Congo Here We Come

We are going to see the gorillas again in a few weeks, and I want to go to Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a bit so I am looking into what kind of visa I need to get.  Naturally I can't find much (probably since I don't need much of one) but I have found this lovely message from the Warden at the U.S. Embassy in Kigali and received the following email on April 22, 2010:

The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). This notice replaces the Travel Warning dated September 1, 2009 to reflect continued instability in North Kivu province and the surrounding area, the ongoing risk of possible unannounced flare-ups of violence in other parts of the country, and the critical crime threat in Kinshasa. 

Government soldiers, as well as rebel fighters, remain a security concern. These armed groups -- located especially in North Kivu, South Kivu, Orientale, and Bas-Congo provinces, as well as the northern part of Katanga province -- are known to pillage, steal vehicles, kidnap, rape, kill, and carry out military or paramilitary operations in which civilians are indiscriminately targeted.

In two separate incidents in early April 2010, one in Equateur province in the western DRC and one in South Kivu province in the east, foreigners were kidnapped by armed militia groups.  In South Kivu province, eight International Red Cross workers were kidnapped by a group called the Mai Mai Yakutumba, a group that controls its own territory in the region and was formed to resist Rwandan Hutu forces that fled into DR Congo after the 1994 genocide.  The region has been the scene of violent clashes that have resulted in the displacement of thousands of civilians in recent months. 

Travelers are frequently detained and questioned by poorly disciplined security forces at numerous official and unofficial roadblocks and border crossings throughout the country. Requests for bribes in such instances are extremely common, and security forces have occasionally injured or killed people who refuse to pay. In the last six months, the Embassy has recorded several instances in which U.S. citizens were detained illegally by government forces. The isolation of the area makes the provision of consular services difficult.

Kinshasa remains a critical crime threat area, and U.S. citizens continue to be the victims of serious crime, including armed robbery by groups posing as law enforcement.

Public health concerns pose a hazard to U.S. citizen travelers due to outbreaks of deadly viruses and other diseases, which can occur without warning and often are not rapidly reported by local health authorities. Information on personal protection for international travelers, including children, can be found at http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/.

Enforcement of aviation safety standards in the DRC is uneven, with frequent incidents and accidents. The U.S. Embassy has prohibited official travel by U.S. government employees and contractors on all DRC-owned and -operated commercial airlines due to safety and maintenance concerns. International flights on foreign-owned and operated carriers are not affected by this prohibition.

U.S. citizens should avoid all public demonstrations and areas where crowds have gathered, exercise caution, and closely monitor local and international news from reliable sources. Radio Okapi broadcasts in French on 103.5 FM at 0700, 0800, 1200, and 1800 and provides updates throughout the day.  English-language news can be found on BBC at 92.7 FM. In times of emergency, the Belgian Embassy operates a French-language radio broadcast system at FM 98.8. Changes in security conditions may occasionally restrict the travel of U.S. Mission personnel.

U.S. citizens who travel to or remain in the DRC despite this Travel Warning are strongly urged to register with the Embassy in Kinshasa or through the State Department’s travel registration web site at https://travelregistration.state.gov. By registering, U.S. citizens make it easier for the Embassy to contact them in case of emergency. The U.S. Embassy is located at 310 Avenue des Aviateurs; the Consular Section entrance is located on Avenue Dumi, opposite Saint Anne’s church. The Embassy’s telephone number, including for after-hours emergencies, is 243-81-225-5872; callers within the DRC should dial 081-225-5872.  All Embassy telephone numbers are cellular phones as landlines are unreliable. The Embassy web site is http://kinshasa.usembassy.gov/.

U.S. citizens should also consult the Department of State's Country Specific Information Sheet for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Worldwide Caution, both located on the Department of State's web site. Up-to-date information on safety and security is available toll-free at 1-888-407-4747 from within the United States and Canada, or at regular toll rates at 1-202-501-4444 for callers from other countries, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).  

I am pretty excited!  It will be just like Congo the movie!  But better!

This picture has not been digitally altered since I had just removed the laser and diamonds from the gorilla's hands (thus I am happy).

The Old ERB Test

Thought this article (NYTimes: Private School Screening Test Loses Some Clout) on some private schools no longer using the ERB as an entrance exam was interesting since I took the test three times in four years (Spring 1995 at MBA to move from Ensworth to MBA; Summer 1997 at ETS testing site in Evanston to move to Chicago; Spring 1999 at Parker in Chicago to move to Memphis).  While the New York City private school world is a different beast  in terms of private school competitiveness, every school only has so many spots and this would eliminate another differentiating factor.  I am not sure making admissions more subjective is the best idea.

Interesting Articles on Africa and Other Topics Relevant To Me!

Below are a bunch of articles on Africa that may be of interest:

