Believe in Jesus and you'll even make a good wife!

On the flight to Nigeria, I met a guy from Zambia who's going there to worship.  We began our conversation initially because he noticed that I "prayed" before meal.  I got into a habit of giving thanks before eating a meal...I don't really say grace, but just sort of give thanks, without uttering any words out loud, appreciating the fact that I'm lucky enough to have food in front of me while many others don't.  So this guy asked me about it.  He asked, so who do you give thanks to?  Yourself? God? The chef? All of the above?  I guess I never got into that level of details when I give thanks, so that sparked further discussions.

I thought it was interesting that he has to go all the way from Zambia via Mozambique via Kenya to reach Nigeria to go to church (I assumed there are probably many churches in Zambia, and I didn't really consider Nigeria a pilgrimage destination), so I asked him more about it despite of a little voice inside me warning me that this may turn into one of those awkward conversations where I have to explain why I'm not a Christian, and how they then try to politely tell me I'm a lovely lady, but should really believe in God and get salvation through the power of Jesus.  Despite the occasional awkward moments in our conversation, there were some interesting things that came out during his subtle attempt to convert me into Christianity.

First was the challenge to surrender oneself to a higher power.  This is definitely a biggest personal challenge when it comes to spirituality.  I like being in control too much that surrendering myself to anyone is difficult, let alone to some being that has not quite yet proven reliable to me in a personal way.  I believe there is a supernatural power, may it be the spirits, God, or whatever...but whatever or whoever "IT" is, has remained purely an intellectual exercise...In general, I believe in karma, and believe that most of my accomplishment was the result of hard work, good planning, and lots of luck/help from others.  Without one of which probably I wouldn't have get to where I am today. That's a lot of pride, I know, and I suppose you could argue that the last element of luck may be what God has put in place to help me; but truly, if I did pray, but take no action/put in no hard work, would I still achieve the same result?  I believe not.  With that said, the message I have been given over and over again in Africa is that if I have faith, God will answer my prayers, just like that, and THAT leap of faith is just too hard to take because there's too much to lose if it doesn't work.  The risk is too big.

I suppose I have demonstrated the capability of having faith.  I have faith that a plane is going to successfully take me from Nairobi to Lagos, but that's because Kenya Airway has a good track record of doing that successfully.  I have faith that if I work hard, some positive results will happen since that has always been the case for me.  The truth is, I have not had many incidents where things just miraculously happen to me for God to be relevant enough in my day-to-day life, and frankly I would feel irresponsible to just throw God all the difficult problems in my life and expect Him to sort it out for me.  I mean, he probably has better things to do, like, fixing the economic crisis or the middle east conflict or something like that.  If I can sort something out, why bother God?

If you take answering prayer out of the discussion, then a main purpose of religion is to maintain social order.  So I asked the Zambian guy, if I'm a good person, why does it matter if I believe in Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad or anyone else?  He responded, how do you know you're good?  I guess that's a question I never asked myself.  I never thought I was "perfect", but I do believe I know "right" from "wrong" most of the time, and try to be a good person the best way I know how.  I recognize that sometimes my pride and laziness get the best of me when it comes to certain things...nonetheless, I never questioned or thought that I may be innately a "bad" person since I have not stolen, killed, cheated, do drug...etc.

This led us to a more fundamental question I think is maybe a key difference between why this guy and I believe or do not believe in Jesus/God - are human fundamentally good or evil?  (it's really quite amazing the kind of conversation that takes place on a plane ride with a complete stranger) I argued, if you believe people are fundamentally evil, then "God" will need to set the rules (i.e. 10 commandment...etc.) to discipline people and punish negative behaviors which give people pleasure (if they are inherently evil)...However, if you believe people are good in nature, then we inherently know what's good, and will feel awful if we do bad things...in this case then, "God" plays more of a role of a mentor who will provide support so we don't get confused in the face of various temptations to do bad things (and feel bad afterwards, kind of like the shitty feeling you get after a crazy night when you know you did stuff you shouldn't have done)...In the later case, you may argue, God's role is less critical if people have enough discipline.  I tend to believe people are generally good, which I suppose might be why whether God exist or not matters less to me.

