I’m back in action writing. Do try to contain your excitement. This will likely be a short one (by my standards). I wanted to give you faithful readers some information on the organization and project I am working on for the next month before I get extra busy. I am in Kellogg Corps – a program that partners Kellogg students with international organizations to complete consulting projects on a volunteer basis the summer after they graduate (which I did manage officially on June 19).
The organization: GSE Ecotours (www.gse-ecotours.com) was formed in 2006 by a young Kenyan woman (Jackie Kariithi) with a masters degree in environmental studies, and a passion for local development in her country. GSE partners with local Kenyan communities to offer a responsible tourism alternative to mass packaged vacations. These customized vacations are unique, because the traveler has an opportunity to reside with a host family in a rural village community for three to fourteen days as a guest rather than a tourist, and the visitors are able to forge lasting relationships with their hosts, often continuing after they leave the village. GSE works with eight different cultural ethnic groups throughout various regions of Kenya. Each community has its own unique identity, character, and culture. Travelers engage in singing and dancing, meal preparations, community projects, language lessons, handicrafts, and harvesting with the local communities.
The project: We are tasked with assessing the USA market, including opportunities with college travel groups, and creating an integrated marketing plan with the goal of increasing awareness and attracting more US business.
The team: As I have briefly mentioned before Maki and Liz from Kellogg will also be working on the GSE project in Kenya with me. This is FANTASTIC, because Liz can produce the coolest videos you have seen, and she has some McKinsey consulting experience (although we will be competitors in the consulting world I can let it slide for now ;)). Maki is from Tokyo and will be headed back there after Kenya. She is brilliant at researching and makes even the dullest business information look fancy and fun in powerpoint. I need to learn from both of them while I have the chance!
The plan: We are performing market research to better understand the US target market and school markets as well as competitive research to determine points of differentiation and pricing possibilities. We will also be interviewing the GSE team and experiencing their product next week first-hand as we head to a local village and engage in the cultural activities! I could not be more excited to go meet local Kenyans and to learn from them. I am also ready to get some work done as we help with daily chores and work on a larger community project. Hopefully I can do a better job than when I laid some bricks in Paraguay while visiting my friend Katie in the Peace Corps. Right after I put the bricks down some local guys re-did it…that hurts the ego. I guess my dreams of being a brick layer ended that day.
Finally, we will be providing GSE with actual marketing materials (such as press releases, marketing and bio videos, and website improvements) as well as contacts to leverage in the US travel and school markets. I have already enjoyed meeting with Jackie of GSE and drafting press releases about the travel offering and creating a nerdy health and safety write up (yea risk management!).
I will add some pictures after the village homestay as well as some quality stories, because let’s be honest me farming or building a community project has to generate worthy material. I hope you are all well. Stay in touch! Until next time…Sarah.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Kenya versus the USA
(June 24-27) Don’t you worry too much I will not write this often in the future. I am on my own for a week in Kenya and quite frankly I can’t remember the last time I was alone for this long. I assure you it is good for me and I am enjoying it, but I will be excited to see Maki and Liz on Wednesday.
Since I have been amused by some of the similarities and differences of living in Kenya versus the US I thought I would share them while I have the time and blog space. Before I monsoon down the differences on you let me first say that throughout my travels to random places generally people and things are the same. The people here are just as friendly and kind as the “Minnesota Nice” people I grew up with.
In the US we speak English and drive on the right side of the road. Given my love of talking to people I am happy to say that they speak English in Kenya as well as Swahili but they drive on the left side. I have to think a bit harder when crossing the road, especially since the driving rules are, shall we say, a bit lax. Now as most of you know my name is Sarah and that is my only first name. In talking to Jackie (who I am working with here) I found out that most people have two first names an Anglo one and their Kenyan name. Jackie’s Kenyan name is Nduta (pronounced like Dutta my Kellogg pal June’s last name), and she laughed when I called that her “real name.” She said she never thought of it that way since Jackie was also given to her when she was a baby. I thought she chose it like many of my Asian friends in the US.
Many of you have noticed that I now have internet since I have been as active as ever on my emails and was sure to update facebook and start this blog. Well I went to Safaricom and got a local Kenya phone for work and emergencies and a USB zip that gets me wireless internet. SCORE! It is a bit expensive to upload large files, so the pictures will be minimal although I will try to share at least one per blog. Let me just say that my Kenya Nokia phone for $30 US is newer and nicer than my 3 year old reliable friend many of you make fun of me for in the US. I found that to be hilarious, and I am sure my Kellogg roommate Kalpana will too.
