I traveled down the North Rift Valley, Kitale to Nakuru. Kitale is near Mt. Elgon, where that day a news ticker read: “62 bodies found in Mt. Elgon forest.” Was this post-election murders or militia with arms from the Sudan-Uganda boarder, I don’t know. This received little to no additional coverage, 62 bodies. 62 bodies is less of a concern than the corrupt sale of a hotel? From Kitale to Nakuru, seeing thousands of people living in thousands of tents displaced from the post-election violence that rocked Kenya many months ago. In Nakuru, I watch from a balcony as a man is savagely beaten by a club-bearing store guard in front of a crowd of at least 50 street-goers. His face entirely red as he screams painfully, helplessly in front of all. His shirt soaked in so much blood. My outrage over such injustice is quickly channeled into the common insular desire — that will not happen to me or anyone I love. All this before I am to speak with community organizers.

I will not tell them what they have done wrong. I will not tell them what they need to do. I will not even mention the bodies in the forest, the IDPs, or the public savagery. I don’t have a solution to such atrocities, and writing about such things is ever an inadequate depiction of such matters. I don’t have the solution to improve their lives, their communities, their country. They do. I am here to see that they have the opportunity to improve society from within, with their own solutions. I am here to see that they gain access to funds from a place where giving is so opportune (America) because they live in a place where society holds the potential for tremendous improvement (Africa).

When I first started this I thought I would help provide another avenue to fund charities that would compete with traditional aid. This was not the case. Once I came to Africa and visted the communities, the urban slums and rural villages thoughout Kenya, it was clear that these communities have so very few social services, the presence of international aid organzations is so scarce, and the trapping debts of poverty strong, that the efficency gains of competition are just an afterthought. With this Network, I hope you will discover an abundance of opportunities to support the base of society in Africa. I hope you find this alternative to traditional aid and government support as a lasting solution that allows communities to support themselves, address their own problems, and provide the population with opportunities for prosperty.