"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. It is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead



Woah, woah woah! My roommates are getting ready to leave for the states? Apparently I’ve been here then for almost 2 months. It definitely does not feel like I’ve been here for that long. With that being said, I’ll need to relocate and leave the amazing pool behind as I can’t afford this place alone. Simon, a program director of MSID (the study abroad program I went through) is helping me find other housing options. Also that means that Thanksgiving is coming up and I’m a little disappointed I’ll be missing my favorite holiday. Dad’s turkey, Lori’s pies, Grandma’s cranberries, Lori’s pies… did I mention Lori’s pies?
Anyways, there are some people from Madison that I know here that are planning on making our own thanksgiving meal so we’ll see how that goes…without Lori’s pies.

Now to Kenya updates – things are continually going well here on the ground with KGSA, and I recently met a few students from St. Lawrence University that are really interested in doing some fundraising for KGSA when they return to the states in December… so that is exciting! But the most exciting thing over the last couple of weeks is the amount of “hits” our website has been getting and people contacting us in regards to the school.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a Dutch Organization stitching4life (www.stichting4life.nl). They have several projects around the world and one in Kibera. They have a group of single mothers that they train in several different types of skills – beadwork, jewelry, and bag making. It’s really beautiful stuff! Anyways, they pay for 80% of their children’s school fees and the mothers pay the remaining 20%. They’ve been interested in sponsoring a school in Kibera for some time now and came across our website. I received an email saying that they would be in Kenya for a couple days and wanted to visit the school and talk about our respective organizations. Abdul and I meet up with the two of them – John and Linda, and the meeting went really well. Abdul and I had great energy together talking about the school and our vision, and everything we said matched up very well with what they were looking for in a partnership. They have two other potential projects in Kenya that they had to visit before meeting with their board of directors and will get back to us within a month. Regardless of what happens, we are going to bring a couple of our girls to their shop as they offered to train a few of our students. So hopefully, within a couple of months our girls will be producing some of this jewelry as an income generating opportunity for themselves!

That was just one of the “hits.”

On our website under the ‘Get Involved’ page we offer volunteering opportunities at KGSA. Well, just about a month ago I received an email from a girl from San Francisco that is interested in volunteering at KGSA for a few months. She stumbled across our website and wanted to volunteer in Africa somewhere. She’ll be teaching and working with our micro finance group while she is here! Just two days ago, I received another email from two women that saw our website as well and have asked for more information regarding volunteer opportunities and the school.

The other week I received an email from a professor from the University of Denver that will be coming to Kenya with 14 graduate students. He saw our website, wants to donate to the school, get a tour of Kibera, and play some soccer with the girls!

And finally, a guy from Baltimore who used to be a soccer coach saw our website and was really moved by the project. He has 12-13 soccer balls that he doesn’t need around his house and he wants to donate them to the school.

All in all, more people are hearing about KGSA and the work that is happening here. This has been such a reassurance for both Abdul and I that things are moving in the right direction and that we will be able to provide the support for these girls that they deserve. Who knows where these connections will go, but it is really exciting nonetheless.

In other news, the magazine keeps making progress. We had a meeting last Saturday and had so many volunteers that day that we broke up into small groups and worked with each of the 6 sections of the magazine allowing for more 1-on-1 time with the journalists. We are establishing quite a base of support already before the magazine is finished. A few high schools in the states already want to help distribute the magazine for us without even having seen the content. Hence, our focus is on making an outstanding magazine.

In other exciting news, my friend Anne IS COMING TO KENYA! She’ll be here on the 19th of November and I’ve got a jam-packed week set for her. I’m looking forward to the visit obviously, because it’s Anne, but it will also be nice to stop doing work for a while and travel around a bit and get outside of Nairobi. We are planning on doing a safari in the Massai Mara, climbing Mt. Longonot along the Great Rift Valley, trekking through the Ngong Hills, hanging out at KGSA, and yes, checking out the insane night life that Nairobi does provide.

And for those of you that follow my blog to receive up-to-date info on Anni, as she has no internet, she is doing well on Mfangano. They are getting everything finalized for their big event on December 1st and she’ll be back in Nairobi mid December for a while as our friend Kelsi heads back to the states. I’m very excited to see her and spend some time together. Kenya can be quite exhausting at times and it’s nice to be with people that are experiencing similar emotions.

That’s all I got for you now, I hope this blog reaches you all well, keep me posted on what’s happening on your side of the globe. I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving. May you spend it with friends and family laughing and smiling.

With much love,

Ryan