The end of my rotation is quickly approaching. Vivian, my counterpart in the CED Program, arrives on Monday, then I will be transitioning out of the project. I am set to fly out on 11 July. Time always flies on our Foundation Team tours. The past 5 months have gone by more quickly than summer …
Over a year ago, we launched our Rainwater Catchment Pilot Project to help us answer the question – Is household rainwater catchment a sustainable water supply solution for Kuria? Our Water and Sanitation Field Officers have done a great job of diligently maintaining the units and monitoring the water storage volume, water demand, and the …
There are many highs and lows in this job. You never really know what’s going to be coming at you around the corner. That makes for a life that is truly exhilarating, but also one that can be a bit uncertain or stressful at best…and edge-of-your-seat scary at worst. For me, I love this life …
Killer Mold There are many highs and lows in this job. You never really know what’s going to be coming at you around the corner. That makes for a life that is truly exhilarating, but also one that can be a bit uncertain or stressful at best… and edge-of-your-seat scary at worst. For me, I …
What do these terms mean to you within the context of what we are trying to do here at Nuru on the Research Team? Not sure? Now, turn to your friend with whom you weekly share the exciting activity of reading our amazing blog posts here and ask her what she thinks those terms mean? …
Guinea! Burkina Fasao! …No, it couldn’t be Burkina. Somalia? Malawi! The contestants shouted. Last Saturday, after coming back from a World Cup game, we sat on the front porch and played a game. There was some disagreement about what the largest city in the world was. Thomas on his iPod Touch looked up the answers …
Social Capital: It is rare that earth-shattering news is actually delivered with earth shattering. Late last night, in those wee hours that are technically morning, we awoke to the sound of crashing, booming, and something like an explosion. These were the kind of sounds that aren’t accidental. Terror was the first thing that wrestled me …
How did they do that? This video from Solidarités International left me with goose bumps. What a compelling way to communicate how the water that we rely on to sustain us can be an agent of death – dirty water kills more people than wars have. But, there is hope! According to the World Health …
It was quite a strange site as I sat on back of a boda (motorcycle taxi) on my way to Kehancha early one morning last week. We had set up a meeting with the District Education Officer (DEO) to speak to him about all that we did for choosing a school to sponsor. We needed …
Healthcare Bang For Buck Last week on a lunch break, I was nerd-ing out as I am wont to do. It just so happened that this time, my forays into the depths of the interweb (browsing the internet) and, against all odds, found something of worth. I found “Evaluation of current strategies and future priorities …
This week has begun the Nuru Research Team’s two-week long conference bonanza! One down, one to go. I’ll tell you about the second one next week, but for now, allow me to report on the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Metrics and Evaluation Conference. It took place in D.C. on the Southwest end of …
My understanding of success for Nuru in Kenya is if, when the Western staff exits in five years, Nuru Kenya will continue to function and scale to other parts of the country eradicating extreme poverty along the way. Many international NGOs have worked in developing countries, producing great impact at first but once the NGO …
Last week I told you a story about a Nuru leader that has me excited. Andrew is just one person among many potential leaders. In order to make it possible for communities to become entirely self-sustaining within five years, we focus on two areas of finances and leadership. This week I am going to mention …
My husband is a huge fan of This American Life. He listens to podcasts of it every week. I love it too….contained and informative stories about things happening in this country (and sometimes other countries…not really sure about that name for the show, frankly….I digress). There’s always some humor in the stories, there’s always some …
The roof was tin, but I could not see it because of the newspapers cut into snowflakes hanging from it. The walls were of mud, but veiled with advertisements and colorful newspaper front pages. The floors also were of mud, but clean, compacted swept mud; you could walk barefoot and not get dirty. We talked with …