Okay I now have a lizard running down my wall. That happened in Florida when we were kids but not so much in Minneapolis, Madison, LA or Chicago. Sticking with the animal theme I was amused when I headed to the beach to go for a run and saw a monkey run by as if it were a cat roaming the neighborhoods in the US. Nobody around seemed to be phased, so this is clearly standard procedure. While I was running on the beach I thought I saw a giant carved camel since I had seen other wooden crafts throughout the day. Oh no my friends that was a real camel sun bathing and there were two others strolling along as well. I have to tell you that I lived in Hermosa Beach for three years and can’t recall any animals at all and certainly no camels. I am also happy to report that I was not spat on by one.
If I needed to shop for a wide variety of products in the US it was usually at Target; (that’s right Kimberly I am a supporter) in Kenya they have a Nakumatt which I find surprisingly similar. I bought notebooks, utensils, and groceries and there were plenty of other shopping categories. I found Coke and Doritos on the shelves at Nakumatt but opted out. I did not opt out of a Nestle General Mills cereal (they are “cereal partners” here which allows me to support my friends marketing at both companies) called Honey Stars…looks like Honeycomb and I am looking forward to it. I pay for everything in Kenyan Schillings here, and I get 75 of them for every US dollar. I must say that the food pricing is pretty similar to the US. Things are not as cheap as I would have guessed so far. Oh and they don’t eat fries like many countries they eat chips and if you order the masala version you won’t be disappointed. They were coated with some tomato spicy sauce fried right onto them. Yum.
On the weather front it is winter here right now and they get crazy monsoon rains that come in really fast and don’t last more than 30 minutes to an hour; a stark contrast to the below zero blizzards in Chicago. I have found the temperature to be delightful and no ac is needed. On another note as I passed a building today there was tons of music coming from it, so much so that I asked a random Kenyan what the building was. I almost fell over when he told me it was a Baptist church. They were playing current US clubbing music...no joke. I can’t remember the song right now, but it was crazy loud and could have been coming from Pure in Vegas.
This got a bit long, but I wanted to paint a verbal picture for you. Until next time!
Since I have been amused by some of the similarities and differences of living in Kenya versus the US I thought I would share them while I have the time and blog space. Before I monsoon down the differences on you let me first say that throughout my travels to random places generally people and things are the same. The people here are just as friendly and kind as the “Minnesota Nice” people I grew up with.
In the US we speak English and drive on the right side of the road. Given my love of talking to people I am happy to say that they speak English in Kenya as well as Swahili but they drive on the left side. I have to think a bit harder when crossing the road, especially since the driving rules are, shall we say, a bit lax. Now as most of you know my name is Sarah and that is my only first name. In talking to Jackie (who I am working with here) I found out that most people have two first names an Anglo one and their Kenyan name. Jackie’s Kenyan name is Nduta (pronounced like Dutta my Kellogg pal June’s last name), and she laughed when I called that her “real name.” She said she never thought of it that way since Jackie was also given to her when she was a baby. I thought she chose it like many of my Asian friends in the US.
Many of you have noticed that I now have internet since I have been as active as ever on my emails and was sure to update facebook and start this blog. Well I went to Safaricom and got a local Kenya phone for work and emergencies and a USB zip that gets me wireless internet. SCORE! It is a bit expensive to upload large files, so the pictures will be minimal although I will try to share at least one per blog. Let me just say that my Kenya Nokia phone for $30 US is newer and nicer than my 3 year old reliable friend many of you make fun of me for in the US. I found that to be hilarious, and I am sure my Kellogg roommate Kalpana will too.
Okay I now have a lizard running down my wall. That happened in Florida when we were kids but not so much in Minneapolis, Madison, LA or Chicago. Sticking with the animal theme I was amused when I headed to the beach to go for a run and saw a monkey run by as if it were a cat roaming the neighborhoods in the US. Nobody around seemed to be phased, so this is clearly standard procedure. While I was running on the beach I thought I saw a giant carved camel since I had seen other wooden crafts throughout the day. Oh no my friends that was a real camel sun bathing and there were two others strolling along as well. I have to tell you that I lived in Hermosa Beach for three years and can’t recall any animals at all and certainly no camels. I am also happy to report that I was not spat on by one.
