Cook Crew time!! Today was my turn to be on cook crew with Sam and Victoria. Cook crew changes everyday and after a few weeks we will change partners! Cook crew is responsible for preparing meals and cleaning all dishes and surfaces after we eat. For breakfast we made a hot breakfast of eggs, potatoes, beans, and mango. It was a nice break from cereal and toast! After breakfast we got to listen to a local environment and wildlife conservation officer, Paul Kilelu, who spoke to us about many different issues facing Kenya. Some major issues were poaching, charcoal pollution, relocation issues, habitat damage, and the problem with having large amounts of livestock. We took so many notes, I could write a novel just about what Paul taught us! For lunch we made a salad that was pretty much just chickpeas, tomato, avocado, peppers, and a bunch of other veggies. It was actually incredible and pretty refreshing! After lunch we had another speaker who talked to us about micro finance. Kailey was from the United States and moved to kenya 9 years ago where she started out working with the One Acre Fund. From there she moved on to start working with Pulah. Pulah is an insurance company that helps insure farmers and their livestock/crops. Kailey explained how most Kenyan farmers don’t trust insurance and were weary of the idea, so despite the low cost ( about 1 dollar a year) for this basic insurance, nobody was buying it. Eventually Pulah started working with seed companies so they would insure bags of seeds and the cost was incorporated and all the farmers had to do was give their location to be covered. This helped out many farmers once they started to understand it and trust it. This insurance is helpful in the event of drought or floods where crops are ruined. We learned so much information about how financial things work over here and it was really interesting! After Kailey left we played some group games (we do everyday!) and today was “Ichee Meenee Hoi.” I can guarantee that my spelling is totally wrong, but I think that’s okay. This game we had to do some funky heel-toe chicken walk and play rock-paper-scissors, and let’s just say it was interesting!! After our game we went for a walk down the roads for about half an hour where we grabbed a buddy and talked about different questions we were given. Emma and I had an amazing discussion about our lives and personalities and everything else under the sun. It was great bonding for everyone! For dinner we made some “Magic-aroni and Cheese” and had some leftover salad from lunch. If I’m being honest, I think I’d say that was the best macaroni I think I’ve ever had! Our evening ended with a beautiful sunset over the Great Rift Valley that we enjoyed watching from our porch as a group. From there we had a movie night where we watched “The Princess Diaries,” then we all called it a night!
Heather Goes Abroad 