Happy 4th of July from Kenya!
We have had a very productive first few days--really hit the ground running!
Yesterday we went to the city center, to look at a potential new place to stay. We didn't find the hostel, but we did scout out a lot of useful government buildings--the Bureau of Statistics, the Central Bank, lots of offices for planning and licensing bureaus! The streets downtown are very congested, and the air thick with exhaust fumes and dust. There is a lot of security around the downtown as well; not surprising, as it houses the important ministries and business centers.
We eventually found the hostel at one of the 3 different addresses listed online. Apparently people don't really have addresses in Kenya, just PO Boxes and often more descriptive than functional street listings. I have a feeling we will spend a good amount of time wandering around areas where we know Chinese business offices should be, trying to locate them. But, the good news is we have a nice, safe, central place to stay walking distance from where we think most Chinese companies are headquartered. We move there on Sunday.
We also were able to locate online a lot of the Chinese companies whose names we have seen on various construction projects around town. We have addresses for some, phone numbers for more, and emails for nearly all, which is great. Tomorrow we are sending letters of introduction describing our project and giving our credentials; we will follow up with emails, calls and hopefully visits! Most of the companies we have found are construction and engineering firms, as well as over half a dozen restaurants and a few wholesale fabric/drapery shops. Its more difficult to find out about the manufacturing firms, we may end up hiring a taxi for a day and just driving around the industrial areas and stopping at any Chinese firms we spot.
We spent Independence Day resting (still feeling the altitude, time change, and travel tiredness a bit), putting together our letters for the companies, and doing more online research. Tomorrow we hit the ground again, mailing letters and perhaps passing out some cards to people we meet in the local upscale malls.
Wish us luck!
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