A typical day of work in Nairobi for me starts with the commute to work using a matatu (usually a minivan/minbus). The roads are pretty bumpy and the traffic jam is quite heavy, no one can predict when the bus will reach its destination. By the time I make it to the office (a shared space kindly donated by one of Samasource’s service providers) most people are already at work.

While the official business language in Kenya is English, a good thing for foreigners like me, most Kenyans are trilingual (they fluently speak their tribal language, Swahili and English). The dress code is rather strict and most people doing business in Kenya wear a suit.

The aspect of time takes getting used to especially when scheduling an appointment in Kenya where it is common work on Swahili time. On needs to program this extra time to the initial appointment and be very patient for your contact to show up. Personally, I did not experience this problem during my work, because I am not a local. In fact, Samasource partners were kind enough to adapt to US culture and were always timely. But I had to deal with African customs when scheduling personal appointments and learned to be very flexible about time.

The mornings usually go by very quickly and tea is served frequently. A habit that I think was introduced by the British and carried on by the Indians and now a staple of work life for the Africans. Most of Kenyan workers that I met are welcoming and relaxed people, I feel very secure and comfortable when visiting Samasource Service partners. They usually have a positive opinion of Westerners and are mostly kind and respectful. The lunch break is around one o’clock and that’s when most of the team indulges in chicken curry with chapattis (large tortillas) at the local restaurant.

Visiting the Partner sites can sometimes be challenging in that there are no bus maps to indicate locations or times. Sometimes the partners are kind enough to pick me up. Others do their best to send me as much information as they can to help me locate their store or office.

The workforce at the Service Partners comprises roughly of equal amounts of men and women. I found the Kenyan women to be very hardworking and ambitious: They are usually multitasking, switching from their job to family matters and home activities with ease. They are astute entrepreneurs, and many are in highly regarded positions are handled by women. Adept Technologies is a good example of a Samasource partner founded by highly efficient women entrepreneurs. Indeed, both the CEO and the president of the company are women: Diana and Mercy. They have an excellent background and have “joined forces” to create Adept Technologies, a small but stable company employing 15 people.

Since my initial task to create the worker’s profiles for the Samasource website is now complete, I am now assisting with the greeting cards project. In this endeavor I am training Samasource workers to create greeting cards www.samasource.org/gifts The greeting cards include beautifulful pictures from Kenya as well as greetings in English and Swahili. This project will allow our partners to earn an income while giving them the ability to work in a new and creative way: Make sure you participate in their efforts and enjoy one of these cards yourself!

When arriving in Nairobi, one can quickly feel stifled by people, noise, pollution, so the charm of the city is not obvious at first. This city is like a whirlwind that can be stunning. But after the first shockwave, one gets used to this environment and appreciates the kind of life Nairobi has to offer.

I have been working as a Samasource (Samasource.org) fellow for one month now; it has been an experience which can be described as a journey of discovery, adaptation, meeting and sharing. Discovering the lifestyle here, adapting to the time and skills, meeting welcoming partners and talented workers, sharing of ideas and skills.

My initial task as a Fellow was to populate a new online database for Samasource for their website. This site now has the profiles of potential employees which allows new and existing clients to get a better feel of the knowledge, expertise and circumstance/aspirations of people they work with. My task was to compile a profile for every worker who participated in a Samasource project. Once the profiles were reviewed and the photos available I uploaded them onto the Samasource website. They are available on: www.samasource.org/impact.

This is great way to literally “put a face to a name” and to connect the workers with employers. It allows one to forget about the distance and understand Samasource’s goals by linking workers to jobs.

In visiting all the Service Partners and people, I learned how Samasource has given not only a “hand-up” but in fact provided life changing opportunity to workers. One of the workers I met was single mother who could not provide for her two children. Samasource, working with the service provider, has helped her to become independent and take care of her livelihood.

I met all kinds of people during this project, most of them are young and educated, went to or are actually at university in various sectors such as Hotel Management, Information and Technology, International Business, etc. All workers seem really motivated, talented and open minded. The service partners in Nairobi always provided a warm welcomed and I had really interesting discussions with some workers about various subjects as life, work, and the impact of Samasource projects.

Daproim (daproim.com) one of Samasource partners, provided me with office space during this project as well as Internet access. Steve, the president of the company, is an enthusiastic young entrepreneur who wants every employee to be treated with respect. He is interested in various training projects aimed at distressed people. Daproim, like some other Samasource partners, offers part-time work to local university students and facilities for disabled workers. Daproim started in 2006 with four employees, today it has already around 10. The plan is to grow to 20 or 30 people in the next years.

Steve is supporting a Cisco training center a few kilometers away from Nairobi. There, young women, often single mothers, are trained to do data entry and transcription tasks. This training is subsidized by an NGO. These women really want to succeed, and you can see in their eyes their thirst for knowledge. Steve feeds their motivation, while acknowledging that he needs to connect these women with jobs. There is no doubt that future difficulties lay ahead. The notion of hard work is on everyone’s lips, as there are no other means to succeed and the only way for them to benefit from a better life. Thus people are totally ready to offer their best.

So as I get used to the hustle and bustle of the city and plan my visits to the different service partners I feel good about lending a hand. I have to say that in my month of working as a Fellow for Samasource and helping create the Profiles database I too have learned the value of hard work! In my next blog I will write more about a typical work day for me in Nairobi.