Kenya: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Well I’ve been in this little country on the edge of eastern Africa for almost a year now (I have a good post lined up for that milestone), but I realized I haven’t spent much time telling anyone about Kenya. Since that is technically part of my job, I thought I would take the time to do just that.

I do want to make it clear first off though that this is a mix of some facts and my opinions. My opinions only. Not Americans’. Not Peace Corps Volunteers’. Not white peoples’. Mine and mine alone (although I’m sure I’m not the only one that holds some of them). They are mostly based on my narrow experience. Where things are facts, I’ll do my best to back them up.

Also, I’m going to purposefully avoid certain issues that could compromise my work, I’m not qualified to speak about, or I’m wasn’t around for. For example, controversial stuff, specific people, the government, 2007 post-election, etc. Again, this whole thing is just my opinion based on my experiences. (That was a good CYA, right? My first disclaimer so go easy.)

The Good

Kenya is gorgeous
No doubt about it. There is a reason why many people from all over the world make trips out to see the Masai Mara, Tsavo, Mt. Kenya, the Great Rift Valley, etc. From a beautiful coast, to amazing mountains, plains, rain forests, deserts and the rest. I like to jokingly say this is where they shot The Lion King. But even the parts that don’t look like what you expect of “Africa,” they are still striking, with lakes and green hills. You even can peek at Mt. Kilimanjaro, just on the other side of the border in Tanzania.

There are some really fun places in Kenya
So besides the usual “safaris” to be had, there are some cool places to hang out and have fun. While certainly Mombasa is well known as one, even its more laidback lakeside cousin Kisumu is good times and a favorite weekend getaway of PCVs and NGO workers out west. And let me tell you about Diani Beach, now that’s a good time (I’m super jealous of the PCV stationed a short matatu ride from it). Not to mention if you throw a rock in any direction and you’re bound to hit some cool place to go camping, hiking, snorkeling, or go on some sort of adventure.

Community Life
There is definitely a much deeper sense of community and connection to your neighbors and people around you here. I’m sure part of that is a lot of the time your neighbors are related to you, but even more so that people lean on each other and look out for each other here. Everyone knows your name and where you live, gives you hand occasionally. The matatu conductors and touts know where I’m going. The restaurants and pubs know me and know what I like. Village livin’ definitely has its upside.

There are some great people
There are some amazingly welcoming and friendly people here. People who care about their community and work to better it, often with no benefit to themselves. I’ve had the privilege of meeting and working with many of them and the greater privilege of living with two amazing families here. There is a flip side to this though…

The Bad

There are some terrible people
I’ll jump right into it, some people here suck. From corruption, to tribalism, to just being bad people, they’re around. Being foreign means you get constantly bugged. This ranges from people just wanting to say hi, to asking for money, to trying to rob or rip you off. On an average day I get called “mzungu” what essentially means white person (not the original meaning of the word) like a dozen times a day, by random people, and that’s on a good day. If you’re white, or really non-African, and you plan on coming to Kenya, forget any semblance of anonymity when you get out of Nairobi. One of the worst examples is that some people will just yell things like "ching chong chang” at anyone of Asian descent. Ignorance and immaturity abound. Many people use whatever leverage or power they have to rip off their government, community or whoever they can. The worst part is that these people overshadow and distract from the many nice, polite, honest and hard working Kenyans.

Transportation
Oh man, let me tell you, getting around here sucks. Getting from Webuye to Kisumu, something like 60 km can take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours. Being crammed into a matatu is no fun, especially if you have a middle seat or no seat at all (although I will admit you get used to it and it becomes normal fast). And that’s just talking about comfort, safety is a whole ‘nother ball game (Mom, don’t read the rest of the next few paragraphs). Any long trip I always see several tipped over trucks. I’ve witnessed some horrific motorcycle accidents, and twice now when I’ve been on a train, we were stopped for hours while they cleared a tipped over train down the track. This leads me into my next section…

Safety
Or lack thereof. Now I will say this, I rarely actually feel unsafe. This is due to both the fact that if you use common sense, and this is anywhere in the world, your risks drop significantly, and my sense of normal and danger has been changed a bit. So yeah, my two biggest pieces of advice for surviving abroad: don’t be an idiot and suck it up. So besides the roads of Kenya being fairly perilous, crime can be bad here. I’ve been lucky enough to avoid any (besides one brush with it), but some of my friends have not been so lucky. This has included one having their house being cleaned out and another being robbed with a machete to the throat. They fly the volunteers up north to their sites because its cheaper than hiring an armed escort. Again, I want to emphasize I really never feel unsafe, despite all of this. I just wanted to point out that things can go wrong here, and they when they do, it can be bad. The only times I actually felt at all truly unsafe were at night on the streets of…

Nairobi
Or also known as Nairobbery. The name is fairly fitting. While I’ve never been robbed there, I did have my credit card info jacked (Thank you Visa for catching that as fast as you did, “No I did not buy sneakers in Nairobi for $3000.”). So besides the fact that this city is super shady, I also hate the ever so apparent inequality. The shanty towns across from the super expensive mall. The local workers cooking small traditional meals on the outside of the 20 foot high fences around the fancy and expensive houses. Now I say this as a total hypocrite who will walk by glue kids and into the fancy restaurant to spend what amounts to about ten days wages for an average rural Kenyan on a meal. Still when you ride the train into Nairobi and pass through Kibera (a massive slum) then go to a place like Village Market (a luxury mall complete with water park), its hard to believe they exist in the same world let alone the same town. This takes me to…

The Ugly

Poverty
Widespread and deep, with almost half the population living below the poverty line. Half. That’s every other person. Its like when you used to split up class in elementary school by having people count off, 1-2-1-2-1-2… except its 40 million people and the 2s live off less than $2 a day. I’m not going to talk more about this, because I have no way to really convey it. I studied Political Science and Economics in college and constantly read about development and poverty, but hearing all those stats and numbers never really gets through. Seeing large families live in tin shacks or mud huts and be happy they have that much can’t be summed up in some batch of numbers.

Health
Sadly there are many health problems in Kenya. This includes HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, malnutrition, worms, etc. Even the cheapest of medical treatment for what should be quick fixes, can turn into the toughest of decisions for poor families. Take this child to the hospital, or feed all our children for a few days. Again, words on a computer screen can’t sum this up.

 

So yeah, there is a little bit of my take on Kenya. Now again, this is a country with 40 million people, many different tribes, a deep and rich history, unique and complicated with its own challenges and triumphs. I don’t want any misinterpretation of this post as some sort of judgment of this country or its people (well, most of them) that I’m still working to get to know. Every country has plenty of things to complain about, and plenty of things to celebrate. The important part is not letting us define things that are so complicated, like a country, culture or people, by one dimension.

Now if you would excuse me, there is a giant bug in my room I have to go kill.