liase Veronica. Na sangali le khuba nanyue. Na ma musi bala sia Obama. Enda Obama!” – translation: Hello. My name is Veronica. I come from the land of Obama. Go Obama! (followed by a roar of applause)
  
• Asking Delvin (our housekeeper’s son) if he recognized the man on the screen (Nelson Mandela) – he said “no”. Later asking if he recognized the man on the screen, seeing his face light up, and hearing him shout, “Obama!”
  
• Dancing to the (one of many, really) Barack Obama song at Good Friends
  
• Getting teary-eyed with Margaux at the official announcement Obama won – I have to admit, I’m normally pretty cynical but at that moment I truly swelled up with hope and pride
  
• (not so fun) – I’m seriously upset and disappointed with California regarding Props 4 and 8. And horrified at Arkansas for saying I’d need to be married to a man if I ever wanted to adopt a child. I know plenty of gay and single people who’d run circles around some married parents out there. It feels like we took a giant step forward, and a couple pretty sizeable steps back.

Thinking of everyone and feeling thankful for you all,

Veronica

It Was Bound to Happen…

I am... still feeling tired but getting better after coming down with malaria (Mom/Dad, don’t panic, I’m doing fine but figured it was better to tell you after I was better vs. while I was sick). And I’m hoping some of you will check out our wishlist wiki page (see top of this page, on the right for the Wishlist) if you want to send any care package items!

OAF Update
Things have been really busy here. We’re wrapping up our overhaul of the Child Health Program. Margaux’s done a great job of defining how education, product sales and data collection will work going forward, and has been working closely with our Child Health managers in two districts to test some of her ideas and prepare them for the changes. I attended two Light Mother trainings this past week (Light Mothers are volunteers from our districts who help us train OAF members in health topics such as nutrition and prevention of illnesses; they also help us monitor the health of our members’ children and facilitate sales of water treatment, mosquito nets, and other health-related products). They went very well and I’m excited about the prospects of the program going forward.

We’re also making strides with improving our HR processes. We’re creating manuals with clear HR policies and forms that can be used for everything from hiring to putting staff on probation. We’re also kicking off a project to develop a positive culture here for our employees, with the goal of showing them they are appreciated and a valued part of the One Acre Fund team (we can’t afford to pay our staff exorbitant salaries, so we want to make sure they know that we recognize the hard work they give us).

We have a lot of other projects going on. We’re harvesting beans in several districts, and are working to measure these harvests so we can better understand what kinds of yields we might expect (where we can, we’re also measuring harvests from farmers who didn’t plant with One Acre Fund so we can try to gauge the lift that we’re providing). We’re also moving forward with our drip irrigation sales project. Several Field Officers are holding sales meetings next week, and we’re hopeful that many farmers will buy kits so they can plant successfully during the dry season. We held our first sales meeting this past week with one field officer – here’s a pic of the demonstration we did.


We also had a member of our team leave us – Ian, who ran our Kakamega district for the past year, has left to return home to the United States. He did a great job and worked really hard – he’s going to be missed! Here’s a photo of his going away dinner with a cake I made (the green blob is supposed to be a maize cob)…


Yep, it Got Me
So yes, I did end up coming down with malaria. I’ve been taking my doxycycline regularly, but apparently the preventative drugs (doxy, malarone) aren’t much of a guarantee. Only 4 of us expats have escaped it at this point (one of whom covers up in DEET and sleeps in a small tent, under a mosquito net, with her bedroom door closed – a triple layer barrier against mosquitoes). All the rest of us have had it at least once now, and several of us have had it within the last couple months. I’ve been really surprised at how many of our Kenyan staff have had it (and how frequently people get it!). I’m pretty sure it’s because of the rain we’ve been having – it’s been very wet, and there are pools of water that attract plenty of mosquitoes.

I have to give a big thank you to Margaux, who literally made me go to the clinic to get tested. I found out about this last Sunday (Oct 26). I’d been feeling pretty run-down, but didn’t think it was much of anything (I figured it was due to running myself ragged in the States, I’d actually gotten a bit of a cold when I came back). I was laying on the couch, and Margaux decided to round up me and Sid to take us to a doctor (he was looking a bit worse off than I was). Melissa, Sid’s fiancée, came as well (she had been diagnosed with malaria the week before but was there for the emotional support). Margaux called a private doctor on a Sunday, asked if he could meet us, and then loaded us into the van and off we went. The doctor was great – very professional, and had clean supplies (yes Mom, I asked and watched – the needle came out of a fresh package). He decided to test me for malaria and typhoid. I was sure they’d be negative, but lo and behold the malaria test came back positive! I was so bummed, but also a bit glad that there was a reason why I was feeling so tired. Sid got his results back too (no malaria, but a nasty stomach infection) and we went off to the chemist for meds. I took Coartem for 3 days, and have been having alternating periods of feeling a lot better and still feeling pretty tired. I didn’t take any time off, so am spending most of this weekend sleeping as much as possible. If I still feel tired into next week, I’ll go back for a follow-up (though Melissa thinks I should be better in a few days, as she was still tired/weak after she finished the Coartem also).

So what is malaria, you might ask? And isn’t it deadly? According to Wikipedia:

“Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, there are approximately 515 million cases of malaria, killing between one and three million people, the majority of whom are young children in Sub-Saharan Africa.[1] Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, but is also a cause of poverty and a major hindrance to economic development.

Malaria is one of the most common infectious diseases and an enormous public health problem… Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by an infective female Anopheles mosquito. Only Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit malaria and they must have been infected through a previous blood meal taken on an infected person. When a mosquito bites an infected person, a small amount of blood is taken which contains microscopic malaria parasites. About 1 week later, when the mosquito takes its next blood meal, these parasites mix with the mosquito's saliva and are injected into the person being bitten. The parasites multiply within red blood cells, causing symptoms that include symptoms of anemia (light headedness, shortness of breath, tachycardia etc.), as well as other general symptoms such as fever, chills, nausea, flu-like illness, and, in severe cases, coma and death. Malaria transmission can be reduced by preventing mosquito bites with mosquito nets and insect repellents, or by mosquito control measures such as spraying insecticides inside houses and draining standing water where mosquitoes lay their eggs.

Although some are under development, no vaccine is currently available for malaria; preventive drugs must be taken continuously to reduce the risk of infection. These prophylactic drug treatments are often too expensive for most people living in endemic areas.”

