Ruth the Winner.

His Excellency Elkanah Odembo, Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to the U.S.A and based in Washington D.C closed the event of Kenya Diaspora Conference by picking the raffle ticket that gave one lucky lady, one great prize. The event that drew more than 500 Kenyans from different parts of the U.S and from Kenya was one of the most successful conferences to be planned. The organization and delivery of the conference was lauded by the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Planning National Development and Vision 2030 with the words, “Ambassador did well to delay 2012 so we can keep busy doing productive things,” in reference to the fact that the conference had mostly development oriented goals discussions rather than political office aspirants discussions.

Three raffle awards donated by sponsors were won this day that included: A tour to Maasai Mara package, Sarova hotels stay package and Kenya Airways Tickets. The raffle was conducted and awards given through Centralized Options a company based in Chicago and Kenya. Prof. Ali Mazrui of Binghamton University, who attended as a presenter in the “Leveraging the Diaspora to develop Kenya’s tertiary/technical institutions: Research & Development Capacity” scooped the third award.  Dr. Macharia Waruingi a scholar and medical doctor got the second award. He was also a presenter having presented in the panel of “Investing in the Health Sector in Kenya, addressing Diaspora’s view of Opportunities for Investment.”

The final raffle award of the first prize was picked by the Host Ambassador. The award went to the young, beautiful and adventurous, Ruth. She was one of those who had travelled Boston region to attend the conference and she won the Kenya Airways ticket courtesy of Kenya Airways.