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May 30, 2010
Slow is not a good description
May 4, 2010Slow…
The most annoying thing in the last two weeks has clearly been the internet! Some problem with the undersea cable has thrown us some years back – to the Satellite Connection. It sounds simple, but is really influencing my work. More than one tab will not open at one time and surely you will disconnect twice during the
Slowly…
I am getting used to the thought of leaving Nairobi. The daily facebook countdown helps a bit, though it is extremely unreal! The 12th of May is my last day in the office, on the 28th of May I will get on a bus to Kampala. As much as I am looking forward to it, planning for my goodbye party doesnt come easily!
Roadtrip…
April 25, 2010Fiona and I were travelling by Bus from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam for a very simple 3 day meeting. Ideally a 15 hour trip in a single bus. Lets see, what Facebook says about this trip…
Manuela Müller Roadtrip has started. watch this space!
Alh saa 8:03 asubuhi kupitia Mtandao wa Rununu · Toa maoni · Imenipendeza
Fleur Lys Sego amependezwa nayo.
Manuela Müller woke up at 5.20 in MC. bought dar xp tickets 4 me n fi at 5.55
Alh saa 8:08 asubuhi ·
Manuela Müller Bus left at 6.25 without us
Alh saa 8:09 asubuhi ·
Manuela Müller Hunting the bus via taxi
Alh saa 8:13 asubuhi ·
Manuela Müller stupid tz bus conductor refuses to stop. we pass nyayo stadium. we pass the airport.
Alh saa 8:25 asubuhi ·
Fleur Lys Sego Hehe bus hunting sounds fun 
Alh saa 8:27 asubuhi ·
Manuela Müller The luo mama who is with us is in constant communication with her friend in the bus. The whole bus crew are *ss*oles, refuse to stop or slow down
Alh saa 8:39 asubuhi ·
Manuela Müller In kitengela the taxi drivers license expires and our money… Whats next?
Alh saa 8:41 asubuhi ·
Charles Nkonge Gitonga hehehe fuuun!!!!
Alh saa 9:02 asubuhi ·
Bakari Mhando Am waiting for season 2,its very nice comedy series.
Alh saa 9:23 asubuhi ·
Manuela Müller Just before namanga, now in a bus. These guys are like 30 minutes ahead.:) guy, hope they r held up at the border! Not enough money for the visa. MCP training is on point…
Alh saa 9:40 asubuhi ·
Cathy Mwangi Walala then what??
Alh saa 9:41 asubuhi ·
Charles Nkonge Gitonga tel the luo mama tu tel the woman in the bus to delay…inbox me ua no. i mpesa smthng…..
Alh saa 9:42 asubuhi ·
Caroline Ngugi Oh…my am so sorry for u two gals….hope u catch up with the bus xoxo:-)
Alh saa 10:28 asubuhi ·
Kelvyne Slevinovic John hahahahaha!!!!!!…..i’m wondering why fiona is quiet!!!…ahahahahaha…..u guys need to open a blog!…warrrrrrrrr!!!!!!…….am biting my nails!!!!…hahahhaha
Alh saa 10:30 asubuhi ·
Manuela Müller Officially left kenya. As officially as the bus left without us. Now we need your help. Arusha to dar how??
Alh saa 10:37 asubuhi ·
Kelvyne Slevinovic John Bakari is your man!!!!……
Alh saa 10:40 asubuhi ·
Caroline Ngugi Manu…there are two options…call SOS Bakari will answer u….and help….AI can send a chopper as plan B….just ask Cindy:-)
Alh saa 10:41 asubuhi ·
Rose Thuo this story is more captivating than 24 and Lost and kidnapped put together!wish you two girls the best.
Alh saa 10:53 asubuhi ·
Manuela Müller Awesome. Now we are between the countries, the other bus is leaving us soon. My visa card haifanyi kazi. And the visa still wants to be paid. Mpesa anything you have to my zain line. We need 2k
Alh saa 11:04 asubuhi ·
Amos Mtaita SEND ME YOUR PHONE NUMBER NOW!!!
