24 September 2017
Back Home (for now)
07 August 2017
Day 30 – A celebration of democracy or a well-known ending – elections are coming
05 August 2017
Day 25 – The Craziness of Transportation
tommorow I will tell you all about the comming elections and my seige in the universty
30 July 2017
Day 20 - Stung by a bee
The crime scene
On the shores of Lake Victoria
Jackson Achuti - Lake Victoria
29 July 2017
Day 19 - Food and other stuff
27 July 2017
Day 16 one determined village
23 July 2017
Day 13 - A home away from home
13 July 2017
Day three – Finally got the Lock
Day 1 – arrived safe and sound, after exactly 13 and a half hours, all the connections worked fine even easier than I imagined, of course I had a problem with overweight (I was very concerned with this) but I was only charged once 20 dollars so that was great. I received my humble accommodations, it is not what I am used to, and at first shock, I considered going to a hotel, but I told myself to stay the night and see what happens. Went shopping for some basic necessities, such as cleaning materials, my next mission is to find a squeegee (water swiper) we went to four supermarkets and could not find.
Day 2 – Slept well decided to stay and mange. Today I received a table and chairs. My very generous host here, introduced me to many people, local staff, security, cooks, faculty members and students, so quite a good network now and I can even ask for things on my own – like the lock. Other than that, I devoted this day to intensive cleaning. I don’t think I have worked so hard cleaning since 1993, I scrubbed, the floors, the walls, the closet and then in the evening my roommate and I cleaned the bathroom together. She is very nice a young PhD student from Cameroon working on biological and chemical pollutants in the water so we actually have complimentary work. I went to bed last night at 12:30 exhausted after a full day of cleaning and unpacking and now I am fine. Did I tell you that we have excellent Wi-Fi. One of the plus reasons to stay.
Plus side
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Minus side
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Mitigation
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Security
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Humble accommodations
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Scrubbed clean
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On campus – great network
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No AC
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This is a good time of year weather is cool
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Available meals – don’t have to cook
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No Hot water
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Can’t really mitigate this – maybe just with the fact that there is
water
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Good Wi – Fi – need I say more
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11 July 2017
Ethiopian Airlines -not bad not great
Last time I traveled Ethiopian I was really impressed. This time not so much. First of all it is an old plane with no personal screen. This is realy bad for me since I usually I can't sleep on flights as the case today and can't watch a movie either So I'm blogging. The food was ok. Ordered Asian vegetarian - not bad stir fry. But the worst, the guy sitting next to me can not keep his elbows to himself - most annoying. I even gently asked if he can be careful, but to no avail. The guy has no sense of persoal space. It's going to be a long night.
It was a long night and even longer day. Arrived in Bondo around 14:00. And had a full day of logistics and administration. Will tell you all about it tomorrow. Have to sleep now. Good night.
10 July 2017
On My way to Kenya
- Where am I going to sleep? – it was kindly arranged for me to be accommodated at the university guesthouse, with another roommate a lady from Cameroon doing her Ph.D. feel really Lucky – check!
- Where am I going to eat? – the accommodations, include breakfast lunch and dinner. So that’s taken care of – check!
- Health? Vaccinations - done; insurance – done; medication – got all that covered, half of my suitcase is full of antibiotics – just in case, I don’t really use the stuff, but better be careful than sorry, a first aid kit for travels in the rural areas, hygiene stuff and more – check!
- How am I going to do my research? – methodology planned, questions for interview written, in touch with local research assistant – check!
08 July 2017
The University of Luxemburg
Luxemburg deserves a post
I am in Luxemburg right now, just before my trip to Kenya, participating in a micro financing -MF, workshop the mission was twofold, Making the young entrepreneurs initiative sustainable - apparently MF for Young people 18-35 is a fairly new product because its deemed even more risker that regular MF. And the second mission to incorporate water and sanitation segment into the list of products that they offer. Currently MF is offered for businesses such as hairdressing, catering and the like.
We were a group of 14 people, from Togo, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, representing the local MFIs; Israel, Netherlands, Germany we were the consultants in water and sanitation, participants from Luxemburg, from a local NGO supporting the African initiatives and from the university of Luxemburg and lastly beautiful Katerina the 9 week old baby of our moderator who worked and mothered simontanously. The dynamics were very interesting capitalizing on the backgrounds and experiences of each of the participants. Conclusions: water and sanitation is a vital sector although it is very complex one; MFIs can be part of the solution to the vast financial gap that exists in order to reach the SDG goal for water, (the goal is water for all by 2030 and the financial gap is at least $3.3billion annually); the young entrepreneur segment is an important one for income security and creating additional cliental; in the water sector MF can be given to income generating activities such as pump technician but also to the community so that they can pay for the service. And there were additional findings, which will be developed and presented later.
Two more interesting issues: this was my first time in Luxemburg, quite a beautiful country, the city of Luxemburg is a sort of fairytale land with its beautiful castles and churches (pic) and lush gardens. the sun is out until 21:30 at least, which made nighttime tourism a new experience, the pubs were full of people, A band was playing Copacabana (pic) and there was a great vibe. Luxemburg is considered a slow pace country, and I did feel the calm.
The workshop I attended was at the university which is in Belval – apparently the largest completely new urban development program in Europe. They took an old industrial area and turned it into an urban area with amazing buildings, the university and all the necessities of a new city. They left much of the old remnants such as a metal factory (pic) and train tracks and incorporated them into the new buildings very interesting.
Good night to all