-by Jeremiah Koshal(Jeremiah is the former Research Fellow for RCE. He and his wife Ruth returned to Kenya in July 2008 after many years of study and work in the US. Jeremiah operates two kingdom businesses and Ruth is a Regional Director for World Vision Africa.)
Though we’ve been back in Kenya for almost four months now, we’re still in the adjusting mode. It is funny to talk of adjusting in your own country, but that’s a fact we cannot pretend to ignore.
When we arrived at the beginning of July, I was upbeat about implementing all the ideas and projects that I thought would help my community and country. First of all, I already had two kingdom businesses that were on-going with two different partners (Alpha International Consultancy and Go Africa Safaris). I was ambitious about starting a fertilizer import project with AgConcepts (a US-base company) that can help reduce the shortage of fertilizer in this country as well as make the fertilizer more affordable to small farmers. I was also to start the process of building an Ecotourism Community Lodge that will help create employment for hundreds of unemployed young people, and generate income for holistic programs (health care, education, environmental conservation, business development, etc.) in the community.
Further, I was planning to start a Regent MBA cluster as well as start teaching Biblical Entrepreneurship (BE), a biblically based business training for people who want to operate their businesses according to Godly principles. I have gone through the Regent MBA program myself and I’m also a certified BE instructor.
I had the enthusiasm, the passion and the drive to do all these things, but I soon realized that I was setting myself for failure, as there was no way I could undertake all of the above projects while trying to readjust to being here at the same time.
Speaking of adjusting, we’ve had to learn a lot since returning, even in our own country. For instance, ninety-percent of the people don’t keep time, and they are not apologetic about it. There are other issues such as scrambling for just about any service, people not being straightforward because they expect kickbacks, etc. But needless to say, there are also myriad great things here; connecting with family and friends is one of those, plus the feeling that God has us here to try and fix what we think is not working well. So we are honored to be back home, but at the same time we are also challenged to roll up our sleeves and do what we can.
I’m focusing on Go Africa Safaris right now, but I’m also strategizing on all the other projects that I’ve mentioned. With God’s help and with your prayers and support, all these projects and many more will come into fruition.
Though we’ve been back in Kenya for almost four months now, we’re still in the adjusting mode. It is funny to talk of adjusting in your own country, but that’s a fact we cannot pretend to ignore.
When we arrived at the beginning of July, I was upbeat about implementing all the ideas and projects that I thought would help my community and country. First of all, I already had two kingdom businesses that were on-going with two different partners (Alpha International Consultancy and Go Africa Safaris). I was ambitious about starting a fertilizer import project with AgConcepts (a US-base company) that can help reduce the shortage of fertilizer in this country as well as make the fertilizer more affordable to small farmers. I was also to start the process of building an Ecotourism Community Lodge that will help create employment for hundreds of unemployed young people, and generate income for holistic programs (health care, education, environmental conservation, business development, etc.) in the community.
Further, I was planning to start a Regent MBA cluster as well as start teaching Biblical Entrepreneurship (BE), a biblically based business training for people who want to operate their businesses according to Godly principles. I have gone through the Regent MBA program myself and I’m also a certified BE instructor.
I had the enthusiasm, the passion and the drive to do all these things, but I soon realized that I was setting myself for failure, as there was no way I could undertake all of the above projects while trying to readjust to being here at the same time.
Speaking of adjusting, we’ve had to learn a lot since returning, even in our own country. For instance, ninety-percent of the people don’t keep time, and they are not apologetic about it. There are other issues such as scrambling for just about any service, people not being straightforward because they expect kickbacks, etc. But needless to say, there are also myriad great things here; connecting with family and friends is one of those, plus the feeling that God has us here to try and fix what we think is not working well. So we are honored to be back home, but at the same time we are also challenged to roll up our sleeves and do what we can.
I’m focusing on Go Africa Safaris right now, but I’m also strategizing on all the other projects that I’ve mentioned. With God’s help and with your prayers and support, all these projects and many more will come into fruition.
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