Visitors and a shot/thought

This week, an American couple has come to work with one of our business groups - the Christian Entrepreneurs Savings Society (CHESS). Andy and Kathy's family has a long history with Partners Worlwide. Kathy's parents were there at the beginning of PW and have been alongside ever since. During their week here, we will be meeting with CHESS' manager, Board of Directors and member businesses strategizing ways to better serve Christian entrepreneurs so that they can create jobs and be a beacon of light as business owners.

In preperation, my coworker Tim and I met with several members of CHESS. We wanted to get an understanding of what they thought were the business group's strengths, weaknesses, and challenges. Also, we wanted to hear if they had any ideas or opportunities CHESS can take advantage of. We found out that these businesses were effected by the violence following the elections earlier this year.

Bwana Jowamu's business produces and sells textile products in Nairobi that are then distributed throughout rural Kenya. During the post-election chaos, civilians set up road blocks and murdered drivers that were of the "wrong" tribe. Obviously, this severely limited commerce especially transportation. Because Jowamu's customers were unable to go into the rural areas to sell their products, his business suffered. Fortunately, he was able to retain his seven employees and business has begun to pick up again. Here is a picture of Jowamu and some of his retail bed covers:

And a shot and a thought:

"I love public transportation"

Yes, a car provides more flexibility and safety, but a matatu mini-bus ride in Kenya costs $0.25 (much less expensive than driving on $6.00 gallon gas) and can be much faster in a traffic jam. These buses obey no rules, except that of making money - the more customers the more money you make. So they cram as many people as possible into the van and then go as fast as they can on the shoulder, into oncoming traffic, or just making a new lane for themselves straddling what would be the center yellow line. This photo shows one of the largest "stages" where you can grab a matatu. The real matatus are hard to see in the photo. They are the small, white 15 passenger vans. If you don't mind sitting on people's laps, extremely loud rap music, and going over speed bumps at 50 mph, it is the best way to get around town.