Kenya Night at Madiba!

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the Kenya Night at Madiba Restaurant in Brooklyn with my friend, Kendrick. Madiba is a South African restaurant in Fort Greene that not only serves up great food but also showcases a variety of talent from all over Africa and NYC. They also "reinvest a percentage of their proceeds in the people of South Africa via the charities Ubuntu Education Fund, Ethembeni School of the Blind, Achilles, and others." There was a Kenyan chef at Madiba serving up traditional dishes - though we filled up on the yummy South African food and Tuskers before we had a chance to try the Kenyan plates. Guess I'll just have to wait till October!

With amazing music from Anna Mwalagho, the "Queen of Spoken Afrobeat", and her awesome band the whole event had a celebratory feel! Anna is a talented and dynamically energetic performer who enouraged dancing in the restaurant and general joyfulness throughout the night.

I had the opportunity to meet Kenyan Ambassador, George Owuor and First Secretary, Fredrick Matwang'a. The Ambassador was kind enough to give me some Swahili tips and words of encouragement for my upcoming trip. I also shared with him some literature from GVI about the work they do and this Wildlife Conservation and Community Development expedition. Everyone that I met was so incredibly warm and welcoming - I was kind of blown away by the generosity I received. New friends were giving me travel tips and names of people that I should meet when I arrive. It definitely made me more excited than ever for the expedition this fall.

Kenyan Ambassador George Owuor and me.

See, mom, I have friends in high places! ;)

That's all for now, I hope to post more interesting developments as I continue to prepare for my expedition. Lastly, asante sana (thank you very much) to Siaya for sending me these photos from the night!

BBQ Thanks!

Friends,

Thank you to all who were able to join us for the African Safari BBQ - we had a lovely afternoon of food, friends and fundraising. Special thanks goes to: Jay Lombard for hosting and cookin up a storm (mmm, italian sausages....) as well as the following organizations that donated prizes to our silent auction: Korhogo 126 (http://www.bouillabaisse126.com) an awesome West African restaurant in Brooklyn that donated a $75.00 gift certificate for their fabulous cuisine, The Museum for African Art (www.africanart.org) who donated some great books of African Art, Joe Ciccone and the Prospect Park Zoo who donated a personal tour of the zoo for 6 people (http://nyzoosandaquarium.com/ppz) and Jay Lombard and Brooklyn Industries (www.brooklynindustries.com) for a $100.00 gift card for their gear!

Also, thank you to so many generous people who weren't able to attend the BBQ but have shown so much support for this project. Your donations are so greatly appreciated and I hope to be able to post a lot of blogs on here this fall from Kenya so you can see all the good work your donations are helping to make possible.

The expedition begins October 3rd and I will be leaving NYC - after 11 long years - in mid/late september. If you're in the city, please hit me up so we can enjoy the summer sun together before I go! More Kenya prep news to follow...

Lastly, if you would still like to donate - you can always hit the shiny donate button up top to support this project.

Have a great 4th of July weekend, everybody!