Article 13 Initiative - Blog

It’s been a hectic few days here, thinking and working on a number of different things at once. I think this week is a week of meetings and logistics, visioning and thinking. It’s been an emotionally strange week because of everything we’ve covered during chats, interviews, and meetings. We had two visitors to our workshops this week, ran into a “former visitor” from another day, and are preparing for a meeting with a Kenyan MP tomorrow.

And where is all of this going? Ah, there was a meeting for that too! Okay, I use the word “meeting” liberally because it was much more like a short discussion and brainstorm. We’re thinking of ideas, and we’re covering a lot of bases. Our ideas include starting a cyber cafe, social enterprise focused on outsourcing, and selling the SHOFCO newsletter. One idea that has been on mine and Hannah’s minds a lot lately is the lulu.com book — we started picking photos for it, and are getting people to keep taking pictures in the next two weeks. I think it’ll be a very interesting book mainly because of the mix of photos and articles… The articles we read and photos we see are often meaningful and honest, two qualities one rarely thinks of when reading the travel advisories and warnings about Kibera.

And where will all of this lead, where will it end? Yes, we have a deadline by which we must be on a plane, and it’s only three weeks away… But what happens next? What will the computers be used for, and have we even taught enough to ensure the workshops can be taught by SHOFCO to others? These are the questions that I’m thinking of now as we’re more than half-way through the trip. No, I’m not worried, but am curious about the future… I know things will end well and all the participants (this includes Hannah and me) will be better for it — indeed, I think we already are.

So where will it lead next? Thinking about this is an adventure all on its own.