2013 Kenya Trip Diary

June 13, 2013 - Fly from Chicago to Amsterdam on KLM Flight 612, My third trip to Kenya begins on this KLM Flight leaving O'Hare at 4:10 pm. I arrived in Amsterdam around 6:30 am Amsterdam time. My layover is a bit more than 4 hours and then it is on to Nairobi. I am hoping I do not have the same problem I have had in each of my first two trips where my luggage did not arrive with me. I did eventually get the entire luggage but it creates a lot of complications and headaches!

June 14, 2013 – It is 10:30 pm and I am at Wendy and Martin's home in Nairobi and everything went perfect today!! Even my luggage, which did not arrive on time either of my first two trips (I had to wait a couple of days to get it!), arrived on time! The weather was perfect today but here in Nairobi it is raining! Wendy made me a very nice dinner and soon I will go to sleep. I did sleep a bit on the plane..but not much! We have to be out at 7:30 in the morning to get the bus that will take us to Kitale. Joshua Machinga from Common Ground will pick me up there and take me to his home. It looks like it will be about an 8 hour bus ride to get to Kitale. I am excited at the chance to meet Joshua whom I have been Facebook friends for a couple of year. I have been told he runs one of the best schools in all of Kenya so I look forward to learning a lot from him. I will be in his village til Thursday morning when I will leave for Dago. My understanding is that is about a 3 hour drive.

June 15, 2013 – I was up at 6:30 am and at 7:30 we left towards downtown Nairobi to catch a bus to Nairobi. Thank God this was a real bus and not just a matatu (really a van) which is the Swahili word for bus. It was a pretty nice bus with comfy seats and that was needed because it was an 8 hour ride. We stopped a couple of times for some breaks They took great care of me an all of my luggage.

Joshua met me when we arrived in Kitale along with a guy who works for him and a couple of other volunteers who are working on projects. One is from Calgary and the other New York, We drove about 10 miles to Kiminini where Joshua's Pathfinder Academy is located. I settle into a very nice room and we have pretty much full power and real bathrooms and a shower like the one at Wendy's house. This is like a four star hotel!!

Joshua gave me a tour around the grounds. He has about 500 students from Class 1 – Class 8 (1st thru 8th grades). About half of the students live at the school. Also on the grounds is a real nice guest house (I am in one of the rooms), dorms and classrooms. Joshua's background is in agriculture so they grow most of their own food. He also has a ceramics factory which makes water filters.

We then all had dinner and I was able to talk to Joshua quite a bit. Agriculture is his background but about 16 years ago because he was so frustrated with schools in Kenya, he started his own. He said he would be a horrible teacher but he knows how to run a school. His students do incredibly well on the KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) Test that all 8th graders have to take. His average score is far higher than any of the Dago students of the last two years. This determines the kind of high school they are eligible for. It is clear he pushes his teachers and students a lot to work hard each and every day. When I asked him where he gets his teachers

1

he said he gets to view all of the test scores of the Class 8 students and he can see who their teacher was. He then “poaches” (his words, not mine) the teachers whose students have the best test scores. He said he pays his teachers more than they were making before and that his teachers have the second best pay in all of Kenya.

I am really looking forward to getting to know more about Joshua and his school during the next few days. Now it is time to get some sleep!

June 16, 2013 – (11:00 am) This morning I had a “grand tour” from Joshua of everything going on in this compound and it is amazing all of the things he is involved in here. This is so much more than just a primary school of about 500 children with 260 who live here at the school. Joshua has made an amazing investment in the water systems, solar power and farming to help this place become almost totally self-reliant. His background is in Agriculture so it is not surprising he has so much knowledge here. His farming is totally organic and he controls every little detail to make everything very efficient. He also has had to learn a great deal about solar power and water systems.

As he showed me all of this I could not help by think an economist and the important concept of specialization. In my world I don't have to know how power gets to my house, if I want food I go to the grocery store, if I want water I just turn on the tap, and then of course I pay the appropriate bills for each of these. Here, because the government is so inept, inefficient, corrupt, etc. etc. everyone has to reinvent the wheel. Now Joshua has reinvented the wheel far better than anyone else I have met in my times in Kenya, however it is so sad that he has to reinvent things. In the United States schools can almost totally just focus on delivering education to students. Joshua and the others to try to run these schools have to focus on an entire way of life for all of the people involved in the school. As I learn and understand this better, it gives me great examples to use in teaching Economics to my students about the importance of specialization. It is absolutely crucial that to be an advanced society you must have a government that is able to provide infrastructure, regulations, accountability, laws (and their enforcement), etc. etc. I know there will always be arguments and disagreements about exactly how much of all of these things government needs to do versus allowing the free market to handle these issues, but I do think Americans could lean to have much more appreciation for our government by coming to a place like Kenya.

I told Joshua that he is a great marketer. He gets so much money from so many different organizations. He is great about getting on planes and visiting them and about keeping in touch with them via email and Facebook. He clearly has lots of people and organizations who feel very good about what he is doing because they keep giving him money over and over. He is clearly producing great results and is rewarded over and over for that. While I think he has a lot to teach in the areas of agriculture, water supply and solar power, he also has a lot he can teach other Kenyans about marketing and how to raise money.

3:30 pm – Joshua took me for a drive to the site where he is going to start a high school for girls. We drove about 6-7 kilometers from Pathfinder to the site. Some of this land (about 2 acres) he is using now for his farming. He took me through the 2 acres explaining about each of the different crops and how he works to maximize the return on everything he plants. This led to

2

more discussion on the advantages of organic farming. Needless to say he is very much in favor of organic both for the farmer and for the consumer.

Then we began the discussion on his new high school for girls which he will open in January of 2014. A big part of what is driving him to open this school is all of the costs he has now for children he is helping to get a high school education. I shared with him my frustration about the way one has to pay fees for a high school education and how you get a bill in January that supposedly is for the entire year but you know it is not. The school then will charge you more money a number of times during the year for extra charges. He, like me, would prefer one bill upfront. He explained that the reason the schools do it this way is about what they want the government to “officially” know about and what they don't want the government to know. I told him I will be bringing this up in my visits to the five high schools and asked him how he thinks they will respond. He said he thinks they will be polite and listen but then tell me how they do not control all of their costs and just do not know what their costs will be at the beginning of the year and thus, must do business this way. He said to some extent this is true because they are constantly having costs added on to them by the government and do not know upfront what these will be. I will make my case about how in the United States we always know exactly what the costs will be upfront and a lack of them doing this makes it difficult on the people who want to help the children of Kenya. Another part of my case is how to the sponsor, it can give you some worry as to whether or not someone is taking advantage of the situation, although I know everyone, including parents who are paying their own children. We shall see what happens when I get to Dago and begin these visits.