I always find amusing the polite smile African gives a foreigner even when they intensely disagree with you.  That was the exact expression I got from Mr. Zambian.  He said to me, "I believe people are fundamentally evil, without God, the world will be like hell."  His statement shocked me back to reality, and highlighted the one thing I failed to recognize.  For me, life has been good, I have a lot of resource at my disposal so I can control my own destiny.  For him, life has been nothing but a series of unfortunate events, from both a national history and a personal survival stand point, he has so little resource and control over his life, if there is no God, what else can convince him that staying good pays off, and believe there will be justice?  I suppose that leap of faith helps a lot in hopeless situations...and it could be liberating to give that responsibility out to a higher being when one has so little control over his surroundings.  Maybe that is why people are more religious in more desperate situations...and maybe I should feel lucky for having the luxury of this intellectual/spiritual debate that I am having...

As we part, he said to me..."I really hope you will believe in Jesus one day, you might even make a good wife!" As much as I don't see the relevance between the two statements, I found it quite cute, and maybe, that's my path out of singleton, haha.

Alternative career planning strategy?

Lately I began questioning my approach to career planning to-date.  Don't get me wrong, I think I've made good decisions, enjoyed the work in all my previous jobs, and have grown a lot professionally.  No regrets there.  However, my approach has always been very structured, "planful", and goal oriented.  I first identify what "my interests" are, what "my salary requirements" are, where "I want to be" in 5 years.  Then I would narrow down my options and backed out a path whereby specific education/credentials or experiences in certain companies would be identified and pursued so that I can explore an area of interest or fill certain skill gaps.  This way, I am sure to be able to put a certain bullet point on my resume to get to the next job I've got my eyes set on.  This approach has worked very well for me, but I noticed a few potentially troublesome themes: (a) my career is all about developing "me"; I pick a job because it serves my desire to get to the next job, which will get me to the next job vs. I'm doing this job because I love it and it allows me to fulfill a purpose now (b) since a job is picked to get to the next job, I'm forever postponing that perfect job that I will stay with (c) this method of career planning puts control 100% on me, which means that it is possible that I overlook certain opportunities simply because I wasn't in the right mindset when that opportunity came along or I was too focused on a different direction. (d) this approach assumes the career path will forever lead/advance somewhere; however, the reality is, the path will end at one point since not everyone can be the CEO.  So, when career progression feels a little bit like playing the Angry Bird game where you're always working to pass the next level, how would one feel when there's no more next level?  Will there be a sense of void? or sense of defeat? How can one recognize the end of the "path" when it's presented to you?

After working in Africa for almost 4 months now, I see so many opportunities, and so many places I could contribute my skills.  I'm definitely not the smartest person I know; however, I am probably among the top 1% best educated people within a 100 mile radius here.  With that comes a sense of responsibility to do something good/useful with this precious knowledge and skill I've been bestowed.  Already, I felt that I'm making an impact and helping a small organization progress little by little.  And while doing so, I am also learning and growing.  I'm learning about things that I wouldn't normally put on a corporate individual development plan or consider "career development" based on my typical way of career planning.  I'm learning about people, culture, and random things that I can never articulate on a resume.  How do you put into a bullet point when a lady int he village tells you how your lights have transformed her life?  How do you summarize in a "situation-action-result" format in a few words the craziness one will have to put up with to get a certain paperwork through to be able to do your job?  All these are unexpected experiences that I would never actively seek out if I'm left in charge to "manage" my own career.  However, all these are invaluable experiences that not only made me grow as an individual, but also allow me to do something bigger than myself.

So the question is...rather than continue to seize full control and manage my career the way I would manage a business, would it be better for me to give the control away to the universe and forget about career paths, to throw away career development plans, and just go where I are needed most and where my skills will make the most impact (with certain base criteria such as "being able to financially support myself" of course)?  Will this be a career suicide or career liberation?  What do you think?

The "mad tea party" in 9ja wonderland...

Those of you who know me, know that I'm a planner...and those of you who knows Nigeria, would know that planners and Nigeria probably won't mix well together.  Well, last week was the true test of my mental capacity.  I experienced the kind of feeling you'd imagine a sane person would experience when she's mistakenly put into a mental institute...or how Alice felt when she was trapped in the Wonderland...nothing made sense, and things just spiral down so quickly that you began to question your own worldview up till that point!  For the first time in my professional career, I felt completely lacking control for the simplest task in the world, and felt the need to pray and leave the success of my project/business in the hands of God (or whatever higher power there is).  Somehow, He pulled through for me.  I love 9ja as a country, but this time, I couldn't wait to go back to Kenya, where things may be pole pole, but at least made a bit more sense.

