Reggie

A few housekeeping items as we wait for our plane to Bamako.

First, my name - Grant - is very difficult for my French friends to pronounce. So Gourgui, our wonderful Senegalese server at Niassam, came up with a new name for me. Ousmane. I am now in the process of getting my travel documents updated to reflect the new me. One concern I have with my new name is that I saw it spray painted on several buildings while we were driving yesterday. So either I am famous or not to smart in spraying my own name in grafitti!

Kim also came up with a new name for me - similar to my name for her - Mik (due to her very short boy haircut). She is now calling me Reggie. Pour quoi? Whenever I travel I hate shaving, so for the past 10 days I haven't shaved. Last night I trimmed it all down to leave a 70's style moustache - thus Reggie - the best 70's name Mik could come up with.

The cabbie from our previous adventure in Dakar - Shrek - said he would meet us at the hotel this morning to take us to the airport. When we came out he was there. Excellent service. He even said we were such good friends we didn't have to pay him! So we didn't! Actually on the way to the airport he pulls over and another dude jumps in the drivers seat. This is Shrek's step brother and it is his cab that we were in - they are just switching back and the step brother dropped us off at the airport. Finally we paid the local fare for a taxi! Shrek's step brother didn't even question our payment amount, which was a first for a cabbie!

There - we wasted 20 minutes in the airport!

Ousmane/Reggie

Peeing Bats and Smoking Rotarians

First a bit of catching up from yesterday. We visited the weekly market at a central village. Think an outdoor Wal-Mart crossed with Stampede for 1 day a week. People travel 15k by foot and upto 100k by bus to get to this market. They have everything from tabacco, fruits and goats. People rent stalls from the community to sell there wares and then spend that money buying what they need - great demonstration of basic economics at work. At 4pm, everyone leaves and just the billions of plastic bags are left to blow in the wind.

For our travels back to Dakar today, we shared a van with our French couple friends, with a stop at the world's oldest baobab tree and at shell island (Isle de Coquillages). When we drove up to the baobab tree we all had a silent groan - we had driven by this tree yesterday and it is surrounded by hawkers with tourist knick knacks. We hire a baobab expert for a talk on the virtues of the tree. He then climbs through a little hole in the base of the tree and invites us in. The hole is just above waist height, so you have to hurl yourself through it. I am last through and am not overly impressed once inside. We are standing in a "cave" carved into the middle of this huge tree. I hear something flapping around, look up - bats. There are several bats flying around. Guillome (the man in the French couple) is looking up and gets bat pee in his eye! Who needs that??? Kim asks me if I need a photo of the bats - she got a look that didn't require words or translation. Once we emerged from the pee'ed on bat cave, the hawkers begin their pitch. Lucky for me they didn't speak a bunch of english so I just played ignorant - not too difficult for me! When we get back into the van, Guillome fired a shot at the driver - he didn't warn us that there were bats that pee'ed on the tourists in there!

Next was shell island. Imagine an small african village on an island where all the streets are made from sea shells and there is a connecting island where there is a cemetry that is made of sea shells. Riveting.

Back in Dakar tonight and time to go to a local Rotary meeting. Start time is 7pm, so punctual Kim and I are at the hotel by 6:45. No one else is to be found. A couple ladies show up at a few minutes before 7. They decide the meeting room we are in is too small, so we move to a larger one next door. By 7:10 there are 5 or 6 Rotarians there (3 of the women are smoking at an open window, talking in French about how they shouldn't be smoking in front of guests). They eventually get the meeting started with 9 Rotarians there. I say a few words about my Club and they introduce themselves. The meeting tonight had one of their Club members giving a presentation on member recruitment. That was all well and good, what was really entertaining was the complete disinteret some of the members showed at being there. They were smoking non stop (which is just funny to even consider smoking indoor these days), talking amongst themselves and playing with their cellphones. Rotary Clubs are different every where, but this one was a new one for me!

Off to Bamako, Mali tomorrow to finally meet Kim's good friend Dicko!

Tout a l'heure! (My favorite French expression of the day).

gm

National Geographic

Quick post today...we went to a local market with our French friends today. Chaotic place. Our friends were looking for wooden bowls to use as sinks. Our guide knew a family that could make them.

