Adventures in Africa - Why I was there

First off I would like to let those of you who are unaware know why I even found myself in good ol' Africa this summer. Each year a group of BYU MPA students go to work on a couple of projects for local non profits. This year we had a market research project for IDE and a project analysis assignment for the LDS church concerning the Perpetual Education Fund (PEF) in West Africa.A home in the Kente cloth weaving village.

As you are about to see, we ended up having quite a bit of fun mixed in with our studies, but project work was the number one reason we were there. The IDE group was researching vegetable trends in the local markets to help farmers understand what type of produce they should be growing when IDE helps them to irrigate their crops (allowing them 3 crops a year instead of 2). There will be more about the market experiences to come...

My group was the PEF team (though we all helped out on both projects). I was able to interview potential & current PEF recipients, vocational school representatives, and PEF representatives for Ghana. The problem that PEF is facing is that students want to get a university degree, but it requires a lot of debt and in the end, there isn't a job infrastructure to support very many 'white shirt & tie' jobs. It is a sad situation. The PEF representatives wanted help looking into the program and seeing if the church should be encouraging vocational degrees instead of university degrees. At the end of the day, this is pretty much the answer, but there will be more on this later as well...

If the next blog posts start to look like journal entries, well...they are. Among all the other things stolen about an hour after arriving in Africa, was my journal. Life goes on but, I sure would love to be able to look back on some of the experiences I documented in that book, so now i'll start documenting my life all over the place so it can't be stolen in a backpack. On that note - here we are at the Police Station. It took me about 1.2 seconds to know I would never ever see my stuff again.

Jenny, Shanelle, myself, Dr. Agle, Sam and Ben all lost stuff on the bus.

When we went in, there was just one big room with a desk and a chair and one officer. There were two jail cells behind the desk with pieces of paper above them that said Male and Female, written with a sharpie. The female one looked empty, but there were quite a few in the male cell and they were very excited to see us...

Visiting the police station made me so so so grateful for our local officers, our laws that keep us safe, the men and women that devote their life to justice, the judicial system, insurance, and air conditioners (little did I know that the last one would be something I was reminded of constantly).

Home from Africa - pictures to come

I'm home!!! Pictures and stories are coming - though my computer was stolen (along with a bunch of other stuff) so my life is a bit discombobulated right now.

I took the opportunity to finally finish moving back into my room at 4 this morning when I just couldn't sleep anymore (don't feel too bad for me - I went to bed around 9). So now I feel like i'm ready to get back to normal life. What is normal? I'm not sure right now. I've moved home for the summer, I start a job with the city manager at West Valley City next week, I have Miss Utah in a month, and to be honest - after my experiences in Africa i'm rethinking a lot of things.

My perspective is forever changed. I'm excited to share my adventures with you...soon. :)

Until then, I need advice on computers (do I buy used or go ahead and upgrade) and I also need some help trying to replenish my pictures...I hadn't backed up my computer in years, so lets just say I'm quite sad about the loss. Africa can have my computer, I just want the stuff on it back. If you happen to have some pictures that you think I probably used to have and no longer do(or never had, but would probably like), let me know - we'll have a picture party and i'll come get them from you! :)

Anyways, I'm now going to go drink tap water in my bare feet while sitting on my wonderfully soft bed in a room that is cockroach, lizard and frog free.

Africa, I miss you! America, I love you!

Stats

Ever wonder what statistics looks like at 8 in the morning on a Saturday? Well, it looks a lot like this...

Patty using her amazing research skillz

for the best presentation intro ever.

Jasen consulting his coke on that descriptive analysis
(don't worry, by this point it is closer to 10 am - thus the need for the second mini-coke)

Our findings mean WHAT?

Cynthia and David
crunching Numbers...

David making fun of Dr. Walters classic
'how do you do this problem' look.

Ever wonder what it looks like at 7 in the morning on a Monday before the in-class presentation? Well, it looks a lot like this ...

