The time for creative problem solving has come. Last week the education team’s progress was interrupted late Wednesday night by a letter from the Salvation Army, the current sponsor of Taragwiti Primary. The letter stated that the proper higher-ups at the Salvation Army had not been made aware of Nuru’s intention to sponsor Taragwiti Primary …
What’s in a Name? Apparently a lot here! Coming from the land of mega-brands, excessive advertisement and title obsession I was fascinated when I learned that in rural Kenya, where product choices are considerably limited and luxury superstores are nonexistent, Kurians are extremely brand conscious. This fact was brought to my attention by Janine’s research …
Jake, our founder and CEO, has returned to the States for a rotation on this side of the Atlantic. We domestic staffers are very pleased that this is the case. It’s nice to have his strategic direction at our disposal a little more readily than it is when he’s in Kenya. Of course, this is …
Army ants are aggressive predatory ants that forage in huge groups called raids. I didn’t know this until Friday night; I had always called them “face-eating ants”, but I will spare you that story. So, Friday night we followed a line of ants in the bathroom outside to discover that the Nuru staff house was …
Every year the Ministry of Education hosts Education Day, a celebration designed to commend teachers and pupils for their hard work. Nuru was invited to show our support of the students and acknowledge our partnership with the Ministry. Sabora and I took the 45 minute boda ride down the very bumpy and dusty road to …
Thirst for Knowledge… Hunger for Change? FT5 (Foundation Team) is embarking on an exciting ride as Nuru begins its expansion throughout the Kuria West District. This week I meet our new Health Field Officers who will oversee and train Health Reps on the basics of malaria, diarrheal diseases, RTI and other health topics. In turn, …
And the Research Team keeps on growing! As of this week, another team member has joined us from within the ranks of Nuru… Janine Brown. Janine is actually one of the longest standing employees of Nuru. She was amongst the five original staff members of our illustrious organization, and she has a tremendous amount of …
It started in the agriculture program – a lighthearted way that the managers would evaluate each other: Andrew’s Field Officers finished pacing all their members’ farms? Tick, ‘check’! James’ maniacal driving almost pitched Jake off the motorcycle? X! At the end of last year, I heard some of the other managers pick it up and …
In last week’s post, Empowering Local Leaders for Water and Sanitation Data Collection, I talked about the big pieces of the Nuru puzzle I’m focusing on during my time in Kenya. Another piece that we’re working on this run is developing leadership in our Kenyan staff. So far, the Water and Sanitation (WatSan) team has more …
I thought it might be helpful to unravel some of the root issues that contribute to intellectual poverty out here in Kuria. This week I came across a particularly powerful example of these root causes. I met an old woman this week as Francis and I were looking for the cow path that would lead …
How To Lose Trust and Anger People As mentioned last week we are hard at work to develop the structure of the Community Health Worker (CHW) program—all which hinges on one very important factor: community members allowing our health workers into their homes. The purpose of the visits is to collect information to inform future …
Collaboration has been a topic of consideration for me this week. What is it? How is it done right? When should it be done? With whom should it be done? When is an attempt at collaboration a failure and when is it a waste of time? On Monday, we had a Nuru Directors’ call. I …
The smell of burnt trash as we discuss integrating our new accounting processes with Mifos finally brings me back to Kuria. Maybe it’s because I had my most painless trip out yet (39.5 hours from California to Isibania, door to door!), or because it hasn’t been that long since I left, but a week after …
Nuru International CEO Jake Harriman was recently featured on Tonic.com. Writer Will Laughlin wrote the feature entitled Uncommon Valor: A Marine Trades His Guns for Good. The article compellingly recounts Jake’s experiences as a U.S. Marine Force Recon Platoon Commander in the Iraq War, and his decision to leave the military to start Nuru International. …
Bushwacking and Baselines It’s a pretty exciting time to be a part of Nuru because we’re scaling up to new locations. Of course, “exciting time” can also be translated to mean “crazy time” since there’s so much going on. One of my main priorities during my time in Kenya, in addition to training, is to …