Ahhh. home again after a long flight home. it was about 26 hours of travel getting home, but actually not that bad. I slept, worked, read and watched the same movie 4 times (The most exotic marigold hotel.. not bad !) ..
it was a long way to go for a 3 day trip, but I really enjoyed it. The people were great, the country was nice.. and the meetings very. very interesting. I came back so excited about the future of Africa. I loved the people I met.. This short visit made me realize just how much I don’t know Africa.. but I did get a few strong themes. One thing that struck me is how much they smiled..i find myself smiling so much back at them that the smile muscles in my face hurt at the end of each day.. no joke ! They also all have a strong sense of family and community.. I learned about things like susu’s.. which are community groups that raise funds for common purpose. I like that concept…Anyway.. I hope to be spending more time in Africa in the coming years. it will be so much fun to watch the place evolve.

I have a few photos to share from the last few days.. the workshop i attended was fun and productive.. no such meeting goes by with out some group photos.. here’s ours.. group. there were folks from at least 12 countries there …

The meeting ended at about 6:30 last night… and we had an 11:40 flight so a few friends and I went out to a great seafood place..  Before we did, I met with my friends family because his kids wanted samstones.. it was nice meeting them.

traffic was gnarly as usual in Nairobi

The place was called ‘Tamarind’ and I really recommend it

bibs were not optional…

 

Dinner was fun and I enjoyed learning a bit more about  my colleagues.. Some cool surprises there.. The biggest surprise , however cane when they delivered out dessert plates.. each had a nice message written in chocolate sauce.. but what made them really special is the fact that they’d written our names in chocolate at the bottom…. now.. how did they get our names ? we hadn’t  really introduced ourselves, they hadn’t at that point seen our credit cards.. It was very cool and a little freaky from a privacy perspective…

 

 

the lace was so friendly.. and they had a great sense of humor..

we got to the airport around 10… and sat in the sweltering airport.. then began the long flights home ..

i was pretty beat by the time I got home.

Seeing family and freinds revived me though. Max is up with Jac, Dave and Bridget. Gabe had his first day working at Ben and Jerry’s.. .. We had a cookout to celebrate all being together.

So, so nice to be home..

so, so jet lagged.. time for bed.. more tomorrow

 

nite all, nite sam

-me