How the Walleighs Found Purpose & Adventure

Rick & Wendy overlooking Lewa Downs' savannahBoomers Rick and Wendy Walleighs’ book details their inspiring move to Swaziland and then Nairobi, Kenya for a total of 18 months. These are documented on this website and in their book titled From Silicon Valley to Swaziland: How One Couple Found Purpose & Adventure in an Encore Career. It is available on Amazon, all online book retailers, and some Bay Area bookstores. Go to Media Coverage to see all the media featuring the Walleigh’ adventures.

ALL ROYALTIES ARE DONATED TO TECHNOSERVE, the international development organization for which the Walleighs worked, to continue its “Business Solutions to Poverty” in Africa and Latin America, so please buy this book for friends and family!

Meanwhile, enjoy the photos and descriptions of our many travels to nearly 60 countries on six continents.

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Swaziland Successes: St. Phillips’ Orphanage’s Pepper Farm

The Cabrini Monks from Italy founded St. Phillips School in 1927 in one of Swaziland’s poorest, most remote areas. Sister Diane and Sister Barbara arrived at St. Phillips in 1971 then began a medical clinic in 1974 so that locals did not have to spend hours and entire...
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Botswana: Big Five & Other Celebrity Animals

The "Big Five" are the African animals that are reputedly the most dangerously unpredictable: Cape Buffalo, Elephants, Rhinoceros, Lions and Leopards.  However, Hippos--which are grass-eaters--kill more people annually than the Big Five combined.  They are huge, very...
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Backpacking in Sierra

After a two-night trip in the Santa Cruz Mountains earlier this summer, in August, Rick and two friends went backpacking into the Sierras’ Desolation Wilderness for a few days. The lakes were still partially frozen and the trail was still covered quite a bit in snow....
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Kenya’s Alkaline Lakes–Nakuru & Elementaita–AND Hellsgate

Wendy and Rick's first day trip in 2007 was about two hours north of Nairobi to the so-called soda aka alkaline lakes, which attract thousands of Flamingoes every year because of these lakes' huge population of fresh-water shrimp (lending the Flamingoes their pink...
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Uganda: Typical Animals and Birds

Between working on TechnoServe Uganda projects, Rick and Wendy visited two national parks--Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth National Parks--and the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and Wild Chimp Forest.  Landscapes of both parks, the Ngamba Chimp Sanctuary, and trekking...
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Kenya Successes: Upscaling Program to Grow Micro-Enterprises

As a New York Times (NYT) March 2008 article titled Missing Middle noted, microloans had become an important element in alleviating poverty.  For example, the microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, while celebrities like Natalie Portman...
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U.S. Snow Country–Winter 2013

National Elk Refuge in Jackson, WY. In January 2013, Rick and Wendy flew to Jackson, WY to spend a week with their son Adrian and his girlfriend Kallie.  While there, Wendy and Kallie visited the National Elk Refuge via sleigh.  It is truly amazing how:  large the elk...
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Uganda Successes: Matooke Banana Farm Co-operatives

In August, 2007, Rick and Wendy learned about the then-main TechnoServe Uganda project underway: organizing farmers of Matooke (ma-TOH-kay) bananas, the country's main staple.  These are starch banana which when removed from the still-green skins are cooked, crushed,...
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Ethiopia: Suspended in Ancient Times

During the 8 days Rick and Wendy spent mid-September 2007 in Ethiopia, their feelings vacillated among guilt, concern, discomfort and fascination.  Ethiopia has the longest, richest, civil and religious history in sub-Saharan Africa yet is one of the poorest countries...
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Kenya Successes: TechnoServe’s Young Women in Enterprise Program

Starting May 2006, the Nike Foundation funded TechnoServe Kenya in partnership with Project Baobab based in Nairobi to create Young Women in Enterprise (YWE, which now continues through 2013).  Through 2012, together they implemented a program to raise the level of...
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Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia

by | Nov 20, 2017 |

Our four days in Victoria, the capital of Vancouver Island AND British Columbia (BC) gave us a feel for the history—human, geological, and cultural—of the southwestern-most province of Canada. Upon our arrival into Victoria, we checked into the historic Empress Hotel....

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Backpacking in Sierra

Backpacking in Sierra

by | Nov 20, 2017 |

After a two-night trip in the Santa Cruz Mountains earlier this summer, in August, Rick and two friends went backpacking into the Sierras’ Desolation Wilderness for a few days. The lakes were still partially frozen and the trail was still covered quite a bit in snow....

read more
“If you are nearing the end of your business career and wondering what’s next, you’ll find Rick and Wendy’s experience both illuminating and inspiring.”
Debra Dunn

Consulting Associate Professor & Former Senior Vice President, Stanford University, Hewlett Packard

 “Rick and Wendy Walleigh are my down-to-earth heroes. At the end of Phase 1 of very successful careers–still healthy enough to spend their retirement days skiing, golfing, lunching, traveling in style–they chose instead to take their energy and considerable skills and apply them in some of the poorest communities in the world.
Bruce McNamer

President & CEO of The Community Foundation for the Nation's Capital Region (Washington DC) & former CEO of TechnoServe

“For those seeking an encore to their professional lives, Rick Walleigh’s account of the adventure he and his wife, Wendy, began is as energizing as it is useful. This remarkable book summarizes the factors they considered before volunteering in Africa to foster economic growth through small business development. More importantly, it records their experience with cultural change, new applications for honed skills, the nature of contemporary economic development work in the face of poverty, and the sights, smells, surprises and encounters found in living and working overseas. This is not a “how-to” book for those of us wanting renewal; it is an “I did this and so can you” story that is unique, thought-provoking and encouraging.”

 

Ron Boring

Former Executive Vice President, Vodafone-Japan