Fallen Comrades

That title might sound deep…and so was the hole the George literally fell into on our way to work today HAHAHAHHA (he’s fine don’t worry). We were walking to work (the morning was pretty uneventful. There was power when I woke up which was really nice…I’ve grown accustomed to not having electricity (and therefore showers) most mornings), and we were ALMOST there as well! Then I walked along this like…6 inch wide piece of concrete that was between a parked car and a massive dirt drop (like 1.5 metres) into a storm water drain. Well I got through fine…and then like 10 metres down the road I glanced behind me to check that George was still there…and I just saw like half his body climbing up out of the massive ditch HAHAHAAHA. He’d dirtied the leg of his pants and he got a pretty bad scratch on his hand…but other than that he’s fine and still happy! He’s sitting in his bed next to me right now, doing the November monthly report for the microfinance project and listening to music…and probably thinking about how it’s his last night!

Anyway, this morning, when we finally got to the office, after a journey that was a little more eventful than normal, there was this chameleon on the railing outside the office!

Also, this is what the entrance to the office looks like…and yes, that staircase is really bloody steep.

Anyway, when we got in, Elizabeth told us that we wouldn’t be going to the morning group. This is the same group that, last week, didn’t show up. I really don’t understand why we didn’t go…but from what I gathered, it was something about not wasting time going out there since none of them were answering their phones…I dunno it was all a bit weird. That gave us all the morning to work on our various projects though! So, I worked on my presentation for tomorrow, which is about Customer Relations. Fingers crossed it goes well! I measured up a nearby shop’s walls to see the amount of paint they’ll need to paint the shop…so that was fun too!

Then, at about 11am, we all piled into the Land Rover (the one that gets really packed when there’s five people in it) and headed off to the “afternoon” group. EXCEPT! Not all of us were going to the group. Along the way, Elizabeth dropped Rachelle, Cleo, Yuta, and me off to do a business visit! The business we were visiting was this little stall in amongst a massive market. On the way to the business, Cleo and Yuta got hungry so we stopped at “Mini Supermarket” and they both bought some snacks. EVERYTHING WAS SO DUSTY. It’s kind of just the way things are here…with the dirt roads everywhere and all…the woman at the counter just had a rag with her that she would dust everything off with when you bought it. Anyway hahahaha…I don’t think I ever caught the name of the woman who ran the shop. But this is her!

And this is the street she’s on!

Her shop seems like a bit of a jack of all trades kind of thing. She sells cooking oil, kerosene, soap, steel wool, fruit and veges, brooms, charcoal, and MANY other things. It’s a bit of a mishmash. She didn’t actually have anything for us to do for the 2 hours we were there…other than watch her work. We asked her some questions and made some suggestions on how she could improve the shop…her main issue was that her competitors sell the exact same goods as her. The issue is that she seemed to be a bit unwilling/unable to differentiate herself from the two major competitors she had; one over the road and one immediately next door. Anyway…that was a bit of a nothing business visit…it’s a shame.

Then we piled into the car as Elizabeth came back past, and headed back to the office. The rest of the day was pretty quiet…we did some work at the office, had lunch at Lenana again, and Cleo ran a cooking lesson for some women who came into the office. She taught them how to make an apple cake which was really good the other day when she brought it in for us to try…but today…the oven was acting up…it just burned EVERYTHING…But she seemed alright with it…in her words, “it could have gone better but they liked it so that’s the most important thing” hahaha so I’m glad it was a positive experience in the end. After I came home I really did nothing…I read for a bit…OH AND I REDESIGNED THE TIMETABLE THAT THE MICROFINANCE TEAM USES EVERY WEEK SINCE THE ONE WE CURRENTLY USE IS VERGING ON ILLEGIBLE…I’ll stop yelling now…but yeah, I’m pretty proud…I’ll show it to Elizabeth tomorrow hahaha!

Okay I’m off to bed now! It’s George’s last day tomorrow, and he’s just about done packing tonight!

Sorry for the super short post…but nothing really happened today hahaha.

Okay well thanks for reading! I’ll see ya in the next one!