Hello friends and family. Thanks for continuing to support our blog. As the summer rolls on, I am finding it more and more challenging to find the time to write. But my fan club (pretty much just my mom and dad) get on me when I don't write enough, so ... voici un nouveau blog pour mes parents. Even though I bought a digital camera on the way to the airport, I have failed miserably at using it to create stimulating visual content for this blog. However, Courtney and I did go to the the Giraffe Park today and there are a few pictures that she will post in her entry tomorrow (so check back soon).
Everything is still going quite well with GoInnovate for Africa. We have accomplished all of our goals for the summer (establishing a network, vetting our plan and writing our own initial business plan/ model) and still have a few weeks to spare. I am working on gathering clips and pictures (ironic for me to be gathering pictures, I know) for future web content. Hopefully we'll have a website up and running before too long. We also have a few meetings left this coming week with government officials and "wazee" (wise elders in Kenyan culture who can provide many insights on local culture). We'll be meeting with the Director of Economic Affairs for the whole country in the Ministry of Economics on Tuesday and we have two other meetings with high-ranking government officials later on in the week who we hope will be as energized and supportive of our plan as everyone else who we've met. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Also, we are thinking about making a few changes to our operations relating to financing our entrepreneurs' ventures. A wise professor helped us think through the possibility of making only initial investments and developing a network of venture capital funds that have interest in east Africa to handle the larger growth financing a year or so out. I plan on talking to all of you great finance/ banking brains when I get home (Goldfarb, Zack, Barry, Jessica, Mike, Evan - brace yourselves). If you're interested in hearing more, Courtney and I can send you our new (more polished than the 2-pager we sent many of you) proposal in a week or so for your feedback. Please get in touch with me by leaving a message here or sending me an e-mail at mcstol@gmail.com. Thanks again to Tom Serres and his team at Piryx for working on "spiffing up" the look and feel of our proposal.
In other news, Courtney's dad arrived on Saturday and it has been great to have another Texan around. We've talked hunting, oil and bar-b-que for about two days straight and I'm starting to miss Texas more than ever. He's going for a safari to the Masai Mara for the next couple of days and I must admit I'm a bit jealous, although, I am planning a small safari of my own with a fellow Swede (a friend of Rachel's, the other roommate, from Harvard) at the end of the month. You can definitely expect a few pictures in my early August post.
And because I know this post has been a bit boring with too many details about our organization, I will leave you with a story to make you laugh and cringe: Our favorite Kenyan (who happens to also be our driver) Robert was telling us about a number of Kenyan things and happened to casually bring up circumcision as an important ceremony and rite of passage for young Kikuyu men. Apparently this is also true for most of the other tribes in east Africa. Anyway, matters of personal privacy are just not as important here as they are back home, so Robert went into a bit too much detail describing the extent of the pain during his own "public initiation ritual" explaining, "We want the pain ... and you cannot show any emotion. It is so perfect". Perfect isn't the word I would use. By the end of it, I was begging to get out of the car ... literally holding back tears with everything I had. Robert, laughing so hard he was starting to cry himself, took one look at my face said I would never be a "real man" in Kenya. I told him I was quite alright with that. He sighed and thought proudly of his own son that would "face the knife" soon. I said a prayer of thanksgiving for my dad.
Ninachoka na ninataka kulala (I am tired and I need to sleep). Thanks for reading.
PV,
M
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
MATT: Your cheatin' heart will tell on you
My good friend Jon Cole requested that I add some pictures. I am not so great with photos, but Courtney has some that we will be posting soon. In the meantime, I wanted to share one with you.
Last Friday, we were all celebrating Courtney's birthday at a Churrascaria just down the street (Courtney and I are both Texan and, therefore, ridiculous carnivores even by African standards). After a round of happy birthday by the wait staff, a group of musicians scurried to the front of the restaurant and began performing a number of east African hits. You can imagine how surprised washed over me as a more familiar tune filled the air ... only this was a new version of an old favorite. The lyrics began. "Your cheating heart ... will make you weep". The jazzy style in which they were playing the song as well as the mechanical British/African English voice singing the song nearly gave me a heart attack. I had to step in. You can guess what came next:
Hank would have been proud. Everyone in the restaurant stared in disgust as I gave my twangiest rendition of one of my all time favorites. Hakuna matata.
By the way a big thanks to Tom Serres for all of his help! If you don't know about Piryx, you've got to check it out. It's truly empowering non-profits and political organizations (on both sides of the aisle) in an astoundingly helpful way!
Hope you're all well. PV,
Matt
Last Friday, we were all celebrating Courtney's birthday at a Churrascaria just down the street (Courtney and I are both Texan and, therefore, ridiculous carnivores even by African standards). After a round of happy birthday by the wait staff, a group of musicians scurried to the front of the restaurant and began performing a number of east African hits. You can imagine how surprised washed over me as a more familiar tune filled the air ... only this was a new version of an old favorite. The lyrics began. "Your cheating heart ... will make you weep". The jazzy style in which they were playing the song as well as the mechanical British/African English voice singing the song nearly gave me a heart attack. I had to step in. You can guess what came next:
Hank would have been proud. Everyone in the restaurant stared in disgust as I gave my twangiest rendition of one of my all time favorites. Hakuna matata.