• NYTimes: Winning the Worm War (4/28/10) - This Kristof Op-Ed hits on topics related to my post Polio Eradication and General Development Questions.  Can a development project succeed without full buy-in and participation from those it is meant to affect?
• NYTimes: More American Expatriates Give Up Citizenship (4/25/10) - Americans are tired of paying taxes to the U.S. when they haven't lived there in 20 years.  And the Patriot Act has caused banks to close bank accounts that do not have a verified U.S. mailing address.  So people are increasingly handing over their U.S. passports.
• NYTimes: Pardon My French (4/21/10) - The French continue to worry about their language becoming extinct...and seem to have forgotten about all the people in Africa that have their own francophone culture (like Rwanda!).
• NYTimes: With Flights Grounded, Kenya's Produce Wilts (4/19/10) - The volcano in Iceland caused the Kenyan horticulture industry (the country's top foreign exchange earner) to come to a halt as none of the produce and flowers were able to be flown to Europe. 
• NYTimes: Africa Reboots (4/17/10) - Bono kind of rambles on about the side of Africa he sees when he is here.  Overly optimistic from where I sit but still the same theme as my post Polio Eradication and General Development Question. 
• NYTimes: Zimbabwe's Accidental Triumph (4/14/10) - Somehow the people of Zimbabwe seem to be overcoming the racial divide that is encouraged by their government.  While certainly not in the same ballpark, I am often reminded of the political/racial climate in some parts of the U.S. (including Memphis) when reading about what has happened in Zimbabwe.
• WSJ: Bushmeat Presents Latest Food Scare (4/14/10) - Health dangers in the rise of bushmeat  (bats, monkeys, rodents, wildebeests,etc.) imported to the United States from Africa.  Delicious!  I once asked one of the park rangers if you could eat the baboons since they look quite meaty, and after thinking about it for a minute he said: "No I don't think so.  Too close to us."
• NYTimes: Banks Making Big Profits From Tiny Loans (4/13/10) - Microfinance has revolutionized the lending environment for the world's most impoverished but has also been adopted by organizations that may lack the social benefit goals of traditional microcredit programs.  When implemented appropriately, microfinance initiatives can have an amazing effect on peoples' lives since they address many of the challenges involved with accessing capital in the developing world (Issuing a lot of small loans to people who live and work in volatile environments and industries with few/no assets and bad/no credit history in the developing world is very expensive, risky, and not very profitable for traditional financial institutions).  Unfortunately, it seems some microfinance entities do not always have the best interests of the borrower in mind.
• WSJ: On This Safari, the Exotic Lure Is the American Black Panther (4/13/10) - An exiled leader of the Black Panther Party hosts visitors at his home near Arusha, Tanzania.
• NYTimes: Young Superheroes in a Hut (4/10/10) - Kristof Op-Ed (he loves the developing world!) on Africa having initiative and a desire to work hard but lacking honest leadership 
• NYTimes: Uganda Enlists Former Rebels to End War (4/10/10) - Africa has more than its fair share of roaming militia groups, and Congo is perennially the hub supporting a good bit of the conflict in our neighborhood.  Well apparently the Ugandan Army has permission to go hunting for the Lord's Resistance Army across the region.
• NYTimes: Postcard from Zimbabwe (4/7/10) - Kristof Op-Ed on the downfall of a once prosperous post-colonial Zimbabwe.
• NYTimes: Africa's Drug Problem (4/5/10) - As the U.S. and Europe have cracked down on drug trafficking from South America, West Africa has become a hub for the industry (despite there being few users).  Hits home again that the support of the developed can only go so far to fix some of the issues in Africa.  It requires the commitment of local people and an honest government too.
• WSJ: Airlines Swoop In on Growing African Market (3/23/10) - Airline travel in Africa is extremely expensive since it seems to cater exclusively to C-level business travelers, tourists, and aid workers.  Pricing seems to have limited science behind it as most flight are between 20% and 60% full yet you can't fly anywhere for less than $300.  For example, any day of the week, no matter the actual demand, Kigali-Naroibi is ~$450, Kigali-Addis Ababa is ~820, and Kigali-Dar es Salaam is $700.  You can fly to Cape Town for the World Cup this summer from New York for about the same price I would pay from Kigali.

Other links that are interesting:

• WSJ: As Stamps Lose Hold on Hobbyists, These Philatelists Push the Envelope (4/22/10) - As the son of a philatelist and attendee of the 2006 World Philatelic Exhibition in Washington D.C., I enjoyed this article on stamp collecting.

And here is a picture of Lucy's new quilt that she had made at our favorite craft cooperative in Kigali.  Let us know if there are any crafts in particular that you would like us to bring back.

When U.S. Dollars Expire...

The U.S. Dollar is still the currency of choice across Africa with $50 and $100 bills receiving the best exchange rates and $20 and $10 receiving a 5-10% discount.  There is also discount for older series bills.  Apparently this is related to counterfeit bills linked to North Korea floating around for older series.  Lucy and I both receive our compensation with dollar-denominated checks that we cash (and receive dollars) at our organizations' respective banks.  We then either deposit the cash into a dollar-denominated account at Lucy's bank, hold on to it for dollar cash expenditures we have in the future, or exchange those often crisp 2006 Series $100 bills for Rwandan Francs (Typically ~RWF575 per $1).  In Rwanda, bills printed before 2003 are "expired" or "finished" (You can imagine how surprising it is when you are told that your money is no longer good when of course it is legitimate currency in the United States).  


There aren't really functional ATMs in Rwanda for expats unless you want to take a cash advance off your debit or credit card and that often involves dealing with bank branch management (two hour minimum commitment).  There are ATMs at most local banks but they only dispense RWF to those that have RWF accounts at that bank (they don't convert their own dollar accounts so that the ATM can spit out RWF), and our friends here who decided to get RWF accounts have never received ATM cards (some have waited three years).  Some regional banks like EcoBank and the Kenya Commercial Bank have recently entered Rwanda and could potentially expand the current ATM situation.  When we are traveling in other East African countries, we have been able to use my Bank of America debit card to draw money out of Barclays' ATMs (except in Ethiopia where foreign banks are banned from operating).  There is a relationship between BofA and Barclays that allows me to withdraw the local currency at that day's spot rate with no additional fee the same way I would withdraw dollars out of a BofA ATM machine in the U.S.  This makes the whole process much safer since we don't have to carry around wads of $100 and quite cost effective with no additional foreign transaction or currency exchange fees.


Many hotels, restaurants, safari companies, etc. only accept dollars (so some dollars do have to be carried when travelling), yet never have change in dollars  For example, U.S. citizens are required to purchase a $25 single-entry visas every time they travel to Kenya, but if you attempt to pay $30 (one $20, one $10) and expect change they will claim that they are not a bank and cannot provide you change.  Or the change they do have is an "expired bill" from say 1996 in the smallest divisible denominations possible (I was due $50 change last week and received four $10 bills from 2001 and RWF570).  Thus, we pawn off small denominations and old bills as quickly as possible to whomever will take them and maintain a steady supply of 2006 Series $100 notes (which of course I have never used and rarely seen in the U.S.)


What inspired me to write all of this was the U.S. Treasury's announcement last week that they are releasing a new ultra high-tech $100 bill in February 2011 and an excellent article outlining some of the history of counterfeiting money (WSJ: Outfoxing the Counterfeiters).  