Anyway we then went on to a further discussion about the girl’s high school he will be starting. The name he has chosen for the school (Lenana) is the same as a local boy’s high school that has a very good reputation. He said this fact that people feel so positive about this school will help in terms of getting people to want to send their child to this school. As I keep telling him he is a great marketer!!

He wants to start the first year with 25 Standard One (Freshmen) students. He wants to start small to create great success right up front. He will hire three teachers and a principal to work the first year. He will have the very low ratio of students to staff to make sure each of the 25 students gets a great education. He said then as word spreads about how well these students are doing that more and more parents will send their girls to this school. He wants to be able to include some students from his Pathfinder Primary school, however he said his top priority will be students who score well on the KCPE and have great character.

We then got into a discussion about his philosophy of what a school should be. He is a big believer that not only must schools be great at teaching students each of the subject areas, but they also must do a great job in preparing them for the realities of the world and the fact they will need practical skills in order to make a living. He said he will only accept students who are willing to “get their hands dirty:” meaning that they will learn all of the things they know about how to be successful and efficient farmers. The way I said this back to him is that he wants his high school to combine the best of both an academic education and career education. And from what I have seen in my short time here, I have a feeling he will be very successful at this.

3

He “pushes” both his teachers and students a great deal. Education here is basically a 7 day a week operation and each of the Monday thru Friday school days are very long. Then also, as with other schools in Kenya, the children go to school pretty much all year round. Clearly education is taken very seriously here and I know that those of us in education in the United States could learn a lot from them. I learned today that a former student of his will begin his freshmen year at Stanford University this fall.

I then asked a number of questions about high school in general throughout Kenya. I asked if he thought the number of children actually attending high school in Kenya has been improving in recent years. He was not sure about that but then he told me that, while he does not have exact numbers, his gut tells him that only about one-third about the children in Kenya who are in the age category of high school, are actually going to high school.

Joshua told me that many, many people approach him to ask him about how he is so successful so they can try to model what he does. I then had a discussion about his success and the fact it is a private school. I told him how in the United States the private schools have an advantage because they can choose who they want to be in their school. They can also be “pickier” about who stays in their school. It seems from this discussion that a private school like his (and Emmanuel's) where I went in 2011, do have this kind of an advantage although it seems as though it is not as much of an advantage as we might think.

On a different topic, we saw many people today on their way to and from church so this led into a discussion about the various religions in this area and how everyone gets along. Joshua and his family are Seventh Day Adventists (like the people in Dago) and thus go to church on Saturday. He has services right here at the school for all of the children and adults who live on this compound that is run by a Youth Minister who is on his staff. Obviously the people going to and from church today are other Christians including Catholics and various other Protestant groups. He said also there is a Muslim community in this area and some of his current students are Muslim. I told him about my work with the Children of Abraham Coalition bringing Jewish, Christian and Muslim students together to promote learning about people of different religions and create a world of patience and understanding between the various groups. He then told me his church and others have groups that doing something similar by bringing together Muslim and Christians in a similar manner to what we do with the COAC.

Also today as Joshua gave me his tour around his property we had a discussion about the violence that occurred in some parts of Kenya, including this area, in 2007 as a result of the anger that was created about the election results for President of Kenya. Much of the anger was against the Kikuyu tribe, which is the largest of all of the Kenyan tribes and are the controlling tribe in Kenyan politics and were the “winners” of this election. Before today it has been my understanding that the violence in 2007 was between the Kikuyu and the Luo Tribe. (The people of Dago are Luos and that is the third largest tribe. The Luo candidate came in second in the election and many non Kikuyu's do not think the election was fair.

4

Joshua's tribe are the L....., a smaller tribe here. As Joshua was showing me around the property he started talking about these two hut-like buildings that are for guests. (This is separate from the building I am staying in that can house up to 16 guests.). One of the huts can hold two people and the other is for four. One of these huts was burned down as a result of the 2007 violence. I asked Joshua about why this was done and he said the violence around the country was really about being anti-Kikuyu and when Joshua enrolls children in his school he does not choose or not choose based on someone's tribe. And, as a result he of course has Kikuyu children. He told me the people who committed this violence wanted him to not allow Kikuyu children in his school anymore. He refused to do that. The whole matter of the violence of 2007 is something I keep learning more and more about as my education about Kenya has grown and grown these last few years, and today I learned a great deal more. Tensions between tribes is a big issue here in Kenya, although it seems things are getting better. And, earlier this year there was the first presidential election since 2009 and even though a Kikuyu won there was only minimal violence in the country that came about as a result of the election.

Tomorrow will be the first regular school day since I arrived and I am looking forward to seeing an learning a great deal more. On Wednesday there is a district singing event going on and I am really looking forward to seeing that!

June 17, 2013 – Noon – I spent the morning at the Pathfinder Academy meeting many of the staff and students. I watched the opening ceremony including the flag ceremony and opening comments by a number of the teachers. Then they asked me to address the students to introduce myself and tell them about me. There is some great video of this.

Much of the rest of the morning I spent watching various groups of students as they practice for the District Music Competition that takes place the next two days. Several times they asked me to evaluate the group after a performance. I pulled on my limited knowledge of theater, singing and performing to make some suggestions and to tell them how well they were doing. There is some great video of this.

I spent the rest of the morning meeting various other classes and with the older children I asked them what they would like to know about the United States and this led to a number of excellent questions. Their main questions were about things like economic/job opportunities in the United States compared to Kenya; differences in weather; is caning allowed in the United States; types of food; tourist attractions; etc.

8:30 pm – Back at the Pathfinder Academy this afternoon. I spent about two hours in a Class 7 (7th grade) social studies class answering more questions about the United States. The group had one right after another and when our time together had ended, I think they could have just kept going on and on. After that most of the students got together in a big room and all of the groups that will be singing in the tournament the next couple of days did their performances.

I arrived back at my room about 5:15 pm and the day clearly exhausted as I feel right asleep and slept til about 7pm. At that point I went to dinner and enjoyed the combination of conversation in English and Swahili. Joshua wants to take me into the village tomorrow so I am sure it will be another fascinating day.

