zaterdag 24 mei 2014

Work and Play

First work...

After the mid term review meeting on Monday, we dived into further details and research for WEF. Still a lot of work to do and time is running out. Ulla-Britt and I went for an interview with the Nairobi Region Manager Ann Muturi to ask for her view on the women empowerment, the loan processing, and about WEF in general. Good feedback and it was great talking to her and the rest of her team. 

Wednesday we visited the IBM Lab. Great people, great projects, very interesting.

(And no, I will not go into details why some of the parts of the IBM sign are missing on this picture. I'm only to blame for 1 of them...) 
 
On Friday we had lunch at restaurant Originally - where quality meets originality - on the ground floor of our building. This time, quail on the menu! We have seen lots of quails (alive) and this is how they look when prepared. I also had some rabbit (left bottom corner), which was very good. 

Then play...
 
Today, Saturday May 24th, it's the birthday of my son Thomas. He turns 13 today and we skyped early in the morning when he got a cup of tea in bed plus his presents. Later today, the family will come to celebrate his birthday. I'm a bit sad for missing his birthday and I guess he will not stop reminding me that I missed it, but also because of the sad circumstances within our family. His birthday will not be celebrated as much as we would normally do. Just close family and later on, we'll have a bigger party with friends and neighbours.

Instead of eating cake I spent the day with the CSC team plus Andrew, one of the IBM-ers here for the BlueMix project at Strathmore. Luke had arranged a visit to his old employer when he was in the US Peace Corps. We started at the YARD office in Gatanga to meet Sebastian and the team. For those interested, please check their website: http://yardcommunity.org/. After the introductions and a briefing on the activities of YARD, we visited the offices and back into the bus to meet with some of their beneficiaries.

No pictures of the first group we visited. They had a room showing their products, where some of our team members were given gifts or where they bought some of the products. I looked at their cows and the rest of the plot.

We took the touristic route in order to see the Ndakaini water dam, supporting the main water supply for Nairobi. Along the route we could also see the tea farms. Even on Saturdays, many men and women were picking tea leaves with heavy baskets on their backs. 

The second beneficiary group was a large one. They welcomed us with singing and dancing and of course we participated. Turned out that this group also received a WEF loan, so this trip can be counted as "work".      ;o)

Their name is Mumbu-ini Farmes field and life school:

Like many other groups, they are into agriculture, chickens, and non-grazing live stock. A demo garden is used to try out various ways of growing crops. The best ways for raising crops are copied at the homes of the individual members. 

A curious cow:


At the end of the day we returned at Riverside Drive. 

Only 1 more week.

#ibmcsc kenya

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