I anticipate this really throwing Africa for a loop.

Are the Memphis Grizzlies Really in the NBA?

I came across an article this week on the Grizzlies backup center Hamed Haddadi, the NBA's only player from Iran, in the Tehran Times (Tehran Times: NBA's Haddadi on vacation in Iran).  This picture makes me wonder how the Grizzlies expect to be taken seriously (that is Haddadi in the middle):

This guy is #2 on the Grizzlies depth chart at Center after last year's first-round draft pick Hasheem Thabeet (randomly from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where I may be moving next year) was a total bust in his first year.  The NBA is more and more international these days, but the Grizzlies may have taken it too far with this guy...

Polio Eradication and General Development Questions

I recently posted about the work my brother does for the CDC (Shout Out to the Big Brother) and the Gates Foundation announcing a new initiative on agri-business financing (Food Security and Agri-Business Financing Program from Gates Foundation) and there happens to have been an article last week in the Wall Street Journal related to both of those posts (WSJ: Gates Rethinks His War on Polio).  The article brings up an interesting discussion about the best approach to improving the health of both the developing world and the global population and other questions about the role and effectiveness of international aid in the developing world.

As I had mentioned before one of the three Gates Foundation focus areas is Global Health and the foundation has put up quite a bit of money to eradicate polio.  This is known as a "vertical" approach where a single disease with dramatic symptoms is honed in on with the hopes of dramatically reducing its frequency worldwide and subsequently improving global health (like smallpox was eradicated worldwide in 1979).  Vertical approaches tend to get quite a bit more publicity since they are tangible and generally well-known diseases like HIV/AIDS, cancer, malaria, etc.  On the other hand, "horizontal" approaches are focused on general improvements in the broader healthcare systems of the world and may include water, hygiene, sanitation, access to medicine and medical care, etc.  In the developed world, much of the healthcare infrastructure like clean water sources, hospitals, and availability of medicines is already in place so horizontal policies tend to receive less attention (ignoring the recent major healthcare overhaul in the U.S.).  In the developing world, the existing healthcare systems can be quite shoddy (at best) and there is much more interest in projects that address more basic needs like digging wells to improve the water supply or building clinics to increase availability.

While eradicating polio worldwide is certainly something the international community should continue to pursue (especially when we are so close), it does make you wonder if those resources (~$8.2B over the last two decades) could have been better utilized by addressing the most basic of healthcare needs of the developing world (currently, polio is essentially just a disease of the developing world) like ensuring a clean water supply or improving systems to provide vaccines and medicines.  When Lee returned from his first trip to South Africa during his residency, I remember him telling me that much of his time was spent diagnosing and treating diseases that he had rarely (or never) spent much time with in the U.S. because they were essentially non-existent at home.  While I don't remember exactly what he was treating and imagine some of it was TB and HIV/AIDS related, I would also guess many of the issues were related to broader healthcare issues in South Africa like malnutrition, unsafe drinking water, and lack of preventative medicine.  Of course the effects of vertical and horizontal approaches do cross over (like in the case of malaria-preventing bed nets), but it does make you wonder what is the best way to affect change in the livelihoods of those in the developing world.

Broadly speaking, international aid organizations and non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") have thousands of projects around the developed and developing world with the general goal of improving peoples' lives.  It could be anything from digging wells to financing education to teaching them to produce better products that generate more income (like me!).  Programs might include operating a soup kitchen or training people in new skills or providing temporary financial assistance or housing.  Every project is established with good intentions (one would assume) and strives to further its goals in often challenging environments.  At the same time, aid organizations are put (or put themselves) in the awkward position where in order for a project to succeed, the ideals, work ethic, goals, etc. of the organization often must be embraced by (or imposed on) the people that the project is trying to effect.

This brings up some questions about the best way to provide assistance to those in need and the role of aid organizations in the developing world:

• Which projects have the greatest impact on the livelihoods of the people?
• Do the people impacted by these projects really want the projects in the first place?
• What social, political, logistical, and financial challenges exist locally that could impact the project's success?
• In the developing world, is it outsiders' place to alter societal social norms for the assumed betterment of society?  
• Should the developed world force its perception of success on those who may be both poor and happy?

While there are no answers to these questions, there is a constant debate about what type of aid is the most effective as there are a variety of theories on how to get the most bang for your development buck.  I am far from an expert on this whole discussion but am very happy that I have had the opportunity to better understand it by living in East Africa.

On a side note since malaria in the developing world is a hot topic, I recently wrote about the heavy rains during the Rwandan rainy season and the impressive rain water management system that has been built here.  This remarkable drainage system, along with the generally high elevation of the country, has dramatically reduced the prevalence of malaria, especially when compared to neighboring countries.  There isn't that much standing water in Rwanda and it can get quite cool here (low 50s) so the environment is just not that conducive to supporting a large population of Anopheles mosquitoes that carry malaria.  This is why Lucy and I do not take any malaria prophylaxis like malarone, lariam, or doxycycline when in Rwanda (though we did take it on our recent trip to Zanzibar).  As of now we are still malaria free!

The Rainy Season

Rwanda has a long rainy season from mid-February to mid-May and short rainy season in October and November.  The long rainy season came early this year and has rained generally everyday for a couple of hours a day (though maybe not continuously).  Thankfully when Lucy's mother was here last week didn't rain that much and if it did it was during the night.  I am used to seeing the rain roll in from the west out our kitchen window in Rosemark, but it is much more dramatic here.  Often as the rain approaches, 50% of your view can be cloudy blue skies and 50% can appear like a wall of water rolling off a hillside.  The picture below was taken from our back porch and you can see the rain moving in from the southwest.

the rain arrives it can last for five minutes or five hours and can really pour.  Since the most of the country is covered by a landscape ranging between hills and mountains, Rwanda has mastered ditch digging and has a truly impressive drainage system in place to deal with the heavy rainfalls.  This reduces not only landslides on the country's steep slopes (that are always to some extent tiered for agricultural purposes) but also the prevalence of standing water (the breeding ground for malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquitoes).  The photo below is on the road that leads to Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda where you can see a pretty standard stone ditch.

