We stayed in Nairobi today so that we could schedule meetings with our partners doing the daily, unglamorous work of maintenance and management on behalf of all of our projects in Cura. It turns out we had a lot to talk about!
Greg and I left the New York Times office building early, escaping before the UN compound across the street implemented one of its regular bomb drills. Chaos may or may not have ensued... we were already comfortably ensconced in Mark Somen's office at Tribe! Mark and, in particular, his wife Yassi have coordinated field trips, organized fund-raisers and generally provided loving attention for the children in Cura for the past two years.
After a short visit, we strolled over to the Village Market for coffee and to await the arrival of Nazir from the DEPOT. Nazir has worked with our partners with One Kid, One World on the community building and required permitting in preparation for the construction of Cura's future secondary school! We worked together to bring plans in line for bringing on the Construction for Change team, who will oversee the construction project starting in January... as long as we have SITE PLANS for the plot! Does anyone know a good surveyor in or around Nairobi who is willing to work for next to nothing? One the site is surveyed, we can finalize the construction plans and break ground...
Discussing site plans and construction schedules worked up an appetite in all of us... and just in time, too, since Greg and I ran into friends at the food court and got to catch up between meetings!
After lunch, we ran some errands and eventually made our way to Lavington to visit Evelyn College of Design. The grounds are tucked away and not easy to find, but this is part of the charm of the place, which we investigated as a possible headquarters for future Cura volunteers. For today, our most important errand there, though, was to meet Daniel, Cura's volunteer accountant. He and I exchange organizational emails regularly, but we had never met; it was wonderful to now be able to envision a face behind the spreadsheets. We brainstormed strategies for sharpening the relationship between Cura's receipts and the quarterly reporting; Evelyn runs a tight ship and Daniel is organized and vigilant, but we know we can always do even better as we manage several projects under this one umbrella. Learning from him what will best streamline Evelyn's work was vital to the ongoing success of our fundraising...
Glamorous? Not really. But in service of something powerful and important -- which we'll get back to tomorrow. Cura-bound first thing in the morning!
H
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