5

Today I remembered something I felt in each of my first two visits. One day in Kenya for me is like a few weeks because so much of what is happening is so new and different. It is Monday evening right now and I have only been here since Saturday night, but I feel like I have been here for many weeks. I think no matter how many times I come here, each minute is filled with so much that there is never anything that is routine. Each moment I think deeply about the differences of living where I live and here in Kenya, and they are enormous, however at the same time I am always reminded that people are people and children are children. The things we have in common are always far greater than our differences. And, we always need to celebrate our differences because they are what makes each of us unique and special. We all have so much to learn from each other. More and more I recommend to young people to visit many countries around the world and get to know people. Surely the way to a peaceful world is for each of us to get to know one another.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013 – 5:00 pm - This morning we stopped over at the ceramics factory here in this compound that Joshua runs. I saw it on Saturday but Joshua wanted me to see it when the guys were actually working and making the ceramic water filters. The guys showed me how they make the filters a couple of times and then, to my surprise, they told me that I was going to make one!! Well anyone who knows me knows I am not real good at anything that has to do with mechanics or making things, so I was really nervous!! I did make two of them (there are several steps in the process) and they were nice and did help when I was stuck...which was quite often! Joshua took some good pics of me fumbling my way through trying to make the water filters.

We came back to the compound for a while and then Joshua walked me into the center of this village of Kiminini. I talked to a number of the merchants in this area where all kinds of foods, clothing, etc. were being sold. I met a young man who was wearing a Chicago Bulls colored cap with the number 23 on it. I mentioned Michael Jordan and his eyes lit up! When I told him I was from Chicago he got even more excited. He was selling what I understood to be these rolls of brown sugar. Of course he wanted me to buy some from him but with his best sales hat on he said I could have a sample and that I would love it so much I would then want to buy a lot. Well, in looking at them rolls of sugar with a variety of insects crawling all over them, it was very hard for me to say now, but I did manage to say, “thanks, but no thanks!!” As all Kenyans seem to do he took my rejection very well, shook my hand and told me that he hoped I enjoy my stay in Kenya and that I should come back.

Then, from the center of the village, Joshua had someone from the Pathfinder Academy pick us up in the school van. We brought along two young ladies, one who I think works for Joshua and the other is an intern. We drove about 15 minutes...way off the main road, through some really bumpy dirt roads to the home of a woman. This was going to be a meeting of a group of widows whom Joshua helps out. They meet twice a month and pool money together to purchase items that can help all of them. This is what I would call kind of a co-op. There are 25 women in the group and 14 showed up for this meeting. I got a kick out of the fact that at the front door they placed a little jar and any woman who is late had to pay a fine. I especially enjoyed this because I know from my time in Kenya, Kenyans are traditionally always late!!

Joshua helps these women by giving them matching grants. When there is something they want to buy if they have enough for half, the Joshua puts up the other half, but this is a loan that must

6

be repaid. The beginning of the meeting was each woman putting up some money for various funds they have. (As I describe this meeting they were speaking in Swahili but every now and then Joshua would do some English interpretation for me.) They had discussions about what to do with the money and then about farming techniques. And of course Joshua has so many talents but teaching about agriculture is where he really excels since this is his degree and much of his life experience. We then went out to look at the banana trees of the woman whose home this meeting was in. Her banana trees were looking pretty bad and this caused a scolding from Joshua. This meeting reminded me a bit of the two woman's groups I met with in Rwanda two years ago except this dealt strictly with agriculture as a means of making a living.

I have become fascinated learning about farming from Joshua (a subject, like so many, that I know very little about!!). Joshua says that he can teach a family to grow using his methods and if they use them they can feed an entire family of 8 with just 1/8 of an acre, as opposed to the “other” way of farming where they will need 2-3 acres. In a country where so much of the problem is that almost everyone has to grow their own food and many have very, very little land to do so, this is crucial to creating a society where everyone has enough food. There are some great pictures of the woman.

Then this afternoon I had a very special time as Joshua had me sit down with a very special group of students. In the Pathfinder Academy they have divided the Class 8 (8th grade) students into three classes. One of them is called Pre-Form One. The first year of high school is called Form One, so what these students are doing this year is all of the work regular Class 8 students do, including getting ready for the KCEP Exam as all Class 8 students are doing, but they also do extra work that is Form One work to give them a head start on secondary school (high school). They are all girls because Joshua wants each of them to attend the all-girls high school (Lalana Girls High School) he is starting next January. In the area that is kind of like a living room in the front of the building where my room is, we all sat and talked. .Joshua wanted me to ask them questions to create a discussion so I asked things like, “what are your hopes for the Kenya of the future?”; “what would you like to say to President Kenyatta (the Kenyan President) if you had a chance to talk to him; and then the same question about President Obama. One of the girls is from the same village that President Obama's Dad was from. I then asked each of the girls what they want to be when they grow up. All of this led to many very interesting discussions about the world and questions about the United States. We went into the topic of automation because this fascinated them about how in the rest of the world machines have taken over so much of the work that here is done by people. They were a fascinating and fun group of youngsters to talk to and I have to admit that by the end of it, it made me feel very good about the future of Kenya.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013 – I spent the entire day at the County Music and Poetry Festival and it was a wonderful time. I would say there were about 50 primary schools there. I watched and took video of all of the 8 performances of the Pathfinder Academy students. They had and amazing day coming in 1st in five of the categories and 2nd in two of them. 1st and 2nd places get to go to Regionals at the end of the month so all of the students were very excited as all of their hard work really paid off. It was fun seeing all of the different students with their various uniforms and costumes. There was a lot of talent on display.

7

After the student's performances were done Moses walked me into the town of Kitale. This was the most modern place I have been in Kenya yet. I am not sure of the size of the town but I am going to guess about 200,000. The entire town has electricity and the town center has the nicest looking shops I have seen in Kenya. There were banks everywhere! Iroko Boulevard Restaurant and it was by far the best restaurant I have ever been to in Kenya. Some things in Kenya are very inexpensive to us as Americans and some are very expensive and food is one that is inexpensive. It was a very nice chicken dinner with a small salad, soup and chapati. And, as I was finishing I found out I could get seconds at no extra cost...so I did! And the cost on this was 250 Kenyan Schillings which is a bit less than $3.00 U.S.!

I had a very interesting conversation with Moses who is the same age as me and is a retired secondary teacher. He came to work as an administrator for Joshua at Pathfinder after he retired. He has four children and the oldest two are the same age as my children. His parents are alive and in their 90's but his Mom is very sick after a stroke.

I end my short time with Joshua at Common Ground and Pathfinder Academy. He doing amazing things here with these students and the community. He has solar power that works most of the time for everyone. There is some internet access and some real plumbing. He is getting great results from his students. Now, since he is a private school he has some of the same advantages that private schools in the United States have. Also, I learned this area is the best area for growing food in Kenya and economically it is better off than any place I have ever been in Kenya. Joshua goes after (poaches as he says it!) the best teachers in Kenya, is willing to pay them more than what they are currently making, and gets great results. With my knowledge of Dago, my stay with Emmanuel in Masaii country two years ago, and my time with Joshua, I have seen three very different schools and communities and it has helped me to understand a lot about this very different lad called Kenya.