If I needed to shop for a wide variety of products in the US it was usually at Target; (that’s right Kimberly I am a supporter) in Kenya they have a Nakumatt which I find surprisingly similar. I bought notebooks, utensils, and groceries and there were plenty of other shopping categories. I found Coke and Doritos on the shelves at Nakumatt but opted out. I did not opt out of a Nestle General Mills cereal (they are “cereal partners” here which allows me to support my friends marketing at both companies) called Honey Stars…looks like Honeycomb and I am looking forward to it. I pay for everything in Kenyan Schillings here, and I get 75 of them for every US dollar. I must say that the food pricing is pretty similar to the US. Things are not as cheap as I would have guessed so far. Oh and they don’t eat fries like many countries they eat chips and if you order the masala version you won’t be disappointed. They were coated with some tomato spicy sauce fried right onto them. Yum.
On the weather front it is winter here right now and they get crazy monsoon rains that come in really fast and don’t last more than 30 minutes to an hour; a stark contrast to the below zero blizzards in Chicago. I have found the temperature to be delightful and no ac is needed. On another note as I passed a building today there was tons of music coming from it, so much so that I asked a random Kenyan what the building was. I almost fell over when he told me it was a Baptist church. They were playing current US clubbing music...no joke. I can’t remember the song right now, but it was crazy loud and could have been coming from Pure in Vegas.
This got a bit long, but I wanted to paint a verbal picture for you. Until next time!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
From Chicago to London to Nairobi to Mombasa
(June 22-24) I will start from the beginning…my last hours in the USA prior to the crazy months. That last morning, Tuesday June, 22nd was standard Sarah crazy. I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off (dramatic and gross saying) printing frantically at Jacobs, purchasing last minute travel tickets, brunching with favorite Kellogg friends, sending last minute texts and phone calls, and of course packing. Don’t get me wrong I had been setting out my key items and packing and re-packing like a nerd for over a month - I even have a sterile needle kit! It was now the true test of CRAMMING it all in my 50 liter pack and then the duffel. Thank goodness for my patient roommate Kalpana who also has a sense of humor. We jammed it all in with 30 minutes to spare which meant I got one last shower.
Finally I was clean and waiting at my gate at the airport eating some delightful snacks and thinking about a million random things at once. I boarded the plane and sat next to an older women wearing a few crosses that reminded me of bling I used to see in LA; she was the Scottish version of my Grandma Mc. She was absolutely delightful (although the relatively thick accent caused me to miss 20% of what she said), and she drank a couple of “ginger beers” and bought her house sitter a carton of cigarettes – mind you she was sure to tell me she did not smoke! I helped her with the movie options as she chose to watch the Rock in Tooth Fairy and some other flick I did not know. Several hours later I had made a dent in my Grisham book and slept for a mere three hours. I was in London for my 12 hour layover!
Thanks to my prior trip a year and a half ago I had my tube map and ticket as well as some cash. The customs line was insanely long but the Grisham book was entertaining as was the young eclectic guy from the US telling his Canadian girl that the US became independent in the 1800s. I refrained from commenting on the misinformation as I shuffled along in line. I was finally out of the airport and on my way to Wimbledon! 2 trains later, a few chapters in my book, free strawberries, and a long queue as they call it I was inside Wimbledon just as the matches started at noon.
I spent two hours wandering the grounds, taking pictures, and watching a women’s double match. Meghann Shaughnessy of the USA and Virgina Rouano Pascual of Spain defeated two women from Belarus. Watching women’s doubles live is great times. The emotions ran high and the mind games were extensive! The women from Belarus screamed in anger in their native language and one of them slammed her racket so many times the officiating chair had to say “Katerina mind the grass” twice! It was hilarious when a British woman sitting near me asked “are they Russian” after a similar episode. I had to chuckle as I thought of Natasha and nearly said “Niet!”
Anyway, I eventually found my good friend Lisa at the gate, and she was able to get a ticket likely due to the 3PM England World Cup match. We wandered around further and took entertaining pictures as we caught up on life. The eleven hour record setting marathon match featuring US player John Isner was being played, and it was at least 30 games to 30 in the fifth set when I last saw it before leaving the arena. It was time to head back to the airport for my next overnight flight to Kenya.