So here’s the skinny – you can (and should) take preventative drugs like doxycycline or malarone, but while they lower your chance of infection they don’t completely prevent it. If you feel tired/sick, you should get tested immediately (the test was less than $5). You can recover quite well if you take anti-malarials quickly, but many people in poor areas don’t have access to either preventative or treatment medications. This is why we urge our Light Mothers to sell bed nets and to do home visits to see that children are sleeping under them if possible. Here’s to preventing it as much as we can, and to getting better soon!

Election Jitters
We’re getting really excited about the upcoming U.S. presidential election! I received my absentee ballot in the mail (in Kenya! In Bungoma, actually! So amazing!), and sent it off so hopefully it makes it in time (not that my vote for President is likely to count – Obama’s probably going to take California in a landslide). Here’s a pic (taken by Emmanuel, he was so proud of himself) of me holding my election package.


And another of me mailing off the ballot – I went to a lot of trouble to vote this year, I really hope all of you make it to the polls if you haven’t voted already!


Several of us are planning to stay up on Tuesday night and watch the election coverage. It’s apparently going to be on from 2am until 9am. I think Wednesday will be like a national holiday here – if Obama wins, people will be partying; if he loses, they’ll probably be drowning their sorrows. We’ve asked around and been told it’s unlikely there will be violence if he’s defeated; we were told that if he loses and there is violence in the U.S., things could get ugly here, but that seems pretty unlikely.

I don’t want to jinx anything, but at this point we’re really hopeful that Obama will win. I heard Palin’s conversation with “Nicolas Sarkozy” (aka, some Canadian radio personality pretending to be the French President) on the news here today – this woman cannot get within a heart attack of the presidency, please! Not to mention, doesn’t someone screen her calls? I can’t imagine that the Republicans don’t recognize what a liability she is and aren’t guarding her from calls like this with an army of people. Or are they that blinded by her nice legs and inflated hair? At any rate, we’re ready to party in Kenya – let’s get this election over with already!

The Fun Stuff/Highlights

• Hearing some random Kenyan yell something at me on the street, and finding out he was calling me “Nakhumicha”. Andrew, a Kenyan staff member of OAF, was with us and said it’s a nickname meaning “born in the rainy season” – which means you’re fertile. Mom, there may be hope for me yet!
• Singing and clapping while our Light Mothers led us in an amazing song. Many of them seem so committed to helping their communities improve the health of their children; it was inspiring to meet them and see them go through a training
• Watching Rafiki scramble all over my house when she gets super energetic. She’s a terror! She scampers all over, sliding around when she tries to turn on the cement floor. I put a plastic bag and a piece of twine on the floor – she loves to play with them. She jumps into the bag, then battles around in it, then pops out and looks at it as if it’s trying to challenge her to another fight. Hilarious!
  
  
• Having a vet come out to the house to give Rafiki a rabies shot. We had to hold her down, and afterward she curled up and slept for a while – I think she was in shock. As if in-home shots aren’t enough, I’m arranging to have her spayed – and apparently the surgeon will come and do it at the house. Crazy!
  
• Halloween – one of my favorite holidays! I dressed up as Sarah Palin; Paul dressed up as Andrew (the OAF founder); Melissa and Sid were Mother Earth and a black-eyed pea; Lukas dressed up as a drip irrigation kit, and the other boys were fertilizer and maize bags. Margaux wins for best costume though – she was the best maize cob I’ve ever seen (complete with fronds sticking out on top)! Here we are with our host, Hassan, at his restaurant (he throws a Halloween dinner for the mzungus in town). So fun!
  
• Meeting the most adorable little boy while out in the field with Lukas observing his work collecting household expenditure information. This little boy couldn’t stop staring at me and giving me the biggest, sweetest smiles whenever I smiled at him. He was running around barefoot, in tattered clothes, clearly sick with some kind of cold/flu, but was happy and sweet as could be. I took a photo of him so whenever I’m feeling down I can look at him and recognize that there should always be something I can be happy about. He probably has no idea, but he really affected me that morning – I hope he makes you smile too.
  

I miss you all and am really looking forward to being back for the holidays! Hugs and kisses,

Veronica

Back at Home – Yes, I Did Say Home!

I am... happy that I had a fantastic trip to the States. Grateful that I have the best friends in the world. And glad to be home in Bungoma with my kitten (and Emmanuel, who is water-color painting next to me).


OAF Update
Things here have been progressing while I was away – guess they don’t need me much after all! We got our harvest data in from Kakamega and were happy to see that with each dollar a farmer spent on incremental inputs through our program, they were able to generate approximately $2 in incremental profit. We’ve settled on a final model for our Child Health programs going forward and are excited to add deworming pills to our product line. We’re gearing up to measure bean harvests in two of our Bungoma districts. We’re making big strides in standardizing and protecting our information technology locally. We’re beginning to make headway in creating procedures and templates for HR-related activities, and I just got to see the prototype for a drip irrigation system we’re going to start selling. Exciting stuff!

Culture Shock
Going back to the States was quite an experience in culture shock. I’ve never been so excited to fill up a water bottle at a drinking fountain as I was at Heathrow airport in London (drinking water from the tap?! Inconceivable!). And the sight of the public toilets in the airport – I nearly swooned – no pit latrines there!

I arrived in Chicago and decided taking a cab from O’Hare to Evanston was too luxurious for my non-profit budget. Big mistake! 2 ½ hours later I was finally arriving in Evanston after 2 subway lines and a bus ride in between. While hauling my luggage down the street, I decided that if coming from O’Hare I’m doing cabs from now on (though I happily took the subway to and from the airport in New York).

I spent one night with Swapna at her gorgeous condo in Evanston, then was off on a ridiculously early flight to Las Vegas for Dave’s bachelor party. Yes, a bachelor party in Vegas – he’s a good friend of mine from years ago in Los Angeles, and it was a reunion of sorts for many of us. Talk about culture shock – going from rural East Africa to Las Vegas was a pretty incredible experience! Brigitte was laughing because I kept marveling at the beautiful tile floors. Though I was there for less than 48 hours, it was amazing to catch up with so many friends. I miss you all tons, it was great to see you!