We drove up to their compound and they began to discuss. This is where I experienced National Geogrphic first hand. There were many kids running around and a couple women doing chores. Next thing I know - whamo - boob just flopping around in the open. Sorry Jenkins, I didn't get a picture for you - felt a little awkward since they knew I wasn't with NG! But Kim was doing some scouting children to bring home for my mother!

gm

Oysters!

Another fabulous day on the Sine-Saloum Delta! Today, we joined a lovely French couple (who are currently on a work term in Morocco and vacationing here) for a trip through the mangroves on a "pirogue" (picture a large rudimentary fishing boat). Our guide was very knowledgeable and explained about what trees and fruits were used in traditional medicine, how the mangroves are now protected by environmental agencies and the process of teaching the locals about sustainability. Previously, the locals would cut down the mangrove trees not knowing that they were also killing them permanently. Unfortunately, the whole trip was in French and I fear that Grant may be growing tired of my enthusiastic and animated translating! He didn't appear as excited as I was about what came next... we learned that oysters cling to the roots of the mangrove trees!!! It didn't take long before our boat captain had grabbed several large roots covered in oysters and put them in the boat. In short order, we left the mangrove and came out into the mouth of the river which was enormous! Grant could have told me that we were in the ocean and I would have believed him (although I'm embarassingly gullible so that's not saying much!). We pulled over to the bank of the river and cooked these roots covered in oysters over an open fire, tossing the shells to the side much as you would peanut shells in a country bar except we were on the banks of the Saloum River!! I washed it all down with a cold beer. Now that is living!

A quiet afternoon relaxing and off to market tomorrow! We've met lots of incredible people travelling through here. There is a couple from Oregon who had come to visit their daughter. The daughter is in the Peace Corps and has been living in a small village in Mali for the past 16 months with about 8 more to go. Grant was so enthralled with the concept, it was a toss up if he was going to start the Peace Corps in Canada or just go and join in the U.S.! It does sound like a fabulous organisation and certainly one of the better ways that the Americans spend their money!

We also helped some young girls find the lodge while we were walking to the village. As it turns out they sat in front of us at the club in Dakar two nights previous! Its a small world!

As a quick aside, the lodge is beautiful but it did take us a day to get used to the lizards in our room. The walls don't meet the ceiling so we regularly see them perched at the top of the wall or climbing down the window. They are harmless and have now become a quaint addition to the decor!

Looking forward to what is probably my last few glasses of wine on the trip. You've gotta love the French (its a French couple who own this resort). One of the very first things the owner said to me at the bar on the first night was to point out a great bottle of white - because "who doesn't eat fish with white wine?". Sigh...I couldn't agree more!

Kim

Hammock Life

A view from our 2nd level hammock

Roughing It

The picture is from my perch in our hammock where I am writing from tonight. It was about 32C here today, although gets a bit chilly at night, down to about 15C. To clarify for those in Calgary, those temperatures are all on the + side!!

Last night we had a great dinner - definitley a "foodie" place for Kim's enjoyment! She even ordered a bottle of wine (C$12). They even stored the undrank portion for tonight - surprising that we even found out they did this with Kim at the table.

Breakfast included the best mini-bagauettes every - I am in white bread heavan!! We lounged around the pool this afternoon, waiting for our 4pm appointment with Mamadou Faye in the village.

Mamadou is the local volunteer with SEM in Palmarin. There are 8 projects in Palmarin that have received loans from SEM/Kiva. Mostly in agriculture and fishing. An example is that there is a goat market there now, so other villages come to Palmarin to buy goats versus heading to a bigger village. Farther away. On the fishing side, ladies who dry fish are able to buy more fish from the fishermen and then she sells them to people who transport them as far away as Mali and Ghana.

The loans make a difference for the villagers - allowing them to do more locally and keep more people employed.

Micro Finance really seems to work. We are fortunate to have been able to see it on the frontlines.

gm

random stuff from kim!

Now that I have the blackberry again, let's focus on some important observations! I wasn't really expecting Africa to be a "foodie" vacation but last night at Just4U the waiter suggested that I try Yassa which he said was a traditional Senegalese dish. He said something about chicken and onions and I figured "when in Rome"! Well, as it turned out it really was just grilled chicken and onions but these were beautiful caramelized onions in a rich broth with spices I couldn't identify - it was amazing and I'm on a bit of a mission to figure out how to make it! The only thing that could possibly have made it better was a spectacular bottle of wine - of which there was only a very limited selection so I opted for a mint Sprite instead. Besides, I can't imagine being tipsy in Dakar being a good thing, what with trying to remember French and not get ripped off by cab drivers! (Kelly - notwithstanding your excellent guidance, I still think we are paying too much for cabs...haven't paid less than 2500 CFA yet...oops!). Anyway, back to the wine situation, I have high hopes for potentially a glass or two here as there is some type of excursion (the investigation of which is about to get my full attention) where they take you out on a boat and retrieve fresh oysters and have an open fire picnic with a bottle of Muscadet! Now how good is that?!

