New Hiking Book

Ben, looking appropriately intrepid for the author of a book about hiking

All those Cambodia pics reminded me of our awesome travel companions Ali and Ben. Which reminded me that Ben will soon be a published author with the guide Best Hikes Near New York City. I can’t wait to try one or two of these when we’re back in New York in May – it’s just what I need to prepare for trekking in Nepal (I hope).

Post from Netpreneur Conference

Facebook pics of Ain Maisarah

We’re now into the third conference panel – luckily mine was first so I’ve been able to enjoy everyone else’s – and I wanted to link out to someone who really impressed me.

Ain Maisarah writes novels for young adults but her approach to building a community with her readers and her understanding of the importance of finding ways to make money set her apart from your typical author. In her presentation, she outlined her journey from blogging to creating her own community site to utilizing facebook and demonstrated the ways she provides value to her followers and leverages their engagement into purchasing books, special products, and merchandise.

One of the approaches I loved was how she set up a forum based around the school featured in her books. In addition to the merchandising opportunities of this fictional school, readers are able to congregate in a central space, share their writing and get feedback from their peers, and contribute plot points and themes for future Ain Maisarah books.

She also understands the value of being an active member of her community. It’s not about sitting back and letting her books sell themselves – she develops personal connections by spending hours replying to comments, starting discussions, encouraging young writers, and thinking up new products that will appeal to teenagers. She also offers incentives to buy her books online by including special content in those orders.

What can I say? I love when someone perky, fun, and committed to encouraging readers and writers throws around words like “monetize” and is obviously a smart and savvy business woman, too.

Taking a break from my break from blogging

The sky somewhere on the way to Florida

Well, it happened sooner than expected but I suppose it was inevitable – a precipitous decline in blogging as the realities of the summer come smashing against computer time. I’ve still been working plus I spent four days in Florida, four days in Vermont, and 24 hours in New York since my last post. When there are swimming pools and watering holes and very important parties to attend, hanging out on WordPress isn’t a top priority. Oh, did I mention that we’re moving again in just over a week? Yeah, exactly. Other priorities.

That said, I’m here typing since Dan is working on his boat. I try to give him space on the weekends we’re in town since he is incredibly close to being done. In fact, tomorrow may be Walrus 3‘s maiden voyage….

In addition to traveling and working, I managed to read two very interesting books – Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins and In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo by Michela Wrong (who also wrote It’s Our Turn to Eat). You know, leisure reading. As I’m still recovering from my trip to New York, the sole purpose of which was to attend a party, I don’t feel like I have the mental capacity to discuss either book in detail but I will say that I found Imperial Reckoning shocking. In the decade after World War II, the British colonial government in Kenya – with help from local settlers and loyalists – systematically displaced, imprisoned, tortured, and killed members of the Kikuyu tribe. Up to 300,000 Kikuyu were killed and approximately 1.5 million interned, all overseen by a country that went to war against the Nazis and railed against the Soviet gulag. This gross hypocrisy plus the unbridled sadism in full display throughout the prisons and camps was distressing and disgusting, and it proved yet another sad example of the devastation wrought by colonialism.

As you might imagine, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz wasn’t any more uplifting, although Wrong is a fantastic writer and I was happy to follow her to the Congo in this book since I don’t see myself heading there in person any time soon. One thing that I’ve really enjoyed about the two books I’ve read by Wrong is her ability to tell a story and draw you into the people and places she writes about. I feel like I’ve gotten to know Kenya and the Congo a little better thanks to her, and this has helped lay the groundwork for exploring other books about the region.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got for now. Dan’s almost ready for our date but I’ll leave you with a few random pics. Cheers!

Since I took this picture a few days ago, Dan has finished skinning his boat, coating it in polyurethane, and adding additional molding

Speaking of boats, there were plenty in Tarpon Springs, Florida

Dan and his grandfather

Ah, Brooklyn. So fun to hang out in your coffee shops and listen to good music while working.

It’s Our Turn to Eat

Read this book

I just finished Michela Wrong’s It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower and it’s a must-read for anyone interested in international aid, corruption, and recent Kenyan history. Plus, it reads like a political thriller so chances are you’ll have trouble putting it down.

The book addressed a number of topics that I’ve been contemplating recently, particularly the broken international aid structure that seems more focused on dispersing money than evaluating the impact of its projects. One point that really resonated with me was how the vast amounts of foreign aid in Kenya provided a smoke screen as the government scammed over one billion dollars out of the treasury during the Anglo Leasing scandal. As long as a few basic services were still being delivered, the expectation was that regular Kenyans wouldn’t notice the money pouring out of the treasury for sham projects just to be re-routed into government officials’ pockets and slush funds for the next election.

Foreign donors’ inattention to corruption and its implicit racism emerged as another important theme by the end of the book. In addition to being condescending and not up to the standard that the West would expect of itself, “There could have been few more lurid illustrations of the fact that government corruption, far from being a detail of history, really does matter, than Kenya’s post-election crisis.” Yet this political, social, and financial distortion is exactly what donors support when they turn a blind eye to rampant malfeasance. I have a lot of respect for organizations like Acumen Fund that take a firm line against bribes and sweeteners to the short-term detriment of their goals but which hopefully send a message that taking advantage of customers, citizens, and investors is an unacceptable way of doing business.

While It’s Our Turn to Eat was jarring and upsetting, I was still energized by the way it clearly outlined why and how international aid isn’t working. It also reminded me that I need to read Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa, another one of those books I can’t believe I haven’t picked up yet. But I suppose that’s what summer vacations are for – catching up on reading and preparing oneself for the year ahead.