From there it was on to New York City. Another shock. Both because it’s New York (skyscrapers! shops everywhere! restaurants!) and because I was able to get a feel for the financial crisis that’s hitting everywhere firsthand. Many of my business school friends are in finance, so it was interesting to hear their perspective on what’s going on (and good to see that they’re not as panicked as I’d have expected given the news we’re seeing in Kenya). My friends there are amazing, and treated me to yummy food, great company and a fantastic trip to Central Park (thanks Shane!). I managed to catch up with a lot of people at Dos Caminos in SoHo, not far from where I did culinary school.
Thanks so much to everyone who came out – here’s a link to photos: (http://picasaweb.google.com/vborgonovi/DosCaminos?authkey=_IMzU99v0bg##)

After only a few days, it was off to Chicago once more. Wednesday night I used a gift certificate from the 2009 Bullfrogs (a thank-you gift I’d gotten for being their section leader – thanks guys!) and went to Tru with Vicki and Swapna.
Can’t get anything like this in Kenya! My main course was venison in a salt-and-chocolate-nib crust. Mmm. We also shared an incredible cheese plate – cheese is one of my favorite things, and we just can’t get good cheese in Kenya. Swapna joked that we should steal the cheese cart – if only it could’ve fit into my luggage, I’d be savoring bits and pieces right now!

Thursday Allana and I gave a presentation at Kellogg about what it’s like to work at One Acre Fund. It went quite well, and we got great questions from the audience. I was also able to visit many faculty members, which was really fun. I managed to squeeze in a happy hour with the current Admissions team, then it was off to the city for a get-together at Crust. Heidi did a terrific job organizing this – I think there were about 25 of us, sampling organic beer, eating delicious thin crust pizza, and catching up on life since Kellogg.

Here’s a link to the photos: (http://picasaweb.google.com/vborgonovi/KelloggReunion?authkey=n6-xCr6FDTI##)

Friday was all about trying to catch up on administrative things that I knew I’d need to get done before leaving the States (such as getting T-Mobile to finally accept that I’ve moved to Africa and can’t use their service anymore). I got some quality time in with Ruchi, then it was off to Special K! rehearsal. As soon as we started running through the opening and closing acts I realized I was in big trouble – I hardly remembered anything! Luckily the arrivals of other Kellogg alumni kept me from focusing on the knots in my stomach. It was amazing to see everyone again! Around 1am, we wearily left the theater, only to return at 7am the next morning to get started again. We rehearsed up until showtime, then put on one of our best shows yet! I teared up during a couple of the songs, but managed to do a decent enough job I think. And the rest of the cast and crew totally rocked it! I’m blessed to have been a part of such a talented group, and hugely fortunate that they wanted me back enough to buy my ticket (I still can’t really believe they did it). I kept thinking I shouldn’t have been there, and felt so lucky that I was able to see everyone one more time. I love you guys so much, thank you for letting me be a part of the show once again!


After the show, we had to keep singing (of course) so did karaoke until the wee hours. And when we got up the next morning, we had a big surprise – two of my closest friends got engaged (to each other!). They’ve basically been outed already but I’m not naming names so they can have a chance to tell people themselves – you two know who you are. I’m so glad I was able to be there and celebrate with you on Sunday!


After a lovely dinner with none other than the Executive Director of next year’s Special K! (what a lucky lady I am!), I was off to get some rest and pack. I left Monday to come back home, a bit sad to leave everyone but honestly pretty excited to get back to work. I felt so disconnected while I was away, and was really looking forward to sitting down with Andrew and assessing where we’re at. As I arrived at the house, Marion and her sister came running down the road yelling “Jambo!” – made all the hassle of the 36+ hour travel disappear. It’s good to be back, though I do miss you – please keep in touch so I don’t get too lonely!

The Fun Stuff/Highlights

• Hearing from my dad that my mom freaked out at the thought I’d adopted – before she found out it was a kitten, not a baby
• Eating In ‘N Out immediately upon arriving in Las Vegas – it was SO good
• Feeling like no time has really passed in the ten years I’ve known Nigel, Dave, Brigitte, JP, Gish, Bonner, Tom, and Tony (the Vegas crew)
• Having the best sushi ever at Blue Ribbon Sushi in New York – I think I died and went to heaven for an hour
• Doing yoga with Marla and realizing I’m terribly out of shape – man was I sore the next day!
• Catching up with old and new friends at Dos Caminos – times may change, but good friendships never do
• Hitting the West Village, Chelsea Market, Central Park and the Brandy Library all in one day – so many of my favorite things!
• Getting some of the best quality time of my trip with Swapna and Vicki over incredible food and wine at Tru – yes, I feel a bit guilty given the work I do but what can I say, food is my passion after all
• Watching people’s eyes light up as I presented slides about the impact that One Acre Fund has and what it’s like to work here (sure, they could’ve just been in shock over the photo of me slaughtering a goat)
• Feeling like Kellogg never ended at Crust in Chicago
• Re-living my Special K! glory days thanks to an incredible group of friends
• Squealing out loud upon hearing the engagement news – I’m doing a little dance right now!
• Trying to fall asleep with Rafiki purring on my bed and thoughts of the last 2 weeks dancing through my head – I’m a lucky girl indeed

Mom’s Fear Comes True – I’ve Adopted!

I am... a new mom. To an adorable little kitten - no, no Kenyan babies yet! Also – please see the new link at the top of this page; we’ve set up a way for anyone who’s interested in sending a care package to see what things we’d love to get. Thanks!

OAF Update
Our three new Program Associates (Lukas, Melissa and Sid) have arrived! We’re really excited to have them here, and they’re already hard at work making improvements to One Acre Fund. Lukas is working on a few things, from putting together a sales effort to sell irrigation tools to farmers, to running an in-depth survey of farmers’ spending and consumption habits. Melissa is helping to standardize and put into place HR policies and procedures, which is going to do a lot to help smooth our processes going forward and provide guidance to employees where previously we didn’t have much. Sid is a tech genius – he’s fixing our outdated and virus-ridden computers in our offices, as well as working on long-term Information Technology solutions for OAF.

We’re also making great strides with our Children’s Health program; Margaux has mapped out our processes and is now working on fixing any gaps and standardizing things we want to make part of our core model in each district. Jeff’s wrapping up his Early Harvest and Active Drying experiments. He brought back some dried kernels from the Active Drying trial, and it was pretty amazing to see! We ask our farmers to “Actively Dry” their maize, which means they should put the maize out to dry in the morning, and put it inside at night or if it starts to rain. Many farmers don’t follow this simple procedure – they simply spread their maize out on the floor inside their house and let it dry there. It’s easier, as they don’t have to move it around as much, but we were worried that this may lead to increased rotting and loss of maize (due to a longer drying period and more likelihood of pests). We don’t have the final data yet, but just from looking at the two sets of maize it’s quite visually obvious that the Actively Dried maize is much whiter and not rotten, while the other maize is more discolored, has rotten bits, and generally looks darker. This is important, because we can’t sell maize to our buyers if more than 2% is broken, discolored or rotten – and based on the sample of the non-Actively Dried maize we saw from the experiment, this maize wouldn’t pass inspection with out buyers. So it’s good validation that the Active Drying technique is important – nice job, Jeff!

