About Rachel:
She works in East Africa on a personal mission to incubate projects which will help feed Africa and then the rest of the world. My projects include the Backpack Farm Program, a canvas backpack filled with eco-friendly agriculture inputs and training a rural farmer needs to triple the quantity and quality of food they produce. I believe it is possible to end the food crisis in Sub Saharan Africa using eco-friendly models of development.

When she first arrived in Kenya in 2007 while in transit to Southern Sudan. Before Africa, I had been working on other missions including Kosovo, Jordan and Iraq. While I had worked in the humanitarian sector, I had also been employed by commercial firms. I was finally ready to make a different so why not go to Africa, the Dark Continent! And of all places, I wanted to work in Sudan. I was never one to choose anything less than the biggest challenge. I had come to Sudan to do research to supply my published analysis but also wanted to launch the Suganic project This project was going to build communal farms in Southern Sudan to support the resettlement of refugees and displaced people.

Within a year and half, I was emotionally raw and physically exhausted. During the first 6 months, my personal battle with African development models, UN agencies, defunct and ineffective NGOs, shysters and an endless list of other unsavory people had already taken its toll. Even with more than seven years of field experience, I was ready to quit and crawl home. Instead of quitting, I took a holiday, walked on the beach with my dog Moise (French for Moses) and got back on the plane to Nairobi. I was simply being too ambitious. I needed to spend more time learning about the real reasons behind the food crisis in Sub Saharan Africa, design more practical models to build a reputation and simply learn to take baby steps. A good friend told me that NOTHING in Africa ever comes too easily and if it does, beware of doom. I love tribal wisdom!

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