It’s week 4 of my time in Kenya. I don’t know about you, but that fact sends my head spinning. After this week I will be 1/3 done with my time in Africa. Craziness. Today I’m going to talk a bit more about Kenyan culture, and about my first week at Friends Secondary School Lusui.
Kenyan Culture Chapter 2
Now that I’m in my 4th week I think I have a little better grasp of the important pieces of Kenyan culture, or at least Kenyan rural culture. In this installment I’ll talk about TV in Kenya, religion and conservatism, dancing, and greetings/interpersonal communication habits. Please note that although these might apply to some or most Kenyans, I can’t just generalize and say that all Kenyans are a certain way. There are many exceptions, and many progressive Kenyans living in urban areas who would not fit in the religion and conservatism section.
The Deliverer of News, Soap Operas, and WWE
To start off, Kenyan television contains credible and insightful news organizations, as well as a few programs unique to Africa that have their own personality and flavor (Big Brother Africa, a Dance Contest based in South Africa, etc.). But to be honest, most TV is Kenya is a little bit like watching American television at 2:00 am. The commercials are sometimes a bit wacky (I’ve seen ones touting the health benefits of margarine and cod liver oil, as well as advertising Kenyan Top Ramen, (who knew Top Ramen was worthy of a commercial?)) and the programs are sometimes reruns or dubbed in another language (Spanish soap opera, WWE wrestling, random US movies I’ve never seen). So it’s a bit of a mixed bag. But I’ll admit, one of my favorite parts of the day is sitting down with the family and eating dinner while watching Soy Tu Duena, a popular Spanish soap opera that’s drama is only rivaled by its unique choice of music and colorful English dubbing.
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| Soy Tu Duena- I know you are asking the same thing, will Valentina and Jose Miguel ever sort out their differences? We will all have to watch and see. |
Progessive … To a Point
Like many rural developing areas of the world, rural Kenya holds to older world traditional values. Kenya recently approved a new constitution that outlawed all types of discrimination based on gender and many other factors, but it still persists in rural areas. A family’s land is often split up only among the sons when the father dies, giving women no property inheritance. Around the house, women are expected to do a huge portion of the chores and housework. This attitude is changing across the country as women become empowered, educated wage earners for their family. But change does not come overnight, and it especially slow to reach disconnected rural areas such as Lusui. My family is a bit different as it is led by Mama Emmah, the family matriarch, and most of the housework is done by my host brother, Frankline.
In the same way, Kenyan rural culture is very fundamental when it comes to certain moral positions. In Kenya, homosexuality is literally a crime. People can be locked up and jailed for being found to be homosexual. The students at my secondary school were amazed to hear that gay marriage has happened in the US. In an unrelated subject, strongly held religious beliefs are common in rural Kenya. Almost every person in the area attends church, and not doing so (not to mention not believing in God) in almost unthinkable. I laugh now thinking about the people I have heard saying Africa is corrupt and morally deficient. I’m not saying that religion guarantees morals or anything like that, but from what I’ve seen the moral code of ethics in Kenya is very strong, and is often broken because of the desperation of poverty.
And We Danced…
Kenyan’s are dancers. It’s that simple. Although this does not apply to everyone, for the most part the Kenyan society is one that has a great deal of groove. One of my best experiences so far was the night before moving into my host family, where I and the other interns went to a Kenyan disco, or dance club. I don’t think they quite expected 11 mzungus (Kiswahili for white people) to show up on a Friday night and overtake the dance floor, but that’s exactly what happened. As the Kenyan band sang traditional songs with the aid of a drum set, bass, and electric guitar, our party managed to swell the dancing crowd from a couple of Kenyans to a simmering group of 30 to 40 Kenyans and Americans, plus one Canadian. The cultural differences were lost in the rhythm and music, and we did our best to adopt the African style of dancing (more arm moving with the music) and enjoy the warm environment.
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| In fact, the dancing was nothing like this picture. Imagine a fun wedding dance floor, in a bar-like building, and pretty close to what it was like. |
Yes I Want to Shake Your Hand… And your hand… and your hand…
This is an especially fun section to write for myself, because I’m slowing picking up on all of these habits, and you’ll probably be able to notice them if we talk in person soon after I get back. I think the best way to do this in list form.
- - There is a range of unspeakable mmm’s and guttural noises used to communicate understanding. In the US we have our, hmmms, huhs, and ya, oks. In Kenya, most filler one word communication/assertion of understanding takes the form of positive humming-like assertions. It’s hard to explain, but it’s crucial to small-talk in Kenya.
- - You should always shake the hand of everyone in a room if you are entering for the first time (at least if there are less than 20 people)
- - Be careful with how much you load onto your plate the first time. Kenyans find it odd if you don’t go for seconds or third, and might be concerned that you are under-eating.
- - Direct eye contact isn’t always common, unless people have spent a lot of time around Westerners. They mean no disrespect, it’s just a cultural thing.
That’s just a quick run-down of basic things. I haven’t covered everything, but it enough to get some of the differences that I’ve been adjusting to during my time in Kenya.
Learning To Teach – On the job training
By far, the most challenging part of the internship so far has been adjusting to my work placement at the Friends Secondary School in Lusui. Just adjusting to being a high school teacher has been a lot of work. I can speak well in public, but communicating a lesson to people of a different cultural with varying degree of mastery of English that is interesting for students and effective in communicating the information is a HUGE challenge. Freshman year, I became basketball referee for a semester and instantly gained heaps of respect for the tough job that referees have. It’s taken me all of one week to more greatly appreciate the sacrifice and hard work of all of the great teachers/professors I have had over the years. I’m just glad I’m trying to live a life of learning, because teaching is hard.
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| The school is only four years old, so things are still growing and evolving. |
Granted, part of the challenge is adjusting to the Kenyan education, which is much more formal than the American system. Another part is just the short amount of time I’ve had to prepare before diving in head-first. Because of unforeseen medical circumstances with another teacher, I begin solo teaching on my second day at the school. Craziness.
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| It's a four classroom school, once for each grade (Freshman through Senior). So far I've taught in every classroom, at least briefly. |
Luckily, the classes are temporarily mesmerized by the fact that some random white person is their teacher, so I’ve been able to slowly transition towards being halfway competent. My current responsibilities are Math and Business Studies for Form 1 (Freshman), and Business for Form 4 (Seniors). Along with the teaching responsibilities I will be working with a group of students and faculty to make small improvements to the school, such as starting a small library/resource center, teaching a sexual education class for the boys, and a couple of other random responsibilities. But things are still in the very early stages, I’m still learning the environment and trying to find out more about opportunities for making the school a better place.
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| My desk in the teacher's lounge! If you look closely you can see my bottle of filtered water, and computer satchel that I use to carry textbooks for the classes that I teach. |
Ok, so I know I promised to talk about poverty and macroeconomics in Africa in this blog, but I think you have had enough for now. So in my next update I’ll include an interesting and engaging (I promise) summary of some interesting things you should know about poverty in Africa, and I’ll talk more about the food that I’ve been eating in Lusui. For now, I love you all, and I wish you peace and Happiness.
Cheers,
Kurt