So, the Baby I Adopted…
Er, kitten… I can’t help but tease my Mom, she’s afraid I’m going to come back with a real Kenyan baby! Anyhow, the kitten is totally adorable. I decided to name her Rafiki, which means “friend” in Swahili (apparently this is also the name of the monkey from The Lion King, which I’ve now been reminded of a few times – that wasn’t my inspiration though). She’s pretty funny – she’s quite affectionate, and sits on my lap while I work (sometimes she’ll just perch there with her paws on my leg, as in this photo).

It’s really nice having her around for the company, though I’m honestly a bit worried about whether taking her in was a good idea. I can’t buy pet food in Bungoma, and apparently it’s really bad to feed a kitten an all-meat diet (which is what Jake has been feeding his cat, Paca). I attempted to cook her some cat food before leaving (chicken, rice, and carrots boiled together and blended up a bit), but she doesn’t seem to like it (though I hear Paca does). I’m a bit worried that something’s wrong with her, as she wasn’t eating much when I left and seemed to be really lethargic – I hope I don’t end up killing her, that would definitely be an indication of sub-par mothering skills!

Leaving Already
I’m headed back to the States (tonight, actually) for a quick two-week trip. It seems so soon, I’m not really feeling quite ready to leave (I’ve been here 2 ½ months). You may wonder why I’m heading back – good question! It may sound a bit silly, but I was in a musical show at Kellogg called “Special K!”. I sang, danced and acted (somehow they let me into the cast). It’s completely student-run, and each year the show is performed in May. Every October, there’s a repeat performance of the prior May show, so new Kellogg students can see what it is all about and hopefully get excited about participating in creating the new show for the next year. There’s an understood expectation that cast members from the May show who graduated in June will return to do the show in October. Clearly I told everyone that I wouldn’t be able to make it, as I’m living in Africa and not making much money, so I thought that would be it. However, I’m incredibly fortunate to have some truly AMAZING friends – they started a campaign to raise money, and ended up raising enough to fly me back to the States to do the show. I also am lucky enough to work for someone (Andrew) who gave me the ok to leave for a couple weeks to do this – thank you so much to all of you who contributed to helping me visit my friends and do the final show! Words honestly can’t express how much this gift and all of you mean to me!

Indian festival
Another reason I’m really lucky is that Tejash Unadkat, a friend from business school, is from Kenya and his parents live in Nairobi. His mother wanted me to take a package back for him and his sisters, and invited me to stay with them rather than staying in a hotel in Nairobi. They have been truly amazing – Mom & Dad, you’d be thrilled to know that they’ve treated me like a daughter for the past two days. We went for a walk together, I got up and did yoga in the morning, and the best part was that “Auntie” (this is what Tejash’s mom wants me to call her) dressed me up in the most beautiful sari ever and we went to a Navratri Festival at the community center they attend. I felt like a princess – it was so amazing, she pinned the sari together so it would look right, and gave me orange and gold bangles, beautiful earrings and a stunning gold necklace. I couldn’t believe how amazing it was to be dressed so beautifully after nearly 3 months wearing convertible pants! The Festival was fantastic – there was a lot of food (bhel, panipuri, sevpuri, chips, potato curry, chevdo, coconut sweets, mixed fruits, tea, soda and biscuits), as well as a lot of singing and dancing. I couldn’t keep up with all of it, but Auntie made sure I did my best and taught me a few dances,

including a really fun one where you dance with sticks and trade partners down a long line.
They’ve also been feeding me tons of great Indian food – Tejash, you’ll be jealous to know your mom made me thepla, dhokla, chapati, dal dhokli, masala dhosa, jalebi, sata, flower curry, and lassi. So good!

I owe a big, hearty thank you to Tejash and his family for their generous hospitality – I was a bit scared of coming to Nairobi alone, but it’s been a great experience!

(how adorable is he?)

The Fun Stuff/Highlights

• Dancing with sticks at the Indian Festival – so much fun!
  
• Heading for a night out on the town with everyone from OAF (sans Lukas, unfortunately) – it was a great time!
  
• Doing “Ladies’ Night” with Margaux, Anushka and Melissa – wine, cheese, pedicures and lots of girl talk
  
• Hiking Sangalo Rock with the ladies.
  Partway up, a young girl named Corazon decided to join us and served as our informal tour guide. She bounded up the steep trail – barefoot! Put us to shame
  
• Watching Rafiki walk into my shower, squat over the drain, and pee into it – she showed up potty trained! I promptly bought a plastic basin and made her a litterbox with some dirt in it
  
  (one more of me and Rafiki)

Wow – Time Flies!

I am... really happy here. Seriously! So much so that I’ve lagged behind on my updates. So much to tell, so this one’s long…

OAF Update
We’ve received our first cash repayment from a farmer in Kakamega (our biggest district in Kenya)! It was pretty exciting – Kakamega is going to be our model for future districts, and we’re in the full of repayment season right now. We have to quality-check and arrange logistics to pick up thousands of kilos of maize – so things there are really busy right now, but we’re hoping to hit 98% repayment (which is a terrific repayment rate).

We’re also very busy with experiments. We’re running a trial to see whether it’s beneficial to farmers to harvest their maize earlier than they normally would (just in the last two weeks I’ve seen plenty of maize rotting on stalks; they could potentially have been picked earlier and yielded better results). We’re doing another trial to see whether the method that we teach farmers to use when drying maize makes a difference in final yield. And we’re kicking off a third experiment to see what methods for storing dried maize kernels will be best for farmers to use. Thanks Jeff, for all the hard work!

The investment training that Margaux is running seems to be going quite well. I observed a couple trainings, it was really fun to see people get into doing the role plays. Margaux came up with a great story that a couple people in the audience have to act out. Let’s just say it involves a “Wise” farmer and an “Unwise” farmer. The Wise farmer uses his incremental money from his One Acre Fund harvest to buy some goats, which a year later he sells for a cow; he can then sell milk from the cow to make more money for his family. The Unwise farmer uses his incremental money to buy Orange Fanta and have a big party. A year later, he has some empty bottles and a stomachache from all the soda (hahaha). It’s actually a very engaging role play, and the farmers get really into acting it out! Many of them are making pledges to each other regarding how much money they’re going to set aside for investments after their harvest – it’s pretty exciting to see. We’re running this as a test, so hopefully we’ll see that trained farmers do increase their investments – keep your fingers crossed!