The next picture is taken from on top of our guardhouse in Kigali (this is what you see when you walk out our gate).  You can see where the land has been cleared on the right for farming while the land to the left is still wild with a few banana trees.  This is a typical hillside rain water management chute, though they can be both steeper and longer in the more mountainous areas.  Keep in mind that all of this stonework is done by hand with all of the rocks being cut in the quarry using no system of standardization at all (and subsequently are chipped away on site until a rock fits the need).

This next picture was taken in northern Rwanda near the Ugandan border and shows some of the tiered agriculture on the hillsides.  The valleys that receive the runoff from the drainage system often grow tea, elephant grass (as seen in the foreground), and rice since they prosper in more swampy environments.

The last picture is me hanging out of a matatu on our way back from Lake Bunyonyi in southern Uganda with some of the landscape in the background.  This area is not as dramatic as western Rwanda but you get the idea.

On a related note, Memphis has been getting dumped on apparently the last few days and there is quite a bit of flooding throughout Shelby County (CA: Flooding Brings Chaos to Mid-South).  Do not fear, my family is safe!  The bridge pictured below is near our house and usually has about a 15-foot drop to the water (the stone wall you see is the barrier along the bridge).

And this is a cotton field...

Upper East Side Rat Infestation

If things had gone a little more like I had thought they would, I might still be living in an amazing apartment at 2nd Avenue and 91st Street in New York City.

This apartment had been totally redone with new appliances, fixtures and hardwood floors and a price tag probably 25% less than the going rate for something so nice.  I was sold.  Until I got outside and the reason for the discount became apparent:  The 2nd Avenue Subway Line.  Just on the other of the far window in the picture, there were huge cranes everywhere and a ditch that covered three of the five lanes on 2nd Avenue.  The noise from the jackhammer digging that ditch nullified every other sound of the city including car horn honking.  The trusty construction workers promised me that they only worked 7am to 7pm M-F and 10am to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday, unless they were behind schedule.  Which seemed likely since while the project was slated to be finished in 2018, this is something like the fourth or fifth time someone has tried to get a subway built on 2nd Avenue.  Ultimately, it was decided that I hadn't slept all that much in the prior three years and could not commit to the apartment until 2020 (at the earliest when it would actually be worth living there) so I passed on it much to my chagrin.

And now the Wall Street Journal comes out with an excellent article on the latest problem in this neighborhood related to the subway construction: RATS (WSJ: Rats Mob the Upper East Side).  While I could have handled these common New York City rats (which can never be compared to the rats in Boston's Public Garden that are the size of small dogs), it reminds me again how exciting it is to living in Rwanda where my household animals consist of a wide variety of lizards and birds that literally just stroll in out of our house as they like.  And also, I am hoping to see one of these shoebills (aka Balaeniceps Rex) this weekend at Akagera.

Food Security and Agri-Business Financing Program from Gates Foundation

As you may remember, the TechnoServe Coffee Initiative is funding exclusively by the Gates Foundation who foots the bill for technical assistance and business training but not for any material items or infrastructure for the farmers and their cooperatives.  The Gates Foundation is split into three functional groups covering Global Health, Poverty & Development, and Education & Information so the Coffee Initiative falls under Agricultural Development in the Poverty & Development category.  Within Poverty & Development, the foundation also addresses homelessness, financial services for the poor, and water, hygiene, and sanitation.  A broader issue covering each of these topics is Food Security, which has become a buzz concept across the developed and developing world, and the Gates Foundation is spending a lot of resources trying to understand it and address it.

On the financing side, we have been hearing whispers that the Gates Foundation is interested in setting up an agri-business financing program to bridge the gap between small-holder farmers and their ability to access capital.  The foundation has quite a bit of money to put in the ground so this is potentially another way to do it while addressing a major systemic problem in the developing world.  As things stand now financing in Africa would potentially come from two sources:

1. Large national or international aid organizations (UN, USAID, GTZ (German Development Agency), AFD (French Development Agency), World Bank, etc.) that typically fund entire programs (but don't implement them) or fund large infrastructure projects like roads, buildings, big factories, etc (big checks).
2. Local commercial banks that issue loans seemingly at random with steep guarantee requirements (50-100% cash infusion into the bank) and charge anywhere from 15-20% interest.  These banks also don't make much on say 20 $15,000 four-year loans even if they are charging high interest rates in an often times risk free situation (with the guarantee) so these small loan sizes are not very interesting for them.  All in all, small-holder farmers (and their cooperatives) with little or no credit history or bad credit history and no assets requiring small-ish loans for infrastructure investments in volatile commodities in often corrupt systems have a very difficult time accessing credit all.

Neither of these sources are applicable to small-holder farmers and their cooperatives since they cannot be accessed reliably in a timely manner (as I am reminded  everyday).  A program that addresses these issues is desperately needed to provide consistent financing to farmers and would revolutionize agriculture financing in the developing world.

Well, the Wall Street Journal published an Opinion piece today by Tim Geithner and Bill Gates to announce a financing vehicle funding by the Gates Foundation and a handful of developed countries to address these financing challenges (WSJ: A New Initiative to Feed the World).  While the article is very high level and there isn't much else out about it right now, this is potentially very exciting for what I am doing and could make a huge difference in the developing world.

On a related note, the coffee cherry in Rwanda is ripening and the coffee washing stations that were financed are installed and up and running.  Volumes collected by TNS-supported washing stations have been astronomically high and the system is working with a few kinks here in there (too much rain right now is ripening the coffee too fast to give it time to dry appropriately).  Anyway, the picture below is from one of our coffee washing stations near Kibuye on Lake Kivu in Western Rwanda (that is the promised land CONGO in the distance).

Iceland! Volcano! Rúntur!

Since I went to Iceland with some friends in February 2008, the small island nation has been in the news a lot.  Between the financial collapse, new government, and now the volcano paralyzing worldwide air travel, most people have learned more about Iceland than they ever thought they would.

