Milestone of reaching 30,000 families in the next 3 years!
Below are a few updates from the past week.
Work update: We completed the training of our field officers. It was pretty solid and I am confident we have chosen the best people to represent One Acre Fund to our customers. At the same time this selection, hiring and training process is being used for our program in Rwanda. I’m eager to hear how it fares there. If it is successful we should be able to replicate the process in other areas and work towards our milestone of reaching 30,000 families in the next 3 years!
Other fun activities: So, I don’t want readers to think it’s all work and no play….I have fun too. Last weekend I went to Sipi Falls in Uganda for a great day of hiking. It’s so green due to all the rain we’ve been getting, though it seems to have tapered a bit. Apparently, there is severe flooding in parts of Uganda that has endangered thousands of lives. I believe this is in the Northern parts of Uganda. I did not see this at Sipi (fairly close to the Kenyan border).
Transport: many Kenyans rely on public transport to get around. The most common option in Western Kenya is 14-passenger vans called matatus that run on regular local routes and are often packed beyond capacity (18 to 20 is fairly common). There are also large buses that operate between the bigger cities. I’m yet to take one. On a local scale there are bike taxis all over Western Province, called boda-bodas. For about $100US, one can buy a local Kenyan bike and outfit it with a cushioned seat over the back wheel and carry people around town for a few shillings. If they are lucky, they can make about $4US/day, which is a decent living in the rural areas. Though the bike taxi market is so saturated, daily income is not assured. Apparently, the passenger train that used to run to Bungoma no longer operates, which is too bad because the road between Nairobi and Bungoma is really rough.
Food: The staple food is ugali, which is ground maize flour, and is commonly eaten with boiled green vegetables (like kale or swiss chard) and meat or chicken. The market carries a number of fresh vegetables and fruits (tomatoes, onions, carrots, pineapple, bananas, oranges, etc). Since we are relatively close to Lake Victoria, fried tilapia are also available.