By the way a big thanks to Tom Serres for all of his help! If you don't know about Piryx, you've got to check it out. It's truly empowering non-profits and political organizations (on both sides of the aisle) in an astoundingly helpful way!
Hope you're all well. PV,
Matt
COURTNEY: An excerpt from Courtney’s journal- I have been such a slacker with this I have lost count of the days
Well, I realize I have not written in 3 weeks, and for that I apologize. So much has happened, and it is difficult for me to pick what to write about. Well, for one, I lost a week due to a bacterial infection which is a shame since time is so precious here. Thank goodness for Zithromax! What else? Oh yes, of course. Ian came to visit for a week which gave me an excuse to do all kinds of touristy Kenyan things. We went to see some baby elephants and a baby rhino, and I bribed a guard to let me pet a cheetah. The cheetah incident was actually a bit funny at the time, but now that I look back on it I am not sure if I am as amused. I had heard that to pet the cheetah you had to get in good with the guards first because it is not allowed, so I practiced saying “Tu na weza kuana chezi?” (We can see Cheetah?) so that I would sound like a local. The guard that I first approached told me he didn’t want to know anything about the cheetah, but the more opportunistic guard standing next to him told me he would take us immediately. Sometimes corruption can be quite convenient.
The funny bit was that the first cheetah we saw in the pen was the wrong one. He actually had to shoo the first cheetah away and get the tame one. So, technically I was in a pen with a wild cheetah which is a pretty good story. What I didn’t realize is how much cheetahs are like dogs- the guard actually made the cheetah sit for us. I thought they would be more like cats. I think the cheetah liked me though- it licked my hand…or maybe it was just tasting me to see if it wanted to take a bite. Who knows. I also got to see a very cute baby rhino whose favorite thing to do was charge the crowd and scare everyone half to death. I almost decided to quit this whole NGO business to start an animal orphanage of my own. Then I could play with baby cheetahs and rhinos all day.
Then of course I remembered why I am doing this. We went to a slum called Kawangware yesterday. I went to the slums in January, so this was not a new experience but it is always powerful nonetheless. The kids stepping barefoot in open sewage, the trash piled higher than the houses, the torn uniforms and snotty noses and rotting teeth. It’s a sad sight, but this time I saw a bit more than I did last time. This time I saw the joy- the giggles of the kids running up and down the street shouting “Wazungu!” (white people!) and chanting “How are you? How are you? How are you?” over and over because its the only English words they know. They find joy in the smallest things, and I think it is just as important for us to see this part of their lives- equally as important for us to celebrate their joy as it is for us to mourn their sorrow.
Our work has been going incredibly well. We have now completed nearly 40 interviews and received nothing but very positive feedback. We have begun the process of fundraising and are completing our final business plan in both powerpoint and word. The work is invigorating, and we are both trying to figure out how we will manage to keep this pace while still passing our classes next year. Today, one of the banks we talked to told us, “Well you should be lauded for what you are attempting, but I wonder if you know exactly how big of thing you are getting yourselves into.” Sometimes it is hard to think of this as something that should be praised when it is so far removed from the smiling children in the slums who need our help the most. But, I know this to be true- a job is worth far more than a handout. And, the parents of these children need a job to pay for their meals and uniforms and books and shots. So, I will keep working in hopes that through me God will give at least one child in Kawangware a better chance at life.
The funny bit was that the first cheetah we saw in the pen was the wrong one. He actually had to shoo the first cheetah away and get the tame one. So, technically I was in a pen with a wild cheetah which is a pretty good story. What I didn’t realize is how much cheetahs are like dogs- the guard actually made the cheetah sit for us. I thought they would be more like cats. I think the cheetah liked me though- it licked my hand…or maybe it was just tasting me to see if it wanted to take a bite. Who knows. I also got to see a very cute baby rhino whose favorite thing to do was charge the crowd and scare everyone half to death. I almost decided to quit this whole NGO business to start an animal orphanage of my own. Then I could play with baby cheetahs and rhinos all day.
Then of course I remembered why I am doing this. We went to a slum called Kawangware yesterday. I went to the slums in January, so this was not a new experience but it is always powerful nonetheless. The kids stepping barefoot in open sewage, the trash piled higher than the houses, the torn uniforms and snotty noses and rotting teeth. It’s a sad sight, but this time I saw a bit more than I did last time. This time I saw the joy- the giggles of the kids running up and down the street shouting “Wazungu!” (white people!) and chanting “How are you? How are you? How are you?” over and over because its the only English words they know. They find joy in the smallest things, and I think it is just as important for us to see this part of their lives- equally as important for us to celebrate their joy as it is for us to mourn their sorrow.
Our work has been going incredibly well. We have now completed nearly 40 interviews and received nothing but very positive feedback. We have begun the process of fundraising and are completing our final business plan in both powerpoint and word. The work is invigorating, and we are both trying to figure out how we will manage to keep this pace while still passing our classes next year. Today, one of the banks we talked to told us, “Well you should be lauded for what you are attempting, but I wonder if you know exactly how big of thing you are getting yourselves into.” Sometimes it is hard to think of this as something that should be praised when it is so far removed from the smiling children in the slums who need our help the most. But, I know this to be true- a job is worth far more than a handout. And, the parents of these children need a job to pay for their meals and uniforms and books and shots. So, I will keep working in hopes that through me God will give at least one child in Kawangware a better chance at life.
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