Well, the volcano that is erupting lies under the same Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced ay-yah-FYAH'-plah-yer-kuh-duhl) Glacier that we went snowmobiling on when we were there.

While not on this glacier, my friend Morgan did break his leg on a frozen ice sheet on this trip so he spent our last night in Reykjavik in the hospital (while the rest of us went to see a movie on the volcanos of Iceland).

All in all, I highly recommend Iceland!

Hopefully things will clear up ASAP because Anne (Lucy's mother) is scheduled to leave New York on Wednesday to come visit us next week!

So a few additional links on the eruption:

• WSJ: Volcano Eruption Halts European Flights
• WSJ: Ice Made Iceland Eruption Much More Problematic
• WSJ: Grounded Fliers Struggle to Find Alternate Routes - Check out stranded woman who is 32 weeks pregnant now exploring Icelandic names (Thor! Axel! Snorri!)
• WSJ: Vow to Renew Flights Clouded by Ash Warning
• NYTimes: Photographing Iceland's Fiery Volcano

The World's Most Expensive Coffee

While the coffee processing facilities that I work with everyday help to produce high-quality coffee in large volumes, the world's most expensive coffee is in fact a result of truly natural processing practices.  The civet, a nocturnal cat-like animal living in Southeast Asia, eats ripe coffee cherry off the tree, consumes the sweet outer fruit, and excretes the hard coffee bean innards.

The dung is then collected by harvesters who sell the coffee portion to distributors who process the coffee again and ultimately can fetch more than $200 per pound on the open market.

I have heard of this rare coffee before but the New York Times happened to run an article last week on civet coffee (NYTimes: From Dung to Coffee Brew With No Aftertaste).  It is a very high-end product and all sounds quite silly but it goes to show to what lengths coffee connoisseur will go to have a premium cup of coffee.

Shout Out to the Big Brother

My brother Lee is based in Atlanta working for the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service where, as best I can tell, he occasionally zooms around the world setting up studies and investigating outbreaks of all kinds of diseases.  The EIS is closely related to the Department of Defense since it essentially acts as the U.S. defense system against disease outbreaks (He even wears a military-style uniform with an optional saber and may or may not look like your local Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Captain).

In November 2009, Lee traveled to Western Kenya for about three weeks to work on a study in Kisumu, and I happened to be in Nairobi for work so we were able to meet up for a weekend.  We really enjoyed seeing each other, and it is amazing to think we were able to meet up halfway around the world in a small town on the shores of Lake Victoria.

We watched the sunset at the colonial-era Kisumu Yacht Club, visited the Impala Sanctuary, saw a movie (which I can't do in Kigali), and generally wandered around town.  So a very nice weekend all around.  Since Lee was in Kenya, he has traveled to South Africa for another study and Cancun for a cruise ship outbreak.  He misses Kristen, Thomas and Lizzie when he is away but enjoys his work.

On a side note, Obama's father is from this region of Kenya so while he is generally HUGE in Africa, they have essentially already deified him in this area (Obama's grandmother's house is being converted into a national museum).

I mention this about Lee's work because there is a new book about the history of the EIS and a brief summary in the New York Times (NYTimes: An Elite Team of Sleuths, Saving Lives in Obscurity).

BMW Oracle Wins America's Cup

In February, we were able to watch a little bit of the America's Cup in Rwanda and I have been meaning to put some articles up about it.  We feel very attached to the BMW Oracle boat since Chris (Becca's boyfriend) worked for months in San Diego and Seattle helping build this incredible machine (I don't know anything about sailing but the thing looks amazing).

Among other things, Chris helped design and build the mast that supports the 223-feet wing sail (2/3 of a football field; bigger than any airplane wing).  From what I understand this huge sail will allow the boat to essentially lift itself out of the water and travel between 30 and 40 miles per hour.  Watching it on TV you could tell this boat was really flying!

A few articles about the boat and results:

• Thirty Knots, With the Wind at Your Wings
• BMW Oracle Wins the America's Cup

Chris is really good at what he does and also designs/builds/refurbishes wooden boats in his free time (This includes welding in shorts and flip flops).

So congratulations Chris!

Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier

I grew up watching two VHS tapes of Walt Disney's Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier until they would not run anymore.  I had a coonskin cap that I wore with some regularity despite being born almost 30 years after the series debuted on ABC's Disneyland in 1954.

They are truly amazing programs that inspired millions of children in my parents generation to buy whatever they could find related to Davy Crockett.  It essentially became your patriotic duty to support and emulate Davy Crockett.  It was quite the marketing phenomenon in a time when branding and pushing products out to the consumer were limited when compared to today.

The Disneyland shows were compiled and re-released in a boxed DVD set in 2001 (and promptly purchased by my father).  Thankfully, I have been able to watch the episodes again and they are just as good as I remember.

Well, Fess Parker played Davy Crockett, and he passed away last month and the New York Times published some nice articles on Fess Parker and the show.

• Fess Parker, Who as Davy Crockett Set Off Coonskin Cap Craze, Dies at 85
• After the Coonskin Cap
• An Enemy of Raccoons but a Friend of Marketers

KFC Releases New Double Down Chicken Sandwich!

Well, we have returned from our travels in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania and hope to get some posts up on our trips soon.  In the meantime, I am ecstatic to learn about KFC's new sandwich offering: The Double Down.

"KFC is redefining the chicken sandwich with its meatiest sandwich creation ever. Chicken lovers get two 100 percent all white meat chicken filets topped with cheese, bacon and the Colonel's Sauce."

Sandwich	Calories	Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)
KFC Original Recipe® Double Down	540	32	1380
KFC Grilled Double Down	460	23	1430

Sounds like a dream come true!

Can someone please confirm the successful purchase and consumption of this brilliant item?

From Hayne: "That monstrosity is just shoving it in the world's face that we have so much chicken here, we no longer need bread."

