Povera Italia

Today’s theme was entrepreneurship, which naturally kept me very interested. We met with all kinds of Kenyan entrepreneurs, from locals pulling themselves up out of poverty to ex-pats riding the wave of growth to battered women establishing financial independence to members of the Diaspora making their prodigal returns. It was interesting to see how different Kenya’s entrepreneurial environment is than that of the US, but it was equally interesting to see how so many Kenyans found ways to succeed anyway.

We were given dinner off tonight so, after a run in a downtown park, a few of us followed a tip to a local restaurant for some Kenyan cuisine. After walking through some very sketchy areas, we found the place, which was definitely not much more than a hole in the wall—just what we were looking for. This hole in the wall happened to serve Guinness (which somehow tastes different here) and was showing the Italy-Spain soccer match. The chicken Zaire was very good, as was the conversation.

We returned to the hotel to watch the end of the soccer match. Although Italy lost, it was still a worthwhile viewing experience as I had the opportunity to teach everyone about real football and how it was ever so superior to soccer. I’m not sure they were convinced so I may just have to keep spreading the good word.