We camped in tents and at midnight, we joined the local guides and others at our campsite in celebration. A surreal picture under the stars of dancing, hugging and singing to welcome in 2007.
Entries For: January 2007
2007-01-30
From 2 to 24 Striped Socks Behind Me
A confession of my goal: I am going to hike Mount
This is what I saw as I ran:
>the green banana and acacia trees sharing their shade with me from the light sun;
>the butcher plopping down two giant bull heads into a wheel barrow spilling over with blood;
>chickens bobbing their heads up and down as they cross my path (accompanied by the rooster who is probably responsible for my annoying 4am wake up calls);
>the sound of gospel music waving from behind bars of the mud walled shopette;
>barefoot children excited to see a foreigner near their home greet me with a respectful “Shikamo” and then giggle to each other;
>well dressed ladies balancing buckets on their heads after just coming from the water pump;
>40 men from the local security company running in exact lines for morning calisthenics (not to be shown up, I ran faster);
>the most beautiful red and yellow flowers and plants you can imagine lining the road;
>overstuffed taxi vans decorated with silly names and colorful stickers polluting heavily;
>buses full of people headed to a factory for work;
>a lady sweeping the ground where a market full of onions, potatoes, tomatoes and carrots will soon appear.
But the best part of the morning was this:
I heard the sloshing of a backpack and patter of little feet behind me. I slowed my run to turn around and discover the shy smile of a little girl dressed in her green school uniform with black and white striped knee-high socks. She was carrying a homemade hand broom to dust off her seat on the floor at school later and an empty plastic container to collect milk at the market for her family after school.
At first, I thought it was sweet that one little girl wanted to jog with me (she said nothing and very carefully stayed just behind me by a few steps). Then, we continued to run and pass other children on their way to school, so they also joined in the jog behind me.
The next thing you know, I had a tail of over 12 kids in green school uniforms running behind me. What a sight! I could not stop laughing. It would be great inspiration if they came to hike Kilimanjaro with me, too!
We Owe it to Peanut Butter
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Innovative ideas are usually considered "nutty" at first. In the most recent Financial Times newspaper, an article about Acumen Fund describes how the idea for our social venture investment fund was inspired while searching a Rwandan city for peanut butter jars.
To read the Financial Times article, click here.
To read the Financial Times article, click here.
BACO Metrics & Measuring What Counts
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Einstein once said, "Not everything that counts can be measured, and not everything that can be measured counts." Developing tools to meaningfully measure social impact as well as financial performance of an organization is one of the biggest challenges for our field. My favorite tools are the logic model, which I learned from Barbara Kibbe, and the SROI methodology, which I learned from Jed Emerson. In the last two years, I have been more intrigued by how New Economics Foundation has build on Emerson's SROI method. Acumen Fund has spent the last few years developing a methodology for assessing the performance of the social enterprises in our portfolio, with an emphasis on keeping it very practical and building on the good work of others in the field.
2007-01-26
Loss
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Fighting fatigue, rain, heat and hunger, seven powerful and dynamic saleswomen from AtoZ put on their blue uniforms and walk daily door to door selling bednets to the people of Arusha.
One of the AtoZ saleswomen invited me to meet a client who had purchased the net from her. This woman lived in a small, simple, mud walled home, barely lit with incoming light from holes in the ceiling. She seemed so solemn as she shared with me that she suffers from malaria at least twice per year. The good news is that since she bought the bednet six months ago, she has not suffered. It took her two months to save the three dollars required to buy a subsidized net. Toward the end of my visit, stepping over a chicken running in the doorway and two small children staring at me intently, she shared with me that her son had died the day before. He was at his teacher’s house studying, when robbers burst in and began shooting. I could see the pain in her eyes, and all I could do was tell her how sorry I was for her loss. This strong and beautiful woman made me think about life's fragility and reminded me to cherish the gifts we have of family and health before they slip away. 