From NPR via Becca: Live Blogging While Eating the Double Down

Girl Scouts

We’re starting after school activities at ISK next term. We got to pick our own activities, so drum roll please….I’m starting a Girl Scout troop! Those of you who know me well know that I was a “Girl Scout Overseas” at HKIS and that being a brownie was a highlight of my young life. So I’m really quite excited.

I’m going to be running the troop with my friend Emily, who as it happens is a highly qualified Girl Scout—she has her “Gold Award”, the Girl Scout equivalent of being an Eagle Scout. We are the first troop in Rwanda, so our troop number is 51601, 516 being the number they’ve assigned to Rwanda and 01 being our troop. Quite cool. Hopefully you'll soon see us listed here on the Girl Scouts USA website: http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/global/overseas/committees/africa.asp
I was very impressed by how helpful Girl Scouts USA was in getting us started. They have a whole office devoted to Girl Scouts Overseas and they’re incredibly responsive and helpful.

One of the funniest parts of organizing all of this has been talking to Bridget and Kersti, my fellow British citizens, about Brownies in the UK. They were both Brownies when they were little and seem to have quite a different sense than Emily and I do of what Brownies are supposed to do at their meetings. I’m still not sure I understand it fully, but they are quite set on the necessity of a lot of skipping and dancing around (imaginary?) mushrooms, walking in straight lines of six (always six!) and on the fact that there are not “troop leaders” but rather The Brown Owl and The Tawny Owl who rule over the Brownies. Of course, The Brown Owl wears only brown clothing and The Tawny Owl only tawny clothing. Much to their dismay, Emily and I are reluctant to commit to a future of making owl noises and wearing only brown clothing. We’ll start our meetings in April, when we get back from spring vacation.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with two girl scouting fun facts:
-Girl Scouts USA is currently in its 98th year. It was founded on March 12th, 1912.
-One of the activities for earning the “Girl Scout Ways” Brownie Try-it is learning to make a s’more. Tragically there are no graham crackers or big marshmallows in Rwanda…

Grenade Explosions in Kigali

Over the last month or so there have been two instances (that I am aware of) where grenades were thrown into crowded areas in Kigali.  One event happened at the main bus stop in town where we go when traveling on public buses out of town to Kibuye or Gisenyi on Lake Kivu.  The other happened near Kimironko Market where we do our grocery shopping for fruits and vegetables.  Both instances happened at night when we would never be there, but it is still slightly unsettling that it happens.

The explosions are related to the upcoming Presidential election in Rwanda  Paul Kagame was a major player in ending the genocide in 1994 when he led an army south from Uganda to establish order.  He became President in 2000 and has ruled, for better or for worse, as a dictator since then (Rwandans will readily admit to this).  While he has been in power, Rwanda has become THE place to do business in East Africa and is seen as a the rising star of the region.

The Wall Street Journal randomly had an article about the upcoming election yesterday (WSJ: Land That Outlawed Hate On Edge as Key Vote Nears) so please read for pretty solid background information.  For those who may worry about us, right now there is nothing really to fear.  Incidents like this get front page billing in Rwanda because there is literally no violence.  Expressing any kind of emotion (positive or negative) is so rare and culturally inappropriate here that events like this simply reinforce how safe we feel on a day to day basis (I still read the Memphis Commercial Appeal pretty much everyday and the crime reports there are so dramatically worse than anything in Rwanda).  So do not fear!

Fire Burns Down Kasubi Tombs / Uganda for the Weekend

Nena is unfortunately leaving on April 1st so we have decided to go back to Kampala for the weekend to go rafting on the Nile one more time.  I have to be in Nairobi the next two weeks for work so am not traveling with the others and am currently in the Nairobi Airport for a 4 hour layover (there is no such thing as a short layover at NBO which is quite a dumpy airport) on my way to Entebbe to meet the others.  It has given me a moment to post about the violence in Kamapla this week after the Kasubi Tombs burned down on Tuesday night.  You may remember that Lucy, Nena, and I visited the tombs on our last trip to Kampala and it is a shame that apparently it burned to the ground.

It isn't clear yet if it was arson or what happened exactly but considering this is UNESCO World Hertitage Site this is kind of a big deal.  There has been sporadic conflict between members of the Bugandan tribe (the tribe that historically ruled all the other 30+ tribes) and the government of President Yoweri Museveni that has been in power for 24 years (He took over after a rebellion in 1986 that deposed Milton Obote who ruled both before AND after Idi Amin...we've got some real winners here).  Anyway check out the following links if you want to learn more:

• NYTimes: Suspicion of Arson at Royal Tombs Fuels Deadly Clashes in Uganda
• AllAfrica.com: Three Killed As President Museveni Forcefully Enters Kasubi Tombs
• AllAfrica.com: Kabaka (Traditional Bugandan King) Cries As Tragedy Is Linked to Kingdom Enemies
• AllAfrica.com: Kasubi Tombs Fire Puzzles Security
• AllAfrica.com: Museveni Orders Probe on Kasubu Fire
• AllAfrica.com: Country Loses Key Heritage Site

Needless to say, I am pretty excited about going to check out the sight on Sunday, and Lucy is still TBD (I am wearing her down).  On our trip this weekend will be Nena, Iris, Josh (new VolCon as of a few weeks ago helping with potentially starting up a tea project in Rwanda), Mia (new Volcon as of last Tuesday who will be taking over for Nena when she leaves), and Dave (VolCon in Kenya helping with financing and other projects).  Josh has generously treated us to the Sheraton in Kampala (nicest hotel in the city) with his rewards points accumulated while consulting so we should be living high on the hog.  Rafting all day Saturday and visiting Kasubi Tombs and Baha'i Temple on Sunday.  I will be flying straight on to Nairobi Sunday night and the others will return to Kigali.

Working in Coffee > Drinking Coffee

Since arriving in August 2009, I have been very lucky to be working on TechnoServe's East African Coffee Initiative as a Volunteer Consultant with the title of Regional Credit Analyst.  The projected is funded by a US$47 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the goal helping small-holder farmers double their incomes over the lifespan of the project.  In phase one of the project (first four years of what is hoped to be 12 years) that means 180,000 farmers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania.