Ever wonder what it looks like at 2 in the morning during the last week of school when you are trying to finish the 28 page write up (and that doesn't even start to get into the 40 page appendix)? Take my word, you don't want to see that...

Ever wonder what it looks like on a Friday afternoon at the State Capitol after presenting to local representatives? It looks pretty good doesn't it ...

I just love my team from this semester and think that Pres Roosevelt had it right when he said,

"I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues." I picked some of the best! Thanks Furious Five - you truly are awesome ... and attractive. ;)

Random Ramblings of a Redhead

I have so much to do and so little time to do it – and yet here I sit looking out my window daydreaming. Maybe if I write it all down I’ll be able to get it out of my head and focus…

Disclaimer: I may or may not have ADD… after looking at this list I’m leaning toward the opinion that I do.

• I love rain storms
• I want to join a motorcycle gang
• Rock climbing is so fun and I want to go so bad – I run from my apartment to a place called Rock canyon, and one of these days I’m just going to hike in a little ways and ask a group if I can join them.
• Do I really want to buy Chocos for my trip to Ghana? I don’t think I’m really a chocos person, but then again you wouldn’t expect me to be in a motorcycle gang would you?
• For 45 glorious minutes I was going to spend a week in Scotland on my way home from Ghana – but the plane ticket situation would have been very complicated and $900 extra. I need to practice being adventurous at the right time.
• Note to self: Dad is always right. Don’t let him know this, but just start listening to his advice the first time.
• In the next 2 weeks I have to finish classes, take all my finals, move, find housing for next year, solidify an internship and pack for Ghana – why am I just sitting here?
• When I get back from Ghana I’m going to read a book just for fun! It’s been far too long.
• I just love school! I really do – even under all the pressure and stress, I find myself sitting in class just LOVING my life!
• I hate CAFRs – I never find myself just sitting and loving life while working on those darn things!
• I’m going to audit another Stats class next year. Why? For fun… who am I and where did I hide the old Starlee?
• Skyler gets back from his mission in less than 3 months? Amazing right?
• It was one year and one week ago that I decided to come to BYU – I’m so HAPPY I did.
• Starlee you are going to hate yourself at midnight when you’re still doing homework because you were blogging when you should have been doing stats and accounting.

Oh, there’s my conscience. I guess I better listen. I hope you enjoyed that little journey through the inner workings of my mind. :)

And please don’t judge me too harshly.

A scary movie

This is the scariest movie I’ve seen in years, number one because I don’t watch scary movies, and number two because it’s all true! I know it’s long but I promise that it is worth watching and will change the way you think about our federal debt. After watching this I decided to move to Australia, but then it was pointed out that our financial woes affect the entire world, so what we really need to do is focus on education and voting the right people into office!
I.O.U.S.A

Ok, now that you’ve watched that, I would hate for you to leave my blog feeling depressed and frightened, so watch these commercials for my pick for president. I'm sure Hugh Jidette will get us back on the right track ...
Enjoy!

The Patriotic pb&h

Yesterday in accounting I was sitting by my lovely friend Ruth who was raised all over Europe. On my other side, my friend pulled out some bread, a jar of peanut butter and a jar of honey and began making herself lunch.

Note: This is not unusual in this class. It is a rather miserable class in which many of us eat our lunches to help pass the time. In fact, this is one of the classes that the teacher always has an opening prayer for, and don't you worry, in true Provo fashion we bless the class and our lunch.

Anyways, Ruth looks over at my friends delicious looking sandwich and says, "Peanut Butter and Honey, what a novel idea. That is so American... I'll have to try it sometime."

That's right folks - she has never eaten a pb&h! I always thought the patriotic thing to do on the 4th of July was to eat a hotdog (which I don't like) but from now on I will replace that hotdog with a true American favorite - pb&h. :)

BFF's

I really do have the very best friends in the world! It is so wonderful to know that when I need something, someone is always there for me.

This is a weird music video, but I like the song. So here's to all my friends who are willing to drop everything and show up for me when I most need them!

Thank you!