Jambo friends! Jambo is the Swahili word for hello and used frequently in Africa. We are Brice and Angie Allen (husband and wife) and we currently live in Pennsylvania; Ms. Rose is our sister-in-law. Angie is a Digital Consultant for a Fortune 100 health care company and Brice is now an entrepreneur currently embarking on developing his first small business. However, prior to this new endeavor, he was the Head Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track Coach for the University of Louisville. Over the years the coaching profession enabled us to travel abroad searching for elite athletes in places like South Africa, Kenya and Uganda.
In these places we had the privilege of meeting wonderful, talented, dedicated athletes and their families that will forever humble us. Most of our travel was off the beaten path in non-tourist regions generating unpredictability in each day such as encountering wild monkeys and baboons, hitchhiking at sunrise, landing on a dirt runway, riding many miles in a mutatoo (public van), eating goat meat in a mud home, flying through a lightning storm from Kampala, Uganda to Nairobi, Kenya and many more.
We look forward to corresponding with all of you and sharing our experiences!
That sounds rather interesting! How did the goat meat taste? Good Luck!
ReplyDelete-Justin Blum
Justin,
DeleteThanks for the note. The goat meat was in a light stew over rice and was fresh and delicious although a little tough. I don't think I'd make a regular meal out of goat but it wasn't bad.
Brice and Angie
How was the goat meat in the mud house? Was it scary flying through a lightning storm through several country's in Africa?
ReplyDeleteDwight DePina
Dwight,
DeleteThe goat meat was fresh and delicious although a little tough. The lightning storm was scary and I was thankful to land and get safely to our hotel.
Thanks for the note.
Brice and Angie
Wow what amazing adventures you've had! Have you found any good athletes yet? What happened when you saw the wild baboons and monkeys? Hope to hear from you again!
ReplyDelete<|Michou Anilus|>
Michou,
DeleteThanks, yes we met several amazing athletes, one of the guys is currently the best collegiate distance runners in the country and although he doesn't run for my old university and runs for Texas A&M we still have fond memories of meeting him before he had success. His name is Lawi Lalang and is originally from Kapsabet, Kenya.
When we saw the baboons we were in a vehicle in motion so we just enjoyed the show. They were throwing bananas at the traffic police acting badly and causing a show. The monkeys were very entertaining but they're quite fast so you have to watch carefully because they're always in motion in the tree tops, swinging and running.
Brice and Angie
Wow! It sounds like you guys are having a great time! What do you expect will happen in the future? What was your favorite thing you did in Africa? Good luck!
ReplyDeleteJenny Gorski :)
Jenny,
DeleteThanks for the note. As far as the future of Africa and our interaction, I'm not sure of our next visit as I've switched professions and if and when we return it will be for vacation and not for business.
Our most memorable moments are a collection of interactions with people who met us in their native homes, villages, towns and cities as they were living their everyday lives and shared those lives with us. Our arrival and visit was a strange departure from their everyday cycles which I believe gave us an genuine and realistic view of African life. What I mean by this is many tours and or African Safari companies offer a synthetic African adventure/ vacation and we believe that we met Africans in a more natural state due to the business of recruiting.
Brice and Angie
That sounds awesome! Things sound really different in Africa. What has been the most shocking thing you've seen in Africa or the most different from our culture? Hope to hear from you soon! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteMelanie Gorski :)
Melanie,
DeleteGreat question. I can say that South African cities were not all that different from many lifestyles of people in American cities. There's a strong Dutch presence with European influence. They have more modern cities and commerce.
I think the biggest difference in Kenya was the roads. The roads are really bad in many areas and it slows travel down considerably. This of course prevents mass commerce and trade. It also perpetuates the tribal culture that is still strong today.
Tribes in Kenya are their biggest asset but yet at the same time one of their biggest problems. Tribes create stereotypes of each other and sometimes cause segregration and division amongst the people of Kenya. Tribal tension caused the 2008 Kenyan violent riots post a presidental election. However with that said, tribes also help strengthen a community, increase survival and generate opportunity. For example, if an elite athlete was recruited and received a full college scholarship by an American university they were required to pay for their own flight and school fees. That can be very expensive. If a family couldn't afford the plane ticket and fees they would turn to the community...to the tribe to help support the endeavor. The community would pull their funds together to send the athlete over for the oppotunity of a lifetime. The family would evetually work to pay back the debt but are trusted and grateful for their tribes support.