In other exciting news, we have three new Program Associates starting this week! Lukas just arrived in Bungoma yesterday, and Melissa and Sid should arrive tomorrow. They’re going to be working on a whole slew of things, from HR to database management to data collection and program experiments. I’m really excited to have them here and look forward to working with them!

Don’t Step on the Green Jelly
So we nearly had a bad situation on our hands a couple weeks ago. Margaux and I were with a Field Officer in Lusanjela, and as we were walking back from a meeting with farmers she suddenly jumped to the side (she was right next to me). Turns out she almost stepped on a snake’s head – it was moving across the road we were walking on. She later said it looked like someone had spilled green jelly on the road. Seriously, it was inches away from her foot – I saw it as she jumped away. She said, “Oh! A snake!” And that’s when it got really interesting. Frederick, the Field Officer, started yelling, grabbed a rock, and threw it at the snake’s head. Unfortunately the rock wasn’t all that big, and the snake slithered into some bushes. There were huts nearby, so Frederick started yelling at the people that there was a snake. People came running and were yelling, and someone gave him a tool that looked like a hockey stick. He was running around, trying to beat around the bushes and find the snake. Finally he had to give up – but he said the snake was a poisonous one, and that it could’ve been real trouble if Margaux had been bitten. We also learned that if you come across a snake in Kenya, you’re supposed to kill it, because it could kill someone. She looked it up later, and thinks it was a green Mamba. We found out that if you’re bitten by a poisonous snake like that, you have to quickly wrap a tourniquet above the bite (to isolate the poison) and get rushed to a hospital. Not that ambulances/ emergency transport are easy to come by in the fields! Needless to say, we wrote up some tips for employees on what to do if you see a snake/ are bitten, and I went out and made first aid kits (complete with tourniquets) for everyone to carry when doing field work. Crazy!

Police Sandwich
Over the past two weeks I got back to my consulting lifestyle, going out of town during the week. I spent several days each week in Kakamega (see above, our biggest district in Kenya in terms of number of members). It was a great experience – really helped me learn a lot more about what we do on the ground. It was also an interesting way for me to get up close and personal with the police.

I was in a taxi going from Bungoma to Kisumu, and was feeling a bit unnerved already. As we were leaving Bungoma, my cab driver stopped to get gas. While sitting in the back of the car, I suddenly noticed a pickup truck coming down the main road with tons of young men standing up in the back. They were waving pangas (machetes) and yelling. My cab driver got back into the car and simply said, “We should go.” Yes indeed! (More on that part of the story in the next section.)

So we’re driving along, dodging potholes as usual, when we pass a police checkpoint. Mind you, there are tons of them along the roads. They stop matatus and fine them when they’re overfilled (but the fine is less than what the drivers make by overfilling them, so they just pay and go on – corruption at its best). Normally the matatus don’t stop private vehicles, but this time we were waved over. Three cops came over and started looking inside the vehicle. Then they opened the doors – and all got in! One was in front, and two squished in on either side of me in the back. I had a couple bags with me (I was going to Kakamega for a few days), so I had to pile those up on my lap. I was literally squished – one of the cops was rather portly. They spoke to my driver in Swahili, then we started back along the road. I wasn’t sure what to say or do, so just said hello. (Mom, I can hear you screaming – I can only imagine what you would have done!) The two in the back started talking to me (they were fairly friendly). The woman asked if I would take her to America with me (I said no, that I had no job in the States but rather lived and worked in Kenya, and that she could take me there someday if she wished). And the guy on the other side asked what religion I was (I said I was born Catholic and left it at that). After a little while, we got to Mumias (a town only notable for its large sugar factory) and they got out. The woman asked for my contact information (I told her I couldn’t give it to her, sorry) and that was it! After my driver and I continued on (and I could breathe again), I learned that it’s not uncommon for police to stop private vehicles and demand rides to wherever they need to go. Can you imagine if that happened in the United States?

Forced Snippage
So it turns out that the men I saw waving machetes were quite likely looking for people to force into having circumcisions. Apparently Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister of Kenya and a member of the Luo tribe, announced publicly that all men in Kenya should be circumcised due to the health benefits (there is evidence that HIV transmission is lower in men who have been circumcised). Traditionally Luo men are not. So the Bukusu tribesmen, who have just finished their circumcision ceremonies (see an earlier post for the details), decided to round up Luo men and force them to be circumcised. I guess there were small near riots around Kenya, including some in the area where I live – but luckily I was on my way to Kakamega, and it was all over when I returned. I’m not sure whether anyone was actually forced into it, but heard this has happened before.

Weekend in Kisumu – Part 2
No, this time there was no candlelit dinner with Paul. In fact, Paul didn’t even go. Jeff, Margaux, Anushka and I took a road trip to Kisumu. And we had a blast! We left Saturday morning, and went for fish ugali by the lake. Mmmm! Then we went to our hotel, and stopped at the bakery next door for ice cream and pastries. We ate them in a hotel room looking out toward the balcony – nice! We then went out and explored town a bit, and found a place to buy good-quality motorcycle helmets (we’re buying better ones that we can use if we have to ride motorbikes). Even better, we went to Nakumatt, a supermarket where we stocked up on foot scrubs, foot lotion, wine, cheese and crackers. Jeff took a nap, and the girls and I gave our feet spa treatments (let’s be clear, this involved sticking our feet into a sink standing up, nothing quite as relaxing as Burke Williams) and shared stories over the wine and cheese. So fun! Then we went to a fantastic dinner at The Grill, followed by a quick beer at Mon Ami. In the morning, we explored the stalls at Kibuye Market, a big outdoor marketplace, and Margaux and I bought fabric to try and have some clothes made. We’ll see how that turns out… then we went to Nyanzaa Club, a sports club that has – hold your breath – a pool! Not the nicest place I’ve been to, but to us it was a sanctuary. Until the kiddos arrived – but even then it was pretty good. The water was terrific, and it was so relaxing! Then we had lunch at an Indian place a friend recommended – it was amazing. Followed by a visit to MegaCity, a shopping complex that houses a mega-Nakumatt. Our jaws hit the floor when we came around the corner into the market – it looked almost like a real mall, and the Nakumatt almost looked like a Target store! We literally stood there, the four of us all lined up next to each other, mouths open, and someone weakly gasped, “Woooooooooooowww…” We stocked up on some goodies, and took off for home. Unfortunately I had to drive the last 30-40 minutes in the dark, which is never good because there are no streetlights here (which makes the bodas, potholes and pedestrians nearly impossible to see). Luckily we made it home safely, and I did a little jig when we arrived to celebrate having made it. A good time, indeed!

