It's official!

Nairobi has proven to be the quicksand that people said it is, and I am officially signed on to stay here for another few months until end of March, 2013!

This also mean that I had to officially resign from General Mills since the longest sabbatical I could take is 1 year.  The thought of leaving a safe, stable, enviable job in the US and officially jump off the corporate ladder was a bit nerve-wrecking.  What I am doing is completely against the "ideal career" I was taught to pursue growing up, but so far, no regrets!  :)

To be completely honest, when I saw the compensation package from d.light, my left brain screamed "this is a no brainer, go back to your 6 figure job, how can u live on this?"...for a while, I was sure that I will go back to Minneapolis and finally "settle down".  The gig in Africa was good while it lasted, but shifting from what I had to this new life would be too scary from a financial security stand point, regardless of how much I loved the work.

However, the morning I was suppose to announce my "I'm going back to the US after my fellowship" decision to d.light, I came across some notes I made from reading Mark Albion's book.  There was a quote that read "don't get really good at what you don't want to do"...and it really hit me.  Sure, I liked my old job and was learning a lot, but I love my new job and the new direction it will take me.  So, which job will give me the skills that's more relevant to what I'll want to dedicate my life doing?  The answer was pretty clear.  Once I figured that out, I spent the next few hours to work out a budget that is required for me to save money for retirement, meet my financial obligations back home, while still be able to live relatively comfortably in Nairobi.  To my surprise, while the paycut seemed drastic, it wasn't as impossible/scary as it seemed! After looking into the details and really try to find a way to make it work, the extra sum amount of money that I felt I "needed" turned out to be not so indispensable.  I guess the fear is rooted in the mind vs. in the reality after all!


This realization also reminded me of one of the most insightful advice I've been given. It was from an exiting marketing manager at General Mills for whom I have a lot of respect and admiration.  He was leaving GM to pursue his own start up in Asia. Just before he left, we had a nice chat, and I asked him, "what you're about to do is very risky, aren't you scared?" He answered "earning a paycheck is no less 'risky' than starting your own business, employers create a false sense of stability by giving you a paycheck every 2 weeks, but that paycheck can go away anytime, you could be fired or laid off at moment's notice, how 'secure' is that? It's not that different from losing your own business.  Moreover, the seemingly 'predictable' corporate career path also creates the illusion that you'll become more established and secure as you climb up the ladder; however, the reality is, the higher up you are, the more scared you become as the stake gets higher...so there is no end to this chase, think very carefully about what you want in life and don't get stuck in the system"  What he said made a big impact on me and his words stuck with me for a long time.  With the recent massive laid off at General Mills where some of my very intelligent, hardworking friends were impacted, it only proved his points more.  There's no such thing as job security in the corporate world, and life is truly too short to be doing something we don't love only because of our fear of the unknown.  If we set our minds to do something, and go about it in a smart way, I believe that we can achieve whatever it is that we want to do.  I have met many people here in Nairobi who has successfully done exactly that, and I pray that I can be as lucky as them one day as I begin this pursuit of my own.


So just as I've set some objectives at the beginning of my fellowship, I thought it would be appropriate to set some goals for the 2nd phase of my African adventure as well:

• Basics
• Stay alive, healthy & safe...  (I think this one will stay on the list for a while, heehee)
• Career
• Try and find a balanced pace and approach to move things forward without frustrating myself and the people I lead: coming from the American culture and organizations with highly competent teams, I often have high expectations and vision for rapid progress that my African colleagues may have trouble keeping up with.  I hope to use the next few month to find a balance between my own expectation and my approach in pushing people to be their best so that things get done while maintaining a harmonious relationship in the team
• Figure out where I would like to be after this post in d.light: now I'm officially off the corporate bandwagon, it'll take quite a bit of networking and soul-searching to figure out exactly where in this complicated international development/social entrepreneurship space that I will find most interesting and be able to make the most contribution
• Personal
• Be Able to converse in basic Swahili 
• Do more "artsy" things in Nairobi: Nairobi has a vibrant art scene that I'm just beginning to discover, with my new roommate being the creative type, I hope to explore this part of Kenya much more
• Community
• Get Kianda Vision Computer Center to a self-sustaining stage: this is one of few things I am so proud to have the opportunity to be a part of.  It seems to be on track and growing, and I'd love to help it get to a self-sustaining stage so we will be in a good shape to scale