Well it is time for sleep in a bit and in the morning it is off to Dago. I had been under the impression it was 3 hours but it turns out it will be double that! Well, that is the way things work in Kenya!!!

Thursday, June 20, 2013 – My journey to Dago was long and a bit tough, and took over 9 hours!! Kenya time is always a lot longer!! From the town I was at, Kiminini, I boarded a pretty nice bus called Prince Coach. We drove about 3 ½ hours to Kisumu (me, the two bags I carry and the large two suitcases). I then moved over to a Matatu (A van...but that is the Swahili word for bus), which I have traveled on many times and written about before. A Matatu has two workers, the driver and they guy at the door who takes the money. Then, they literally squeeze as many people and their belongings on as possible....and just when you think no more is possible the squeeze on some more. Then, at times they will have people hanging on the side, the back and the top, as they move along (not me!). Most of the time I just try to be as comfortable as I can, as I am pressed up against a bunch of other people, put my head down and pray to God that I make it safe!! We rode about 3 hours on this Matatu to Kisii, a town I am very familiar with. Then, I had to switch Matatu's so we reloaded and drove to Ranen which took about another 3 hours. Part of why Matatus take so long is they stop at any moment for anyone who wants to get on or off. Then of course there is the poor condition of the Kenyan roads...awful! Many times there is no road at all....just dirt and rocks, sometimes a two lane road is really only about a lane and a

8

half...or maybe even just one...and then of course there is the fact that at any time you could have some animals crossing the road and you just have to wait.

At Ranen George and Duncan from Dago met me for the last two miles up a dirt road to Dago. We used the guys on motorbikes to get me and my luggage to Dago. I unpacked and set up my room so I could create my “routines” and then went to Mama Pamela and Duncan's home for Chai, conversation and then dinner. In addition to George being here, the oldest Edwin who is now married was there with wife and son. Also, Felix, who I last saw four years ago, is home after graduating high school and is awaiting to hear from the government about a University. We had a great evening and by 9;30 pm I was exhausted and went to bed.

Friday, June 21, 2013 – I was up at 6 am to get going for my day. I gathered the water so I could do my hand shower, the cleanest I will be in Dago. I walked over by the school and nursery to see the children and the area and how it has changed in the last two years. I then ate breakfast and we were awaiting George with our rental car. I gave him money to rent a car in Kisii and put some gas in it. Things were delayed as he was on his way to pick up Duncan and me in Dago when he had some trouble with the care and returned it for another one. Around 11:30 am George driving and taking Duncan and I took off to see Roy at Agoro Sare High School. It was about a 1 hour drive. We had a wonderful time. We spent some real quality time with Roy (who is several inches taller than two years ago) and met with a man named George whose title is the Senior Master. We had an excellent meeting with him. I have his name and email address along with the name and email address of the Dean of Student Services, although I was not able to meet with him. One of my main goals with each school I visit is to come away with at least two good email addresses so I can keep in communications once I am back home.

Overall Roy is doing very well although his grades are down a bit in this second year (Form 2 they called it) of high school. And, from all I have been told, Form 3 gets must more difficult. I talked to Roy a lot about working even harder. Duncan has a way of getting to the key point. At school Roy lives in a much better surrounding than back at home in Dago. Duncan said to him....”do you see the way people live in Dago? Do you want to go back to living this way??” I feel very good about how Roy is doing and that he will be very successful. There are some great pictures and video of Roy.

We made the drive back to Dago in a driving rainstorm (as if the Kenyan roads are not bad enough!) Although George has a very nice Nissan he got for our rental and he is an excellent driver. I have had a nervous anticipation for a long time now about how my visits to the five high schools and seven students would go, and I feel great that we are off to a wonderful start!

Saturday, June 22, 1951 – It is my birthday and I am in Dago, Kenya...a very different kind of a birthday. Edwin told me that if he had known he would have sliced up a cow for me!!

This morning I did my wash for the first time since I have been in Kenya. Washing your clothes here is the very old fashioned way. Two buckets, one filled with water and detergent and the other with just water for rinsing. Thus, I took all of my dirty clothes and one by one hand washed them, then rinsed and then hung them on a clothes line to dry. The clothes line reminds me of when I was little and we had a clothes line in our back yard before my parents could afford a

9

dryer. Now this process does not give you clothes as clean as back home, but overall it is not too bad!

I then went to church. The people in Dago are Seventh Day Adventists, thus their church is on Saturday. I sat thru a service a couple of years ago when I was here so I thought I would do one again. The service is three hours (10:30 am til 1:30 pm) and it is all in their native tribal language of Luo so I do not understand a word. The minister who I had met the other day, did introduce me and asked me to get up and introduce myself to the people in the church. George brought a version of the King James Bible for me to use and would point me to the proper places in the bible so I could read the English version of what they were saying in Luo. George would also explain other things that were happening.

At the end of church I saw a boy who was wearing the t shirts I gave out two years ago from Carol Stream baseball, so I had to take a picture of him.

A few hours later I was talked into going to Tanzania. Dago is about an hour drive to Tanzania. Now, you might be thinking, one cannot just walk into another country!! I told George and Edwin I was not sure this was a good idea, however, against my better judgment they convinced me to go. They said we would just walk a little bit into Tanzania and all would be OK. I was making a few jokes about spending the night in a Tanzanian jail! They told me to be sure not to offer anyone any money.

When we got to the border, there was a Kenyan side, then about 30 yards of a kind of middle ground, and then the Tanzanian side. On the Kenyan side the Kenyan guard told us we would have to pay 150 schillings (about $1.60 US) to go across. Edwin and George talked to him a bit in Swahili and all of a sudden he just told us to go across. Edwin said he was just hoping we would pay him the money (a bribe) and when he realized we would not he just let us go.

Then, as we crossed into Tanzania, of course the guard immediately notices the muzungu (white person)! He calls us over and asks to see my passport. This was a moment when I was glad I always make it a policy to have my passport on me! He sees I am from the US and says you know you cannot just walk into another country. I was trying to say as little as possible and just listen very respectfully. He asked me what I was doing in Kenya as he looked through my passport and saw my Kenyan Visa. I told him my story. He then said it was OK for the Kenyans to come over because they are neighbors. He then asked me, “does the United States border Kenya?” And, of course, I responded no. At that point I did not know what would happen. He then starts talking to George and Edwin in Swahili. For about a minute it seemed pretty serious but then they all started laughing. He told us I could go but I had only one hour and then I must cross back. I said Asante (thank you) and starting walking. We walked about a block and went into a restaurant where we each had some pop. Mama Pamela, Habiba and Harun were also with us. I kept watching my watch because I did not want to disobey my orders and we were back in Kenya in less than an hour. Another interesting moment in Kenya. Looking back, it might not have been very smart of me to do this, but all worked out just fine.

