Blogs from Lamu, Coast Province, Kenya, Africa - page 4

Off the coast of Kenya is Lamu Archipelago teeming with a vibrant Swahili ("People of the Coast" or "coastal dwellers") community--an example of what happens when two distinct cultures infuse together over centuries time without warring, land stealing, and having power struggles. The Swahili people are descendents of the Arabs and Bantu (Africans), which occurred when the Arabs started trading with Africa, and the resulting intermarriages slowly brought about a new language, society and culture of...ta-da ...Swahili! I was a little confused about Swahili being just a language or an ethnic group, as the language widely spoken all over Eastern Africa is Swahili, though not so much in Rwanda (French colonizers...self explanatory). Well, my understanding of it is that though Swahili is spoken widely here by Kenyans, Tanzanians, and Ugandans, the Swahili people are sort ... read more

Itchy feet efter all avslapping i Malindi bestemte vi oss for att resa till Lamu, en o ca 4 timmar norrut fran Malindi. Lamu er en swahili-arabisk o med 23 moskeer, 3000 asnor(esel),massa cafeer och juice bars, 1 tuktuk(ambulans) och massa dhows(gammeltida segelbatar). Hela on er veldigt pole pole(slow slow) der enda transportmedlet er asna eller bat. Lamu er ett enda stort powercut mecca..strommen er av stort sett hela dagen och da den entligen kommer pa till allas gladje ryker den allt som oftast efter 2-3 minuter... sa de blev mycket ficklampa och stearinljus pa Lamu... Vi besokte stranden pa Sheela varje dag, en god 30-40 minuters promenad en vei och annars gick tiden till att slappa, bada dricka goda passion fruit/lime/tamarindo juices.. ... read more

Well, its been yet another whirlwind weekend of fun here, just got back from Lamu a few hours ago, had a cold shower and went to get some photos on cd which i will try and upload asap! I hardly know where to start really, seems like so much more than 3 or 4 days ago we got the bus here! Long bus journey there anyway, nearly 8 hours on the bumpiest road ever known to man (if it was a road, i think we might of just gone through dusty fields?) Yeah and most of the way with sweaty guys practically sitting on me becuase they had people standing on the bus too, so illegal it was funny, but actually it wasn't! So, as soon as we got off the bus, must have 3 or ... read more

I'm now in Mombasa, but I'm transcribing what I wrote in my journal on that day: I just heard and saw the most amazing thing tonight! Egan, Annie, faith and I were walking back from Petley's (a local bar). When we got to Milimamni (our house) we saw Lia outside the house next door. She was just standing there watching and listening. Inside the house there were a ton of men. the room was packed and the lights were out. The men were singing/ chanting and sort of dancing. Lia said they'd been singing for at least 30-45 min. before we got there. The music was so powerful and beautiful. We found out from one of the ladies that had gathered that a woman inside was sick and all the men from the surrounding homes had ... read more

I've only got extraordinary things to write about. Swahili class is going great. Learning lots really quickly and am having a blast doing it. This weekend was another amazing one. It was the weekend of our dhow (traditional sailboat) trip. At 6am on Fri morning we all piled into 2 boats and took off for Kiwayuu. It's an island north of here. Unfortunately we didn't get to sail on the way there. The view as we made are way among various islands was once again amazing. It was pretty peaceful (except for the sound of the motor). We stopped breifly on an island for a bathroom break. The beach on the island was white, but the dirt a little ways up it was a deep red/orange. The colors here are so vibrate. We soon climbed back ... read more