Day 4: Beautiful Farms

So this is actually Day 5 in Kenya, not counting 2 days of travel to get here. I forgot to blog on Sunday. We had a day off, so my coworker and I spent the morning visiting a giraffe and also a baby elephant sanctuary. We also toured the Karen Blixen (of the "Out of Africa" movie) museum (and house) and ate at a delightful garden restaurant connected to it. In the afternoon I visited with an old friend and former colleague from my days at Winrock- we worked in Mali at the same time. I hadn't seen her in 10 years and it was SO wonderful to catch up, like 10 years had melted away!! Her laughter was as electric and contagious as ever. The taxi ride ended up costing me a whopping $45, but it was worth every penny. 

Today was another great day of field visits, spending more time with coffee farmers and their cooperatives. It's our last field day before my coworker and I continue on to Ethiopia tomorrow for a conference. (My blog posts will undoubtedly get a lot more cynical and sarcastic starting then!) 

Reflections from today:

1) I forgot how much coke you drink on field visits, seeing that it's the welcome gesture of choice for special visitors. 

2) this place is really so beautiful, and so different from other parts of Africa I've known. It's not savannah- it's big rolling, terraced green hills, the resemblance to Sri Lanka tea country is still boggling my mind. The farmers don't worry about drought here, they worry about hail! (Note this is only the last 2 days- the first two days were in a very, very drought prone area.) 

3) Having a gender dilemma. At first there weren't many women around, till I started asking about women coop members. Then women started appearing in our meetings. May or may not be coincidental, but it's clear there's work to be done promoting women's participation here. But I got some great photos of some of the women! I just feel a little funny because they're very clearly in the minority. I'll have to chew on that thought a bit.

4) Camera battery died at the end of the last visit of the last day. Lucky! Note to self, charging the camera battery is a good idea. 

5) I really love this type of work. Our Kenyan staff are fantastic. The idea of going back to the Baltimore office, to glass offices and grey walls and annoying meetings and pressure for growth and strategic blah blah is making me so depressed. Thank goodness for our sweet little house, our super fab friends and just a few more weeks till summer! 

6) I'm now regretting not packing those sneakers. I'm also sorry to the laundry person at the hotel in Addis who will probably have to wash the mud off these pants so I can wear them on the plane home. 

Photos:

The best kind of meeting ever. Sitting under a tree, learning about the coop, this time about farmer field schools and also a health insurance system. Next is one of the farmers who is a farmer field school trainer, walking us through some of the steps he teaches the other farmers about pruning a coffee tree. Lastly, a picture of some of the coop members.