10

Then we made the drive back to Dago and got ready for dinner. Sunday will be a day of relaxing and cleaning before we get back to school visits on Monday. Also tomorrow I want to give to Mama Pamela the clothes I brought for the children.

Sunday, June 23, 2013 – A day to relax, although for most Kenyans there really is no such thing as a day to relax as most Kenyans are either full time or part-time farmers and the crops and the animals don't care what day it is, they still need to be taken care of! However for me it was a pretty relaxing day. After breakfast Duncan and I spent most of the morning solving all of the world's problems. Also, there are always many things to talk about in comparing life between Kenya and the United States. During this time a man named Samuel came by and he was a very interesting man to talk to and get to know. He works for the government and assists farmers. In getting into his personal life he has 8 children, the oldest of whom is 30 and another child he takes care of who is in Class 7 (7th grade). Also, he lost his wife several years ago so he has been the sole parent for all of these children.

He took out some paperwork on the girl he is taking care of from her primary school. She is an excellent student and is 4th in her class out of 38. He is very worried about how he is going to be able to pay for her high school. He does not live in Dago by the way. He made the point that as a civil servant he does not make much money.

He was a very interesting man and loved hearing him talk about life in Kenya. I gave him my business card and he made the point that he will send me an email. I took a picture of him and Duncan by his motorcycle just before he left.

Also today I went over a couple of things with Mama Pamela. She turned over the receipts from the school payments and other costs for the students in the scholarship program. This is always a complicated process as I try very hard to have a receipt for every penny that we have spent, but in reality if I can just come really close to that goal, I am happy. Three of the five schools, as I expected, I own money to and I will review this with them when we see them this upcoming week and let them know we will get that money paid as soon as I get back him. The other two schools have said we are all paid for the year, but I know the way things work in Kenyan schools, I will probably still have to pay them a bit more money yet this year.

Then I showed Mama Pamela the clothes, jewelry and cups I brought for the girls at the orphanage. We decided that on either Thursday or Friday we will pass these out to the children. I want to get a lot of good pictures as I pass out these items.

I did a lot of reading today on my Kindle and did a lot of preparing to begin again the school visits in the morning. A lot will happen in this upcoming week and then a week from tomorrow I will head back to Nairobi and then the next evening catch a flight to Paris and start my way home.

Monday, June 24, 2013 -

We left Dago about 9 am this morning to go and visit two schools and one student at each school. We first went to Koderobara Secondary School to visit Vincent Oketch. Duncan and I

11

met with Mr. Jeam Agutu the Principal and Mr. Magori the Dean of Studies. I was able to get both of their emails to keep in touch with after I left. The Principal was clearly very email knowledgeable and talked a lot about the advantages of communicating via email. I also met with the Bursar to get clear on what money is still owed for the rest of the year. I have her some Schillings to get caught up to the moment and told her I will send the rest when I get back home.

We then were able to spend some real quality time with Vincent who is doing very well in school and did much better in the second term than the first. We did our picture session and took a video with him. When our visit ended I was really happy about both of the first two visits and accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish.

We then made the drive to Oyugi Ogango Girl's Secondary School to visit Isca. This was the most anticipated of my planned visits and the one that was giving me the most nerves. Isca is a total orphan having lost both of her parents when she was a little baby. She has two older brothers who she does not get along with and is clearly afraid of. She is also only a step sister to each of them. The only home Isca has really ever known is the Dago Dala Hera Orphanage run by Duncan and Mama Pamela. She had many issues growing up but did get the best grade on the KCPE of all of her fellow female students, showing the potential she actually has. She also gave birth to a baby during Class 8 (8th grade) and it is my understanding that someone else is raising the baby.

In her first year (Form 1) at the school her grades were pretty poor. She had several discipline issues including getting into a fight. She had several issues getting started with this year (Form 2) including getting caught with a cell phone that another girl had somehow sneaked in to the school. At that point she was sent home but never made it back to Dago because she was afraid of her brothers. Back in Naperville I because aware of this and we all went about two weeks not knowing where Isca was. Eventually Mama Pamela found out, went and got her and brought her back to school. She had a long talk with Isca and the staff at the school.

All of this was settled about six weeks ago and here I come today. It was my hope going in to today that we could do and say some things that can help Isca understand how special the opportunity for this scholarship is and how crucial it is for her to work hard, get great grades and obey the rules of the school.

We spent some time with the bursar straightening out what money is owed and then we met with the Principal, Mrs. Martha Ouma. We reviewed the school and talked a bit about Isca. She told us the best person to talk to was the Deputy Principal Mrs. Phelgona Ogweno, so we next stopped in to see her.

We actually had a couple of different conversations with Mrs. Ogweno as she was very knowledgeable of Isca and her issues. She knew both brothers well and realized that Isca was very afraid of them and said how tough they were on her. She pointed out that she is a mother and what Isca needed was the love of a mother. At one point she brought Isca in the room with us and we talked all about her issues and challenges. We were very direct and firm with her but very much tried to show her how much we care about her and believe in her potential and the great things she can do with her life. Mrs. Ogweno pointed out to her that Math is her poorest

12

subject and she is her Math teacher and scolded her a bit for not coming to her and asking for help. We strongly encouraged Isca to go talk to teachers when she did not understand the material.

I then went and spent some one on one time with Isca taking some pictures and a video. I reviewed all of the issues with her and was firm but tried to emphasize how there were so many people who cared about her. I talked about how difficult life is for Kenyan children who do not finish high school, especially girls. Hopefully I was able to get thru to her!!

We then went back and talked some more with Mrs. Ogweno. I decided to take a chance with a question that I would not have asked in the United States but thought I would try here. When Isca got into trouble she called the brother because he is her legal guardian. However we all know that the brother is a big part of the problem. So I asked Mrs. Ogweno if something comes up again where she needs to make a phone call about Isca, could she please call Mama Pamela instead of the brother? Now of course in the United States the answer would have been no because the school would have no choice in the matter....they would have to follow the law and call the legal guardian. However, to my surprise she looked at me and said that was a good idea and Duncan agreed. So Duncan gave her Mama Pamela's cell phone number and we were all set with this. I felt really good about this helping everything for Isca.

Then, I had another instance of someone asking for help. Mrs. Ogweno was very nice and complimentary about what I was doing and then went on to talk about some of the other girls in the school who are having trouble coming up with the school fees and wondered if I possible could be of some help. She was very kind and respectful but of course these kind of situations are always uncomfortable and leave me really struggling for words. I struggled with things like there are so many children in Kenya who need help and this is so sad, and I wished that I could help all of them. In the end of course I had to tell her I was sorry but could not help. To be frank, as we headed for the car I was in tears. No matter how many times I face this kind of situation it never gets any easier.