One of the AtoZ saleswomen invited me to meet a client who had purchased the net from her. This woman lived in a small, simple, mud walled home, barely lit with incoming light from holes in the ceiling. She seemed so solemn as she shared with me that she suffers from malaria at least twice per year. The good news is that since she bought the bednet six months ago, she has not suffered. It took her two months to save the three dollars required to buy a subsidized net. Toward the end of my visit, stepping over a chicken running in the doorway and two small children staring at me intently, she shared with me that her son had died the day before. He was at his teacher’s house studying, when robbers burst in and began shooting. I could see the pain in her eyes, and all I could do was tell her how sorry I was for her loss. This strong and beautiful woman made me think about life's fragility and reminded me to cherish the gifts we have of family and health before they slip away. 2007-01-23
Create a Future Which Has Light
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I love to discover the creative side of people- especially when I find them using it to motivate others and to help guide their own lives in positive ways. Last month, I met a new friend at the local vegetable market named Mike. He has taught me a lot about life for people in Tanzania
Mike reminds us that we are in control of creating a positive future for ourselves. It is the simple things, such as a smile, that count toward success. Click the arrow below to hear his rap under the backdrop of stunning
Create a Future Which Has Light
By Michael Emanuel Sarakikya (
10 Steps of Success
Speak and Act
Be helpful
Be thoughtful
Smile
Be considerate
Be friendly
Be generous
Respect everyone
Call people by name and
Speak to the people in order to succeed
Also, you have to arrange your life
‘Cause life is like a bloom,
so don’t blame,
Because some of the people,
they don’t feel about the future,
When they fall in life, they blame,
Also when they fall in love, they blame,
So I don’t know what to do and I don’t know where to go,
I work hard in order to avoid the folly that follows me in life,
2007-01-13
Two Men Holding Hands
The electricity was out all day again, so I went out walking. Under the hot summer sun. I smiled as I turned the corner and was met by the sweet sound of drums, trumpet and singing. A wedding procession: cars adorned with bright yellow bows and flowers, women in all satin crowded in the back of trucks waving, the bride in a puffy white dress, people dancing joyfully in the street.
This weekend during the procession, I noticed two men walking hand-in-hand, something I have seen occasionally here in
2007-01-11
Book Review: A Fine Balance by Mistry
Reading this book is not for the weak of heart—get ready for an emotionally charged story that unwinds through peaks and valleys of chaos, tragedy and a sense of raw humanity. Through the lives of four key characters (two tailors, a widow and a student), the reader gets a glimpse of life during a fascinating time in India
If there is one thing this book shouts, it is “life is not fair.”
Some people have described this book as depicting a fine balance between hope and despair; I think it is more like a fine balance between perseverance and surrender. As the characters’ distrust of each other evolves ultimately into love, the reader can see how much we as humans depend on each other for that perseverance.
2007-01-02
Partying on New Year's with Wild Animals
As we descended into the enchanted green crater of Ngorongoro, a sense of peace filled me just as the white fluffy clouds fill the rim of the crater. My Acumen Fund colleague, Jocelyn, and I decided to say goodbye to 2006 by taking a safari adventure on New Year’s Eve in the eastern edge of the Serengeti. We found good
Learning Local Cooking for the Holidays
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A wonderful colleague of mine, Machua, kindly invited me to meet his family and learn how locals cook and celebrate the holidays. I had so much fun with his wife and daughter, who taught me how to cook in a traditional pot on an open fire. We fire-roasted fresh corn from their garden, squeezed fresh fruit juice and then they taught me how to make pilau (a rice and meat dish) and a special vegetarian dish with a coconut sauce. The kitchen was alive with smells of spices such as pepper, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, garlic and ginger. Before we ate, Mach
ua gave me a tour of their home, including banana trees, corn stalks and a huge chicken coop- all of which flourish under the silhouette of Holidays are a happy time in their home because all of the children are home from school. It was nice to spend a day feeling like a Tanzanian and being around such warm people.
