Chuck Blakeman

Day 4

• Candle wax being melted on the table to hold our light while dinner is made. Rieva and Karina (kids) enjoying darkness. #Kenya
• Unpainted plywood ceiling in main room of house is luxury. Stone walls, concrete ceiling in most others. #Kenya
• @GoSocialMobile I know. But here we call it getting through the crowd in a car. Life has different rules in different places. #Kenya
• Diesel smell everywhere. Will take weeks to get it out of my head. I have that option, they don’t. #Kenya
• Yesterday we visited another school with 250 kids. No electricity, dark dirt floored rooms. Beans for lunch – only meal of the day. #Kenya
• .@ColoradoFoothil No Mexican food, but Mexican soap operas translated into English – biggest hit on TV here by far. #Kenya
• Brian was down for almost two days with stomach problems. #Kenya
• .@barrymoltz Don’t tell Charles that (owns soap stand). He says “no problems, only challenges” #Kenya
• .@prolificd The actors are different than India, but the play is the same. Poverty & hope together. #Kenya
• I’ve seen hundreds of kids, only one crying. So much hope w/ so much less “proof” then in Colorado. We are spoiled. #Kenya
• After all the desperation we’ve seen, tomorrow we go to the slums of Kibera. How could it possibly be worse? #Kenya
• Hope is not a commodity here. There are no atheists in a foxhole. #Kenya
• The battery is almost gone. No electricity/water. The world will get smaller in a just a few minutes. #Kenya
• Every day I know less and have more to learn. What can I possibly say that will change anything here? #Kenya
• I’m supposed to talk for two days straight Thurs/Fri. to tell bus. owners how to create wealth. I wonder – can they afford lunch? #Kenya
• Church on Sunday was loudest event of my life, more than any concert. Drowning out the sounds of poverty for just 2hrs of the week #Kenya
• Chuck – this must be so humbling RT @ChuckBlakeman: I’ve seen hundreds of kids, only one crying. So much hope . We are spoiled. #Kenya
• .@barrymoltz I would think that, too. But Charles is just one Kenyan, and lives it out every day. #Kenya
• .@AlanBoothCoach Adults must be disoriented to learn. I’m learning. #Kenya
• Can you help? #Kenya
• The battery is gone – Good night!

Day 6

• The rooster next door that woke me up at dawn the last 2 wks. did not sing this morning. Dinner. #Kenya
• Here I am just “Mzungu” (mah-zoon-goo). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzungu #Kenya
• Electricity back on today. Water still off. Just another day in #Kenya
• Saw my first refrigerator in 6 days today. The Other #Kenya
• Visit Kean Blixen estate today (Out of Africa author) – 600 acres. The Other #Kenya
• Filmed orphaned elephants today 3 mths to 3 yrs. They sleep under a blanket in single rooms. Not so in Kibera. The Other #Kenya
• @drjoyce_knudsen Visited the wealthy side of Nairobi today. Their water works just fine. The Other #Kenya
• Govt. coalition falling apart. Kofi Annan called in to hopefully stitch it back together. Locals here in Nairobi are concerned. #Kenya
• Open door to Room 1 – 30 5yr olds in dark (no elect) happily learning ABCs. Room rt. beside? 100 chickens in dirt/crap laying eggs. #Kenya
• Locals here in Nairobi say President Kibaki is creating instability and is “nuts”, “crazy”, and other more descriptive phrases. #Kenya
• Had tea in an upper middle class home in Nairobi today. Vastly different than the lower middle class home I’m staying in. The Other #Kenya
• Saw my first microwave today in a week – left Kayole and traveled over to the wealthy “Westlands” and Karen, Nairobi. The Other #Kenya
• ZnaTrainer RT @ChuckBlakeman: Electricity back on today. Water still off. Just another day in #Kenya {{{ WOW!
• Steep, rickety wooden stairs (almost ladder) to 2nd flr of grade school wouldn’t have been safe in a tree house. 100’s of kids #Kenya
• @drjoyce_knudsen Especially in #Kenya. The roads are quite good leading to the President’s house
• Great conversations on sustainable business for the Kibera slum yesterday. #Kenya
• @drjoyce_knudsen No, it’s in a bit of chaos right now-coalition falling apart; Kofi Annan back to try to fix it; locals say Pres. is “crazy”
• .@drjoyce_knudsen FYI – Someone from Nashville built a school for my host’s wife who is now School Director for 300 kids. #Kenya
• C7Design @ChuckBlakeman – welcome to Mother Africa! Once her dust is in you, you will always want to go back. #BornAndRaisedAfrican
• .@C7Design The diesel fumes are in me & the dust is soon to follow. Bugs bite here, but so does Africa herself! Magnetic people. #Kenya
• #Kenya has two halves – the “haves” and the “have nots”.
• 8 yr old Andrew came back to school today. Refugee from Rwanda via Uganda. Our host has a safe house they fund themselves. #Kenya
• Tomorrow we go to “the other #Kenya” to do biz owner wrkshops w/ shipping magnates, CEOs/college grads – wealth. The other #Kenya
• My host’s wife has asked me to kill a goat. I told her it was woman’s work. She laughed. I got away with it. #Kenya