Reading and Reflecting

Required reading

I’m a little embarrassed that until this past weekend, I hadn’t read Muhammad Yunus’ Banker to the Poor. It was one of those glaring gaps into my personal and professional development that, looking back, is completely inexplicable. I probably shouldn’t even be admitting this in public but I suppose it’s never too late to get with the program.

When I have a few moments to myself these days, I often find myself thinking about current aid structures and imagining how things might be different with the introduction of microfinance. Just this morning on my “run”, I was listening to a This American Life collaboration with Planet Money about NGOs in Haiti. They tell the story of a local mango farmer who has the land and the water for one hundred mango trees but needs a small canal to expand her business and the mango exporter who wants to distribute plastic crates to mango farmers because better packing methods would double his and the farmers’ income.

The canal-building struck me as a great opportunity for a micro-loan since it sounded like the upfront investment in infrastructure was the main hurdle constraining growth. Meanwhile, the mango exporter with the crates first tried giving them away for free and then tried partnering with an NGO that later lost its funding after the earthquake. Neither scenario proved successful.

Part of the failure in the first approach was neglecting to take the time to demonstrate the economic value of fewer bruised mangoes to the farmers. Additionally, giving the crates away for free stunted any feeling of having a financial stake in the new packing method. If the farmers had first been convinced for themselves that changing their process could increase profits and then saved up or borrowed money in support of their business, they would have been more personally invested in the project. As it was, many crates ended up as chairs.

In the second scenario, bureaucracy, natural disaster, and fickle funding for NGOs delayed the project indefinitely. I have no way of knowing with certainty if microfinance opportunities could have changed the outcome for the mango farmer and the mango exporter but it seems like you’d be hard-pressed to do worse than the current system.

Check out this book (or at least watch a few videos)

Read this book

I started reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind a week ago and it was such an engaging book that I could have finished it in a day if I hadn’t kept distracting myself with things like cleaning and yoga and wandering around Boston.

I first heard about William Kamkwamba and his windmill when Dan and I were in South Africa last fall (their spring). Written with Bryan Mealer, the book relates his experiences growing up in rural Malawi and his vision for bringing electricity to his family despite incredible challenges, including poverty, famine, dropping out of school, and suspicion from the community.

He also takes the time to explain what he learns about switches, transistors, batteries, circuits, and currents in a way that people with limited knowledge of electricity can understand, and it was fascinating and inspiring to see how he applied his insights to his daily life. Of course, it wasn’t easy – he often couldn’t afford the “proper” parts and had to improvise with whatever scraps he could get his hands on – but I was very impressed by how nimble and innovative (not to mention stubborn) he was, and how his close friends and family supported his work.

William Kamkwamba’s experiences demonstrate how transformative education can be. Even if it’s informal and all someone has is a few books and an encouraging family, learning can change people’s lives. As a fan from half-way around the world, it’s heartening to see that he’s continuing to educate himself while bringing more opportunities to his hometown. I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes next.

If you’d like to learn more about William Kamkwamba, check out this video from TED…

…and this short documentary on YouTube.

Santa Cruz

Until you actually decipher Adam's handwriting, his evaluation looks more like a threat than a compliment

This post has nothing to do with social enterprise (other than I did get to finish reading Ellen Johnson‘s biography and I started re-reading The Bottom Billion while on the plane).

Last week, my family converged in Santa Cruz, CA for my brother’s final dinner for his culinary program. Adam summed it up best on his evaluation card, “It was like a party in my mouth and everyone was invited.”

As always happens in Santa Cruz, we ate lots of delicious food, drank fantastic wine (courtesy of JP’s employer Bonny Doon), spent hours walking around town and along the beach, and generally had a very vacation-y vacation. In fact, I didn’t want to leave. If I’m going to be working from home, why not work from home 1/4 mile from the beach? I think I learned an important life lesson on this trip….

And now for a few random pics:

Mega Shark

Acrobats

The boys

Bonny Doon

Lamps

Blogging and Family Pics

Well, it’s up! Check out the Acumen Fund Blog to read about how three generations of women connected to Jacqueline Novogratz’s The Blue Sweater. Plus, you can see a funny picture of my family on a stagecoach in Utah circa 1991.

In honor of that picture, I’m going to post a few pics from a family vacation to Hungary and Romania in 2007 that are hopefully a little less embarrassing. Enjoy!

JP and Adam in Viscri, Romania

Adam at the airport

My mom and Adam in Budapest

The parents

Three long lost relatives. Just kidding. Those are creepy dolls.

I think there's a reflection of me in here somewhere

Lack of Imagination

Where we crashed this weekend. Thanks, Neil!

I’m not sure what this says about my imagination or my life right now but I want to title just about every post “Catching Up”.

While my blogging has been a little slow here, my post for Changemakers about computer literacy classes for new Americans went up on Friday and I should have a post going up some time this week for the Acumen Fund blog about how my mom, my grandma, and I read and connected to Jacqueline Novogratz’s The Blue Sweater. You’ll definitely want to check it out because it features a ridiculous family photo on a stagecoach circa 1991.

So the big news from Friday is that I’m going to be a Kiva Fellow! I will most likely be placed in their Anglophone Portfolio but I won’t know any details for a while. Fine by me and my husband – this is definitely part of the adventure. And since we’re planning to do at least two placements, I’m happy to leave things up to the experts.

Next up: Applying for grants. Just like old times (aka college).

Lack of Restraint

Hopefully I can drag Dan away from his boat for an afternoon of reading

Well, I did a little damage at the bookstore last night. I wonder if I can even remember all the books I bought but here goes: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn; The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits by C.K. Prahalad; Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, some thick book about the financial crash, and This Child Will Be Great by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female president in Africa.

My current plan – if I can drag my husband away from his boat-building activities (see picture above) – is to grab a stack of these and go spend Saturday at Jamaica Pond and pretend I actually live in Boston or something.