Alh saa 11:08 asubuhi ·
Manuela Müller By the way, if it wasnt for there freaky police man, i wudnt have attempted to get the exit stamp.
Alh saa 11:08 asubuhi ·
Amos Mtaita HOW DO I REACH YOU!!!
Alh saa 11:08 asubuhi ·
Caroline Ngugi @Amos…call Manu on her Zain
@Manu tell Fi to switch to her Safaricom…ASAP:-)
Alh saa 11:10 asubuhi ·
Amos Mtaita i dont have her number…
Alh saa 11:12 asubuhi ·
Amos Mtaita carol…send it to me…
Alh saa 11:13 asubuhi ·
Manuela Müller While waiting for mpesa (thanks ppl and hurry up) looking at tour busses and lorries that look trustworthy and inviting…
Alh saa 11:32 asubuhi ·
Razvan Dragu It is time to chill…buy a bottle of Konyagy and enjoy the road. Your road trip is funny like a movie ” Manu and Fi – tripping to Dar”
Alh saa 11:46 asubuhi ·
Caroline Ngugi All the best guys…let us know what happens:-)
@Mtaita the ball is on ur court…takea of them:-)
Alh saa 11:58 asubuhi ·
Martha Diana This is funny and fun at the same time! Have maaad fuuuun!
Alh saa 12:44 mchana/ jioni ·
Manuela Müller Visa bought now. Thanks to you our dear readers! mpesa, juu. Zap… Downest:( Green truck with license plate t945bcu takes us to arusha now. Lets see what happens next:-)
Alh saa 12:57 mchana/ jioni ·
Manuela Müller Thanks for the konyagi tip. After a sip of that guys sachet was told to maliza… Anyways, fi and manu on the bed behind the truck driver. Bumpy! And slow… Worst: no camera:-(
Alh saa 1:17 mchana/ jioni ·
Razvan Dragu this is any truck driver’s best fantasy…milk and choclate on the bed behind him…bumpyyyy
Alh saa 1:27 mchana/ jioni ·
Caroline Ngugi Manu…hold on strong…u will arrive safely….MCP transition just begun…Fi’s phone has a camera u can take a pic to share later:-)
Alh saa 1:32 mchana/ jioni ·
Bakari Mhando Welcome to Tz thats what i do always when i’m late n broke,usijali u’l get here in 1 pc,if u cnt get transpt 4m arusha go up to moshi then to Himo u’l get smthng to tak u here,u r on my s camera relax galz n enjoy d xp.:-)
Alh saa 2:15 mchana/ jioni ·
Joel Rao walalalala this is awesome!! am like 6 hrs behind
Alh saa 6:09 mchana/ jioni ·
Manuela Müller ok. how it continued… the truck trip took long, but was fun. loooots of police stops but we arrived in Arusha. Then we took a bus to Moshi. A really cool friend of Beko hosted us. Moshi is awesome! clean water, awesome food, nice mud in the morning.
Iju saa 4:28 mchana/ jioni ·
Manuela Müller not to forget the preacher that told me and Fiona to shut up while he is praying. Nice story he had… Once they told him to get out of the bus in Nakuru, it had an accident and the passengers died…
Iju saa 5:04 mchana/ jioni ·
Manuela Müller then another 8 hours in another bus from moshi to dar. TUMEFIKA!!!! in the MC house with Cindy and Amos and Tate now. COOL 
))
))Iju saa 5:04 mchana/ jioni ·
Manuela Müller End of story! Thanks for your attention
Iju saa 5:05 mchana/ jioni ·
Bakari Mhando Y r u nt mentioning casts of d movie?if its d end of story?u can sleep on my bed.
Iju saa 5:43 mchana/ jioni ·
Aderemi Dadepo guess part 2 would be when u going back 
d suspense was fun and a repeat won’t be a bad idea
Iju saa 10:23 mchana/ jioni ·
Manuela Müller inshallah no season 2!!!
kama saa moja iliyopita ·
A look at Nigeria – and a possible solution
April 25, 2010An AIESECer from Nigeria writes….
http://ayobankoleakintujoye.blogspot.com/2010/04/nigerian-situationand-possible.html
Baby
April 14, 2010This is a follow up of a previous post.
