Get a Big Box of Electricity Here

Another pic from the Africa trip — this sign was all over Kigali, and it always made me smile:

The way they're electrifying the country now is, well, electrifying. But the way the sign is phrased, I couldn't help but imagine they had these big tubs of the stuff sitting around on shelves.

You come in, maybe carrying a cardboard box or a plastic bag, and they pour you a bunch, with lots of little sparks dripping down the sides, and you go on your way.

A $25 Kiva loan to a Rwandan I hope to meet

Just lent a few bucks via Kiva.org to Mary Louise Nyiranzabandora here, a mother of four who runs a shoeselling business in Kigali.  She’s planning to increase her profits by expanding her stock.

Marie Louise Nyiranzabandora

Rwanda has made an amazing comeback from one of history’s worst genocides.  I’ll be visiting in a couple of weeks, and I hope to try to understand (at least a little) how people can possibly move on.  And I don’t know any better way to find out than to ask.  I’ve already got appointments set to meet with a number of small entrepreneurs there — ordinary folks just getting on with their lives — whose stories are worth telling.  I’m not sure if I’ll get to meet Ms. Nyiranzabandora herself, but whatever I learn will be in the upcoming book, but I’ll also try to share what I can here, too.  Not sure if I’ll meet

This is my 1932nd loan, by the way, and the repayment rate is still over 99 percent.  If you’d like to help out with a loan of your own, it takes about five minutes.  Join my team!