Get Up, Stand Up
... for your matatu rights! Jeff and I had a bit of an altercation with some matatu drivers this past week in Kakamega. We were coming back from observing one of our survey agents in the field, and needed to get from Shivagala to Sigalagala (and then from there to Khayeiga – you try remembering all these names and places!). We waited for a matatu to arrive, and when it did it was completely packed. There are five rows (including the driver’s) in a typical matatu, and each is supposed to seat 3 people. In this one, each row had 4-5 people. And there were four men hanging off the side, who very aggressively tried to shove us in. We hesitated, as we could see there was no room. So one of the men literally tried to get me to squeeze into the matatu and lay across a row of people (since there was no seat). At this point, Jeff and I decided to wait for another matatu, as this one seemed unsafe. The matatu conductors (the guys hanging off the side who try to get you to ride with them and collect money) started yelling for us to get in, they wanted to take us, blah blah blah. So I got pretty mad, and told them we weren’t going with them, and that they were being rude to all the people who were sitting there waiting while they were wasting their time, and that they should just get back on the matatu and go. Everyone sitting in the matatu started yelling at the conductors, as they were upset at having to wait. Finally the conductors figured out we were serious about not getting in, and left without us.

A few minutes later, I heard something approaching from the direction they’d gone in. Somehow I knew… I said to Jeff, “I really hope they didn’t just go down the road a bit, kick people out, and come back.” “No, no,” he said. “They wouldn’t do that!” But his words caught in his throat as we saw the matatu come flying down the road, make a hasty U-turn, and watched the conductors leap off again to accost us.

Now I was REALLY mad – livid, really. These conductors (one of whom I’m pretty sure was drunk) had now made over 20 people waste even more of their time. And for what? For a couple mzungus who they could rip off? Sure enough, they now had two seats free (how convenient). Jeff and I were pretty mad, but figured we should get on since they’d come all the way back and there were now seats available (well, not really seats, but just enough room for us to squeeze in). As we got in, I apologized to all the other passengers for how rude the conductors were to them. They all started yelling, “Yes! Unfair! Unfair!” And I told the conductors that I was really angry with them – that we had told them to leave, that they were being unsafe with their passengers, and that they shouldn’t treat their fellow people with such disrespect. Anyhow, we started off down the road, and within a few yards we stopped for a passenger. And then another (this one laid across our laps). And then stopped again. At this point, there were easily 20-something people in the matatu, and the 4 guys hanging off. They tried to shove a teenaged girl in, and were trying to force her friend to squeeze her hand through the mens bodies onto the frame of the matatu, so she could hang on with one hand while it was going to start driving. She and her friend decided not to get on, and backed off. The conductors started trying to shove them back on. And that’s when I lost it. I turned to Jeff and said, “What do you think – this is pretty bad.” And he said, “Yeah, let’s get off, we shouldn’t even pay for this.” So we started to get off, and the conductors went nuts. They were yelling at us to get back on, so we started yelling back that they were ridiculous, this was a dangerous situation, they were rude, etc. Then they tried to charge us 1 ½ times the price we should have paid had we gone all the way to our destination – and we’d barely moved down the road!! When we said we wouldn’t pay them anything, they really went nuts. Jeff and I actually thought it was possible that it was going to get physical (thankfully it didn’t). At some point I looked one of them in the eye and yelled, “You are a bad man! This is very WRONG!” Yeah, I’m pretty threatening, I know (hahaha). We sternly told them that we would not pay and that they should just get back in their matatu and get moving. Somehow they finally realized we were serious and got back on the matatu in a huff. We ended up having to take bodas to Sigalagala (a pretty long ride). But it was much more enjoyable than the overcrowded matatu! For a perspective on what it’s like in these things, here’s a picture of me and Jeff from earlier that same day (in a much more pleasant, not-so-overcrowded matatu). After the whole experience was over, I realized it could’ve been pretty stupid for us to not pay the conductors (I was a little worried they might try to run us over later if they saw us in town) – but Jeff and I agreed that we had done the right thing, on principle. It was a minor battle, but we felt we’d won a small victory for matatu riders everywhere. Stand up for your rights!

The Fun Stuff/Highlights

• Taking the best shower I’ve had yet in Kenya, at the Hotel Ambwere in Kakamega. Quite possibly one of the worst hotels I’ve ever stayed in, but that doesn’t mean much these days. I showered three times in 24 hours – heaven! I really love that place
• Getting a care package from Brittany and Kathi – super cute green gardening gloves, an umbrella, and awesome hand cream! Thanks you two!
• Coming back from a day in the fields actually craving beans, greens and ugali. I eat ugali a few times/week now – I’m becoming more Kenyan!
• Happily watching people stuff themselves with homemade lasagna – Jake and I did a really good job, it came out pretty well for having been made with 3rd world ingredients! We got lots of oohs and ahs
• Still feeling my heart leap for joy when Marion comes running after me on the road. Today she broke the vocab barrier and said a few new words (besides “JAM-BOOOO!” and “howareyouIamfine”, the standard greeting every schoolchild says to a mzungu – all said very quickly as if it’s all one word). It made me ridiculously happy!
• Having wine and cheese at our hotel in Kisumu (so divine – and an unusual treat these days!)
• Convincing Manu to speak out loud in English by swinging him around on my shoulders, then stopping until he squealed “Again!”. He kept getting louder, and louder – and then I got dizzy
• Being humbled after my goat-killing experience had me thinking I was oh-so-brave; I literally leaped onto the arm of the couch when a mouse decided to stroll into the room during dinner the other night. So much for big, bad Veronica!
• Getting stuck with the van – again. This time it wasn’t my fault (thank goodness). Our driver left the lights on and the battery died. At a farmer’s shamba. In the middle of a site in Kakamega. Translation – middle of nowhere. After a 30-minute boda ride out to town, 30-60 minutes spent looking for help, and another 30-minute boda ride back, one of our facilitators showed up with a couple mechanics who were carrying a spare battery. They hooked it up to the battery in the van – with wrenches and THEIR BARE HANDS. No cables. And it was raining. And they started the car and we were on our way, without anyone being electrocuted. Whew!
• Seeing a vibrant, full rainbow on the drive back from Kakamega last week. We even saw the double rainbow on one side - gorgeous
• Margaux and I sending in our absentee ballot request forms. We were so excited! Though I have to say all of us here are wondering what in the world is happening in the US right now. Sorry if I offend anyone – but Sarah Palin? Seriously? And people seem to think this is a good thing – we must not be receiving some kind of information that you all are in the States. Otherwise I’m not sure I can have any kind of faith in our political system. And I’ll have to start a commune somewhere in the middle of nowhere. If you understand this or have information that will enlighten me, please do! Please!