This could be the most tranquil and remote place I've ever been and it will be spectacular to unwind completely before carrying on!

Now I'm off to take care of Grant - continue translating english for him! He just gets more and more dependent by the day!

Kim

Niassam Picture

I can only post one photo at a time from the Blackberry

Cote Petit

We left Dakar this morning for the Niassam resort. We thought it
would be a 4 hour drive over most "African" roads. The first 2.5
hours were on very good roads - paved
with very little pot holes. Then we came to a dirt road, which we
expected. Then the unexpected happened - the Dakar-Niassam Rally.

We went from dirt road to goat trail to barely having any trace of
previous journeys! This was a short cut, but there were times I am
sure that even our driver wasn't sure which way we should go. In
these circumstances one begins to wonder how much gas we have, should
a mid 80's Toyota Corolla really be off roading, if we break down are
we close enough we can walk? All valid questions and luckily none
needed to be answered. We arrived safe and sound at Niassam.

What a beautiful spot. A complete departure from the hustle of Dakar
to tranquility. Our room is a tree house in a boabab tree. The main
floor has our washroom and shower, second floor has the hammock and
breakfast table and the third floor has the bedroom.

Kim has been a great translator for me and it is amazing to me how she
can switch to English or French - snap- just like that. Today though
it became a bit clearer to how her mind works (or doesn't). We were
talking to Sebastian, who is French and we guess is the GM of the
hotel. He tells us something in English in his French accent. Kim
turns to me and tells me what he said. I didn't think his accent was
that bad! She really doesn't hear a difference between French and
English...amazing to me!

gm

Picture Perfect

Ok, here is my first attempt at posting pictures from my Blackberry.
There should be a picture of Kim enjoying a Diablo Menthe (Sprit and
mint)...and NO alchol if you can believe it!!

We just sat down for dinner at Just 4 U - where we think our friend
Doudou from SEM knows someone who works here (Jo) but nobaody here
seems to know him. But like our waiter says - everyone in Senegal has
many names and we may know him as Jo and he knows him as Mohammed!
C'est la vie!!

Many New Friends in Dakar

I finally got the blackberry away from Grant!  Now, let's get the important stuff out of the way.  In a welcome but anti-climactic turn of events, we now have our luggage!!!  I blame the Portuguese this time as it is apparently common local knowledge that they screw up baggage on every flight into Dakar.

We started our day with a taxi ride to see Ismael who works for the local microcredit organisation.  Our cab driver on the way was chatty (his name is Cheikh which is pronounced "Shek" which leads me to refer to him as Shrek) and in the course of our conversation in French, I negotiated for him to be our driver for the day.  You should have seen my determined haggling!  I got him down to 45,000 CFA from 50,000 - and then we ended up paying him 50,000 anyway cause he was a nice guy - I'm sure you're all shocked at my hard nosed business skills!

Our meeting with Ismael was amazing!  He and his colleague, Doudou, spent about an hour and a half discussing the program and some of the challenges and growing pains they face.  They spoke reasonable English but would revert to French often out of habit or ease, so I got a lot of translation practice (there is some degree of satisfaction at having Grant totally dependent on me). 

Believe it or not, when you sponsor someone on Kiva the money comes in specifically for that project and they will even take the sponsors picture from Kiva into the village to show the borrower.   These are people who really seem to love their jobs and are working to advance the Senegalese and preserve their traditions and culture.  We are set up with the local contact in Palmarin where they have several projects so more on that in a few days!

After leaving Ismael to find our trusty Shrek waiting patiently for us outside, we did a quick airport trip for the bag and then an hour drive out to Lac Rose which is literally a pink lake due to the minerals and also the site of an Amazing Race episode!  No trace of Amazing Race there now, but interesting to see them collecting massive amounts of salt from the water which is then exported or sold locally.

Since our friend Doudou (from microcredit) confirmed that it was safe to do so - we are heading out to a club tonight for dinner and some local music.  Doudous friend works there so its almost like home!

