http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roey-rose ... 04255.html
Few memorable quotes :
Next to where I was sitting there was a mother and daughter from Wisconsin that had just adopted two Ethiopian children, a boy and girl of about six. Neither spoke English, and apparently was this their first airplane trip anywhere. Their adopted mother was very hopeful that they had no idea what was happening. In our little group there was a Somali guy, apparently an electrical engineer who had recently received US citizenship, who offered them comfort in the few Amharic words he knew.
For the next twenty minutes I talked to a young American-Chinese girl named Jena who was working in Vienna for a renewable energy foundation, called Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP). Since I was starting a renewable energy company, Village Energy, to provide affordable electricity to folks in East Africa, we had something in common. We joked this was an odd place to network, but nonetheless exchanged business cards and even talked about the recent Copenhagen UN Climate Conference and strategies for getting affordable renewable power to the developing world. We were joined by our Somali compatriot, who as an electrical engineer who had lived in Africa had some interesting insights.
Aduunyow, Somalis & minorities xaalqaata bal.
Cajiib iyo nus dheh.In a few weeks my vacation is over. I'm going back to Uganda, to work with my Ugandan business partner Abu Musuuza, who by the way is a practicing Muslim (and I, by the way, am a seldom practicing Jew). With our American investors, Ryan Allis and Ron Boehm, our company Village Energy is going to provide light and power to as many people as we can get it to.