The trip began with a trampede at the immigration control at Lagos.  Multiple planes landed and hordes or people were quickly cramming into a very small space while people are passing through the passport control people VERY slowly.  The space filled up very quickly, and soon people were pushing each other down the stairs.  At this point, it's probably a good idea to turn off the escalator, but of course it took a bloody accident for that to happen.  I only heard a loud thump and a silent gasp by the group, and saw a pool of blood afterwards...didn't really want to imagine or inquire what happened to the woman who fell down the flights of escalator stairs.

I was sent to monitor our very first sets of capacity building training in Nigeria...a set of training that d.light has been discussing with our Nigerian partner since May.  (i.e: plenty of time to plan).  The agreement was that we will send money ahead of time to fund the training, and our local partner will take care of the logistics (i.e. print training materials, invite distributors, book tickets/hotel reservations...etc.).  Our first training was in Enugu, Eastern part of Nigeria...we had a morning flight scheduled to leave Lagos at 7:10a, arriving in Enugu 9a, and training will begin at 10a with 60 people, some of whom traveled 5 hours to get there.  I showed up at the airport, only to realize that all the training materials have just been completed the night before, and are coming with us as excess luggage (vs. sent ahead of time).  All the paperwork + the normal Lagos chaos caused delay and a sense of panic inside me...I had enough mental power at that time and did a pretty good job suppressing my worries, and thankfully, we got on the plane at 7:10a exactly.  Cutting it close, but manageable... Whew...Enugu training went on, minor glitches here and there, all was well!

Next stop, Kano.  The night before we were supposed to go to Kano, I found out that not only do we not have our plane ticket to Kano purchased, don't know if there are tickets available to Kano, but our local partner also did not have enough cash on him to pay for our tickets if such ticket becomes available to us!  His master plan was...we fly half way to Abuja (closer to Kano, but NOT Kano), try to get into town (hours away from the airport) to find his bank and take money, come back to the airport to see if there is plane ticket available..and doing all these within a few hours because it was Friday, and bank close early.  Mind you, on top of the normal weekend traffic, we are in peak travel season as everyone is going home for Christmas.  In addition, Kano airport has a very basic runway (think Casablanca), and often has cancellations or delays if the weather is bad (which is often).  My jaws dropped as I discovered this news, and had nothing but questions in my head on how could this possibly be happening!  What will we do if we cannot get to Kano?  I'm spending $700/day to pay for this trainer to come train, and now he can't even train!?  What are the people going to do traveling all the distance there only to find out there's no trainer?  What the @#$%^&!!!?  Trying painstakingly to keep my cool, I asked, so what's our back up plan...the response I got was, "we'll see when we get there"...WE WILL SEE WHEN WE GET THERE?  This is what happens when we always plan 1 hour before the disaster is about to happen!  How about for once we plan ahead so we won't NEED to see when we get there and know exactly what will be there?  Why don't we have money?  What happened to the money I sent?  (at this point, I was politely reminded that I "ask too many questions"...and should just wait, and believe that things will look up...)

Thing did look up, by God's grace (yes, even I believe in God at this point, there's no other explanation), we got the last 4 tickets for the last flight from Abuja to Kano at 9 pm (who knows at what premium price), but this airline is notorious for canceling flights, and I've heard horror stories about that particular flight into Kano.  At this point, I have no idea what I can possibly do within my limited ability as a hopeless mortal, so I am just praying that it will fly, I didn't care how long it will delay, as long as it get us there so we can train the next morning.  Thankfully, J.C. pulled through for us one more time, and we got to Kano...late, but we got there.

Next morning, people began showing up for the training, but we had no clear idea who all these people were, how many are coming, and how many are late.  People were tardy for 2 hours on average, and we made the best out of what we got.  At this point, even my amazingly even-tempered Kenyan colleague was getting upset (while I'm already reached the edge of hysteria and appalled at how horribly managed everything was). The lack of accountability, initiative, and just this general need to be "the boss", is getting in the way of progress and results.  One hilarious example I could give is that as part of the training, we give out a certificate of participation at the end (side note: certificates are huge hits in Africa).  We wrote in the names of the participants to this pre-printed template, and laminates it before giving out.  We sent this fully grown man to do the lamination.  He came back with the certificates laminated, but there's a huge part of the laminate just hanging out and the thing is looking awful...I asked, can the shop not trim these edges so it looks more finished?  He answered "no"...I asked, can we trim it ourselves?  He asked "how?"...I asked, is there a scissor?  He said, "no"... I asked, in this entire hotel with all the conference halls, there is not one single scissor we can borrow for 5 minutes?  He said "no"... I said, please ask again...5 minutes later, the man has not returned, I walked downstairs, ran into the guy wandering around the hotel, then grabbed him to go to the business center, I asked the business center guy, is there something I can use to trim this laminated certificates?  The shopkeeper said..."like a scissor?"...I said, with a huge relief that I've finally talked with a sane person, "YES, like a scissor..." while having an image in my head of myself banging my head against the wall...