• Finding myself suddenly stopping, nearly gasping at how much it looks like I’m living in a postcard, and realizing that I really love Africa (don’t worry Mom, I miss home too). Life can be really beautiful when it’s so simple

Settling In

I am... still malaria-free and doing well. I’m beginning to feel much more settled in here.

OAF Update
The maize fertilizer experiment at the nursery is finished! We shelled all the cobs, then dried the kernels, and wrapped up the whole thing this past week. We are very close to finishing the fertilizer experiment with our farmers, so will likely be able to make a decision about fertilizer pretty soon. I’m personally really happy about how the nursery experiment turned out – I didn’t botch it up! A good result is it looks like we can use half of the amount of one of the fertilizer types (we were expecting to use twice that) which will certainly help us keep costs down.

Harvesting is underway in Kakamega, which is also quite exciting. We’re gearing up for a very busy period – we’re going to be doing all the repayments, which involves quite a lot of logistics (our farmers repay us with bags of maize; these need to be picked up and sold to traders).

We’re also working on a new training session for our members that helps them think about how to spend the incremental income that they earn by growing more maize through our program. We’re looking to encourage them to invest their money in durable capital such as livestock, tools, wood or fruit trees, etc. So as usual we have many things going on, and are hoping that we are able to continue improving the program we’re offering to farmers here.

Media Frenzy
Kellogg’s centennial is coming up, and the school is creating some kind of video montage documenting graduates’ achievements. The school is very proud of Andrew Youn (class of ’06 and founder of One Acre Fund), so they sent a video crew all the way to Bungoma to film Andrew and the work we’re doing. They also decided to interview all the Kellogg students/grads here, so Allana, Paul and I were all asked to pose for the camera. It was pretty fun – Meg Washburn, Director of Media Relations for Kellogg, came out with a crew of people and Allana and I took them to a farmer’s place to do some filming. It was a strange sight, seeing the farmer and a Field Officer work the cameras and lighting. I’m sure it was strange for them too… of course, we also managed to get their huge four wheel drive jeep stuck in a trench. Luckily, we’re in Kenya, so we were able to dig it out with a jembe (hoe) and a lot of pushing! Meg was also kind enough to bring us some great treats from the States, including prosciutto and cheeses – we loved it! I don’t have that footage yet, but apparently there’s a video of me on the Kellogg website from an interview I did just before graduation (I haven’t been able to see it because the connection speed here is so bad). Let me know what you think - http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Programs/FullTimeMBA.aspx.

Birthday Fun
Our housekeeper, Mary, has two adorable sons. Emmanuel (Manu) and Delvin (Davy) had their birthdays recently (they turned 4 and 10), so we decided to celebrate with a big party for them and their friends. Paul was the Party Chairman, and assigned each of us a party task. I was put on cake duty, which was pretty exciting! Delvin’s turning into quite a little cook, and helped me with the baking. He and Manu were pretty excited – here’s a fun picture of them licking the cake batter from the bowl (they were jumping around, they were so excited).

It ended up being quite a party! We had 26 kids come, and entertained them with Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Dizzy Bat, Sack Races (in which the really little kids were put in the sacks and carried through the relay), face painting, banana milkshakes, a magic trick (which Paul taught Delvin to do, and Delvin performed for his adoring fans), singing and poems by the kids, soccer, and one of their favorites, a totally impromptu game that involved Ian grabbing a bag, chasing the kids, and sticking it on their heads. Hilarious! The cake was a hit, thank goodness – Mary and the kids seemed to really like it. It was a lot of fun, and we got to know the neighborhood kids a little better. One of my favorites is a tiny little thing called Marion – she always has a super intense look on her face, and yells “Jambo!” at the top of her lungs whenever she sees you coming by. Here’s a pic of Marion, her sister and some friends (she’s the one with the hat).

We were exhausted afterward, so relaxed for the late afternoon before having a big goodbye dinner for Allana (she’s heading back to Kellogg). I made a cake for that too – we’ll miss her, she’s been a great colleague (and roommate for me!).

The Fun Stuff/Highlights

• Using the shower in my house for the first time ever (we’ve had it for a month but hadn’t yet had the fortune of both water and electricity working to take a warm shower). Unfortunately we haven’t had that fortune since!
  
• Training a group of field officers at farmers’ homes. It was great to see them work so well with the farmers and with each other!
  
• Seeing the kids at the birthday party sing and recite poems together. They put Special K! to shame
  
• Doubling over with laughter while watching Ian charge at the kids, getting them to scream “GIVE ME A HOT DOG!!!” at the top of their lungs. It was hilarious – and then they took their hot dogs, separated the slice of bread from the dog, licked off the ketchup, ate the bread, and slowly ate the hot dog as if they weren’t really sure they liked it. Smart kids
  
• Completing the maize experiment at the nursery – whew, it was a bit nerve wracking to think months of work could have gone down the drain!
  
• Getting phone calls from home (thanks Mom and Barbi!).
  
• Touching base with friends I haven’t spoken to in years – Asad, Francois – it was great to hear from you and I’m so glad you and your families are well!

Please keep in touch, I’m definitely feeling the distance but am doing well. Hope you are too,

Veronica

Getting’ Cookin’

I am... without power and water for the moment (big storm), but still smiling. :)

**NOTE – today’s entry will have some portions that are a bit graphic. Skip it if you like.

OAF Update
Things at the nursery are going well, we finished shelling all the maize cobs and have our initial weights (of the not-quite-dry kernels) in for all of the plots. This is great, as even if something does go wrong from here forward we at least have data indicating directionally which fertilizer configuration is working out best. We’re hoping to have the final weights (of the dry kernels) in on Friday, after which we’ll compare the data to the information we’re getting from the large-scale fertilizer trial that Allana is conducting in the field. We’re getting closer to helping farmers access good fertilizer!

