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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Download our entire book for free! Or click on the image above to sign up here to get a free preview of our book, From Silicon Valley to Swaziland: How One Couple Found Purpose and Adventure in an Encore Career.

Western New York in Autumn

The Walleighs’ 2013 road trip was with good friends with whom they had traveled in New Zealand.  In late September 2013 after traversing Quebec Province (go to Quebec or Montreal, etc.  for details on the Canada portion of this trip), they crossed the border into New...

Central Kenya: Aberdare, Treetops, The Ark and Lewa Downs

The Walleighs took another trip to central Kenya with their friends Fred and Judy (and their adorable sons) to the Outspan Hotel near Aberdare National Park, not far from Mt. Kenya. While there, Rick and Wendy traveled nearby to the Treetops resort, famous for its...

Kenya Successes: Springsand Bakery “Puffs Up” its Market

Starting in 2002, Anderson Muchangi Misoniki opened one retail bread and cake bakery outlet in Embu, in Central Kenya. This growth-oriented business was on a US$57,000 run-rate for annual turnover.  He generally employed 12 people full-time. Anderson has a banking and...

Namibia: Hunting & Trapping with !San Bushmen

Over the course of their 4 days at Nhoma Camp, Wendy, Rick and Carolyn accompanied the !San hunters as they tracked Steenbok (small antelope), rabbits and African Porcupine.  In a clear division of labor, !San women gathered nuts and berries in parallel with men going...

Kenya Successes: Popular Kikoi Cloth Company

Starting in 2008, for its Phase Two program, TechnoServe’s Young Women in Enterprise (YWE) was considering how to identify businesses in which to place the young women in internships so they would learn both the soft and hard skills of employment. Through local...

Uganda: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to Trek Mountain Gorillas

One of the Walleighs’ three most memorable animal adventures in Uganda was trekking the Mountain Gorillas.  One of the national parks protecting the last 500 to 700 Mountain Gorillas in the world, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is only one kilometer from the border of the...

Rural Kenya Starts on Edges of Cities

Though the Walleighs spent lots of time working and living in Nairobi in 2007, during their many visits to Kenya, starting in 1997 and into 2012, they passed through many rural areas of the country.  It fascinated them how rural zones merge with the edges of most...

2008 Walleigh Travel Journal: Back to Africa + Perspective on Africa Living

Oct. 10 –  44 Hours Door to Door from Cape Town to Johannesberg to Nairobi to London to SFO! We had a great month in 4 African countries. But it was very tiring: really hard beds, so-so meals in many hotels, and needing to leave the bathroom light on every night...

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...

Yosemite – the Walleighs Favorite Place on Earth

Starting in Summer 1972 when Rick and Wendy took their cross-U.S. trip in their red VW camper between each of their graduate schools, their first visit to Yosemite began their life-long love affair with this amazing place.  On that trip, one of their first guided...
Western New York in Autumn

Western New York in Autumn

The Walleighs’ 2013 road trip was with good friends with whom they had traveled in New Zealand.  In late September 2013 after traversing Quebec Province (go to Quebec or Montreal, etc.  for details on the Canada portion of this trip), they crossed the border into New...

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“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