On a daily basis, I feel like one of those parents who asks her son to clean his room, no response, ask again, no response, and by the 10th time, the son says, "fine, I've done it", only to find out that he just shoves all the dirty laundry into the closet and considered the task done.  I suppose there's always the challenge of how you might show someone a better way when (a) his exposure doesn't allow him the bandwidth to open up to alternative options, and (b) his ego is in the way of seeking help for better solutions?  How do you show someone what he's missing when he's been perfectly happy with how things are now?  Same type of struggle happens in the world of new product commercialization.  How do you explain the benefit of the Internet to someone who lives in the age of telegraph?  There's a Chinese metaphor of the sentiment of an iron-smith lamenting the iron does not turn into steel after so much hardwork...I haven't lost hope yet, but I really hope that all these work and time spent will not result in nothing...

Kenya Nzuri: Lamu Weekend Getaway - Donkeys, Dhows, Doors, and my Chinese Brothers?

After much anticipation, the trip Lamu finally came to fruition! Lamu is an island off the Northern coast of Kenya close to the Somalia border and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

With Kenya's war in Somalia, there has been several Al Shabaab attacks in recent months, and a couple kidnappings in Lamu.  As a result, we had some debates on whether we would cancel the trip, particularly because we were going there during the weekend that the Lamu Cultural Festival is taking place.  I was glad that thing quiet down, and we stuck to the original plan!

The Kenyan coast is so different from the rest of the country.  Lamu is one of the best-preserved Swahili town, and the town has a large Portuguese and Arab influence. Swahili women are all covered up in these black buibui, and men dress in traditional clothes very similar to the ones in Kano, Nigeria actually.  Legend also has it that the Chinese explorer Zheng Hue's ship sunk near Lamu, so there are quite a lot of Chinese porcelain influence, and actually were evidences that people in Lamu has some DNA link to Chinese people!  Who knows!?  Being called a "sister" all of a sudden take on a whole new meaning here!  It's also quite ironic that the Chinese is now working to turn Lamu, the site that sunk one of its greatest historical navigator, into the largest port in East Africa as part of their String of Pearl strategy.

The most interesting thing to me is, people in Lamu are surprisingly punctual, definitely an anomaly for Africa!  And just when you think Kenyans can't be friendlier, the folks here took hospitality to a whole new level.  Everywhere we walked, people welcomed us.  The relaxed atmosphere also was a breathe of fresh air from Nairobi. In fact, when we were shopping at the local silversmith's store, he nicknamed us "Nairobbery" because we were so aggressive in haggling that he felt we were robbing him (yet, he still smiled and gave each one of us Lamu mangoes to take home when we left)!

The narrow streets of Lamu are adorned with coral walls and beautifully carved mahogany doors.  donkeys were everywhere (as it's the main mean of transportation to navigate the narrow streets)...I was obsessed with the donkeys, and was disappointed that I couldn't witness (or participate) in the donkey race, but guess that will have to wait until next time. (for those interested in history of donkeys in Africa, thanks to my friend Emily, here's a good resource).  It's funny how people gladly share each other's donkeys.  I supposed the liability is much lower when you lend someone your donkey vs. your BMW.  

One other amazing thing is that it feels as though foreigners own most of the more expensive properties, while the locals gets pushed to the Swahili side of town.  We were first intrigued why the dhows in the competition all have flags from countries like Holland, Italy...etc., then we realized that it's because the dhow's owner were not local...they buy the boat (for roughly 1 million Kenyan schillings), then let to locals to sail, and the dhows bear the flags of the owner's home country.  Same for the houses, many of the nice old Swahili houses were renovated and turned into vacation houses or hotels.  It's quite surprising to see the % of houses on Lamu island and Shela that's owned by foreigners.  

