Tag Archives: Kenya

My final blog, and the five things I’ll be doing next

Posted on by

I have had a fulfilling run as a DEIB consultant and trainer

This blog has many links – please do explore them!

On November 5, 2010, I opened my business, Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer, and published my first blog, “Being passionate about what I do.” I shared that I was thrilled and excited to be forming a consulting firm around diversity and career development, two of the areas I enjoyed the most during my 31 years at IBM.  My second blog was actually a copy of the press release announcing the opening of my business.

I published another blog a month later titled, “Retirement – Having the time to make an impact.” Basically I was leaving a 50-60 hour per week corporate job and then starting my own firm with the target of working 30 hours per week. That provided me the flexibility to serve on nonprofit boards and to spearhead the Kimer-Kamba Community Centre in Mtito Andei, Kenya.

In my final newsletter which I sent out earlier this month, I shared that I am basically retiring, turning over most of my business, except a very small handful of favorite clients, to Deanna Jones of “Deanna Jones Now!”

So now here are the things where I will be spending most of my time:

1) Pursuing board and advisory positions. With my vast corporate and entrepreneurial experience, the next logical step in my vocational journey is to land one or two paying corporate board or advisor positions with medium or large sized companies. I seek to leverage my extensive organizational experience and creative mind to advise companies across all areas to maximize strategic and operational effectiveness. I have a greatly enhanced LinkedIn profile (check it out) to position me for future board and advisor positions, and of course welcome any references or suggestions from all of you.

I am looking forward to supporting my work in Africa and with Other Sheep.

2) Spending more time serving the nonprofit boards I am on. One initiative I need to devote significant time on is recruiting a volunteer Global Coordinator for Other Sheep. I am the President of this nonprofit with the mission of providing resources to faith activists in second and third world countries who are working with religious leaders be more accepting of sexual minorities. Other Sheep has basically been in a holding patterns for several years after the departure of our previous executive director (we have now redefined that role as “Global Coordinator.”) Please contact me if interested and want more information.

In addition, I continue to serve on the board of “Gay Sons and Mothers” as we are finishing a short documentary on this work, and on the Planning Committee of the North Carolina Council of Churches.

3) Figure Skating! At the age of 59, I decided to pursue becoming a competitive adult figure skater, and after seven years of training and hard work have passed all the tests to now compete at the US Adult National Championships. I enjoy both the athleticism and performance aspects of figure skating, and have already won two gold and two silver medals at first first three US Adult Nationals. I want to continue to grow new skills and compete for many years to come. I have written several blogs about my skating journey and have lots of information, including my competition schedule, on my figure skating web pages.

4) Spending time with friends and family. It is nice to be able just to spend time with friends and family and take a nice 3-hour lunch with friends when I want to. Also, spending time with my 92-year-old mother who is in good health and continues to live on her own in the family home less than 2 miles from where I live.

5) And other future ventures? Of course there are still many places around the world on my bucket list that I would love to travel to, and I am strongly considering trying to get engaged in acting in community theater.

I look forward to seeing what adventures unfold in my life after work!

Issues in Kenya – So what do Kenyans Think?

Posted on by

It is a privilege to work with Rev. Michael Kimindu of Kenya who is tirelessly fighting corruption in Kenya. Here he is in front of the Southeastern University College Mtito-Andei Campus, where he is making valuable community connections.

It is a privilege to work with Rev. Michael Kimindu of Kenya who is tirelessly fighting corruption in Kenya. Here he is in front of the Southeastern University College Mtito-Andei Campus, where he is making valuable community connections.

Because of my community non-profit work in Mtito Andei, Kenya (link to latest updates), I had promised to write a blog about Kenya every two or three months. In September, I started with “The Problem with Kenya … and My Hope” in which I provide a pretty harsh critique of what is holding this country back, with it’s excellent natural and human resources, from becoming a leading economy of the world. And in November, I published “A Blog from Kenya – Who Will Same Kenya?” written by a Kenyan pastor (pictured above) who is not afraid to buck the status quo and truly question the role the religious establishment should have in fighting the rampant corruption and injustice in Kenya.

I do realize that any critique I may provide is done so as “outsider” and some may question if I even have the right to offer my observations, assessment and recommendations. I do so out of a true caring for this country and its people.

When I was in Kenya in November, I picked up the newspaper “The Daily Nation” during a 12 hour (gasp) layover in the Nairobi airport. And my assessments were confirmed in that the general population of Kenya agree with my strong recommendation that the problem of rampant corruption needs to be acknowledged and addressed. Corruption is one of the major wrongs that can hold any country or organization back because it inefficiently siphons off needed resources for the good of the whole into the personal pockets of the wasteful few.

Here are some of the points raised in the article “Poll: We’re headed in wrong direction” on page 3 of the November 16, 2015 issue of “Daily Nation.”

• According to the poll, only 29% of Kenyans feel the country is headed in the right direction, down 5 points from the previous year. 62% of Kenyans feel the country is moving in the wrong direction.

• The three issues identified on “top of mind” of Kenyans leading to these results are: corruption, high cost of living, and lack of jobs. The high level of corruption in government was rated the #1 issue by 40.9% of the citizens.

• The national ministry of Education, Science and Technology was the poorest rated ministry by the citizens. This is a dangerous assessment given the importance of education on helping build highly skilled citizens to help compete in the global economy.

• And in terms of national commissions, the “Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission” was the lowest rated.

International corruption measuring bodies do confirm the high corruption in Kenya; for example Transparency International ranks Kenya 139th out of 168 measured countries , which is a horrendous performance. NOTE: and we think the USA is corrupt – we rank 16th out of 168!

My sincere hope is that the people of Kenya can unite to fight corruption and elect women and men of high integrity with hearts and minds to help Kenya progress, and that bold new leaders will arise to lead with honesty and transparency.