On October 6th, 2009 Derek and I hopped in my hybrid and began the drive from Morgantown, WV to Atlanta, Georgia. Nuru had just received an invitation to be part of the Social Justice Tent at Catalyst 2009. What does that mean? First, what is Catalyst? Catalyst is a leadership conference in Atlanta, GA that …
Initially I was worried that we would have difficulty getting the parents to commit to going to their schools every morning to check attendance. Most of them are farmers, which means that they often take advantage of the cool morning hours to work on their shambas. Yet, when our Education Field Officers presented the idea …
These last few months, we’ve been working hard at Nyametaburo Health Center. The way medicine is practiced here has really struck me. As an example: a friend had a persistent cough. I took the history and physical and narrowed down to a few possibilities. In medical school, that’s when you get the next round of …
Nuru’s all about sustainability. We want our programs to be self-funding as soon as possible. And there are few things more sustainable than profitable business models. One of the best ideas out there on this is the Living Goods model. The idea is basically to use Community Health Promoters (CHP’s, not to be confused with …
Although education is widely regarded as an extremely valuable and necessary institution in this community (Kuria West), a large portion of the farmers we work with never completed primary school. Many cannot read or write. In fact, most of the parents I know have cultivated a lifetime’s worth of knowledge and wisdom solely from their …
Figuring out the economics here is hard. I’m used to the US where people work for money, and there’s no time left in a day. Here it’s completely different. Farm work seems to take half a day. The other half of the day is free. And that’s during planting season. The work gets even lighter …
At harvest, Kurians rely mostly on traveling buyers to sell their maize. Because of the high seasonal supply and Kuria’s relative isolation, these middlemen are able to drive prices much lower than the going market rate. We’re hoping to change this. Today we broke ground at the Nuru granary construction site. The goal is to …
In a little over a year Nuru international has managed to reach 594 farmers in the Kuria region of Kenya. The amount of farmers involved in the program means that approximately 2,970 people will be directly impacted by these positive results. Jake Harriman, CEO said, “This first year has produced some very humbling – almost shocking – results …
The work pace here is surprising. In the Peace Corps we were constantly reminded to be patient, that people would arrive hours late to meetings (if at all) and that getting anything done would take inhuman perseverance. For two years the majority of my work planning was done weeks early while I waited in empty …
[Some of these posts will include topics that I’m working on. For such topics, I’d really like feedback. Now I know you don’t think you have anything to contribute, but that’s a lie. I want these blogs to be understandable by everyone, both in vocabulary and concepts. So if there’s something you don’t understand please …
An update from the Nuru CED Program Program Manager, Vivian Lu, at the Taragwiti Savings Club.
So, the wells are finished, the maize is harvested, the farmers have repaid their loans, and the first phase healthcare construction is complete. I have had a bit of a chance to sit back and breathe for a second this past week…kind of a calm before the storm. We have been driving really hard here …
The U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Magazine Shipmate, has featured Nuru International in the September/October 2009 issue. The article called Seeds of Change takes a look at how CEO Jake Harriman, a former U.S. Marine Force Recon Platoon Commander, developed his skills obtained in his military career and applied them to helping the poorest of the …
“Isire has just killed his brother. -Nelly” David Carreon (Nuru Healthcare Program Manger) stared in disbelief at the text he had just received from Nelly, the Kenyan Field Manager for all Nuru’s healthcare programs. He looked up at me with a bewildered look on his face, and just handed me the phone without saying a …
“Isire has just killed his brother. -nelly” David Carreon (Nuru Healthcare Program Manger) stared in disbelief at the text he had just received from Nelly, the Kenyan Field Manager for all Nuru’s healthcare programs. He looked up at me with a bewildered look on his face, and just handed me the phone without saying a …