Constant Surprises


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Africa » Kenya » Western Province
July 4th 2010
Published: July 4th 2010
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Culture: the attitudes and behaviours that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization

One of the things I love most about the Kenyan culture is that every day without fail, something new takes me by surprise. Whether it’s a good/laughing/funny surprise or a shocked/disbelief surprise, it definitely keeps you on your toes.

On Wednesday I took a day off the worksite and headed into Kisumu to organise a few things for the team including our team “THROB” t-shirts (keep on eye out for photos very soon)! I walked outside our compound, flagged down a matatu and jumped in. I got my seat at the back and when I looked up I was shocked to see that instead of the usual run down mini van, I was in a first class one with a big TV screen playing music clips. SCORE! I had a chuckle to myself but it was the song that was playing that actually shocked me more. It was a teenage girl signing and the chorus went something like this “daddy don’t touch me like that….you are meant to be my protector”. I had to do a double take to make sure I heard right. I did and indeed incest is a real issue in some parts of Africa.

This same day riding home on the matatu I was squashed in the back seat with my arm half out the window stupidly trying to read my book when I almost got cleaned up by tree. The driver had decided that the dirt next to the road was smoother to drive on than the pot-hole filled road. This is a regular occurrence so an amateur mistake by me.

Another thing that still takes me by surprise (but I love) about the Kenyan people is their constant willingness to help you and their hatred for letting you down. Anyone who has been here before would have soon realised that Kenyans hate not being able to answer a question or to say ‘no’ to something. It’s a truly beautiful quality but at times…it can crack you up! A classic example was this afternoon when I was sitting outside in the compound and two huge black and white birds flew down and sat near me. They looked like a cross between a crow and a magpie. Penny was washing nearby so I asked her what type of bird they were. She looked at me and very happily replied “oh I know… they are just white ones”. Haha…thanks penny...very informative!



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