Thanks to a generous gift from the Segal Family Foundation, BOMA has been able to hire and train a Village Mentor and launch businesses in the Archers Post area of Northern Kenya. The region is adjacent to Samburu National Reserve and so, for the first time, visitors and donors to BOMA are now able to seeRead More
On the Road with Dining for Women
I will have a week of meetings with The BOMA Project staff on this trip but I am also leading a safari for a group of BOMA donors through the national organization Dining for Women. In 2010, I led the first safari for this unique nonprofit, whose mission is “to empower women and girls living inRead More
This Is Africa
Festus, the Front Office Manager of Sekenani Camp, provides the orientation for the guests before they head to their tents. “We have no fence that surrounds the camp, so you must not walk anywhere, particularly at night, without one of our warriors who will escort you,” he tells them. I grab a drink from Daniel, the barman,Read More
Mama Rungu, They Were Beating Me Around My Shoulders
Mountain Lodge is situated in Mt. Kenya National Park, and while we cannot see the top of the mountain because of the clouds, everyone enjoys the quiet nature of this wooden building overlooking a waterhole. We have whispered conversations over drinks on the balcony behind the bar and everyone turns in early after a deliciousRead More
BOMA Business Mentors
Semeji, BOMA’s security man, provides a traditional blessing to begin the BOMA presentation of the Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP) to the DFW group. After each intonation, the group is asked to hold their palms up and as they say “aawoom,” close their palms, and then re-open them for the next blessing. Holding my runguRead More
Umoja and the Lions
The morning after we arrived at Simba Lodge in Buffalo Springs, the adjoining reserve to the flooded Samburu Reserve, we were informed that the Chinese road builders had repaired the bridge over the Ewaso Nyiro. Aleya, our one stranded Mentor on the other side, had walked across the bridge that morning to join the otherRead More
Mama Rungu, You Can Not Cross
Kura will stay back with the Business Mentors in Isiolo while I return to Nairobi to meet the Dining for Women (DFW) safari group. It does not take long for the jarring hip hop music to start up while I wait for Kura to join me for breakfast on the verandah of the hotel. WeRead More
Crossing the Kaisut
By 4:15 a.m., Gumps is loaded and ready to go. We are headed back to the Samburu area where all of our Business Mentors will meet with the Dining for Women safari group. We will be collecting most of the Mentors along the way, though four that are on the main road will catch a lorry toRead More
Mama Rungu Church
The one luxury I had brought on this trip was a battery-powered fan. Halfway through the night, in my dripping, hot hut in Loiyangalani, the fan died. I woke up to rain pounding on my thatched roof. Loiyangalani usually has consistent high winds; it is what makes life bearable, at least for us mzungus, who needRead More
The Fairview
It was wonderful to finally arrive in Nairobi last night and be met by Ahmed Omar Ahmed, or “Kura” (Swahili for vote), BOMA’s Operations Director, as well as Captain James Neepe. Captain is a retired military helicopter pilot, now a commercial pilot ferrying politicians, rich visiting Americans and company executives around the country. Captain is also BOMA’s ChairmanRead More