 

      

The sunset dhow ride is definitely a highlight of a Lamu trip.  Riding on the traditional Arab sailboat was definitely a nice "Sinbad" moment...when the day gets dark, the stars in the skies were absolutely amazing, and I saw not 1, but 2 shooting stars...definitely a first and awesome experience!

Most tourist or expats stay in Shela village, which is about 10 minutes boat ride from Lamu.  The beach there is so deserted it feels like a whole different world. Almost like a scene from the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean.  We splurged a bit at Peponi hotel for lunch, which was beautiful and serves delicious food!

To me, Lamu exemplifies the ideal small town living, everyone seem to know everyone, and life is so simple that people look for a reason to get together and have a good time.  It's probably the closest thing to paradise I've seen so far!

What are you thankful for in 2011?

Just a year ago, I learned about this guy who invites people over for Thanksgiving dinner, and keeps a running record of what people gave thanks for during these dinners...he's collected this over many years so has an impressive list of beautiful things people are grateful for...I thought this was a great idea, so thought may start doing this virtually (since there's no Thanksgiving in Kenya, and it's just another Thursday here)

I guess I'll start off by listing a few things I'm thankful for in 2011, which has been a particularly eventful year for me.  These are not in any particular order:
1. A new perspective and renewed faith in "family"
2. Finding the courage to validate my passion, and having the stars aligned enough to get an opportunity to do so
3. Staying safe and healthy (despite of visiting/living in crazy places)
4. Meeting and adopting a new set of "sisters" that will forever be part of my life
5. New and old friends who continue to give me unbelievable support, advice, and that smack in the head when I needed it
6. The Internet, without which I will not be able to stay in touch with people
7. Free library Kindle books...which kept me entertained at no cost while sitting in traffic
8. Smiling, happy people on the streets of Kenya, who reminds me how beautiful life is despite of its difficulties
9. A good smile on my face...which has gotten me good deals negotiated and favors done...


What are YOU thankful for this year?
Please comment :)

Kenya Nzuri: Lake Naivasha - Work or Vacation?

d.light Africa team had our first team retreat to Naivasha on Nov 24-25.  It is meant to be an opportunity for team building and also our HR manager from China flew here to discuss our climate survey result. (it's actually kind of impressive that we actually have a climate survey given the size of our company).  I'm really glad that they are doing this not only for selfish reasons of taking a trip to Naivasha, but also a lot of the organizational discussion was very important to have given that we're growing exponentially, the topic of culture, values, and processes must be raised so everyone is on the same page.

The level of openness everyone has was amazing, and there was a pretty intense discussion around what being a social enterprise means, why are we for-profit, and how would we balance the double bottom line of profit and social impact?  The point of confusion really is that our product inherently has social impact, but it's not so different from the multinationals here such as Unilever who makes dettol and launches handwashing campaigns, which one could argue also creates positive social changes.  So, what make us different?  Everyone seems to have similar values of we're for profit for good, but have very different views on this particular question and how we would go about our everyday business differently based on these values.  It was interesting to have these intellectual debates so we can reach one consistent sets of value, culture for the company, to create more cohesion between the founding teams and the newcomers.

It's also quite interesting how relevant the experience I had at General Mills on culture and organization management has come in handy in these discussions.  I feel that professionally I've gotten to a point that my focus has shifted from doing the tasks to managing people.  Even though I've always said that I prefer getting things done vs. dealing with people, it is quite satisfying to truly feel what leadership means (vs. talking about it), and trying to be better at it to make a bigger impact.

View of the Rift Valley on the way to Naivasha

safari salama!  d.light boat ride

Tons of beautiful birds

Walking safari, there is no predator in Naivasha, so the animals are not scared of people, Africa is probably one of a few places that people are allowed to just walk out in the open alongside various wildebeest, waterbuck...etc. without signing a safety waiver first, haha!

We stayed at this super nice lodge called Enashipai, it means "happiness" in Maasai.  The rooms are beautifully decorated with Maasai chic, the bed was super comfortable, and I loved their open air shower.  They also have traditional Swahili style houses for rent, if I live here, I think I will be very enashipai too! :)

I love the fact that living in Kenya allows one to so easily access wilderness...just 2-3 hours drive away, you get this amazing nature where you are woken up by different birds singing, can hear the hippos in the lakes, and gaze at the shining stars at night.  I really hope that as the continent develop at this rapid pace, all of these can be preserved!

Balancing getting it done NOW and sustaining LATER...