Sunday afternoon I met my friend again and she was clearly veeeery pregnant. Nevertheless we took a walk (“This is Africa, Manu. Women work until the last hour”) and she told me that the calculated delivery day is the 14th.
She also explains me the a voucher that entitles women from underpriviledged background to go for consultancy during pregnancy, the actual delivery and three post-natal examinations. All that for 2 Euros, sponsored by PwC and the German government.
On Tuesday her sister sends me a text in the early morning to come to the hospital and see her.
So I left our seminar week and bought some fruits. When I arrived at the hospital I was told that she is already in the process of leaving. And yes, I found Adah sitting in the yard of the hospital, with a white bundle in her arms and a handbag next to her. Immediately she saw me, she gave me the baby and we started talking. She was very lively and didnt seem like she gave birth just 10 hours before. We talked about her last 24 hours and exchanged our (probably very unknowledgeable) thoughts on how to stop the babys hick-up.
After filling out some forms for the birth certificate and the above mentioned voucher organiation, the nurse explained her to come again four days later and we left.
One of her frineds brought her new clothes and we walked home. I carried the baby from the hospital to her place, obviously everybody staring at us curiously. Remember? In the slums, there is no privacy!
On 13th April 2010, a very adorable baby is born, Mark!
My trip to AfroXLDS 2010 in Togo!!
April 5, 2010AfroXLDS 2010 (Africa eXchange and Leadership Development Seminar) was a 6 day conference in Palime, the Facilitator team also had 3 days of premeeting and 2 days of postmeeting in Lome. We had around 100 delegates from countries like Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal. Then we had one lady from Kenya and some Brazil, Canadian, German and Japanese visitors.
We started off with a Community day in Lome were we learned from an NGO that deals with spreading the gospel of solar cookers in Togo. After an evening with lots of get-to-knows we had our final preparations for the conference. The Opening Ceremony was graced by a government official, after which we held a podium discussion regarding the Millenium Development Goals. In the afternoon we went to the University of Lome and held our colorful global village and impressed hundreds of university students with our diversity. The next 5 days were spent well in a nice hotel in Palime (yeeees, I am used to not having water and electricity by now, but in over 30 degrees this reaches new dimensions of being annoyed). Part of the delegation discussed the strategic direction of our countries in Africa, the other half indulged in personal discovery, leadership discussions and practical experience of team work. Together we evaluated the Projects that are run and learned how to be as fast, savvy, smart, strong and sexy as possible in our work (see AIESEC Gen 2010). As always, fun and networking are integral part of any AIESEC event!
I returned from my Togo trip with around 2,000 pictures and videos. This is just a small selection, but gives a good idea of what we did in the 10 days.
West Africa?? Hot, French vs. English, definitely worth another visit!
Thanks to everybody who contributed financially to making this trip happen!
Westafrica!
March 22, 2010The Africa Exchange and Leadership Development Seminar (AfroXLDS) 2010 is held in Togo.
I was chosen as one of the facilitators and for weeks I have been looking forward to the Trip and the experience.
Finally coming to Westafrica, seeing the home of my Togolese friends from IC, using my french again, inspiring and training the next generations of Leaders.
3 days of preparation and 7 days of Agenda were planned for this amazing conference.
After a major communication breakdown with our sponsoring airline, I realized on Friday morning that there is not only not a flight reserved for me, but also the direct flight to Lomé (which leaves only 3 days a week) is full. I would reach Addis Abeba (Ethiopia) but then?
Left with the two options of flying to Lagos (Nigeria) or Accra (Ghana) instead I started investigations on how to reach Lome from there. In the afternoon the news were that neither of the countries issue visa on arrival. Trusting in the flight agent that the Addis-Lome flight would open up and I could change my ticket once in Ethiopia I booked a ticket to Accra.
I informed the AIESECers in Ghana and Togo about the flight and started praying.
24 hours after leaving the University of Nairobi I am seated in a university hostel in Lomé with a plate of Pasta and the other Organizers and Facis from Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Mexico, Poland, France, Uganda and India.
