Ellana's African Adventures: The box is too "ghali"

Walking home from Eldoret

One of the fabulous new shopping "malls"

One of the main streets in Eldoret

Walking into town

Gotta love the goat in the window!

The past few days have been a mix of work and play, and we spent more time getting re-acquainted with the Eldoret area. On Friday, I spent the morning and a good part of the afternoon visiting some of the "self-help" groups that have been started more or less through the AMPATH organization. For more information about AMPATH, here's a link to the website- http://www.iukenya.org/hiv.aids.html. I saw two groups that were supposedly in more "urban" areas despite the fact that the first group was trying to raise sheep and the second had started a passion fruit farm. The first group was not as organized, but had been able to raise enough funds to give two members loans to buy sheep. The sheep cost around 1600 Kenyan shillings (which is equivalent to around $20). One of the directors of the loan program gave the group members a firm scolding when she realized that the members were simply hiding the group's money in cloth money bags and putting the money under their beds. The members stated that security in the area was very bad, and that thugs would steal even freshly cooked food from the villagers. They also stated that the boxes that were supposed to hold the members' savings were too expensive or ghali, as they cost 3000 Kenyan shillings (around $40). I totally agreed when they said that they could probably buy some more sheep for the price of the box. We consequently brainstormed some ideas about how we could get the prices of the boxes down to a more realistic level. Amazing how quickly our lives in the U.S. get put into such perspective!

The second group was comprised of all HIV positive women that had started a passion fruit farm. The group had been able to give out about $500 worth of loans since March, which is extremely impressive. Every other week the group collects at least $.50 from each of the seventeen group members and then gives out loans on an as needed basis. Some of the women had used the loans to start other small businesses, while others used the loans to pay their children's school fees. Overall, the experience was very educational for me, and I only felt horrible that I arrived two hours later than I had promised our new babysitter, Sylvia. I have to get used to the fact that most events here run on "Kenyan time" meaning that everything takes much longer than planned.

Saturday morning Steve and I left Ellana with our new friends Ben and Megan Wolfe who have a two and a half year old and a 17 month old named Eden and Andy. Eden is actually from the Eldoret area, and Ben and Megan are in the process of adopting her. They are adorable kids and have been a good influence on Ellana's walking habits. She starting walking everywhere this weekend, although she still seems to prefer walking on her knees. Ironically, Ben and Megan are also from the Lafayette, Indiana area and went to my rival high schools! Small world. Anyway, we went for about a five mile run that was only eventful at the very end as we passed hundreds of Kenyan runners decked out in the finest Nike or Adidas gear. I was inspired to finish our run as most of them passed us appearing to not be worn out in the slightest. We then spent the afternoon with some other friends at the Poa Place resort which is a few miles from the IU House. Poa Place has a pool, a play area for kids, and a small zoo-like area that features a male and female lion, a cheetah, some birds, monkeys, and a large snake area. For dinner we ate at a new local joint called Mamma Mia, which features a hybrid of Indian and Italian specialties, go figure. It was actually quite good, and we love that we can actually walk to the restaurant.

We tried a new church this morning with the Wolfes and then took our first walk into Eldoret with Ellana's stroller. We certainly attracted a ton of stares as strollers are not used much here, and Ellana's blond hair is definitely a rarity. This evening I had a meeting with some of the other "business minds" working at the IU House and then Steve watched the women's world cup final at one of the other houses in the compound.

Please take care and have a wonderful weekend!