If you know me, you'll know that patience is definitely not one of my virtues...I have a strong bias for action, and definitely find a strange satisfaction in "checking boxes" on my to-do list.  I am happy to share what I know with others, but usually after explaining something about 3 times, my patience would have run out...

Working in Africa has been great in the sense that because the markets are so under-developed, if you just get a few things right, you could make a huge impact.  Contrary to the ultra-developed markets in the West, where lots and lots of effort is required to move the dial just a little bit.  Everyday, I am excited by the large number of opportunities I see here, but at the same time, I struggle  to accept the slow pace at which we're taking to capture those opportunities.

One of my quandaries is the fact that it's not possible (or sustainable) for me to be doing everything since there is limited amount of hours I can work yet there are so many things I can see myself just go and do!  Because the capacity of the human capital here is quite a bit lower than what I'm used to in the US, I spend a good portion of my day training and explaining to people what they are supposed to do and how they are supposed to do them.  Consequently, I found myself frequently in a frustrating situation where I am spending hours and hours repeatedly explaining to the same person something I could easily complete in 30 minutes  and STILL am not sure if the message has gotten through.  At that point, the temptation to just do it myself becomes quite difficult to resist.   (sometimes, I wonder if this is what parenting difficult children feels like...)

this is what I felt like after explaining how to do
management accounting to my accountant for the 10th time

With the disclaimer that this is a broad generalization, what I found is that African are very entrepreneurial, creative, and flexible, but they lack planning skills, detail orientation, and strategic focus in general.  This is almost the exact opposite of my background in Corporate America where excessive planning nearly stifles creativity.

What I am facing in Africa probably isn't too different from what one may find in a start up; however, unlike a start up where you can hire someone with a more "CEO-like" skill once the organization grow large enough so he can help institute better process to fuel further growth, Africa as a continent have to gain such skill set over time on its own since it cannot just "import" a CEO to run the country...that was called colonialism, and we all know how that turned out...

I had a long discussion with my manager on the difference between competency and skills...he argues that competency cannot be trained while skill can, and in his mind, planning and detail orientation is a competency, not a skill...in his word, "there is no point trying to train a porcupine into a lamb"...this is a bit discouraging to me as I really believe that planning and strategic focus are such important skills to leverage limited resources for maximum growth, and I am a little bit more optimistic in the sense that people can stretch their competencies over time.

To me, doing capacity building type work is quite rewarding.  I feel as though I'm stretching the value of my expensive education by extending the beneficiary beyond just myself to everyone I have worked with along the way.   I just need to constantly remind myself to treat my work as capacity building, so that if the deadline is not met or the end result is sub-optimal, I could accept that is just part of the learning process and is a necessary evil and that in the long run, it will pay off because I would have more appropriately transferred the knowledge vs. just doing everything by myself, to perfection and on time, but no one will be here to replicate the work when I am gone...

Kenya Nzuri: Trekking Ngong Hill & getting out of the expat bubble

Last weekend was probably one of my favorite in Nairobi...it's nice to have a chance to get out of the expat bubble called "Westland" and hang out with few folks going about life like real Kenyans do!

It started with a nice hike on Ngong Hill...even though it rained a bit, it was actually quite beautiful with the fogs hoovering the field of greens.

Then hitch-hiked on a pick up truck to Kiserian, then another crazy matatu ride to Langata, followed by a delicious quiche + coconut milkshake.

Then went to my friend's place, learned to cook a kick-butt Chapati, and had dinner while watching the local favorite TV show - Cheater (yes, the one from the US)

Do certain cultures preventing economic progress?

If there was one thing I took away from business school, is that incentive matters, a lot.  You cannot be rewarding behavior A while hoping for behavior B to happen.  As such, I have observed a potential flaw in the African culture that could potentially prevent one from doing hardwork and making economic progress on the micro-level.

One key cultural theme I kept coming across is this bittersweet burden of success for Africans.  I've met a few successful Africans now who have,  in one way or another, pull themselves out of the poor villages they came from.  Quite a few was even able to get scholarships and study abroad.  Now, they've completed a good education, and got a good job...but the quandary is, the more successful they become, the more responsibility they begin to have, and the more people they need to carry on their shoulder and take care of!  When you were just a student, maybe you just need to care for your immediate family, but the minute you've "made it" in the world, more people come knocking at your door, wanting assistance, and it's expected that you take them in.  Saying no seems to not be an option.