TechnoServe was founded in 1968 and has had who knows how many projects around the world stressing business development that leads to economic development.  The Coffee Initiative was the very first Agri-Business project funded by the Gates foundation and has to be one of the largest ever implemented by TechnoServe, if not the largest (from what I have gathered, before the Gates Foundation showed up in the last decade, grant sizes from various funding organizations like USAID, Ford Foundation, The World Bank, etc. were either for small projects researching specific topics and employing 5 people or huge $100M+ programs that took on huge issues with broad topics like HIV/AIDS prevention or community development).  On a related note, we meet people everyday who are here working on all kinds of different projects that are funded in a variety of ways whether it be a  Clinton Foundation and Partners in Health funded program building hospitals and training doctors or any of the dozens of programs funded by USAID and the UN.  There are also a number of people who have visited East Africa on vacation and thought some of the crafts could be imported to the U.S. and sold at a premium so small-scale programs are set up that provide jobs to a handful of people and ultimately funnel the profits back to the employees for training, healthcare, school fees, etc.  (The cooperative where the Christmas presents our families receieved were made was started by a woman from Chattanooga and now has a storefront in Washington, D.C. to distribute the laptop cases, oven mitts, aprons, purses, etc.)  While these programs are much smaller in scale than the Coffee Initiative, they are essentially using the same model as TechnoServe that relies on teaching business skills to spur economic growth (This story about Ugandan Bead Makers in the New York Times is quite normal across East Africa).


So back to what I am doing...The Coffee Initiative at its core provides comprehensive technical assistance programs throughout the coffee production cycle to various stakeholders.  These programs include agronomy training (pruning, fertilizer usage, soil testing, etc.), coffee quality testing and training (aka "cupping"), general business education (cooperative management, equipment manufacturers, etc.), and market linkage to coffee buyers and roasters.  We have constant interaction with these stakeholders including national coffee boards, coffee processing machine manufacturers, coffee exporters, and international roasters. While this brief description doesn't begin to do each portion of the program justice, it should give you the idea that this is not a fly-by-night operation.  There are over 60 people on the ground in Rwanda and probably nearly 300 across the four countries and the U.S.  Of the project's headcount, there are no more than 25 Westerners on staff.  There is a great Business Week article here that tells more about the Coffee Initiative that is a little too generous on Peet's role in the whole program (I guess there have to be buyers!), but the video is excellent and filmed with people I work with in the Starbucks cupping lab upstairs from our office.  Also see the video below put together by TechnoServe on Athanasie Musabyimana who is a Rwanda coffee farmer involved with the program:

Having no experience in coffee prior to my joining (I've still never tried drinking coffee since the smell is not appealing to me but I hope to be able to at least make a mean cup of coffee upon my return), I am not the typical Western employee, but they needed someone with my background to help arrange capital equipment (eco-friendly coffee washing stations) and working capital financing to meet the needs of the coffee farmers and their cooperatives.  The TechnoServe model doesn't typically give anything material to the farmers.  It is more about building broader business skills that can be translated into improving the farmers' livelihoods.  Thus the Gates Foundation grant is to provide just the technical assistance and does not finance the washing station operations, the purchase of trucks for hauling coffee cherry from the fields to the washing stations, or the construction of the washing stations themselves.  

What exactly are these washing stations you may be wondering.  First off, it might be helpful to understand the coffee production process.  Coffee is hand picked off the tree as coffee cherry and goes through a wet process that strips the bean of the fruit and produces coffee parchment.  This parchment then goes through a dry process to remove skin and any remaining residue.  This ultimately produces green coffee that is sold to the likes of Starbucks.  They then roast it and sell it to you as a brown bean or grind it for you.  There is this great comic that kind of explains some more about coffee, but it really is an unbelievably complicated process that requires a significant amount of manual labor and is very time sensitive. 

Historically in East Africa, the "wet process" has been completed at home in a basin of some kind or in huge washing stations (or "factory" in Kenya) on coffee plantations.  The typically washing station looks like a huge water slide with a roof over it and requires a substantial amount of water and labor (i.e. not very efficient or cost effective except at very high volumes).  As you might imagine, the quality of home-processed coffee is not very good and the large washing stations have a number of issues related to coffee volumes, operations costs, and water sources, among other things.  This is where the TechnoServe Coffee Initiative comes in to help farmers and cooperatives adopt a different business model that focuses on maximizing yields from coffee trees and the utilization rate of much smaller, eco-friendly washing stations and minimizing wasteful spending and corruption.  The one pictured below can process 500kg of coffee cherry per hour and at least 125,000kg in a season.  That would result in about 20 tons of "fully-washed" green coffee.

So it has been my responsibility to identify potential funding sources, meet with them, and push the financial institutions along their funding process.  Since my arrival, I have developed a bank-friendly pitch book on the project, met with dozens of financial institutions across the region, created business plans for cooperatives in all four countires, and am now in the midst of pursuing the most interested parties and negotiating terms.  All of this while figuring out exactly how coffee goes from a little red berry when it comes off the tree to being sold to a roaster (i.e. Starbucks) as a green bean to getting to your table as a brownish thing you grind and brew in water (as the Italians said over Christmas with a smirk "Americano").

The financing needs vary by country since each country has a slightly different coffee model with different regulatory requirements, sales and export systems, and capacity constraints.  Coffee is highly regulated in all of these countries because it is often the leading provider of foreign exchange for the governments and has been a critical part of the local economy for decades.  The funny thing about this is that many Africans don't drink coffee at all, preferring tea, and some of the most rural farmers don't understand why they grow it at all since they have absolutely no use for it.  Our goal is to find sustainable funding sources that engage local lenders and when possible can be applied across our four countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania).

