March 9th, 2009
Whoa! A half hour to myself?! This is such a rarity in Kenya – I cherish each moment I have to myself and its definitely time to catch up on my blog.. I apologize for being so MIA – the last six weeks have left my head spinning in multiple directions and its time to slow down and record some of my experiences and hopefully a couple funny stories. When I find some faster internet (it must exist!) I will upload some pictures too.
Let’s back up quite a bit: February 14th, 2009.
Valentine’s Day is HUGE here. Its one of the many imports the US has spread to other countries and its been added to my “American Things I’m Ashamed Of” list. V-Day is the most stereotypical version you could imagine. Suggestions for how to celebrate with your lover were headline news in print and on TV for the week leading up to it. Flowers, balloons, candies and cards were for sale everywhere – not one of these things is typically Kenyan in anyway, especially the flowers. Apparently in some tribal cultural beliefs, live flowers and unsafe to have in your home since they could potentially have spiritual powers and harm you or your family. However, on Valentine’s Day, it is considered a lovely gift for your lover. My home stay is filled with various arrangements of silk flowers that collect dust, reminiscent of my Israeli grandmother’s apartment in Jaffa, Israel.
My brother Cliff consulted with me many times on what to buy his girlfriend Pricilla. We eventually decided on flowers and a picture frame with a picture of the two of them camping – she loved it.
They’ve been together for about a year now and are an interesting couple. She’s Kikuyu and he is Luo – rival tribes culturally and especially politically. I know my Luo host parents love Pracilla and support their relationship. My mom is fed up with tribal divisions and yells at the TV screen during news stories about the severe rift between tribes, especially these two. Cliff says Pracilla’s parents are supportive but Pracilla revealed a bit of her tribal alliance earlier today when she asked me if I voted for Obama…
Let me back up a bit. In Kenya we’ve felt an overwhelming excitement about Obama as president. He’s Luo, or at least his father was which makes him Luo. Realistically though, I doubt he has much of a connection with or knowledge of the “typical” Luo characteristics – I still can’t quite tell the differences, I’m not sure there really are so many... But there was a saying here by Luos that went “There will be a Luo president in America before there is one in Kenya” which is all too telling of the current political situation in Kenya with a false Kikuyu government in power over the elected Luo one. So on the whole in Kenya, there is major support of Obama, he’s well loved here. Kenyans have thanked me for electing him and the children in our neighborhood sing songs about him. He’s a huge source of pride for Kenya.
However, Pracilla asked me the other day if I voted for him and why I voted for him. I wasn’t sure where she was taking the conversation so I simplified and explained that I’m a democrat and Obama was the democratic candidate and that I disliked (understatement!) the opposing candidate. She made a face and said “Oh.” I then asked her if she liked him and if she was happy he was elected. She said. “He’s fine but his decisions don’t affect me so I don’t really care.” I couldn’t hide my surprise at her comment and looked from her to my brother who was sitting next to her. He told her to stop being “tribal” and to stop being “ridiculous”. I tried to calmly explain to her that 1. He’s much better than the other candidate and that 2. His decisions definitely do affect her in Kenya. I tried to explain how his environmental and economic policies have great impact on developing countries (among many other things) and that his decisions about foreign aid will directly impact Kenya. She couldn’t care less and her boyfriend/my brother just kept repeating “stop being tribal!”. I decided to let the conversation drop, though it was very calm and an interesting exchange.
I am genuinely worried about the future of this country. Its 2009 and journalists and talking heads on the news are already speculating about the expected violence for the 2012 ‘elections’. The corruption here is rampant and nauseating. There is scandal after scandal and no accountability for politicians. It seeps into every realm of society and its grown to such a huge problem there are too many problems to know where to start!
I look at other African countries with similar corruption problems in their past and fear the worst for Kenya. Obviously, no situation is fit to generalize from but history continues to repeat itself, just with better technology…
1. We’ve heard some scary tidbits that add up to a pretty grim picture: There was a large shipment of arms that was funded by the government to go to southern Sudan. Rumor has it that the shipment never made it to Sudan, it is being held in the north as a stockpile for the Kikuyu when they decide they need weapons (next ‘elections’?)
2. “some people” are making lists of Luos in Nairobi (it might have been just Kibera). I am still unclear as to who is making the lists and of course, no one will answer why..
3. On Friday there were riots/bonfires in the streets of Nairobi – don’t worry, I was in Mombasa and they were way on the other side of town from where I live in Nairobi. The cause: A UN report was released stating that the chief of police and the attorney general were responsible for extrajudicial killings of hundreds of people. When Kibaki made a public statement that they would not be loosing their jobs or that their actions would be condemned or punished in anyway, a gang called Mungiki started rioting. Two people were lynched in daylight – I’m not sure who/why but somehow connected. This all lasted less than a day but people are angry and I feel like they have every right to be. This government was not democratically elected and there are no channels for Kenyan citizens to voice their opinions peacefully, or any way at all. Their “representatives” are worthless, there are not lobbyists or advocates for the constituents. Their only resource is protest which leads to violence. Actually, interesting Kiswahili fact – The verb to vote is kupiga which literally means to beat, as in hit! But one can piga mswaki (to beat (brush) teeth) or one can piga the phone, but still the verb to vote is the same verb as to beat which might explain much of the post election violence… food for thought.
Ugh, its past my bedtime..
I was going to write about the slum we visited on the 14th, the awesome youth organization within that slum that I loved and then the Zambia vs. Kenya soccer game we watched at the end. I’ll have to write that tomorrow.
so instead of writing what I wanted to I rambled…
I’ve definitely become a little bit Kenyan! Kenyans are the most verbose people I’ve encountered. Their language Swahili has one-word sentences which would translate to 4 or 6 or 8 words in English, but when Kenyan people speak in English, they can go on forever! Even when you strategically try to ask simple yes or no questions (there really is no such thing out here..) Okay time for bed, more to come soon.
Lala salaama! (good night)
Elisette
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