Play is over and back to work.  But what I find I love so much about Kenya is that my work is so much like play!  Just got back from a combination social and networking dinner with friends Leslie and Camilla.  Leslie I have known since 2005 having connected through my basket marketing activities for the Ngurunit Basket Weavers.  She has Swahili-Imports located in Eugene, Oregon.  This is a wholesale business aiming mainly at USA retailers for many African products and Leslie travels around to many African countries, including Kenya, sourcing products and promoting artisans.  For over 10 years we have been meeting and working together to market the Ngurunit baskets and improve the income opportunities of the weavers.  She has been incredible in so many ways.  Supportive and keen on helping the basket weavers but also very keen on all the business aspects involved in marketing in this global world.  Camilla is another basket marketing connection, though somewhat more recent.  She and partner Holly, based in London, have a start-up business called The Basket Room.  I have been working with her for about 2 years developing designs that they can wholesale in Britain and Europe.  It is very stimulating to meet with them and discuss all the ins and outs of the craft marketing business.  I do my best with marketing baskets and other pastoralist products but having a formal background only in livestock science, I sometimes feel utterly inadequate in the business side of life.  This evening was fascinating listening to the two business women talk about their challenges and successes.  We also planned the great next epic journey in my calendar, to have the two of them fly up to meet me in Ngurunit and meet the basket weavers for the first time.  Looking forward to that.  The visit will not be just about meeting the women, but also about looking at new designs and possibilities for the future marketing and orders.  The group has just finished the most recent order for Swahili-Imports so we will pack up the car and drive back to Nairobi together.  Fun fun fun – and this is work.  I love it!

I am still in Nairobi after coming back here from the Ark on Saturday with Naiboku.  We enjoyed a swim in the hotel pool Saturday afternoon and a movie in a nearby mall (Westgate) in the evening.  Sunday a lazy morning, then shopping for Naiboku before taking her back to school Sunday afternoon.  It was a short, but very interesting and fun midterm break.  One more month and she will be out for holiday at the end of first term from April 6^th.  The Kenyan school year runs from January to November with approximately 3 months at school and 1 month break alternatively for a total of 3 terms every year.  It is nice to have it broken up like that rather than 9 months of school and 3 months of break as it is in USA.  Though the logistics of traveling up and down for the breaks and such can be challenging.  I was supposed to have headed North on Monday but once again, car issues appeared out of the blue.  I managed to get the car into a garage thinking that a new clutch was in order.  Fortunately, turned out to only need some adjustment so got the car back today.  Now planning to leave tomorrow but after two extra unplanned nights in Nairobi.  Used them well for socializing and networking.  Not only did I have ‘work’ fun tonight, but yesterday I went out to a Lebanese restaurant with Candace, my USAID friend and Hiroko, a Japanese consultant who I’ve worked with a bit in the past.  She is also a Rotarian so we have that in common too.  It is always interesting and enlightening to get together with others who work in the development field.  We can compare notes and network.  Many good things come out of these gatherings.  I have learned to go with the flow here in Kenya.  As I’ve said before, the only firm plan I make, is that my plan will change!  All other plans are tentative.  No need to get upset when things don’t work out as I had hoped.  I just look for the good I can get out of the different circumstances that present themselves.  The art of the moment.  My favorite way of life.