Dakar is starting to feel more comfortable however its still a very big city with a lot of dirt and chaos!  Off to shower the days layer of dirt off (literally) before going out!

I'll give the blackberry back to Grant for the next post - he's funnier and hopefully he can post some pics too!

Kim and Grant

Grant here - I will post more on Kiva as well - I am more confident in the ability of lending via Kiva to make a real difference.  SEM will be posting 2 new loans on Kiva in the next day or two, so we are hoping we'll have internet access to lend some money - good karma!!

Dakar During the Day

After a few hours of sleep, we got up around 11am.  Our hotel (Hotel Farid) has a Lebanese restaurant in it (actually across the street currently due to construction), we are too late for breakfast today, but just in time for lunch.  Great lunch - chicken skewers. 

Our only adventure for the day will be to Isle de Goree, the island where they shipped slaves off to Europe and the US.  It is about a 10 minute walk from our hotel, we know the general direction. 

We get to the general area of the docks and ask a security guard where it is.  Actually Kim asks him in French where the boat is.  He looks at her and smirks - you mean where do you board the ferry? (in French)  Kim didn't know what the word for ferry was so she learned a new word and we where on our way!

Get to the ferry terminal and pay.  Then a nice local comes by to offer his services as a guide.  We have an hour to kill at the terminal and don't really want to listen to someone that whole time.  So we sit and wait.  It is about 30C here, so sitting out of the sun is a must. 

On the ferry ride, the same guy comes over to us, do you want a guide now?  No we say.  He says ok, but you'll end up getting one.

We get off the ferry after the short 20 minute ride to more offers to guide us.  We start to walk around and one of the guides finally convinces us.  He says he lives on the island and he can do this or live on the street - good point.  So he tours us around the island with us "tipping" him at the end.

We see several of the forts that were built on the island over the years by the various occupiers (Dutch, French and English).  We visit the Slave House which is where the slaves were housed before they were sent off (for Amazing Race fans, this was in one of the episodes). 

Then we head back to the mainland.  We head back to our hotel, coming across a young man who starts complimenting me on my shoes.  Then walking along with us, he compliments be on my nice pants.  Then there are a few more guys in close and my friend grabs at my pant leg.  And I mean grabbing the fabric in his hand like he is going to pull off my pants!  Kim and I both go to smack his hand away and the immediately cross the street.  Do a little reconciliation of the pocket contents - everything is there.  Got the heart racing though!  Don't know if this aggressive local was doing that to get a kick out of tourists or he was trying to pick our pockets - he was successful on the former and unsuccessful on the later!  He also didn't follow us or anything when we crossed the road.  Perhaps with our hyper sensitive awareness to potential pick pockets, we did the right thing and thwarted his attempt!

Back at the hotel we called the man from SEM (the micro banking organization) and set up a time to meet on Saturday.  We are very excited to chat with him about his views of Senegal and what works in aid and what doesn't.

For dinner we went to a Lonely Planet top recommended restaurant which was at the end of our block.  Tried some Senegalese specialties, Kim had rice with fish and vegetables and I had meat, vegetables and cous cous.  Both very good - all for C$20.

Then we attempted to contact the airport.  Finally got through and they said try tomorrow since there is only one flight per day, it wouldn't be in yet.  Hopefully tomorrow we can track it down!

The time change has my sleep screwed up, after 2 hours of sleeping it is now just after midnight and I am wide awake!  Good time to post!

gm

In To Africa

We have landed in Dakar.  We have passed through customs.  Now we wait for our one and only piece of checked baggage.  It is 2am local time.  We are reminded of our last adventure in Tanzania - where we waited for our luggage, two weeks later reunited with it.  And we wait.

By 3am the baggage handlers have unloaded the Air Portugal plane...and there is no bag for us.  So we make the all too familiar walk to the African baggage office.  Kim utilizes her French spectacularly!  We get a confirmation that the search is on...should be here tomorrow, probably "delayed" in transit - it will be okay.  Do we believe them?  What choice do we have!  Luckily we have learned from previous trips; we have most of the essentials - except large bottles of sun screen and toothpaste, but we can make do!

