Day four draws to a close...

So. I've been here for a few more days and I'm starting to get a better sense of the way things work. Unfortunately a combination of late nights, early mornings, incessant children, and fast spoken Swahili is draining me.

Today we met with our director and friend, Joseph, to discuss a timeline for the summer. It's exciting and scary how much he hopes to accomplish with us this summer. Our discussions are slow moving and meander from topic to topic, but Joseph gets his point across and is careful to stick to a general schedule. We identified general tasks we'll have for the summer: developing computer and soft skills training, designing the layout and curriculum for a vocational training center, and streamlining the operation of Rift Valley Foods (a supporting business venture of FADECO). Exciting but still quite vague...

Joseph's family is really very nice. We live in a compound that contains offices and homes and is currently under construction. This is one of the two places we're living, they other we'll be visiting tomorrow. At each place there is essentially an entire family we live with.

I'm not a stickler for structure and organization, but living and working at the same place with a new set people is difficult. The two staff we work with, Joseph and John, are hard working and enthusiastic - they generally work from before 9 to after 10. Yesterday we had dinner after 11PM. Surprisingly, I don't think the hunger or the long day really tires me, its rather more that we don't fit in yet and there is no easy way for us to escape. The kids come and climb on me while I'm typing... in fact Jeff is here right now! It feels strange to complain about these things. My parents both often work at home, in the evenings, and on weekends. Plus I've got those younger brothers (hello!) and work with children often. Again I think it comes from this new way of life and new language. I guess the similarities only make the difference more stark.



A little more info about FADECO. The organization has been around unofficially since '92 and officially since '95. I would describe Joseph Sekiku as a development entrepreneur - and new blend of business and development (my terminology). His mandate of "sustainable development" has taken on a whole new meaning for me. For example, FADECO has designed and sold solar food dryers to farmers in order to reduce wasted harvest (previously up to 30%). An offshoot of dried food is a new marketable product. Joseph's entrepreneurial skills shine brightly here - he effectively created a entirely new market for dried bananas, mangos, and tomatoes, despite total disbelief from farmers. Literally no one in the Karagwe district sold dried fruit previously. Creating this opportunity gets farmers more bang for their buck from bananas (bbb...). To the point, the is now a viable business... with small profit margins and ad-hoc operations... but still a reliable source of operating income for FADECO.