Two screaming children and eight hours later we arrived in Nairobi. I may have slept four hours. I managed to get my Kenya visa and praised God as I found my bag. Another long layover and a 45 minute flight and I had made it to Mombasa (population 880,000 according to a sign) – my home for the next month. I eventually met with Jackie, the owner of GSE Ecotours and my client. She was extremely kind and drove me around to my lodging options for the week and helped me get groceries. I settled on a safe spacious apartment with a little hallway kitchen and a nice pool; it is in a “posh” (do not think 5 star LA posh though) area of Mombasa called Nyali.
I got settled in and slept a full night woke up for a bit and then slept until 2PM. I was caught up on sleep and no longer felt brain dead. Jackie was supposed to come get me to get internet and a phone, but after some monsoon rains and several meetings she rescheduled for Saturday AM. I managed to get some work done for the remainder of the day and to catch some World Cup.
Finally I was clean and waiting at my gate at the airport eating some delightful snacks and thinking about a million random things at once. I boarded the plane and sat next to an older women wearing a few crosses that reminded me of bling I used to see in LA; she was the Scottish version of my Grandma Mc. She was absolutely delightful (although the relatively thick accent caused me to miss 20% of what she said), and she drank a couple of “ginger beers” and bought her house sitter a carton of cigarettes – mind you she was sure to tell me she did not smoke! I helped her with the movie options as she chose to watch the Rock in Tooth Fairy and some other flick I did not know. Several hours later I had made a dent in my Grisham book and slept for a mere three hours. I was in London for my 12 hour layover!
Thanks to my prior trip a year and a half ago I had my tube map and ticket as well as some cash. The customs line was insanely long but the Grisham book was entertaining as was the young eclectic guy from the US telling his Canadian girl that the US became independent in the 1800s. I refrained from commenting on the misinformation as I shuffled along in line. I was finally out of the airport and on my way to Wimbledon! 2 trains later, a few chapters in my book, free strawberries, and a long queue as they call it I was inside Wimbledon just as the matches started at noon.
I spent two hours wandering the grounds, taking pictures, and watching a women’s double match. Meghann Shaughnessy of the USA and Virgina Rouano Pascual of Spain defeated two women from Belarus. Watching women’s doubles live is great times. The emotions ran high and the mind games were extensive! The women from Belarus screamed in anger in their native language and one of them slammed her racket so many times the officiating chair had to say “Katerina mind the grass” twice! It was hilarious when a British woman sitting near me asked “are they Russian” after a similar episode. I had to chuckle as I thought of Natasha and nearly said “Niet!”
Anyway, I eventually found my good friend Lisa at the gate, and she was able to get a ticket likely due to the 3PM England World Cup match. We wandered around further and took entertaining pictures as we caught up on life. The eleven hour record setting marathon match featuring US player John Isner was being played, and it was at least 30 games to 30 in the fifth set when I last saw it before leaving the arena. It was time to head back to the airport for my next overnight flight to Kenya.
Two screaming children and eight hours later we arrived in Nairobi. I may have slept four hours. I managed to get my Kenya visa and praised God as I found my bag. Another long layover and a 45 minute flight and I had made it to Mombasa (population 880,000 according to a sign) – my home for the next month. I eventually met with Jackie, the owner of GSE Ecotours and my client. She was extremely kind and drove me around to my lodging options for the week and helped me get groceries. I settled on a safe spacious apartment with a little hallway kitchen and a nice pool; it is in a “posh” (do not think 5 star LA posh though) area of Mombasa called Nyali.
I got settled in and slept a full night woke up for a bit and then slept until 2PM. I was caught up on sleep and no longer felt brain dead. Jackie was supposed to come get me to get internet and a phone, but after some monsoon rains and several meetings she rescheduled for Saturday AM. I managed to get some work done for the remainder of the day and to catch some World Cup.
Where am I today?!?
Thanks for taking a look at my blog. I have never written for an audience like this before, so be prepared for traces of entertainment, joy, challenges, humor, sarcasm, and other literary devices I can’t define. This blog is intended to summarize the 4-5 months I will be spending on my around-the-world trip on 3 to 4 continents. One friend described it as “a life journey” before I left and reminded me that there would be lots fun times and difficult challenges along the way. I will try to keep it interesting and brief but those of you that know me well know that brief is not always my strong point!
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