First-Person Accounts

"They Don't Go Outdoors in Nairobi"

Sometimes, the most casual comments can be the most profound. At the end of our "New Year" greeting on Monday, we wrote, "don't forget to pray for the folks in Kenya and Pakistan." An afterthought, almost a throw-away line (except that it deals with prayer).

My co-worker A. is from Ghana, and she returned to New York on the weekend from 2-1/2 weeks there on a holiday visit with all of her family. They were supposed to go to see friends in Kenya, she told me today when I welcomed her back, and the original plan would have put them there just a few days after the election. Fortuitously, they had decided not to make the trip after all, and when they talked to their friends, they learned that the people there didn't have much of a holiday. Hardly. They're staying indoors, out of the danger.

These events feel distant when you're only reading news headlines, and the headlines don't connect you with ordinary, real people. But here is a friend of a friend who's dealing with it first-hand.

So as we were saying: "Don't forget to pray for the folks in Kenya . . . ." You know some now, almost in person.

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Debbie Hodgepodge Teaches Finance

Also, here's a first-hand follow-up to our comments concerning 5 things you can do in the New Year to shore up your family finances. Debbie of Hodgepodge wrote one of her great pieces, this on the unique way her family keeps their money under control. Her article and philosophy are really helpful. Click right here to go directly to it.