Next was the adventure of finding a taxi to take us to our hotel - now it is 3:30am.  As you walk out of the airport the mass of taxi drivers offer you "deals".  We know (we think) how much a ride should cost.  First driver says 20 euro - about 4 times what we think it should be.  So we walk away after a bit of negotiating.  Then another driver comes by - 5000CFA (about C$10) more like what we expected.  Deal done, we walk towards a cab and get handed off to the actual driver.  We hop in the back seat and hands start flying into the car - beggars.  Kim fends them off until the driver finally gets in and we drive off.

Imagine driving on a road with no street lights, no lines and lots of pot holes and other obstacles - oh and add to that the wind shield has a "grease" film on it distorting vision.  The taxi wouldn't/couldn't go over about 30 km/h - which might have been best.  When we started seeing signs for the centre of Dakar we were both relieved that we weren't going to run our of gas, get a flat tire or get pawned off on to another taxi - which we were both thinking.

Pull up to our hotel at 4am and there are 8 Italian guys checking in ahead of us (ladies, its Kim, and let me clarify that usually 8 young Italian men would be welcome but picture very loud and carrying more luggage than I would take to New York for a month).  By the time we get to our room it is about 4:30.  We are exhausted.  We were hoping to get a start to the day at a reasonable time, but decided to sleep in!!

Next - our first day in Dakar and the aggressive local intent on making his living off tourists...

Getting to Africa

We are just at the airport in Lisbon, Portugal ready to head off to Dakar.

We spent about 3 hours outside the airport in Lisbon and got asked if we wanted pot/coke/hash about 7 times.  Put a backpack on, step off the bus and bam...the offers start coming.  Kim and I must be naïve because neither of us can ever remember being offered those sorts of things before!

Our 24+ hours of traveling is nearing completion and we are excited to really start.  By the way, great article on Senegal in the November issue of Conde Nast Travel magazine - if you can read it online you will get a great sense of what we are going to be experiencing (hopefully!).

gm

The Airport

We are now checked in; we said goodbye to our one and only piece of checked luggage...now it is in fate's hands - or Air Canada baggage handlers.  I prefer fate over the baggage handler but there is only so much I can do...

We attempted the upgrade but no luck with our Aeroplan tickets, but we are kicking back in the Maple Leaf Lounge currently.

gm

One more sleep!

We are down to a couple days at work (which really aren't going to be productive!) and one sleep before we head off!!

We still don't know if we are going to make it into Libya. We received a reply from the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli - they confirm that Libya is expecting the Arabic translation to be "sealed". The Canadian Passport office toll free line says no problem to do that, just drop by an office. So I head over to the Passport Office in Calgary and grab a ticket and wait the required 1 hour. Talk to the Passport official and she takes the two passports to get them stamped. I am feeling pretty good. Things are falling into place. Then...she returns...two passports...unstamped.

She says they can't do that. I tell her my story about the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli and my phone conversation. She goes to get her manager. I tell her the story. And she looks at me like I am on crack. She can't read Arabic so she can't certify the translation. I agree. But the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli say it is ok!!! All she can do is request a clarification from the "policy" department which takes 48 hours. I don't have 48 hours. She can send an urgent request but no guarantees. Ok...do what you can.

So now it is time to think of alternative plans. So far we have these: go to the airline office for the airline we fly into Libya in Dakar - ask them. Go to the Canadian Embassy in Dakar, see if they will stamp it. Go to the Libyan Embassy in Dakar, see what they think. Repeat in Bamako and Accra. Other than that...we'll just have to wing it!!

Amazing Race - Ha!

Kim and I are both huge fans of the Amazing Race - who isn't really? Contestants on the Amazing Race just have to deal with getting to a place - not getting IN to a place. That is what Kim and I are up against.

Today I pick up our passports - looks good. Arabic stamp is in place, Passport Office embossing in place. Before I leave the Harry Hays Building - I call my Arabic translator Giovanni. (When I told Kim that Gionvanni was going to translate, she made sure I told him that we need a translation from English to Arabic...not to Italian - an appropriate question with a name like Giovanni!) When I first talked to Gionvanni he said he would be downtown on Friday and he could drop by to do the translation. How much better does it get. So I speak to Giovanni - he is almost downtown, he'll be by shortly.

Giovanni arrives at my office and proceeds with the translation. Turns out he was in the "foreign service" for many years in Italy, Vatican and several other places. Today he runs a interpreter and translation business in Calgary, as well as the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Guinea. So if you ever need to go to Guinea...I can hook you up! My new friend Gionvanni departs and I am pumped - everything seems to be in place. I fire off an email to Kim and then to Mike in Libya letting everyone know we are good to go. At least that is what I thought.

