tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33424074560577421012011-04-22T02:39:42.406+02:00Bpeace in RwandaNovember 2008About Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-64788276235852037852008-11-13T08:38:00.010+02:002008-11-16T06:26:54.297+02:00Postscript Nairobi Bpeace friends land Kate and Steve in prison.Mission work continues in Nairobi. As usual many, many follow-ups and we have learned as veteran mission volunteers to push out the documentation and follow-up discussions before you leave the continent or the life waiting back home gets in the way. But we did take a short and unusual break from the hotel business center to work with Gloria Simoneaux,About Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-7053892194321152032008-11-13T08:31:00.008+02:002008-11-16T06:24:36.747+02:00Bpeace family This was the best we could do. From bottom right counterclockwise : Richard, Claire, Kate, Geoffry, Steve, Ronald and Beth (in the dark unseens), Pat and Julie Burns, Susan and James.Janet dancing with the ladies at an end of day celebration. We will spare you photos of the Bpeace team. Our moves were too embarassing.After a stop at Gayaha Links to dance with one of Joy's and Janet's training About Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-71922877710249517122008-11-13T08:18:00.005+02:002008-11-14T19:43:39.431+02:00Giving back beautifully Jeanne and Sylvie.A key aim for this mission was to advance the dream of Jeanne and Sylvie's dream for a beauty school. Much was accomplished on block and tackle operational planning thanks to the advance work of Barbara Bylenga, Alix Samuelson and the team back in the US. But the school continues to need funding to come to life. We are business people not educators. So why does Bpeace love thisAbout Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-5660852513560589702008-11-13T08:07:00.008+02:002008-11-16T06:25:51.045+02:00A mass movement at Sylvie's Sylvie practices the Bambino smile. Practicing the Bambino Welcome. Can’t wait to practice on a real customer.Sylvie's team topped off customer service training for Steve. Forty employees arrived from every department. Landscapers, cooks and waitresses learned about each other and team work. Syvlie's small management team was open and eager to learn. Sylvie really helped Steve connect the dots About Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-13103629705927953332008-11-09T22:22:00.010+02:002008-11-14T19:33:20.211+02:00Resting in the midst of unrestA pretty road to sad memorials.Bpeace took a day off . . .Richard went to church. Susan led a retail therapy expedition. Steve, Kate, Pat and her daughter Julie ran into Constance and her son Jason whose art talents continue to grow. Shopping ensued. Family holidays will be all Rwanda.The afternoon brought the team to Nyamata and Ntarama, genocide memorial sites which provoke so much emotion thatAbout Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-37139318065149778912008-11-09T08:01:00.004+02:002008-11-09T18:42:13.025+02:00Culminations and ruminations Console and her team "bring the service and the milk to you!"“You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes you get what you need.”We want funding and need help getting it.So while Steve and Susan worked their customer service hearts out with Languida and Console, Kate and Richard left their own meetings to travel all over town . . .guiding Pat Burns through Kigali and to our About Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-41155146659290859622008-11-07T19:23:00.007+02:002008-11-07T22:05:46.202+02:00A Guru’s JourneyBpeacer Steve Kulovits writes…“We need customer service” . . . everywhere I go in Rwanda, this is what I hear. All of our Associates clamor for help. “For my business to succeed, my employees need to know how to best serve our customers” . . . “Everyone iny company must make this a priority, if we are to compete“ . . .”If Rwanda is going to compete on the world stage . . .become an IT hub, a About Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-16590727214608779882008-11-06T20:53:00.000+02:002008-11-06T20:56:13.278+02:00Didn't understand a wordAnd yet understood everything. As is our custom we gathered the 1st class of outstanding Rwandan businesswomen in a Bpeace meeting. On the agenda was a discussion of how this class now in their 3rd year would organize as alumni to support Bpeace and the next class of Associates. Yes to mentoring and advocacy. Applause at the progress of the group relative to Rwandan GNP. A commitment to continue About Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-48195964312598577352008-11-05T16:59:00.001+02:002008-11-05T19:48:05.160+02:00Cultural reverberations of an election far away Richard and Susan in Obama t-shirts: “Africa celebrates.”At Bpeace we often speak of the moments of cultural exchange we create through our work. Steve and Kate feel particularly blessed to have been in Africa as Barack Obama made history. Today all over Rwanda and indeed all over Africa people are bursting at the seams with emotion. Rwandans did not sleep, many attended watch parties, some About Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-38323964567059027632008-11-05T16:31:00.011+02:002008-11-05T16:58:06.186+02:00"So Steve, are you a US taxpayer?"“So then this place belongs to you, make yourself at home.”Welcome words spoken by Ambassador Stuart Symington, who along with his wife Susan hosted US Embassy personnel, USAID staffers, Bpeace volunteers, staff and Associates to an evening of business discourse. Listening to the birds sing among the cool green of the Ambassador’s residence terrace we felt at home. Most importantly we felt BpeaceAbout Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-58007822294085291042008-11-03T19:32:00.013+02:002008-11-03T19:53:52.028+02:00New knowledgeKurt Vonnegut wrote “new knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.”Rwanda’s entrepreneurial community is yearning to be richer. Three cases in point welcomed us to our first day in Kigali. Finding the WOW.Case One: Customer service is a vacuum waiting to be filled in this country which aims to be a major tourist center. Our About Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342407456057742101.post-28547866935232532622008-10-30T15:41:00.001+02:002008-10-30T17:11:03.930+02:00We can’t help it. We just keep moving.As we say farewell to our departing Afghan Associates shown here on their their first day in New York for their October 2008 apprenticeships, we are off to Rwanda!!!!JUST as Bpeace’s twelve Afghan entrepreneur Associates leave for home after three weeks of training in the US, two Bpeacers mail their absentee ballots and take off for Rwanda.How can I help you?It’s a question we ask our Associates About Bpeacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11911256449427017630noreply@blogger.com1