Lessons from a crazy trip:
1. The long rains allways come at night… when you are searching for a cab with loads of luggage.
2. Ethiopian Airlines does not issue tickets at the airport on Sundays
3. Ghana DOES issue visa on arrival
4. Zain can roam in Ghana, MTN not.
5. Mzungu is called differently in Ghana.
6. You can travel in a car from Accra to Lagos (for less than 30 Euros)
7. A Togolese who does not know English and a Ghanean who does not speak French can still communicate in Ewe.
8. P Square sounds even cooler, when you driving on the right side of the road.
9. The neighbour in the car will ask latest after 2 hours how you see the difference between black and white boyfriends.
10. The Togolese immigration office is on the beach, consists of a desk under an ironsheet roof and operates without electricty.
11. Bodaboda drivers in Lomé dont have speed governours and helmets.
12. East is not West!
8 weeks of crazyness
March 20, 2010Wow, I have not written in a looooooooooong time.
The last 8 weeks were really busy, so let me summarize what happened…
January
After the memorable Coast trip I ran for the Presidency of AIESEC in Kenya. The Elections gave the position to the current president to execute the role for another year.
These are just two sentences. They are short and do not at all explain the amount of talks I had with Alumni and members, weeks I worked on the strategies and emotions involved in the whole process. Especially the learning cannot be summarized, self awareness, speaking skills, playing smart, listening to whats behind the words.
Only people who went through a similar experience, can now nod their head wisely.
Thanks a million times to Emma and Gathu!
February
The idea of sitting at home or in the office without knowing whats next does not fit well to me. So Plan B had to be pursued with as much force but dignity as possible.
I visited the country, met members and leaders, interns and alumni. During the week I saw the potential and formed my vision. 3 Speeches later…
President of AIESEC in Uganda!
The 14th of February! Valentine’s Day! My new valentine, Uganda!!
I was proud, delighted and humbled. The amount of trust that is put into me, is incredible. Zu Deutsch “Vorschusslorbeeren”.
The last two weeks of February I went to Tunisia to attend AIESECs Global Leaders Summit (read more here), to learn on my new role, discuss the strategic direction of AIESEC. Of course also legislation (110 countries in one room), External Sessions (I met Robin from DHL again after nearly two years) and AI Elections had to happen to make IPM my so far contentwise best AIESEC Conference.
March
The last two weeks I was in Uganda, for the National Conference. Part of the agenda was to chose my MC team, meaning the people who will lead AIESEC Uganda with me from July. Out of 11 applicants I decided to work with 6 and open 2nd round applications for 3 more positions.
This team is soooo on point and every single individual really skilled and has great results to show!
Just a short summary of the Conference: We really lived the East African dream… Tanzania and Kenya had big delegations and lots of worldviews were challenged!
On the way back from Kampala I stopped for an LC Visit in Moi.
Right now I am sitting at the airport, waiting for my flight that will take me to Westafrica for AfroXLDS, the most important AIESEC Conference on the conference.
More about this trip and the conference later…
A very famous quote of Steve Jobs (link to video) really fits well to the ups and downs of the last 3 months.
“Looking back I can see the dots connecting!”
My time in Nairobi is exhausted and I will now get to know another country in East Africa. Quite probably that the impact I can bring in 1 year to Uganda will be much higher than to Kenya.
The personal learning that the new role in Uganda seems to be a lot higher and I cant wait to get to know another culture!
And the beauty of Uganda is hard to describe in one sentence and after only 3 weeks there. It is mystique, hot, jungle. The skin is darker, the sun hotter. More bananas, less stress.
Let me quote a guidebook:
“Uganda’s reputation as Africa’s Friendliest Country stems partly from the tradition of hospitality common to its culturally diverse populace, and partly from the remarkably low level of crime and hassle directed at tourists. But this amiable quality extends beyond the easygoing people. Uganda’s eco-friendliness is atte…sted to by the creation of six new national parks under the present administration, as well as a recent mushrooming of community-based eco-tourism projects at the grassroots level.
