Thursday, October 4, 2012

October 4, 2012 Kakamega

Greetings

After a little over a week from arriving I am starting to feel much better.  Still a bit weak and tired but the afternoon naps seem to be helping.  Today I took a couple of hour walk through the streets of Kakamega.  I was walking by the school yard near the guest house going into town as some of the children were leaving school.  It only takes one child to say “how are you” and with a simple response “I am fine how are you” with my hand out to grasp theirs to create an avalanche of eager and excited children running towards me to greet the mzungu.  Many of you might be thinking how can this be?  It’s not like Dave is the only white guy in Kenya even though sometimes it seems that way.  Let me try to explain my observation on this behavior.  Trust me its not like every time I go out I become an instant celebrity.  I see plenty of children and I respond to all the greetings that I possibly can.  A simple passing greeting doesn’t create the avalanche of children.  It is the response with a hand shake that does the trick.  Once I put my hand out to the child I am inviting all the children that see this to join in.  To see the smiles on these faces would make anyone want to do this over and over again.  If the crowd is large plan on shaking a lot of hands many of them twice before you are on your way.

Today I spent the morning researching micro-finance and savings schemes for developing countries.  To be completely honest I also spent a wee bit of time reading all the pundits reactions to the debate last night to which I have no comment.  I wrote down some thoughts and tried to brainstorm by myself on everything I could think of that needs to be addressed.  Two out of the four partner ministries that we are working with already have a program in place or close to it.  The other two need a little help.

I have been referencing Joe and the Orphan Report to help explain some of the issues that arise when aid money from the west comes in.  Another of the ways money never reaches those at the end of the line is aid inflation.  Here in Kenya if a non-citizen visits a National Park their entrance fee is going to be much higher then a citizen of Kenya.  Just a few examples of what I am talking about.  Let’s say you want to go and visit Mt. Kenya National Park for the day.  The entrance fee for a Kenyan citizen is 400 shillings and for a non citizen plan to shell out $55 or around 4600 shillings at today’s exchange rate.  This is over ten times the rate of a citizen.  I am not saying this is a bad thing.  What I am pointing out is that once $$’s are in the equation the price is going to go up.  It happens with hotels and just about every where there is the opportunity to do it.  Today I went to the chemist to get my malaria refills.  I went to the same chemist I went to last time because I felt I got a fair price compared to what it would cost me in the states.  Every trip that I have taken to Kenya I have used the once weekly 250 mg Mefloquine regiment as my defense against that pesky little killer.  I make sure that I buy enough that I can take some home so I can start taking them before I leave again.  I go into the chemist and I tell him that I need eight 250 mg Mefloquine tablets and he brings me the box.  I check the date and ask how much since there is no price on the box.  This is one of those situations where haggling doesn’t really work to well.  If I do not like the price I walk out.  Last October I paid 2700 (at the time about $27) shillings for eight tablets which was much better then the previous chemist I walked out of because he wanted to charge me over 4000 shillings.  The 2700 shillings was still much better then the $60 or so I paid back in the states in 09.  So today I decided that I had gotten a fair price on my last visit so this guy deserved repeat business.  Since I already knew what to expect with the price off I went to the chemist for my refills.  I arrived at the chemist and asked for eight 250 mg Mefloquine tablets.  The chemist brought them over and I checked the dates and they do not expire until 11/2014 so I asked how much.  Well the chemist looks over at another guy whom last name happens to be Patel and asks how much.  He sits and thinks a moment then tells the chemist 1280 shillings.  This is half of what I paid last year.  Are you starting to see the point?

I have no idea what the real cost of those malaria tablets should be.  I thought I got a bargain last year and today I really feel like I got a bargain.  Or you could look at it in the negative and say I was ripped off last year.  Any who the story is the same with all sorts of stuff ranging from construction materials, food, or whatever.  So in order to get our limited amount of money to those that really need it aid inflation is our enemy.  To help combat this the money has to come from a national with the mzungu in the shadows unseen.  Our friends here in the ministry have much greater purchasing power if the appearance is that this is their money.

Tomorrow the Bishop and some of his executive committee are coming to visit to discuss their micro-bank concept.  Our goal is to infuse a little money in the form of a loan to get these micro-banks started.  I believe that both sides of the pond agree that in order for the micro-banks to have full ownership the money has to be theirs along with all the trappings.  Our investors have no desire to gain any interest from this enterprise.  All interest and fees associated with these micro-loans will be used for administrative purposes with the respective ministries micro-bank.  However the principal has to be returned to satisfy the investor(s) requirements for more investment.

Take care and God bless

Dave                

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