I see this happening everywhere...For example, someone just come up to you asking for money, I will have no problem turning them away, but there's a good chance my African friend will give something (20 kenyan schilling, a candy pop...etc.)...A group of friends going out, the one with a part-time job will end up paying for the one without a job (while I would normally argue that the jobless person has no business out partying to begin with)...this no questions asked form of "help" really intrigues me.

Sure, for those much is given, much is expected; I mean, this is not such a novel concept, Muslims would take more wives if they were more financially able thus can take care of more people. However, to me, there could potentially be a serious free rider problem.  Why does the fact that I have money justify your taking a piece of it?  I worked my butt off to earn the money, what have YOU done to take it from me besides the mere fact that we are somehow related or acquainted?  This seems tremendously unfair and demotivating for someone who's worked so hard to achieve success!  Is it so "selfish" to want to enjoy the fruit of one's hard work?  I'm not sure where I would draw the fine line between "being selfless" and "being taken advantage of".  

Do you  give because you are given more talent to earn more thus have the obligation to support others?  Or do you keep what you have because it’s your hard earned money and those who just sit around should get off their butt and work for it themselves rather than expecting a hand out?

I have tremendous admiration for the strong sense of community in Africa, but sometimes I wonder, if this culture is prohibitive of economic growth because it is, in a way, a system that punishes hard work and success.  Imagine, if you've made it abroad, what is it that will encourage you to go back to your home country when you will be first and foremost greeted by a bunch of empty hands, requesting support in one shape or another.  and if you've made it within the country, what's going to keep you going when every phone call you get is about a problem you'll need to solve?

Maybe I'm not selfless enough to think this way, and maybe this is why I get offended when people expect me to pay for things because I'm a mzungu and supposedly more wealthy...

A history of the world in 100 objects, featuring d.light!

d.light was featured in the British Museum as the "100th object" in the history of the world! Now there's a book out: A History of the World in 100 Objects

• Here's the link to all 100 of them
• PBS Newshour Coverage: http://video.pbs.org/video/2165382793
• Watch the multi-episode BBC program talking about the 100 objects

So proud :)

"Proper" address...

Went to Nyayo house in Nairobi to take care of my multiple business visa...this is our 5th or 6th visit...every time they tell us we need a new back up document even though they were not specified on the requirement before...so finally this time, I show my face, the lady look at my application probably for the 5th time...and she said, everything is OK, but your residential address (which I put down my California address, with the street number, name, state, and postal code, typical) is a problem...for example, if I want to get to your address, how do I get there?

In order to understand where this question even came from, one must understand, there's not a postal service that delivers mail in Kenya...everyone rents a PO box, and pick up their mail from the post office...so when you need to get to a physical address, usually it's provided by a series of unclear directions...like 500m pass Tusky's supermarket on X road OR on the 5th black gate on Y road pass Z shop directly across from ABC billboard...etc.

While I understand why she may be confused with my "physical address", I was annoyed by the fact that this is the first time after she's reviewed my application 5 times that she is bringing this up.  Also, the immigration officer at the Nairobi International Airport was fine with it, why is she picking bone with the address...Lastly, will she EVER need to visit my home in California?  Do I really need to write down, first, take flight from NBO to LAX, then take 101 highway to 91 highway, exit X road, then drive x miles...etc.?  Really?

Donation update: potential projects

So I've been searching for some good option for the money many of you donated over my 30th birthday!

Here are some options, please let me know what you think!  

Option 1: Building a computer center for one of the communities in Kibera: 

Many Kenyans lack the most basic computer skills, and having simple word processing training and getting a computer certificate could potentially give them job opportunities not previously available.  My friend in the slum has already identified people who are willing to donate computer and someone who is willing to provide computer training on a voluntary basis, but they do not have a location to host the computers and provide training.  The money we have now will be enough to purchase 3 rooms, and we need to source building materials to put the rooms together.  Thinking is that people can come and use the computers for a small fee (like a cyber cafe, which is not that prevalent in Kibera), and we will also provide training to help people access jobs.

