the porous city

Questions
Took a boda-boda (bicycle taxi) from the office to my house. It's 10 shillings (about 13 cents), 15 if they go down the dirt track to my door. Almost all the boda-boda guys have the same kind of bike: imagine a depressing Soviet-era steel bicycle with a cushion over the back wheel, festooned with paint, streamers and slogans painted on the mudflaps. Everyone pedals at the same plodding pace, since they have one gear at some ridiculous gear ratio, suitable only for Olympic sprinters.

This boda-boda driver spoke English, which is unusual.

"Hey, brother. Hey."
"Yes?"
"How can I have an easy life?"
"Sorry?"
"How can I have an easy life? I have been given a hard life."

He laughed, grinned, and kept at his sad, slow pedalling. I don't think his smile was faked. It's amazing how happy people are here, despite everything.

Talked to one of our survey agents today about a baseline survey we do when we enroll farmers - a sort of census and inventory of assets. Apparently it's pretty quick and easy to go through with a farmer.

"They don't have problems with any of the questions?"
"No ... well, sometimes they can't remember the names of all their children."


last modified: 09:35:33 13-Nov-2008
in categories:OneAcreFund, People/Me

Comment

name*

email

homepage

No html.

what's the second letter of your name?

This is Lukas Bergstrom's weblog. You can also find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Tech
Shopping, Open, Energy, Web, s60, Hardware, Net, MacOS, PIM, Development, Automobile, a11y, Collaboration, Business, Android, Web analytics, Wearables, barcamp, Crowdsourcing, AI, Storage, WRX, Data, Product Management, Social, Mobile, Audio, Medical, RSS, Javascript, Security, Visual, OS

Other
Surfing, Podcasts, Activism, Friday, Personal care, Bicycling, Games, Food & Drink, L.A., Clothes, CrowdFlower, Transportation, Agriculture, Berlin, Minnesota, Travel, NYC, Sports, Law, Politik, History, Video, Life hacks, Housing, Toys, Quizzes, Feminism, Geography, Boston, San Francisco, California, Statistics

Music
House, Musicians, Mailing lists, Lyrics, Hip-hop, Events, Reviews, Good tracks, Videos, Business, Labels, Making, Booking, Boston, History, Streams, Shopping, Mp3s, L.A., Mixes

People
Working with, Meditation, Stories, Weblogs, Vocations, Me, MOTAS, Life hacks, Health, Languages, Family, Subcultures, Friends, Buddhism, Gossip, Enemies, Heroes, Exercise, ADD

Commerce
Microfinance, Management consulting, Personal finance, Macroeconomics, Insurance, International Development, Marketing and CRM, Real Estate, IP Law, Personal services, Web, Investing, Non-profit, Taxes, Shopping

Arts
Comix, Humor, Visual, Burning Man, Literature, iPad bait, Outlets, Animation, Desktop wallpaper bait, Rhetoric, Events, Movies, Poetry, Spoken Word, Sculpture

Design
Web, Tools, Furniture, Data visualization, Process, Algorithmic, IA, Type, Cool, Presentations, User experience, Architecture

Science
Zoology, Physics, Environment, Psychology, Cognition, Networks, Statistics and Data

Travel
Vagabond '08, Kenya, Uganda, Kingdom of Siam

Photos
Friends, Photos I Wish I'd Taken, Moblog

Philosophy
Mind

Mathematics

One Acre Fund

Internet classic

Subscribe to this site's rss feed