Seconds later my phone rings - Mike from Libya. He wants to confirm what we have exactly in our passport. There have been all kinds of "issues" for those entering Libya. He thinks we need to have the Arabic translation "embossed" by the Passport Office. So I call the Libyan Embassy in Ottawa - leave a message. Call Passport Canada (found a better phone number too!) they haven't heard of any details on what is required. Email a copy of the translated pages to a contact at the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli - we'll see if they can add any information. So now we wait to see if there is any clarity on this issue.

People keep asking Kim and I - why West Africa. I had been responding about the French speaking aspect, blah blah blah. What it really is - we have been to all the "pedestrian" locations - we need adventure. All of the above is adventure - flying by the seat of our pants!! Kim's mom won't like that, but we'll have our helmets on Judy!!!

5 more sleeps...

Overcoming Obstacles

After a bit of scrambling to figure out exactly what we needed to do to get our passports up to snuff for the Libyans - we are on track. Although I must say that Passport Canada doesn't like answering their phone nor do they know a lot when they answer it.

After my phone conversation with Passport Canada they said the best thing to do was go to the Passport office and see what they can do - it normally takes 10 working days to get the stamp in the passport. Over night our friend in Libya said that if we couldn't get it done in Calgary, we could FedEx our passports to the Canadian Embassy in Tripoli. That was an option, but Kim and I really didn't want to send our passports that far this close to our departure.

So first thing this morning we trotted over to the Passport office. It had been open for 20 minutes and we were 98th in line. The Commissionaire at the door was confident that we could get it done in our timeline, but that I must sit down and turn off my cellphone. And don't ask anymore questions. There is a bureaucracy here and they will process me when they get to it!

We talk to a Passport officer, she says normally takes 10 working days for $12, but we can get it done express for $30 more. Great. She goes to work processing mine and says we'll have it back on Tuesday - the day before we leave. I am thinking that is fine. Then Kim asks about what information is translated - good question. It is just items like "name" and "date of birth" that are translated...not the actual information. So if we get it back on Tuesday, that won't leave us enough time to get our names, etc. written out in Arabic. Now we are getting our passports back on Friday.

Currently we are locating an appropriate translator that can do it by Tuesday...so it looks like our visiting Libya is still alive!!

gm

2005 - South African Air labour strike...this year...

What we have learned in our years of traveling to different places - always expect the unexpected.
You may remember on our last trip to Africa, we found out about a week before our departure that South African Airways was shut down with a strike. We survived that - without luggage for 2 weeks - so we can survive most things that get thrown at us.
This morning we learned from our Libyan friends that the Libyan government changed their entrance requirements and didn't tell anyone. They now require everyone entering or exiting Libya have an Arabic translation of their passport. There were several tourists that arrived and had to turn around and go back. Some tourists who were already in Libya couldn't leave because they didn't have the translation - doesn't always make sense!!
Check out this story in the International Herald Tribune - it is kinda funny - mostly because we aren't there suffering through it!!
Now we are attempting to get our passports translated and waiting for the next curve ball!

Bonnes Nouvelles

Today we received great news from our friend Mike in Libya - we have reservations for airline travel from Accra to Tripoli!! For a decent price too! In business class - now I am not quite sure what business class is like on Afriqiyah Airlines, but it has to be better than back of the bus...



We also got our air travel booked from Tripoli back to Frankfurt - so our trip planning is pretty much complete!



Also over the weekend we were in touch with a micro finance group based in Washington, D.C. who do work in Senegal. I found them through Kiva - an online micro finance organization which allows you to loan money to a person (and their project) and they repay you over a specific period of time. You can contribute as little as $25 towards as many projects as you like. As the repayments come in, they are credited towards your account and you can lend them out again. Great idea - I would recommend you checkout http://www.kiva.org/ - this is the best way to end poverty around the world - free enterprise. Lend a hand up, not a hand out!



Back to micro finance in Senegal...a village close to Niassam where we will be staying for several days is one of the many villages SEM is active. Kim and I hope to visit with some of the clients of SEM who benefit from Kiva lenders. What better way to close the circle!!



Lookout, I am a Kiva convert now...wait till we visit with some of the people that have benefited from them!! If you join up, you can put my email (grantinv@gmail.com) in the referral - I don't get anything but a thank you and hopefully build up some "goodwill" with Kiva!!