Allana is quite a rockstar – she’s also making great strides with our harvest survey in Kakamega, so we’ll soon be getting data in about the impact that OAF is having on farmers in that district. This will help us understand the increase in yields that farmers are having as a result of our program, and enable us to continue to fine-tune the program as we look to scale to tens of thousands of farmers.

We also have a slew of other projects kicking off with the arrival of the new staff. We are working on standardizing many of our practices, testing different components of our maize program, and looking to improve our child health offerings. I’m really excited about the potential of these programs to make a difference going forward; as we increase in scale the impact of these programs is going to multiply quickly!

We’re also going into the harvesting phase of the maize season, so a lot of work is being done to prepare for farmer repayment. It requires a lot of logistical planning – field officers must weigh and quality check the maize bags that farmers are giving us as repayment, must collect them at various pick-up points, and trucks need to then collect the bags and transport them to the cereals board where they will be sold. So things are quite busy here, and we are all looking forward to a successful closing of this maize season.

Weekend Update – Graphic, Skip if You’re Squeamish
This past weekend the OAF team (minus Paul) went to Marech, a town approximately 4 hours away from Bungoma. It’s really not a far distance from Bungoma, but the roads are so bad that we averaged about 25-30 kilometers per hour. Despite bouncing around the drive went well, largely because before leaving Allana propped her laptop up against a boombox and recorded songs onto a tape so we could actually play them in the car. Thanks Allana! She and I had a great time dancing away, particularly on the way back.

We stayed at a field studies center that was made up of many huts with thatched roofs and a central building for cooking and eating. We split along gender lines, with 4 guys in one hut and 3 girls in another. The first night, we (the girls) hardly slept because we kept hearing mice (and saw one scurrying on a ledge above us). I kept thinking of when I lived out of a car and road-tripped around the United States in 2002; most of my friends were shocked that I not only survived, but actually had fun sleeping in a car and not having daily access to amenities like showers, my kitchen, etc. (it was worth it to see 40 of the 50 states!). There I was, cowering under a mosquito net, in a hut without electricity, listening to the mice and talking with Allana and Anushka about whether we should move to the car for our second night. But by the morning, we were seasoned veterans and decided we could handle it just fine. The guys, of course, laughed at us for not having slept well – they’d slept like babies, apparently!

During the day, we went on a hike; I’m either really out of shape or definitely affected by the altitude, but it was tough! Andrew and I soaked ourselves in a gold-filled river (seriously, people pan for gold there, and there were tiny flecks of it all over the sand). And when we got back, it was time…

[Stop reading now if you’re against eating/killing animals]

Ever since I was young, I’ve believed that if you’re going to eat meat, you should be ok with the whole process of how a piece of meat gets on to your table. I think it started when I was in Brazil as a kid, and my sister saw a cow strung up in an outdoor market and decided she was going to be a vegetarian (she lasted a few days before caving so she could have Brazilian barbecue). From the time I was around 10 or 11 years old, I wondered what it would be like to live on a farm and participate in killing your food. Culinary school gave me some exposure – we had to break down large pieces of meat and scale/clean fish, but it wasn’t really the same.

Well, I got my opportunity – we bought a live goat and someone had to slaughter it for our dinner. I was really nervous, but had told my colleagues before we’d even left that I was going to try to do it, so since I’d made a public commitment I had no choice but to follow through! It was a pretty intense experience, but luckily our hosts told me exactly what to do. I won’t go into gory details, but I will say that apparently I made history at the camp that day – women here aren’t allowed to participate in killing animals, they’re not considered “strong of heart” enough. After killing the goat, we strung it up and skinned it (I helped with that a bit too), then it was broken down for cooking. I then got to help with cleaning all of the meat (literally all of it, including the organs) and preparing it. I learned to do traditional Kenyan nyama choma (you boil, then grill the meat), as well as an Eritrean red sauce preparation (so yummy!). We also cooked the other bits (the organs), which involved a fascinating way of braiding the intestines, then boiling and sautéing them (yes Dad, I can show it to you sometime). We also made some yummy cabbage and rice. According to my colleagues, the meal was a great success!

A Not Fun Update – Also Graphic, Skip if You’re Squeamish
Unfortunately we had a pretty serious and upsetting incident happen this past Monday. I debated whether to include this, but it’s a part of life here and I figured it’s better to be open and honest than pretend these things don’t happen.

A brand new field officer was on his way to his first Monday meeting, and in an effort to get there quickly, he and his field manager decided to hop on a motorbike (it’s a pretty common form of transportation, you just hire a guy to drive you where you need to go). The details aren’t completely clear, but apparently the driver went to pass a boda (bicycle taxi), lost control of the bike, and crashed into a truck. The field manager and officer both fell off, but unfortunately the officer fell into the path of the truck and was killed. Even worse, it turns out that the two were actually brothers (it’s also pretty common that our staff are related but we don’t always know it; they don’t want to influence the hiring process so they don’t tell us until much later, sometimes months after having worked with us).

So Monday was a pretty tough day for all of us here at OAF. We’re putting together policies to hopefully prevent this from happening again (field staff will need to wear helmets and should never have more than one passenger per motorbike, for example), and expatriate staff (like me) are not going to be riding motorbikes unless there’s no other option. But we will need to ride them from time to time, since with many of our sites there really isn’t another feasible option to get there. We have a lot of spare helmets though, and are taking steps to ride with drivers that we know. We’re ok, and will continue to be ok, but please send us positive thoughts if you can. It’s appreciated!

The Fun Stuff/Highlights

• Killing and cooking a goat from start to finish – wow!
• Paying about $4 to have someone fix my roof – no more wet bed after a rain!
• Getting closer to identifying a good fertilizer combination for our maize program
• Tasting chang’aa (the locally brewed alcohol that I’d previously sworn off). Our host, Sammy, promised it was safe and that he’d seen the process of it being made. It was actually a bit disappointing – though it smelled a bit like tequila, it tasted mostly like nasty water and didn’t seem to be very alcoholic. But we felt like we’d done something bold by just trying it!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Seeing the OAF expat and Kenyan staff pull together to make our jobs safer, take care of each other, and continue pursuing the goal of helping rural farmers lift themselves out of hunger