tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46709673212215646662024-03-20T02:25:17.894-07:00Stephen EsakiStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-16436705475114006902011-07-18T02:53:00.000-07:002011-07-18T02:55:23.306-07:00Dear family and friends,I hope this finds you well. I am looking forward to seeing you soon and I hope to catch up with all of you personally. I am planning on being in making my way through Orange County and Los Angeles on my way to San Francisco. Please contact me if you have some time in your busy lives wherein I can stop by. I am still hoping to bicycle tour a bit before going back to Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-52332477432343301462011-07-01T04:28:00.000-07:002011-07-04T05:12:28.389-07:00As I've been preparing to end my term here and leave Mozambique, I've become more interested in figuring out how to measure the effectiveness of our project. Part of this interest is because we need to do this as part of the work, but also I'm just curious to know the answer to the question did I even help at all? Measuring success sounds easy, but I've spent a lot of brain power on it for a Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-1167965737921347322011-06-27T02:13:00.000-07:002011-06-27T02:30:20.142-07:00I didn't take any pictures at home, since nothing has changed on Kaua'i (also my camera is too big and heavy for just a two-week trip). My brother is married now. So congrats bro!Weddings are a great way to see family all at once! It was very good to see everyone all together. And it wasn't awkward because it wasn't about me. My first boss once told me that weddings are always fun, Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-3450149873166063262011-06-13T00:44:00.000-07:002011-06-13T00:50:48.439-07:00My brother's wedding is this week. I'm flying to Hawaii this afternoon to be there. I am also breaking a few MCC rules to do it, so I hope no one is seriously ticked about this.Additionally, don't forget I'll be in San Francisco on June 22nd, trying to make my way back to Moz. I have twelve hours there and I'd like to hang out with you.Your brother,StephenStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-55317239315581770982011-06-08T02:15:00.000-07:002011-06-09T01:04:23.698-07:00One of the great mysteries of living in Mozambique for me this year was why people love to listen to country music and in particular Don Williams. It is always a surreal combination for me to be driving through Sub-Saharan Africa with Don Williams blasting in the car speakers. I just figured that there is no accounting for taste and planned to forget about it completely, until I heard a show onStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-8675692902830110702011-06-02T00:17:00.000-07:002011-06-02T00:24:09.524-07:00My Trip to GorongosaGorongosa National Park is beautiful. On our trip there this weekend we saw some elephants, lots of plains animals and some sweet birds I've never seen before. I'm a big fan of conservation in Mozambique. Your brother,StephenStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-75880867378925763132011-06-01T05:30:00.000-07:002011-06-01T05:34:00.380-07:00My First DesignHere's a picture of the first dam I designed. It is located in the community of Nhamunhu and it's almost complete! Too bad I won't be around to see it fill with water and sand, but I'm pretty happy about it. We've got a lot more to do before I head home at the end of July, so wish us luck!Your brother,StephenStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-3929829706692575962011-05-24T12:38:00.000-07:002011-05-24T13:13:50.905-07:00My Sister...has informed me that I suck at updating my blog. :(I've been busy with work mostly and swimming in the mornings before work. I haven't gotten behind the camera so much so I don't have photos to share. One thing that happened to me today that I was kind of proud of was that I gave my first presentation in Portuguese. It was on how to use the Manning's Equation to estimate flow in a river.OhStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-83638866966587812072011-05-17T02:51:00.000-07:002011-05-17T03:42:23.213-07:00My Picture from the FieldI'm not sure I know what these are. There sure was a lot of em this year though. I'm heading back to Beira this week. Our water and food security team has a meeting to plan the future work of CCM and MCC in Mozambique. After that, I head to Gorongosa National Park! I'm pretty stoked because I really haven't seen any of the crazy wildlife you think of when you think of Africa. Kinda sad, huhStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-28862849420876083322011-05-11T05:59:00.000-07:002011-05-11T06:00:58.920-07:00Mozambique Email Update #6Dear family and friends,Thank you for taking the time to read these letters. I hope that this finds you all healthy and happy. I was reminded this month of a famous story from modern physics. The story goes Einstein was riding a bus to work one morning in Bern, Switzerland. The bus had driven by a clock tower when he began to think of time and speed and light. Specifically, he wondered how Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-62232432412582372812011-04-28T23:30:00.000-07:002011-04-29T00:56:40.348-07:00I'm probably going to be out most of next week in Mandie taking measurements of all our completed dams from our sister project in the Guro District. This blog is long and might be kinda boring, which is unfortunate because I enjoyed writing it. Oh well. At least, I should be back with some pictures from Mandie soon.Millennium Development Goal 7, Target 7c, strives to “halve, by 2015, the Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-18471234306984834812011-04-26T23:37:00.000-07:002011-04-26T23:53:17.826-07:00My WorkHere's a map showing the locations of CCM's dams in the Changara District. We're on our third year right now so the blue dots are mostly dams that are planned to be completed before August. The blue dots are also the ones that I'm currently helping with. CCM is planning an expansion of this project that will bring these dams to new provinces and districts throughout the country. Pretty Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-73648083662876633072011-04-25T23:37:00.000-07:002011-04-25T23:50:47.688-07:00My EasterMy Easter was great. Here's a picture of my host father confirming Teresa into the church. The family threw a party