Many people have very, very little and yet are quite happy. It's very humbling to experience that. We hope you have a chance to do so one day.
Brice and Angie
Was the goat meat scrum shes and Good Luck
ReplyDelete-Lyub
That seems really interesting! Is the weather really hot there? It looks like it is. What is the most amazing thing you have seen so far? Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteAlex Fischer :-)
The weather varies depending on where you are. Kenya has high altitude locations like in the town of Etin where the Rift Valley resides. Here the weather is dry and mild. Warm in the day (70/80's) and cool at night (40/50's). Then there are cities in a valley (like Nairobi) and it's HOT and humid (90's). They also have a beautiful coastline with gorgeous beaches and hot sunshine.
DeleteHonestly the most amazing thing we saw was the spirit of the people. Most of the people we encountered were friendly, happy, and proud of their country, and excited to show it and share it with visitors. It's a pretty special place.
Angie & Brice
Your story is very interesting. Did you get lost? What was it like seeing monkeys and baboons? Do you want to go back to Africa?
ReplyDelete-Kyle O'Reilly
Hey Kyle,
DeleteThanks for your note. Good question. We never really got lost as we had a great guide with us named John Bob Unyugi. He was a great human. He from the Looa (Loo-ah) tribe, which reside next to Lake Victoria. He understood 12 different languages and spoke six different languages. He kept us on a straight path. However one time when we had a vehicle we got a flat tire. It was night time and we were in an unsafe area, John Bob and Brice were able to change the tire in 12 minutes! Other than that we used matatoos (mah-tot-toos)which are public vans, taxis, buses and planes to get around the country.
Does Africa sound more like a nightmare or a dream? It sounds likea very wild dream except for some of the most intense moments. Good luck and keep having those exciting moments. Please post more pictures of the world's most amazing continent.
ReplyDeleteWow, it sounds like an amazing adventure! Lots of exciting travels and twisting turns. What was your favorite part and how different is Africa from America? Hope to hear from you soon and good luck!!
ReplyDelete- Jason Palmer
Do you wan tto go back to Africa.How are going to share your adventures with the rest of the world? I know you only have great things to say about Africa. It's sad that many people just ignore Africa. I hope to hear more about your African Adventures.
ReplyDeleteIf we have the opportunity to go again, I think we would definitely explore more. We met a fantastic couple while we were there. Check out their website and their adventures. They did a great job of documenting their road trip through the entire continent. http://www.overafrica.org/
Deletethat was an awesome website! How can somebody do a roadtrip like that! My longest roadtrip was about 3 days long, about 2,000 miles from CT to California
DeleteI know, we thought the same thing. They were incredible. They were originally from South Africa and moved to England many years ago and they have duel citizenship in England and South Africa. Having a South African passport hepled them tremendously as they encountered some scary situations in places like the Congo (Republic of Congo). Their adventure was long and extremely dangerous. They trained for many months taking survival courses, driving courses, mechanical maintenance courses, medical treatment courses and of course physical fitness training. They also purchased a huge old British military truck to which they custom built sleep, kitchen and bathroom quarters. We were able to go inside of it and it was impressive. The truck tires alone were about 5ft tall...it was massive, but necessary for the type of trip they endured. As we mentioned before, the roads are terrible and they vary by each country depending on their infrastructure. A lot of African countries don't have the same level of unified infrastructure like there is in Europe. Their trip was also very expensive. They saved their funds for two years to make this trip happen, pretty incredible. Anyone can create their own adventures it just takes planning. We hope your trip to California is just the beginning of many trips you take!
DeleteThat seems like an interesting place to visit! What is the wildlife in Africa? Must be pretty cool to visit a new exotic country! I hope we can Skype you and the children of Africa. :D
ReplyDelete-Carlos Arias
In Nairobi, Kenya we saw wild giraffes. In Uganda we saw baboons behaving badly in the street, and at the university track there were monkeys in the trees.We didn't take a public safari where other wildlife lives. We weren't searching for them they just happened to be in the area.
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