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However, as her business grew, a tragedy near her home in the Mukuru slums generated a serious but temporary setback. A neighbor couple was arguing about the husband’s infidelity. When the argument became physical, the couple’s cooking fire started a blaze that destroyed Cecilia’s home and inventory. Cecilia found a new location to live and operate her store. She successfully reestablished her business and expanded her school-based clients, which allowed her to continue supporting her two siblings.

Unfortunately, fate intervened again. In late 2011, the City Council of Nairobi decided to raze the area of Kiagomb’e in which she was living and working. Fortunately, Cecilia was able to retrieve most of her personal effects and her inventory before the bulldozers flattened her neighborhood. So in late 2011, Cecilia moved her home and shop to Cabanas, another step up from her Mukuru origins. Business was not good at Cabanas and her premises were too small to house both her business and her residence. Not to be defeated, in February 2012, Cecilia and her Kacece Creations moved again, this time to Kayole, a definite improvement from her prior facilities with a concretewalled home (unlikely to succumb to fire!), running water, and electricity—most of the time—as well as a toilet and shower. Her shop was near the corner of an open area from where her sign could be seen, which she hoped would increase foot traffic. However, in early 2013, she was not getting much foot traffic and was experiencing competition from Asian imports. She evaluated her situation and decided that additional education that could lead to a career offered a better opportunity than remaining a small entrepreneur. So with the support of some former TechnoServe volcons, she has returned to high school to finish her diploma. Despite these many years of incredible challenges, Cecilia remains upbeat, supported by her determination, religious faith, and belief in herself.

NOTE: To read more success stories, please visit:

www.walleigh.com.

Postscript

Is There Any Hope for Africa? Yes!

One month after we returned to the United States, Kenya had a very close presidential election with sufficient voting fraud to have swayed the outcome. Violence erupted around the country, and by the time it was put down, over a thousand people had been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. This was a tremendous shock to anyone at all familiar with Kenya. Everyone thought that Kenya was a well-established country with citizens who generally respected the rule of law. No one thought that Kenya was a replica of the United States. It still had significant corruption and was primarily controlled by a group of old politicians who had grown up in the Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi era, but to have this level of violence bordering on insurrection and a potential civil war was unthinkable. But it did happen, and the events were broadcast globally on the evening news.

As we discussed these events and our recent African experience with our friends, we repeatedly got the question, “Is there any hope for Africa?” As we have told our friends, the answer is absolutely there is hope. Overall, Africa is moving in a very positive direction, and we should help those who are trying to improve their countries. Of course, in getting to an “overall,” many serious problems are averaged out by many success stories, and much progress comes in the form of three steps forward, two back. But this is progress, and it does continue. More and more African countries are becoming democratic. Many African countries are experiencing economic growth rates well above the developed countries. New generations are moving into the halls of power in both commerce and politics, and these younger people are not tainted by the cold war, a belief in Marxism, or alliances with old political machines. They have new visions for their countries that include true representative democracies and true market-oriented economies.

Because they are starting so far behind in per capita income, African countries will not soon be at parity with the west, but they are making great progress, and we should help and encourage the good ones. We should also chastise and apply pressure when countries slip into old patterns of corruption, favoritism, manipulated markets, and oppression of minorities. We must be very careful with our aid directly to governments because it can be seen as a “prize” for corrupt administrators to pursue. Even our support given directly to the people has to be carefully administered to prevent a culture of dependency.

African growth and development will come primarily from the efforts of Africans, but we can and should influence and accelerate their economic growth and development of democracy. We should not give up hope when we hear stories of corruption. One only has to go back a hundred years (or much less) in the history of the United States to read stories about pervasive corruption and oppression of minorities. Yet we have survived and thrived. So will Africa.

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