Early tomorrow morning we head out for Kenya via London. Like most places in the world, it's much further away than you'd initially think - just under 5,000 miles, or about 8.5 hours via 777.
We will be based out of the Hilton in the center of Nairobi, taking field trips to meet with government, civic, NGO, and private sector officials (including the Minister of Health, which is pretty cool). We will also be traveling to the different regions of Kenya to see first-hand the variations in local diets, supply chains, businesses, lifestyles, etc. Two particularly interesting areas of focus are going to be the school feeding programs (and how the autonomous, extremely high-quality schools of the northern nomadic tribes work) and the emergency aid programs that are trying to feed the rural populations being decimated by an extreme drought.
Some interesting facts about Kenya (we're quickly learning that when it comes to developing countries, there really are no such things as facts, just a wide range of educated guesses):
- Kenya gained independence from the Britain in 1963 (led by Jomo Kenyatta) and upon his death in 1969, effectively became a dictatorship in 1969 under the rule of President Moi
- Moi abdicated after a fair election in 2002. The election of 2007 was widely believed to have been rigged and triggered months of widespread, machete-wielding mob violence until a UN-brokered power sharing agreement in early 2008. Our research on Kenya has suggests the country is stocking-up on weaponry in anticipation of the next election
- Kenya's population is about 39M, with the capital Nairobi accounting for about 3M, about the same as Chicago
- The median age is just under 19 years old, with a life expectancy at birth of about 58
- The most predominant religion in Kenya is Protestant (45%), followed by Catholicism (33%)
- English is the official language
- Literacy is an impressive 85%, rebounding from a dip to about 70%... a few years back the government made education free, trigging the bounce
- Per capita GDP is about $1,600, but that doesn't reflect the reality that there is a huge gulf between rich and poor - the poorest 10% account for 1.8% of national income while the richest 10% account for 38%; about 40% of the population is unemployed; 50% live in poverty
- The government's annual budget is $8B, about what we spend in Iraq every month
- Total number of airports = 181
- Total number of airports with paved runways = 16
And for those of you bored by my dry, textbook recitations:
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4 comments:
Great video! where do you find these things? Travel safe.
if you can you should go to the restaurant Carnivore. they bring big slabs of the days fresh caught game and slice you off pieces. the best meat i had when i was there was ostrich and zeebra...giraffe was dry...if my memory serves correct. i wish i was with you!!!!!!
this is number one.
That video is amazing! Did you get my text yesterday? Are you going to have anytime to do anything outside of work while you are there? A friend of mine is from Kenya, her mother is a photog for National Geog and her father owns a huge safari company. They are actually in Nairobi right now on vaca, how random! Anywho, I can get in touch with them if you want a connection for a safari. Let me know!!! i am like Beano, connections everywhere :)
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