Exploring Nairobi

Nairobi, Kenya

I took the bus out to the CIMMYT offices at the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD) to talk with Michael Collinson. He outlined the procedure he recommends following in doing research on farming systems. He would begin with studying literature to gain as much background knowledge as possible. Then informal interviewing is done. A more formal interview follows with an eye to verifying the important information uncovered by the informal survey. He also gave me the name of a Harvard connected agricultural economist with the Ministry of Agriculture in Juba, Sudan. And of course he gave me some literature to take with me. I tagged along with him to the country club where he played his wife in squash. Then we had dinner at his place. It included Yorkshire pudding and horseradish sauce for the roast beef. Very British!

In the afternoon, Elizabeth and I went downtown to shop. I bought a book “East African Crops” by Onuweume. We met two Ugandans. They claimed to be refugees trying to get out of the country to Tanzania. The one had been a vet student in Uganda and asked about Cornell’s program. We decided his story was straight, so we gave him some money (80 shillings total) to help them get out of the country. Africans normally have families to help them, but not these student refugees. He may have been a con man, but I don’t think so.

I bought some finger bananas on my way back to the mission. This evening I wrote to Professor Poleman and talked with people here at AIM's guest house. My letter to Professor Poleman included my visit to Kansas State University, call to Ford Foundation in New York, my call to Steve Franzel, my visit with Collinson and my knowledge of Lohutok to this point.