Option 2: Providing working capital for Africa Institute for Health and Development's Trash2Treasure Program.
This is consortium of community-based self-help woman's groups in the Dandora slum (where all the trash goes to) who have partnered to clean the environment and turn reused trash in the form of plastic bags, newspapers and magazines into creative sell-able products. AIHD train low-income and hard-working individuals on skills that turn trash into usable goods including: plastic bags crocheted into waste baskets, school pencil pouches, clutch bags, floor mats, shopping bags and table top baskets and laundry bags. Magazines used for making beads as jewelry and for decorating the plastic products. Newspapers: used to make pencils..etc. They currently do not have any retail outlet or do any sort of marketing, so helping them find a sustainable route-to-market will be important to continue generating income for these women

Dandora Dumpsite

crocheted bags from recycled plastic bags

Option 3: Donating d.light Solar Lights and school supplies to Ex-Street Children in Eldoret.

Many of you probably read my post about the glue-kids in Eldoret.  A portion of your donation has already been donated to them.  This would be the easiest/fastest option, and would make a big impact.

d.light-ing Schools in Kano

latest - d.light S1

Late October, I had a chance to observe a series of activation events d.light was doing in Kano  in Northern part of Nigeria.  We were focusing a lot on consumer engagement because affordable solar lantern is such a foreign concept, most people either don't know about it or are skeptical.  In Nigeria, especially, there are so many cheap, crappy Chinese LED lights in the market, people are just very wary of another product promising to be the best thing since the sliced bread!  Our latest launch is an ultra-affordable light, it is created to make solar light even more affordable for people at the bottom of the pyramid, and we're focusing on getting these lights to schools so kids can use them to study.  Currently children either don't get a chance to study at night because their ration of kerosene is reserved for "income-producing" tasks OR they study under the dim light of kerosene lantern, which is dangerous, bad for their health (with the fume), and screws up their eyes.  Imagine going through schools only to ruin your eyes and unable to afford a pair of glasses!

d.light much brighter than kerosene lantern

There are also studies that showed introducing solar lanterns increase study time and improves exam passing rates, so we want to focus on reaching students at the critical annual exam time when they need to study the most in order to get to secondary schools and universities, and help them at that tipping point in life.

Kano is an interesting town...also densely populated and lots of trucks are passing by shipping products for exports.  It's one of the cities in Nigeria with the least electrification, and is also one of the poorest place.  When the night falls, everything really stops.  The only one left are the police on their street by the roadblocks (given recent terrorist bombings), and a little bit of street vendors.


I visited 4 schools all together, as expected, the drive there was crazy, but a piece of cake compare to Lagos.

The minute I arrive at the school, I stick out like a sore thumb! All the kids went crazy and were trying to get my attention.  It's funny to see the kids' curiosity, and given the huge distraction I've brought into the classroom, I have to say our marketing team did a pretty good job engaging them and teaching them about solar lanterns.  In Africa, marketing to kids doesn't seem as taboo as it is in the US.  Companies like Unilever does it all the time for various products.  For example, dettol (anti-bacterial soap) and UNICEF has a hand-washing campaign in schools, and Kiwi show shine has a schools program teaching kids about grooming so they could "shine" (like their shoes after polishing with Kiwi products, a bit of a stretch, I know, but it's been successful).  I am just amazed by the simplicity of people here and how easily marketing messages get through to people. In general, people believe what they hear on TV or on the radio!  Compare to the cynicism in the US that I had to deal with as a marketer in the last few years, I just couldn't believe how easy it is! (ok, now I sounds like an evil marketer, but at least I have a good and truthful message to spread)

Here are some photos from the activation, I just adore the kids:

Happy JS3 (~9th grade) kid who just won a free d.light

A glimpse into the teacher's lounge... male and female teachers stay in separate rooms..and the male teachers slacks off definitely much more than the female ones

 

Girl school, these girls are so fun and beautiful!  but definitely overcrowded, each class had over 50 students and many were just sitting on the floor.  Since Kano is in Hausa-land and primarily Muslim, quite a few of these girls are actually already engaged or married by age 13-14

Christian school girls and boys were much less disciplined than the Muslim kids...they were poking me, taking to me, vs. the other schools, they just stare and smile and maybe gesturing to me that they want to get a "snap" (photo)

Other random things from Kano:

Gold market...stall to the right are all real golds...there's a "private" security system in place apparently

God is #1 priority in Hausa-land, and then it's survival, so  sending kids to school aren't people's priority up Northern Nigeria, many of these kids are in markets, on highways, selling water and other things

 

Emir of Kano...he has 40 wives I heard, and when I arrived Kano, our activation team there immediately began plotting to make me his next wife... I wonder how many d.light solar lantern he'll buy in exchange for wedding me...