I love to tell people where I am off to next. I pause ever so slightly for dramatic effect and then quite excitedly, I say "....AFRICA!". I await the stunned silence and shock, "Um...huh? What?".
Me: "Yes, I am going to Africa!"
Stunned person: "But..why?"
I was quite stunned myself when I first got the e-mail this past November about going to East Africa. Whoa, that is serious biz-nass! I didn't know anything about Africa. Quite honestly, I am scared shitless about the idea of going there. I knew I would make my way there eventually but this soon, like in January?! Soon I realized that the idea of it made me incredibly nervous, scared, but excited at the sametime. I knew I had to go for it. I am not one to pass up on an opportunity like this!
So, what is this opportunity? It is with this organization called TechnoServe (check it out http://www.technoserve.org). It's been around since the 1960's. It used to focus on technology on helping the poor. Since then it has evolved into utilizing business solutions. A lot of what they do is agricultural focused (e.g. coffee, tea, cashews, etc) and recently, business plan competitions. The projects have been in Latin America and Africa mostly. More to come about what I'll do exactly later.
Well, I was suppose to go to Nairobi, Kenya. I was actually suppose to be there already - January 14th in fact. If you've been keeping up with current news, you'd know that Kenya has broken out into disarray with ethnic violence between tribes because of a disputed presidential election held on December 27th. It is such a shame because it had become known as one of the most stable countries in East Africa and it was enjoying economic growth. I was quite stunned, again, but for a different tragic reason, in how quickly that peace had deteriorated.
I was in Vancouver following the news everyday, hoping that there would be some magical resolution that would quickly erase what had been happening in Kenya. Surely, Kibaki and Odinga would realize that their conflict was putting the present and future state of Kenya at risk and they would do something about it!! Alas, 2 weeks later, attempts at international mediation have been unsuccessful and new violence has broken out. I'm really sad about it. A country with so much promise had just fallen prey to the same corruption and violence that its neighbors had.
I was really looking forward to being in Nairobi and Kenya. I had either made contacts or had potential contacts there that I was excited about tapping into. It's amazing how far networking can reach in this world. I had the link, the portal to jump right in and really learn about the local culture!!
What was to become of my project and my trip to Kenya?! The plan of diving into the heart of darkness was seeming less and less likely. Was it going to get canceled? If so, what was I going to do?! Panic, uncertainty, and worry just invaded my thoughts.
The senior manager from Nairobi called. Oh, this is a good sign. Or, is he calling me to cancel the project??
Then....relief!! The project is still on but as a precautionary measure, all new "VolCons" (a.k.a. volunteer consultants) will go to Kigali, Rwanda while the project monitors Nairobi and Kenya to determine if it is safe enough to go.
Me (gulping): RWANDA?!!
