Chris Blattman

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I am VERY jealous right now

Friend (and former thesis adviser) Ted Miguel e-mails to tell me he is eating cake with Obama’s grandmother!

The video, by J-PALer Jeff Berens, is here. Ted writes:

I’m in Kenya and partied yesterday afternoon with Obama’s grandma Sarah, just before she left for the US for the inauguration…

It was so cool, really moving actually, to be able to celebrate the victory with Sarah, a woman who speaks no English and little Kiswhili. She was incredibly gracious, kind, and fun! She started just going around feeding us cake!

…people in Kenya are incredibly excited about Obama and seem to know more about his family, the inauguration, and Sarah Palin’s wardrobe than I do. The US election really was local politics here in western Kenya.

I worked in Busia, Kenya, in 2003–but I never had such a celebrity experience. Just another reason you may want to apply to IPA and J-PAL’s jobapalooza.

Ted’s latest book, Economic Gangsters, is here. I recently interviewed Ted and co-author Ray Fisman here.

3 Responses

  1. Innovations for Poverty Action – Kenya, the office the people in the video are based out of, is currently looking for an Evaluation Coordinator for the Rural Water Project to start this spring/summer. See the job description here: http://cega.berkeley.edu/template.php?page=jobs

    I’m the person who filmed the video (Jeff Berens) and I’ve had a fantastic time coordinating the water project for the past two years.

  2. I would definitely be jealous as well. A once in a lifetime experience seeing it through the eyes of another culture that also has a direct link to the history being made. Incredible.

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