When I started this scholarship fund I was committed that this would not just be about me sending money to Dago for students. I vowed I would be involved with these students and would actively do whatever I could to help them be successful. Nothing could have better represented this than the time I spend with Isca today. I am stealing a line from Chris in the documentary, “A Small Act” but I do not want these children to think I am just giving them money, I want to be giving them hope that their life can be better than the life they have had before high school and that if they work hard they can make their dreams come true.

Tomorrow we have out two last schools and two students at each school. Thus far I am very happy with how these are turning out and hope after tomorrow I feel the same!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013 – Today started out with some question marks because of the announcement last night that the public school teachers (such as the ones at the Dago Primary School) were going on strike as of midnight. Ever since I had arrived in Kenya I had heard about this story but always thought that if there was to be a strike, that a strike date would need to be

13

set about a week of two before the actual strike. However, I learned another lesson in Kenya, that is not how it works here, they just go on strike.

I learned that this is the 7th strike since 2007. The primary teachers are a separate union from the secondary teachers, however I learned that quite often the secondary teachers will eventually go out on strike in “sympathy” with the primary teachers. I had great concern about how this would affect my plans and goals this week.

So you know, teachers are paid very low here in Kenya. Duncan, my host, was a primary teacher for 33 years and then retired. His salary in his last year, the highest salary he ever had, was about $250 per month. Also, I do not know the exact numbers here but people have a lot higher percentage of their income taken out of each (taxes, etc.) than in the United States. As a retired teacher Duncan gets a whopping $100 per month!

So, upon waking up this morning I found out the Dago children had all been sent home and the school was closed. I had planned to spend Thursday and Friday at the school doing things like taking pictures and names of all of the Class 7 and Class 8 students, talking to all of the Class 7 & 8 parents about the scholarship fund, and meeting with the parents of the 7 students who we are currently sponsoring. Also, I was not sure about how it would affect our visits to the last two high schools we needed to visit.

While before this news we were considering spending today, Tuesday, at the Dago Primary School and tomorrow finishing the high school visits, since the Dago School was closed we decided it would be best to finish the two high school visits.

Thus we drove to St. Mary Goretty's Dede Secondary School to visit Lencer and Vivian. We had excellent meetings with each of the staff members and received some email addresses. We then sent some quality time with both of the girls and took some excellent pictures and did a video on each of them. There is a cute story that ties into the pictures.

I was sitting and talking with Lencer and Vivian and a man who is on the staff stopped by and asked if he would like me to take some pictures of me and the girls with my camera. I was going to need that so I said yes. He took pictures of just the girls and then the girls and I together. After that he started to walk away and then he came back and asked if he could take some pictures using his camera. This is the point where I should have realized something was up, but I was so focused on continuing my conversation with the girls I really did not give it much thought. Thus he took some pictures with his camera and then said thanks and walked away.

About 15 minutes later Duncan had joined us and the man returned. He came over and handed me three very nice pictures, one of each girl with me and one of both girls with me. I thought he was giving them to me to be nice. Then, thru Duncan's help I realized he wanted money for them. Apparently this is a way he makes a little extra money. His first request was for 30,000 Ksh (that is about $350.00). I kind of chuckled and then handed the pictures back to him and said no thanks. He and Duncan talked a bit in Swahili....I assumed negotiating...and then Duncan looked at me and said to give him 300 Ksh (that is about $3.50). I then gave him the 300 Ksh and

14

he seemed very happy. I gave each of the girls the picture with me and I kept the one of me with both of the girls. Another Kenyan lesson learned!!

When we finished out time with Vivian and Lencer, we were on our way to St. Pius Uriri High School to visit with Victor and Nicholus. We did our usual meeting with staff members and getting some email addresses, as well as checking on any balance that we still owe in school fees, and then we got to the part of sitting down and talking with both of the boys. We were sitting in the Bursar's Office when Victor and Nicholus walked in and Victor kind of surprised me as he ran up to me and gave me a big hug! Needless to say at that moment I was a bit overwhelmed. I had first met Victor in 2009 when he was in Class 6 (6th grade) and he was this very tiny and shy little boy. When I left Dago that summer I decided I would sponsor Victor and I paid for him to go to St. Benedict's School for Class 7 & 8. He really thrived at that school. He did very well on his KCPE (the exam all Class 8 students take in Kenya) and is doing very well in high school. I last saw him two years ago while he was in Class 7. It was great to renew the connection!

I also saw Nicholas and the three of us went to an area where we could talk and take pictures and do the video. For each of the children I had seen thus far I gave them a gift of a spiral notebook and two pens but this meeting would be different. Nicholus is sponsored by Father Corey Brost who I have come to know well the last couple of years due to my work with the Children of Abraham Coalition. He and his order, The Viatorians have sponsored Nicholus. Father Corey is a teacher at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights and as of this July 1st he will be the President of the School. Father Corey had some special gifts for Nicholus for me to deliver. First there was a card from Father Corey with a picture. Then, I had three books to give to Nicholus that were written by Father Corey. Each of the books were about explaining The Gospel to teenagers. Then the last gift was a St. Viator High School t-shirt. Nicholus was very excited about the gifts.

Then, to be frank, since I knew that Nicholus would be getting these gifts, I did not want Victor to feel left out, so I gave him a couple of books. I gave him the Barack Obama book, “Dreams of My Father” which I had read on my first trip to Kenya. Please remember that the Obama name is really big here because President Obama's father was from a small village not very far from Dago and he was of the same tribe as the Dago people, the Luo Tribe. I also gave him the Norman Vincent Peale book, “The Power of Positive Thinking” and explained to him a bit about who the author was. I also had a pencil bag for each boy that had in it pencils, pens, an eraser and a ruler. Each boy also received a spiral notebook.

We all ended up talking for quite some time and it was just a wonderful visit. We said good-bye to the boys and headed back to Dago. All in all it was a really wonderful day seeing Lencer, Vivian, Victor and Nicholus. There are so many times I wonder if all of the money that is spent, and the time and crazy types of transportation I have to take to get here, if it is all worth it. Today was an amazing day and the kind of day that makes it all worth it. It is the kind of day I wish I could have all of my family, friends, students and former students with me to share these wonderful moments and memories.

15

In the meantime Duncan has been working on how I can still accomplish the things I want with the Dago Class 7 & 8 students. I had not realized it but Duncan had told the Headmaster about our plans for Thursday and it looks like we could have quite a day. In the morning all of the Class 7 & 8 students are supposed to come to meet with me and their parents and guardians are also supposed to come. I am hoping the strike does not keep people from coming. Then, in the afternoon, all of the parents and guardians of the 7 students I have just visited at their respective high schools are supposed to come for a meeting. If all of this can happen on Thursday that would be outstanding!

