Out of Canada, Into Kenya - Shawn's Journal

All About Kenya

Since we didn’t know much about what was happening in Kenya, I’m assuming that most people don’t, so I’ll fill you in on some of the things happening in Kenya.

A little over a year ago, Kenya elected a new president. Already he has made significant improvements to the government and instituted many changes that affect everyday life here. However, there is so much to do that it will be many years before any major progress is made - there is so much to do.

There are busses called matatus. Most locals don’t drive, so they rely on this form of transportation. The busses (more like vans) typically have seats for about 15 people, but often you will find 30, 40 or even more loaded in and on, and even hanging off the sides. This creates a problem though, because if there is an accident, many people are killed. This was one little issue that the new president took care of, as it is now required that everyone have a seatbelt. In most areas around Nairobi, this has solved the problem. In rural areas, however, there is often only one matatu going into town in the morning, and with that being the only form of transportation available to the people, the new law has no effect.

One of the major changes that has already taken place is the reduction of corruption throughout the government. The last president was involved in several different scams and before long there was no money left in the treasury. This meant that government workers didn’t get paid. Including police. So, they expected to get a cut of anything that was paid (tickets, fines, etc). As well, it was assumed that a bribe would be paid.

With the new president, however, the government workers are now getting paid again. As well, they have been able to crack down on crime that was rampant throughout the last few years. Carjackings and robberies are one of the crimes that they have been working hard to reduce and eliminate. There are now police checkpoints a various locations along the major roads. On the highway from Nairobi to Mombasa, 600 people have been arrested in the last year for carjackings and robberies.

On the road that goes from the highway to RVA, during the last several months there have been a few carjackings. Just a few weeks ago, however, the police caught the guys (6 of them, I think) and ended up having a “shootout” with them. Somewhat reminiscent of the wild west, the police won out and all the “bad guys” were killed. In many cases, the police will kill a criminal rather than go through the hassle of arresting them and putting them in jail.

I share these stories not to put fear in the minds of our friends and family back home, but to show how different the culture is here. While we have only mentioned brief little instances of some of the differences we have picked up on, this is a completely different culture and life is not the same as in North America, by any means.

Two last, quick things, there is no fire department - anywhere. All the buildings and houses in an area like Nairobi are made out of stone or concrete. If there is a fire, typically the content of the home will burn, but the structure is fine. Recently in City Hall (in Nairobi, the capital city), there was a fire. There was no choice but to let it burn until the fire burned itself out. Felkners mentioned this while we were watching “Out of Africa” last night. While the coffee storage area was burning, Marcia mentioned that even today, almost a hundred years later, nothing has changed. If that happened today, you would just have to watch it burn.

Here in Nairobi, it is common to see a herd of cattle moving through the city. This is in the capital city, where several million people live. As a result of the deal that the government struck with the Maasai people (referred to as Kikuyu in Out of Africa) following Karen Blixen’s departure from Kenya, the Maasai people, who are herdsmen, are free to travel wherever they need to with their herds. This quite often means right through the middle of town.

A different culture indeed. We are loving it, however, and trying to soak up as much as we can. Today we’re headed to a large market and will try to put a lot of photos online this weekend.

Posted by slvrfrg at June 18, 2004 02:45 AM