The first night in Nairobi was awash with exhaustion. I awoke for a few hours between my 3 pm arrival to Jomo Kenyatta and work commitments the next day (today) to the long lost buzz of ‘squitos in a netless room for an awkward, overly revealing instant-message or two. Apologies to those who deserve them!
Josephat picked me at 9 am sharp from the hotel today, something I found rather amusing given my ‘Africa-time’ frame of reference. Something must be wrong with me in that I feel so instantly comfortable here. The old-man-Africa smell, once so pungently revolting, is now an almost friendly reminder that I have arrived on the greenest continent. Yesterday’s (and, in general, New York’s) despondency and irritation are almost nominal. Is this progress? My fears were so different with this journey than with the last – before arriving in Uganda I was afraid of such little things and took inordinate precautions – I remember the details of my driver and first SIM card purchase; the potholes on the road from Entebbe and my first spotting of the gnarly maribou stork. Today my fears seem practical. What type of antiseptic must I add to the bathing water? Will my field work entail travel over murram roads that are land-mine ridden? Does the lack of remaining pages in my passport mean trouble from Ethiopian authorities considering the market is on ‘their side’? More on these concerns after leaving luxuriant Nairobi.
My forgetfulness did not end there. How could I have forgotten the differences between being white in Kenya and being white in Uganda? Knowing that Uhuru and the path to independence between the two neighboring former British colonies were radically different, the differences in the air are still striking. The sense of independence as well as collective positioning in terms of national capacity to resist and/or create change – most recently showcased in the post-election crisis here – should have reminded me, but it was really the combined effect of my visit to an expatriate’s posh house in a mixed neighborhood of black and white Kenyans, with the lack of instant racialized attention that being white here generates (compared to being white in Uganda) that smacked me.
The applicable standard of East African hospitality remains ubiquitous – no where have I felt more catered for than in this part of the world (maybe in ATL, once or twice =D ) – but it’s strikingly interesting to be present in the face of the (at least topically) integrated lives that blacks and whites have here.
Likewise fascinating were today’s headlines: Kenyans are crazy for Obama. While I am beyond elated to read of his securing of the democratic nomination, my new colleagues are even more incredibly excited by the news of a Kenyan reaching the White House. Without sounding too snarky or arrogant, it’s almost amusing to witness the sense of connection to Barrack Obama that people feel here – in comparison to the American public’s demonstrated conception of Obama’s ‘Africaness.’ That said, hip hip hooray! November is getting brighter everyday and should Barrack win the election I expect to see not just great things emerge domestically (in the US) – the abridged version of his nomination speech brought tears to my eyes (is this hope?!?) – but also imagine a wave of empowerment washing across all of Africa.