Tomorrow I am planning on spending the morning at the girl’s orphanage to see the girls and to watch the nursery/day care school that for now takes place at the orphanage until the new building is complete. I have a lot I still want to get done this week and then I can have some time on the weekend to relax, wash clothes, pack, read and get ready for the journey home. On Monday morning I will take a motorbike (what they call motorcycles) to the village of Ranen (about 2 miles) and from there get on a bus (should be a pretty nice bus) for the journey to Nairobi and Wendy's house so on Tuesday I can get on a plan to head home. Thus far all has gone very well but I do miss home, my family, some good American food, etc. etc.!!!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013 – With the public school strike still on it is taking away from my plans to spend time at the Dago Primary school the last few days of this week. This morning I spent some time at the nursery school as that is still going since it is a private function. I watched as the little children worked on numbers. In this second year of the program it already is paying big dividends. Before this program when a student started primary school in Class One, they had no school background at all. Thus the only language a student would know would be their tribal language of Luo (no Swahili or English at all), and they would not have any other of the basics of reading, writing or mathematics. After the first year of the program they saw that the Class One students who participated in the nursery school (this is what they call it here...not day care), were way ahead of the students who had not participated.

After this I walked around the school grounds and it was strange to have no students on a Wednesday. There were a few children hanging around who I did talk to a bit. Then I did quite a bit of walking around the Dago Village however I always made sure I knew where the Mama Pamela and Duncan compound were so I did not get lost.

I did a lot of reading today and began the process of organizing my videos and pictures for my post trip work. Tomorrow we are supposed to meet with the Class 7 & 8 students as well as their parents, and the parents of the 7 students in the high school scholarship program. I am hoping that the strike does not keep people away.

Friday, June 28, 2013 – 5:00 pm – I have not written anything since Wednesday and it has been a very interesting two days. Duncan I arrived at the Dago Primary School compound at 10:00 am yesterday morning. There were no students or parents. I was dejected as it looked like the strike was going to kill any chance I had of getting pictures of the Class 7 & 8 students and being able to talk to their parents. Now remember a 10:00 am meeting in Kenya could really mean 11...or Noon...or even later! Add to that the complications of the strike that started on Tuesday, it was

16

beginning to look like I would not be able to accomplish much at all during my last two weekday days in Kenya.

Around 11:00 am that started to change as some people started to come by. Duncan and I stayed at the school til around 4:00 pm as a number of students and parents came so I could take their pictures and we could give them the talk about the scholarship fund. Also, Henry, one of the teachers at the school came by during the day with the other people I have spent time with Henry on both of my first two trips and right away he looked at me and said, “Brett”. He opened up the little building that is the teacher's building. I was excited about that because I knew I could get some information I really wanted but had given up on getting because of the strike. I was able to copy down a report they had up on the wall of all of the Class 8 students and their most recent score on the KCPE pre-tests. I write these down as it will give me a good idea on who our best candidates are and I like to see how these kind of results compare with the actual test they take in November.

As Duncan and I left the school, he said we should come back in the morning as there will probably be more students and parents who will come by. Sure enough we did have more today. Duncan was able to stay for a while and then he had to go for a meeting so I had to handle things myself. I stayed until about 3:30 pm.

There are 42 students in Class 8 and 50 in Class 7 and for the two days I was able to meet and get the picture of 44 students, or almost half. While that is disappointing in the sense that if there had not been a teacher's strike I probably would have easily been able to get all 92. However, compared to what things looked like early yesterday morning I am pretty happy. Christine Catlett from North Carolina who does a lot to help this community out and she will be here a few days after I leave. Assuming the strike is settle I am sure she will be able to get the rest of the pictures and email them to me when she gets home. If by some chance the strike is not over, I will have to ask Edwin or George to get the pics and email them to me.

Probably the best part of yesterday was Duncan had set up a 2:00 pm meeting for the parents/guardians of the 7 students who we just visited at the 5 different high schools per our scholarship. Isca's brother came and one parent for each child. This was a wonderful, wonderful meeting that brought quite a few tears to my eyes. We talked about how well their children are doing and they just could not thank me enough for their children having this scholarship. I kept telling them about all of the wonderful family, friends, co-workers, students and former students who contribute money to make this a reality. There are a couple of great pictures of the seven of them with Duncan. This is a picture I will really treasure!

I had so many thoughts going on as we went through talking with the students and parents about the scholarship fund. Most of the parents really only speak and understand their tribal language of Luo so most of the talking was in Luo. I would say a few things to them and then Duncan would translate them into Luo. One of my constant thoughts were on the large numbers of students and the small number of scholarships that I will even be able to offer. Even if I am lucky enough to be able to sponsor four more students (which right now is looking tough), that would mean 38 Dago Class 8 students would not get scholarships. It is possible one or two of them might get a sponsor but that is it. At times that kind of sadness is totally overwhelming but, for

17

the most part, I just have to keep reminding myself that I can only do what I can do.....I cannot relieve all of the pain and suffering. This so ties into the big picture of this poor country where only 1/3 of the students even go to high school and something less than that actually graduate. I talk as do lots of people here about how this country needs to offer free primary and secondary education to all students. The challenges for this seem to be giant obstacles. In this country that has barely any roads that we would call roads, most people do not have electricity or indoor plumbing, if they were to create a system where everyone had free secondary education based on the numbers they are telling me is that they would have to build about 5000 to 6000 additional high schools! And, if that is not enough, there already is a great shortage of teachers so where in the world would they get the teachers. And, of course in addition, where would they ever come up with the money to do all of this???

My other big thought these two days are again on how tough they are with these students. Maybe in the United States we have become over concerned about hurting the feelings of our students and about putting too much pressure on them??? Duncan, who is as nice and mild mannered of a person as you could ever meeting, is really, really tough on these Class 7 and Class 8 students as he tells them about the scholarship fund and how it works. He really pushes them about not just getting a good score on the KCPE but about being number 1. He says this over and over to each child. And, as I have written and talked about before from this trip and others, this is how all of the teachers are with the students. Now I am very critical of how education is handled in my own country of the United States, but I am not about to start criticizing these Kenyans about how they treat their students since I really still understand very little of the history and culture of the education system, despite my three trips here. I cannot help but worry that some students walk away discouraged thinking.....”why should I even try....I can never be number !”. I really though have no idea of what they think as they walk away. And, of course the reality is that Duncan is only telling them the truth. The vast majority of these students will not be helped by this scholarship fund....only a few at the top will be helped. I just have to keep my focus on the goals I have for this fund and do the best I can in achieving these goals.