later that lasted for hours and to which I was invited. I hope your Easter Sunday was just as fulfilling. Your brother,StephenStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-74217108767476419642011-04-21T05:39:00.000-07:002011-04-21T05:53:55.315-07:00My Picture from ChimoioHere's a picture from Chimoio that I took a few weeks ago.My friend Chris sent me an email a while ago talking about the year he and his wife spent in Cameroon. He mentioned the color of the earth in Africa. More and more since then I've begun to appreciate it. When I first arrived here I compared it to the iron oxide red dirt you find in Hawai'i, which is close but not quite, sort of like a lotStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-48255467021169008242011-04-19T08:25:00.000-07:002011-04-19T08:34:28.523-07:00My Quick UpdateI miss bicycling. I took this picture because it reminded me of my friends in California. Anyone want to go bicycle touring the Oregon and Washington coasts when I get back? Physical fitness is not a requirement.Btw, I just came back from a long day in the field. It's gonna be another busy week, so not much time to blog. Work is going well. We have dams popping up all over Tete Province Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-47964006434524500902011-04-14T01:38:00.000-07:002011-04-14T02:09:28.845-07:00My Second Picture from Boroma MissionSome cute kids at Boroma Mission. Here's some other news: I think I'm realizing that I like to write, like I really enjoy it. I don't think I ever knew that before. This year is kind of special in that I spend a ridiculous amount of time reading here and I write a ton of emails and blogs. So thanks Mozambique! And thanks to you for reading!Your brother,StephenStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-11849836752544170722011-04-12T00:03:00.000-07:002011-04-12T00:37:10.152-07:00My Picture of Boroma MissionBoroma Mission is beautiful. It was finished in 1885 by Jesuit missionaries and it's located 30 minutes away from Tete upstream along the Zambezi River. We visited there this weekend and its service was full of worshipers. Within the mission, there is a nunnery, an orphanage, and a bike mechanic. The Portuguese priest conducted the service completely in Nhungue. The surrounding community is Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-11156573052024012112011-04-08T03:19:00.000-07:002011-04-08T03:23:01.744-07:00ThanksHere's a message from Auntie Liz:Carey is finally at rest. He passed peacefully this evening with his family around him. Thank you for all your prayers and cranes. I strung them up and hung them in his room.. they were beautiful.God BlessLizStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-34755978043524940382011-04-06T01:57:00.000-07:002011-04-06T05:46:23.371-07:00My Soapbox #1I don’t talk about water very much on this thing. I make passing references to it, and cite literary quotes on it (mostly from Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and Norman Maclean), but I really haven’t gotten into any relevant topics on the matter. Part of it is because some of you are my Kennedy/Jenks coworkers or engineering buddies from college, who are far more knowledgeable on the subject thanStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-82167475612823672692011-04-01T08:54:00.000-07:002011-04-01T08:59:31.757-07:00Paper CranesToday is April Fools’ Day, but this is actually a serious blog post. Every night before I go to sleep I pray for a bunch of my friends and family, nothing really in particular or formalized, more of a shout out I guess. One of those people is Uncle Carey. Though he isn’t biologically so, I say uncle because that's what we call everyone in Hawaii. I guess it's because of the pretty high odds Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-87269627502421280992011-03-31T01:34:00.000-07:002011-03-31T04:44:15.840-07:00My Flight in JuneMy brother Ryan gets married in June, and we are all very excited. The problem was that my SALT term ends in late July and it's kind of against SALT policy to permit international travel farther than to an adjacent country. I don't want to give Eva anymore headaches about this, but we managed to work it out with my MCC Country Rep that I could fly back for a week. As a team, MCC Moz voted on Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-53049037466147912832011-03-28T05:35:00.000-07:002011-03-28T05:46:05.375-07:00My Self PortraitThis is gonna be a busy week in the field. I took this picture outside the community of Salinhanga because there was a mud wall house and trace of a rainbow reflecting off my motorcycle helmet.Your brother,StephenStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-70092839677506429172011-03-25T04:53:00.000-07:002011-03-25T05:18:28.276-07:00My Thank You Letter to FMCSFDear First Mennonite Church of San Francisco,There is a lone cricket rattling against the inside of the paper lantern we use as a lamp shade on my dinner table. Apparently at some point this evening, he had jumped and landed a little disoriented suddenly surrounded in warm light. I’m sitting alone at the same table under the same light writing you. I am already grateful for your friendship butStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-65012694473127997342011-03-21T23:09:00.000-07:002011-03-21T23:37:45.346-07:00My WeekendToday is World Water Day, which began in 1992 after a United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro. World Water Day is meant to promote awareness of various issues including sanitation, water scarcity, and environmental quality. This year to celebrate, my plan is to go around our communities passing out bars of soap to help improve hand washing. I'm really stretching the meaning of the Stephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670967321221564666.post-70001804748265086562011-03-17T03:41:00.000-07:002011-03-17T03:56:30.306-07:00My Coworker ChaucaI hope Chauca doesn't mind me posting his picture here, but since I wrote about how he saved me from the police the other day, I reckon I should properly introduce him. He lives in Beira and is one of the Mozambican workers we have on the MCC team. His Skype profile photo is him and his truck, which is a sweet truck and an even better picture. He has bailed me out of many jams and has made busStephen Esakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07863333402091346887noreply@blogger.com1