Unobservations from Kenya

Here are a few highlights from the last 15 days in Kenya. I have spent 2 days in Nairobi and the rest in a smaller town called Magori in Southwestern Kenya with family friends.

*Bikes are the major source of transportation in the town of Magori. They also serve as a furniture delivery service for oversized couches.

*Kenyan churches are so charged with energy and volume that I mistook the service for an exercise class complete with uppercuts, right hooks and even a kickboxing component that nearly sent the lone plant on the alter flying across the room.

*The live music scene is so hopping that you can hear the music from blocks away. The people that come to enjoy these scene are so confident that even younger men looking to hook up wear T-shirts that read "I'm the daddy".

*The staple food of the region where I am staying looks like a big white blob. It's called Ugali which is made of corn flour and water. It has 2 redeeming qualities; you are expected to eat it with your right hand and to know if its finished cooking you should throw it against the wall. If you have a new wall decoration, it's done.

*Nairobi is not even little America, it's a big America complete with American prices or higher. However, it also helped me to add the cultural part of Africa that I have been missing...a museum!

*My gracious hosts in Magori have put me up in their house. With this comes the experience of living with a baby less than 5 months old. I had my first few experiences of being peed on by a boy. What is the appeal of golden showers?

*I have come to know the preacher inside of me when I was asked to introduce myself briefly at church and somehow ended up praising the lord and giving glory to god with almost as energy as the preacher.

*During a visit to the small village near lake Victoria it was assumed by a village man that I did not know how to ride a bike, swim, run for shelter during a rain storm or carry a bench. He was surprised to learn that this women could do all of those things.

*I was told by a Kenyan friend that I could survive anything after this. Unsure what he was referring to as "this" I asked for some clarification. As it turns out, it is my ability to eat any kind of food they put in front of me. As the female PCVs say in Madagascar, fat girls gotta eat.

*The gracious mother of my host was so elated to have a white woman over for dinner in her compound that she was determined not to let me leave without giving me a souvenir. Not being particularly well-off she wanted to give me something that she had available. A BIG WHITE HEN! It took 1/2 hour to explain that I could not take the hen on the airplane to the United States. We settled on the solution that I would take a picture of the hen and she would give it to me the next time I came to visit.

Kenya is so politically charged with the presidential election coming in December that the last 3 Sundays have been dedicated to the watching each candidate launch their campaign on TV. The people of the region that I am staying in are staunch supporters of an opposition candidate that come from the area. Every meeting, church event or gathering ends with some spiel about voting for the Orange Democratic Movement candidate not to be confused with the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya candidate.

*My favorite comment on the Kenya political system was while in a small village meeting after the obligatory political speech a women of about 50years stood up and proclaimed that she would vote this year even if she did not get paid by any of the candidates!

*Not sure how Americans did it but we have managed to take over Kenya TV programming with classics like different strokes, the Jefferson’s and even a bit of WWE professional wrestling. One of my favorite topics is explaining that the wrestling is NOT real. No wonder these Kenyans have crazy views of America.

*After living in Africa for almost 2 years I am so surprised to report that I have never been as highly pursued as by one gentleman as in Magori. The best part of the experience is that his tactics include gospel songs, humor, beer and sexists comments. Quite a combination!

*The largest lake in Africa, Lake Victoria, that flows through Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda lost some of its glamour the other day. As I arrived on foot, I was greeted by a herd of cattle drinking from the lake and a herd of people armed with soap getting ready to bathe.

*Kenya corruption hit most recently in the form of electricity or lack there of. Two bribes in two weeks and still they cut it off again in search of their weekly allowance. The worst part is that my host is not in the wrong and has been paying the bills as registered on the meter but is still forced to bribe. Even more humorous is that the standing president is running is campaign under the platform that there is no corruption in this country!

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