Saturday, June 29, 2013 – This morning was shower time, breakfast and then I did some wash before it was time for church. I sat thru the three hour service with Edwin helping me with translations. At the end of the service it was announced that today would be a communion day right after church is over. My first reaction of course was this is for people who have been baptized, and that clearly does not include me! However a couple of the men who know me encouraged me to participate.

The women went back inside the church while the men brought a group of benches over just outside and sat in a circle. They then started the process of washing each other's feet. Henry (a teacher at the Dago Primary School and a Deacon at this church) came over to show me the passage from the bible about Jesus washing his feet. Soon a young man was washing my feet and then dried them. I just sat there for a few minutes thinking I was done when one of the other men came up to me and said, “you are not done yet”. I said something like, “what do you mean?”. Well, since I had my feet washed I had to wash one of the other men's feet. I was incredibly nervous but tried hard not to show it as I washed a man's feet and then dried them. After that we then all washed our hands.

18

When all of the washing was complete we went back into the church to join the women where they had been doing the same thing. Then the actual communion ceremony started. Eventually they passed out a piece of bread (a few times I did here them use the word “unleavened”). I was just about to put it in my mouth when the man next to me said, “no..not yet!”. About a minute later it was time for all of us to each it. It was a bit like a matzo but a little more like a cookie texture and not as crunchy. There was really not taste to it.

Next it was time for the wine. They passed around to everyone a little metal cup. The liquid had a brownish color to it. When it came time to drink it, I did but I am not sure what it really was. There was very little taste to it and I do not think it was any kind of wine....just not sure!

Through much of this entire ceremony I kept thinking something like, “what an experience for a Jewish guy from the south side of Chicago!” It certainly was one I will never forget and I am sure I will share many times.

After church it was time for the two “old guys” (Duncan and) to sit around and talk. We did that until dinner....and then talked some more and all of us watched some TV. My time in Dago is nearing an end!

Sunday, June 30, 2013 – Today was a day of relaxing, cleaning, washing and packing. My last full day in Dago here on my third trip. Time goes fast by I am very, very anxious to get back home to Chris, my family and my life. In the evening we had a surprise, the only Odoyo child I had never met, Isaiah and his friend Erin arrived in Dago. Isaiah is the third oldest of the children and I know has a degree in Bio/Chem. When he arrived he looked at me and said something like, “Brett, I finally get to meet you!” At first I was not even sure who he was. I was able to spend some time talking with him and Erin at dinner.

I took a great picture of Duncan, Mama Pamela, Isaiah and Erin and Mama Pamela was wearing the Dago Scholarship t shirt I gave her so that was something special!

Monday, July 1, 2013 – I was up early and eating breakfast with Duncan. I said my good-byes to everyone and about 8:30 am the guys on the motorbikes came by to take George, my luggage and I about two miles to Ranen where we could catch the bus to Nairobi. By around 9:15 am the bus arrived and we were on our way. It was a pretty nice bus and this was the beginning of my journey home back to Naperville. We stopped in Kisii for about one half hour and Nakuru for about 15 minutes, and of course a number of other stops to either let people off or take on new people.

We entered Nairobi about 4 pm and as we headed towards downtown it was clear rush hour was getting started. I have never been in crazier traffic ever than what I experience in Nairobi. There are way too many vehicles for the roads they have. Everywhere there are people walking, people on bicycles and motorbikes, and of course all of the round-abouts, thanks to their British colonial heritage. Also, there are not many street lights but a number of police directly traffic. Most of the roads were pretty good but some were awful! We finally arrived at the Oil Libya Gas Station in

19

downtown Nairobi and right away I remembered that on my first full day in Kenya back in 2009, this is where I was taken to meet Patrick Odoyo for my first trip out to Dago!

Here George and I connected up with James, Wendy's driver for the drive to Wendy and Martin's house. We switched the luggage and I said my good-byes to George. Then James began the drive and it was even crazier! It was not a long distance but it took close to an hour, but we arrived!

I am looking forward to a relaxing night tonight with some dinner. I will be here at this home most of the day tomorrow until I fly out to Paris tomorrow night. I should have internet access here and I have a list of things I would like to get done (like paying bills!), etc. during the day. I will also get full swing into my process of wrapping up this diary and organizing my pictures and videos. Of course there will be some email and Facebook!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013 – I spent the day in Nairobi relaxing, reading and beginning my wrap-up. I started the process of uploading my videos to YouTube. While I was on YouTube I took some time to watch videos on the Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup finals goals, etc. While in Kenya I missed the Blackhawks beating the Boston Bruins 4 games to 2 in the Stanley Cup Finals. Around 6 pm James picked me up and drove me to the airport to begin my journey home. It was Nairobi to Paris to Cincinnati and then Chicago. All in all it was a pretty good trip arriving home only 1 hour late and with all of my bags. It was wonderful to be home!!

Trip Summary – Kenya trip number three is over and even in trip number three each and every minute of this trip was just as amazing as the first two! I keep learning more and more about the Kenyan culture that helps me to understand the things I need to understand to successfully run the scholarship fund. There are so many stories of amazing and wonderful moments. The Kenyan people never cease to amaze me with their kindness and how hard they work.

The beginning of my trip was a visit with Joshua Machinga and his Pathfinder Academy School. He is doing incredible things and this being the third school I have spent some quality time with (The Dago Primary School and Emmanuel's school in Masaii country) and it all gives me a much better understanding of the education system in Kenya.

Joshua is a very bright and sophisticated man who is a master at marketing and knowing how to run a school. Adding this to his great knowledge and background in agriculture he is running a very impressive operation. His trips to the United States give him a number of excellent supporters.

My main goal of my trip to Dago was to visit the 7 children we sponsor at 5 area high school boarding schools. This could not have gone any better! There are excellent pictures and videos to go with this. In addition I have at least two staff member's names and email addresses to keep in contact with. The latter part of my Dago stay was to spend a lot more time at the Dago Primary School and meet and get pictures of all of the Class 7 & 8 student as well as meeting with their parents. The school strike got in the way of this goal but we still were able to meet with about half of the Class 7 & 8 students and their parents/guardians. After the strike is over they will be able to get me pictures of the rest.

20

My trip has definitely given me the ability to further improve the scholarship program and for that it was a great success. In addition making new friends at Pathfinder and renewing old friendships in Dago and with the Odoyo family were very special. I never cease to be amazed that I am in Africa and always am in wonder that this could be the same planet I live on. And, each moment only adds to how fortunate I feel to have been born, raised and lived my life in the United States. It also adds to my passion about how the small minority of us who have had the chance to have the kind of life I have been blessed to have, have an obligation to help the rest of the world who have not been so blessed.

Peace,

Brett Weiss

Mobile: 16302485405

email: brettteach@gmail.com

21