10 things that make Kenya fascinating

1. Night Runners are normal people by day, but by night they become ‘possessed’ to run around naked in their villages, they can cry or imitate the sound of being strangled, with the aim to frighten people. Most are harmless but some run with tamed animals like Leopards. I would love to see a night runner in action!
   
2. Public transport, anything goes! - Matatu’s (public minibuses) have a capacity of about 15 passengers, whenever I have been in one there have been over 20, Tuk Tuks designer to carry 1 or 2 people often carry 3 seater sofas on their roof, and hundreds of chickens are carried on buses and even cars!
3. Dowry & Multiple wives - When a daughter is to be married, the ‘would be’ husband offers a gift to the daughter’s family, the gift should be of the walking variety – cow’s or goat’s!       Polygamy is generally being phased out, but there are still some who have more than one wife, I have heard of an old fella who has 85 wives! He generated huge wealth with the dowries paid for his daughters. I met someone who told me that folk law of his tribe dictates that if your wife sleeps in the same bed with her granddaughter then you can never perform your marital deeds with her again. When this situation occurred with him he stuck to these guidelines and, to his family’s dismay, found himself a second wife!!
   
4. Hotels, but not as we know them - When I first started to drive around I noticed the many roadside hotels – often 5 or more in a village! They are basic wooden structures with iron sheets as roofs – some with glamorous names! I’m now pretty sure that they are just roadside cafés!
5. Keeping time for an appointment is not as important as at home (although this doesn't apply to everyone). 2-3 hours late is common, once we were 3 and a half hours late for a meeting with 80 people – nobody seemed bothered though, especially when we handed out the sodas! Some of the language used, in my experience, adds to this… ‘Where are you?’- ‘I’m Just Around’ translates to ‘you won’t see me for at least an hour’. And ‘Where are you?’ -‘I’m here!’ translates to ‘I’ll be there in 10 minutes!’

   

   Road Obliterated!

6. Roads - Many of them are awful! Some been built by shoddy contractors on questionable agreements with government officials & others have been battered by the heavy rains or constant flow of Lorries. The Chinese are now here to build the roads to a better standard. But that won’t save the dirt roads which in rural areas can be obliterated by the rains…
7. Get rich, then share it out - The middle class is growing, people are becoming more educated and better jobs are there to be had. However when people attain wealth there is a barrier to retaining it - obligation to family or community. If you are the wealthy sibling of, say, 8 then you should contribute towards your nieces/nephews school fees. If you come home to the weekend to your relatively poor home village you should bring a car full of shopping. If someone dies then you should contribute to the funeral!
8. Respect Kenyan’s are more hierarchical 

   

   Meeting Grandmother - head of the homestead

   than Westerners; the head of the family is often the eldest and makes the decisions. Children show respect to elders, which I experienced when walking through a school  field;  the children stood up as I walked passed them and then sat back down when I had passed, if this were the UK I’d instead expect a football kicked in my face!
9. Tribalism & Politics  
   
   Kenya has been around for about a hundred years, before then it was a collection of lands inhabited and governed by tribes. When the European’s decided to create Kenya, and subsequently it gained independence, these tribes were forced together to run the country. When elections come around the local tribe usually vote for the candidate from their tribe, the history has been that when your tribe is running the country that you have preferential treatment; more investment into roads, hospitals, job creation. And that is why people love politics, there is so much riding on it! And that’s why there has been corruption, assassinations and riots in the recent past.
10. Friendliness – ‘How are you, fine’ Kids love waving to Muzungu’s (which is what white people are called & translates roughly to ‘someone who is wandering around’) You can feel like a celebrity on a car journey by sticking your arm out of the window which alerts the kids on the roadside & triggers a cascade of ‘Muzungu, how are you?’. School kids are greeted by their teacher with ‘How are you?’ to which the answer should always be ‘fine’. This is drummed into them to the extent that some adults/kids will respond to a ‘Hello’ with ‘fine’, or a response to “good morning” can be “fine”!