On a side note, I am pleased to write that just last week, we finalized the financing for 14 new washing stations in Rwanda, totaling around $185,000.  Some of the machines were financed by a local coffee service provider (local or international business that does dry milling, bagging, marketing, and exporting of the coffee...and all of this varies by country but that is the gist of it) and some machines were financed by the largest bank in Rwanda in terms of rural branches, Banque Populaire du Rwanda.  To give you a sense of the capacity building that had to be done with BPR (though all of the banks have the exact same issues), we first met with them shortly after my arrival in early September 2009 and it took a full six months to explain our model, line up guarantee providers, explain the model again, put paperwork in place, explain model again, and find all of the people who need to sign with their appropriate rubber stamps (In Africa, you aren't anything without a rubber stamp).  In the banks 35 year history, it had never granted a U.S. Dollar loan, even though the Dollar is essentially the only trade currency in the region, and this loan was the first.  I can't begin to describe all of the hoops we had to jump through to do this, and I was literally camped out a BPR headquarters for the two weeks prior to the money being disbursed.  Even at BPR, they joked that I was a part-time employee and they wanted to get me a badge, of course with a stamp.  The best way to describe the mindset of the banks here the first question from any commercial bank during any meeting (it has to be repeated over and over again) has been "What type of guarantee are you providing?"  The only use of a guarantee I was familiar with in the U.S. was when people graduated from college, moved to New York, and couldn't afford their apartment, someones parents would be put on the lease as a guarantor.  In Africa, a guarantee is typically a cash infusion into the bank ranging from 50-100% of the loan.  For example, if you wanted a $100,000 loan to buy a new piece of heavy equipment, the banks would require you (or someone else willing to do this) to deposit $100,000 into the bank so that the bank could then loan you $100,000. All of this while the bank is charging 15-20% interest (on someone else's money!).  The banks' aversion to business lending and unwillingness to assess risk appropriately is impossible to believe until you hear it repeated over and over again.  So these are the conditions we are working under, and I am certain it would be impossible for me as individual to walk into a bank, apply for a $5,000 loan to start a business, and receive money within six months, if at all.

This financing in Rwanda is a big achievement for the Coffee Initiative since historically the washing stations and the working capital have been financed through a patchwork system using social conscious lenders, development organizations from various countries, and even TechnoServe itself (see above...this is not what we are supposed to do). This is the first time the Coffee Initiative has navigated the difficult financing environment and accessed capital expenditure financing from a local commercial bank in truly sustainable way.  The first full-time finance person, Michelle (my boss), was hired shortly before I arrived and this success demonstrates the need for more resources to address the financing challenges for the program as a whole.  

All of that being said, you might be wondering what how does all this help the farmer.  With the end goal of doubling farmers' incomes, the Coffee Initiative focuses on increasing the amount of coffee produced and almost more importantly on improving the quality of the coffee that is produced.  Most coffee in the U.S. comes from large plantations in Latin America that is produced in bulk very cheaply with little focus on quality.  As the world's demand for "luxury items" has sky-rocketed over the last few decades from yachts to shoes to bottled water, the everyday cup of Folgers out of the blue tin doesn't get it done anymore.  With the rise of Starbucks and other boutique coffee outlets, Americans and much of the rest of the developed world are happy to spend $7.00 for a caramel macchiato with an extra shot of espresso and dollop of whipped cream twice a day.  What the Coffee Initiative is trying to do is make sure the farmers get a larger share of that $7.00.  This is different than products that are "organic," "free trade," " or "pesticide free" (though the coffee may be some or all of those things and I have another post about that coming).  It is about helping farmers produce more high-quality coffee that roasters like Starbucks will pay a premium price for because the consumer wants to know that they are buying truly some of the best coffee in the world from the Virunga Mountains in northwestern Rwanda or the region around Jimma in southwestern Ethiopia.  In the end everyone wins since the farmers increase their income, the roasters get the social-responsible marketing cachet  with increased sales, and the consumer gets the coffee they want (or to go with a regular theme of mine, they think they NEED).


For those of you who don't drink coffee or buy luxury items (like me!) and have little context for how big this market is, please see the following links from some major international roasters, boutique coffee shops, and other sources that demonstrate what must be huge consumer demand for coffee (keep in mind that buyers might pay anywhere from $0.50 to $10.00 per kilogram of green coffee, with our cooperatives getting $2.50+ for specialty-grade coffee, that is then sold roasted in 12-ounce bags (roughly a third of a kilogram) for $8.00+):

• Stumptown Coffee Roasters Vunga Blend - Vunga is a TNS-supported cooperative and Stumptown paid almost 50% more than any other buyer last year and included farmer payment stipulations in the purchase price.  They are selling this coffee for $16.50 per 12-ounce bag.
• Peet's Uzuri African Blend - Peet's homepage is pretty much dedicated to this blend
• Bourbon Coffee - This is a purely Rwandan brand owned (we think) by some high-level government officials with three outlets in Kigali that attempt to be the first Western-style coffee shops in Rwanda with wireless internet and speedier service (i.e. less than two hours).  Bourbon has just opened a store in Washington, D.C. (near Dupont Circle) with plans to open on Boston and DC as well.  In the U.S., I assume these shops will feel like any other coffee shop that everyone is familiar with by now, but in Rwanda the clientele is largely expats, tourists, and upper class Rwandans and the concept is revolutionary.  Lucy's family received examples of all of their blends (100% Rwandan coffee) for Christmas this year and the reviews were quite positive so if you are in DC please stop by and let us know how it is (even though this coffee receives no direct assistance from TechnoServe).
• New York Is Finally Taking Its Coffee Seriously
• Peet's Commitment to Quality Coffee Creates Sustainable Change for East African Farmers
• Crop to Cup - another small roaster that has specific feature that lets the consumer trace where the coffee was produced
• Peet's Community - The TechnoServe Coffee Initiative is critical to the ultra high end blends and roasters since without us it is much more difficult for them to source the best coffee out of East Africa. 

Here are a few other links on the project:

• Gates Foundation to Help Farmers Improve Quality
• Athanasie Musabyimana's Story Covered by Starbucks

So this is a long post that has been in the making for a while with a couple more in draft form but please send any questions or comments along so I can better address specific topics.  I am committed to being a better blogger!