I met Susan Nwokedi at breakfast this morning. The day before we had an interesting talk about the Nigeria and Africa in general. Our first topic was more even more serious, or better actual, though. Susan actually lives in Houston and got stranded. She might be able to fly back on Friday, but that is not sure yet. She would only been gone for a couple of days. Left a full fridge, but by now they are running out of that leftovers and dad has to cook. Luckily the power is restored, but a lot of help is still needed. For immediate relief and for rebuilding. A lot of celibrities are raising funds to help out. J.J. Watt already raised 300K, the Houston Texans raised 1M and the NFL Foundation doubled that. If you want to help out, visit:
youcaring.com/victimsofhurricaneharvey
Although it is the worst storm to hit Houston in ages, Susan tells me there are floods every year in parts of the city. I am used to the Dutch mastering water in whole different circumstances. Building dikes to protect from the sea and pomping the water out to make use of the fertile land. Susans says it is not the lack of dikes to protect from the high tide though, it is actually the enormous quantity of water that comes falling from the sky afterwards. I sure hope some brilliant engineers our other scientist can think of a solution. If justdiggit can make forest grow in the African desert, then together we should be able to help with this as well right?
Travelwise; Because it is so hot, I had to get rid of my leather jacket. That’s comfortable in Holland, but way to hot for the desert. Visited Venice afterwards and got onto the Griffith Observatory. An amazing view on the city! Had to move on though got the the hostel. I great thing about the Harley is that I can put my backpack on the back. It is such a sweet ride! Then hit the road over to Indio. The start of Joshua Tree park. Will ride through there tomorrow. It is so hot over here! Loving it!!
