Just a quickie!

Hi again!

My last post was super long so this one is nice, short and sweet. Yesterday we visited more farms, listened to the creation of business plans and the like. The homes we visited yesterday were much nicer than the others... A new VHI worker started yesterday, his name is Sam. Such a great guy-- and really, really smart. I talked about Carlo in my last post (the peace core worker). Carlo was a poli sci major in college so really has no business experience at all-- Sam on the other hand, does. He is a native Kenyan but has his four year degree, our guess is in business. The way he interacted with the people was effective and he really knew what he was talking about. He talked about risks and profits and how to not always expect the maximum production out of their poultry or cows. I saw a lot of what I have learned in my business courses put into practice while watching Sam.

The food here has been excellent. So much fruit and it's just so delicious!! Our favorite snack so far are samosas, and yesterday we discovered that chipati, peanut butter and sliced bananas is probably the best thing since sliced bread. Tony (our driver from Nairobi and for any of our tourist ventures) brought us fresh bananas, tree tomatoes, and other fruits from his farm. Tomorrow he is taking all of us to a tea factory and a coffee factory. I am very excited.

Okay- today. We arrived at VHI on time (10am) and sat around for almost 3 hours waiting for today's event to begin. We truly experience African time today. Today's event was the loan distribution to groups/ members that had been approved, gone through the training, and had a solid business plan. Three groups of 12 received their checks today. Each of us Americans got to hand out the checks as we went down the line. That was a neat experience. Some of the women who received their checks just held them, and then pulled the actual check out and just stared at the amount... It was.... rewarding. I am not sure the word to describe the feeling that I had while watching these women just glow looking at these checks. Ah.. I get goosebumps thinking about it. :) Each check is 30,000 ksh which amounts to roughly $400 which as I explained before-- needs to be repaid after 2 years with a 9% interest rate. Some are lucky enough to pay back the loan within a year and can recieve another loan of 30,000 ksh without paying interest to be repaid during the subsequent year. It doesn't happen often but does. Out of the 84 groups (again of 12 people) that VHI funds, only 2 groups are all men. Men in this culture just do not have the drive that the women do-- AND its a patriarch culture. I should mention though that almost all of the employees at VHI are men... It's a refreshing change for the organization and the culture. VHI also has 60 other groups that they are unable to fund but still provide training to become self-sustaining.

There is seriously so much that I want to share and so much that I have learned but time is limited... so, I am ending here for the night. I'll try to update again this weekend.

Again- I'm here. I'm safe and I am loving Africa. Beautiful people, beautiful country.  Hi to my family. Hi mom- I hope you are reading this... Have found several adorable children I would love to bring home... Haven't actually adopted any yet. That's all for now. Love.