Uganda is where the East African savannah meets the West African jungle. Where else but in this impossibly lush country can one observe lions prowling the open plains in the morning and track chimpanzees through the rainforest undergrowth the same afternoon, then the next day navigate tropical channels teeming with hippo and crocs before setting off into the misty mountains to stare deep into the eyes of a mountain gorilla”
More later!!!
Uganda’s reputation as Africa’s Friendliest Country stems partly from the tradition of hospitality common to its culturally diverse populace, and partly from the remarkably low level of crime and hassle directed at tourists. But this amiable quality extends beyond the easygoing people. Uganda’s eco-friendliness is atte…sted to by the creation of six new national parks under the present administration, as well as a recent mushrooming of community-based eco-tourism projects at the grassroots level.
Uganda is where the East African savannah meets the West African jungle. Where else but in this impossibly lush country can one observe lions prowling the open plains in the morning and track chimpanzees through the rainforest undergrowth the same afternoon, then the next day navigate tropical channels teeming with hippo and crocs before setting off into the misty mountains to stare deep into the eyes of a mountain gorilla
22 kids… one big exam!
January 28, 20102010 has started of great for Upendo Rescue Centre in Nairobi.
Not only that in Germany an organization was opened to enable more funding, also two more interns from China have come in to support the centre for 3 months in education and fundraising.
Another great achievement was the finishing of the last classroom and 22 students proceeding to Standard 8, the last class in Primary school. The first job of Lin, the chinese intern is now to find 22 Kenyan families to support one child each for the registration for KCPE (800 KSh each, around 7 euros) and to mentor the child through the last, tough year prior to the nation-wide exam to be held in November.
This is the current picture of the 188 kids from Nursery to Class 8.
New years trip to Mombasa
January 4, 2010I arrived in Mombasa on the 26th after am extremely quick and cheap ride (6h12 for 700ksh with Randa Coach). The family of an AIESEC friend had offered us their flat for the week. After removing basic dirt and cockroaches we started a very random plot and went to Diani Beach.
No matter how often I have seen white sand and the blue water, this beach is still paradise. We swam for hours, ate coconuts and talked a lot. In the evening the Kenyans, the Ghanean and Japanese decided to go back but Romeo from Guatemala and I could not imagine exchanging that hot flat for this place. We stayed two more days until we returned to Mombasa on Monday, totally sandy, in need for fresh clothes and a shower but with new stories, totally relaxed and happy.
We joined the rest of the group for an evening around the house, in Tudor. Fried fish, barbecued chicken and fresh fruits are sold on the street so we tried a bit of everything.
We got to know different parts of the city, meeting other friends from Nairobi. Finally I also saw north coast, tourism seems more developed. We spent a whole afternoon at the foot of the Fort Jesus. I admired the beautiful scenary but could not understand what drew the kids into that dirty water.
Over the next days more and more ppl left until I was left with Lulu my office pal from Nigeria. We spent new years eve with Frank at his place (again mombasa has a totally different face on this side). He took up to church at midnight, over 1000 came to the jesus celebration centre. This was a new concept to me, but the (in lots of african countries pretty spread) idea is to put Jesus first in your life. If this rule is transferred on how the night continued, traffic jam is my number two and beer comes third.
The Nigerian wave has fully arrived in Kenya and so half of the songs that were played were from swaggaland. Lulu and I enjoyed to the fullest, arriving home laughing and joking. After a decent sleep-well-guinness and happy new year chapatis we slept. Note: in a country on the equator its not hard to party until dawn.
The highlight was that I crossed the bay under fort jesus twice. Very much to the surprise of the kids, who could hardly understand how a proper mzungu can swim in that dirt. And if you dont believe it, ask Lulu, who watched, or Sahim, whom I met halfway.
My mombasa 2009/10: divers (local ppl, touristy places, muslim old town, christian newyear, sporty, relaxing), tasty (arabic coffee, pilau with goat…) and cheap (especially after the ATM swallowed my card).
Just very awesome holidays, will miss it!
Like a friend said: You can either take the water to Nairobi or relocate to Mombasa.
Mmm… Let me think!
