It has bothered me for a long long time that I never officially concluded my amazing, intense, horrific, desperate love affair with this time from August 2007-February 2008 I call my life in Kenya. Looking back about 4 years later, I realize how much I've not only changed since then, but how that entire experience has shaped me as a person.
To summarize quickly, (which is very difficult to do) I spent 6 months living in Nairobi, Kenya on a study abroad program living with a fantastic Kenyan family I grew to love and develop such a great relationship with over time. I came to feel very familiar in a country where I was so obviously a foreigner and make many friendships and have amazing educational experiences with the 9 other students from my college who were having their own experiences with 9 other Kenyan families. About 4 1/2 months into the program, around the end of December 2007, there was a presidential election we'd witnessed the entire campaign trail and media coverage to and I found it so extremely fascinating to compare the process to American elections. Kenya until that time was viewed as one of the most stable democracies in Africa and the world was watching this election to see how peacefully it could occur. It didn't. At all. The incumbent president blatantly rigged the election and claimed the presidential seat for himself. Kenyans were pissed. Or at least the ones who were not from the president's tribe, the Kikuyu.
(I'm, of course, leaving out a lot of detail right now about the deeper cultural and historical background that led to some of the events that occurred. There was probably a lot of stuff going on culturally that just went over my head, not being an expert at the language and being from a different culture. But I've just tried to relay my interpretation and experience on this journey as honestly and best I could.)
There were intense riots and fighting for about 3-6 weeks in areas of the country. Roadblocks were everywhere, soldiers and blockades were everywhere. There were shortages at the grocery store. Everything was closed and boarded up. Classes were cancelled for awhile. We were out of water for 9 days at one point. I couldn't enter my room because there was a toilet in it and it made the room smell vile and had flies flying around it. For new years eve 2008 my Kenyan sisters and I did shots of tequila I think it was on the roof of our apartment and howled at the moon because it was unsafe to go out.
What was really happening was that maybe 2000 people were being killed in various parts of the city and country in the fighting that was taking place over the rigged election and the usurping of supposed uncorrupt democracy. It was very clear to Kenyans how very blatantly corrupt their system was. (I believe my own country is very corrupt in more sneaky ways.) It was very a very educational and emotional time. I'll never forget how close I felt and became to my host family when we were all locked in the house together for days on end.
That was the first part. Then one of my very old and close friends back home in Michigan was discovered brutally killed in some way in the middle of nowhere in Indiana and no one had any idea why. It came completely out of the blue and hit me so hard. All of my old group of friends. I wasn't there to be with them and was halfway across the world dealing with the impact of being stuck in the house in a country that had a devastating and corrupt election and was mourning the loss of many of their own. The election took place about December 27, with the "winner" being announced about December 30. I think we waited 3 or 4 days
(like in the American 2000 and 2004 elections with Bush, also not without its own more hidden chicanery in my opinion) I found out about Rylan on January 10th. She'd died on the 7th.
I shut down. I came home from Kenya in mid-February, after traveling a bit and play-acting at feeling normal. Then I began the process of adjusting to American life again, and really dealing with the loss of my friend at home as well as more fully comprehending and absorbing the experience I'd gone through in Kenya. I went back to school, I almost didn't, but I did. Tried to keep myself busy with a routine and the stuff I knew I needed to do. Then I struggled to do my senior year of college. In hindsight, I had far less fun than I could've had that year if I'd just forced myself to get out more and socialize with people-and it probably would have sped up the process of healing, but I just couldn't. I stressed myself out a lot at school, and made things a lot harder at times than they needed to be. But I made it, and I graduated with an expensive degree in a subject I love, studio art, but that stereotypically doesn't yield many high- or even middle-income producing job prospects. I knew I'd have to go about my path a little different than most people from my pretty high-achieving school, and I also felt great about not being entirely sure what I wanted to do. I still don't. But I do know I love to travel and really want it to be a part of my life and perhaps career for a long long time. I am now in the process of figuring out how to do that.
To summarize quickly, (which is very difficult to do) I spent 6 months living in Nairobi, Kenya on a study abroad program living with a fantastic Kenyan family I grew to love and develop such a great relationship with over time. I came to feel very familiar in a country where I was so obviously a foreigner and make many friendships and have amazing educational experiences with the 9 other students from my college who were having their own experiences with 9 other Kenyan families. About 4 1/2 months into the program, around the end of December 2007, there was a presidential election we'd witnessed the entire campaign trail and media coverage to and I found it so extremely fascinating to compare the process to American elections. Kenya until that time was viewed as one of the most stable democracies in Africa and the world was watching this election to see how peacefully it could occur. It didn't. At all. The incumbent president blatantly rigged the election and claimed the presidential seat for himself. Kenyans were pissed. Or at least the ones who were not from the president's tribe, the Kikuyu.
(I'm, of course, leaving out a lot of detail right now about the deeper cultural and historical background that led to some of the events that occurred. There was probably a lot of stuff going on culturally that just went over my head, not being an expert at the language and being from a different culture. But I've just tried to relay my interpretation and experience on this journey as honestly and best I could.)
There were intense riots and fighting for about 3-6 weeks in areas of the country. Roadblocks were everywhere, soldiers and blockades were everywhere. There were shortages at the grocery store. Everything was closed and boarded up. Classes were cancelled for awhile. We were out of water for 9 days at one point. I couldn't enter my room because there was a toilet in it and it made the room smell vile and had flies flying around it. For new years eve 2008 my Kenyan sisters and I did shots of tequila I think it was on the roof of our apartment and howled at the moon because it was unsafe to go out.
What was really happening was that maybe 2000 people were being killed in various parts of the city and country in the fighting that was taking place over the rigged election and the usurping of supposed uncorrupt democracy. It was very clear to Kenyans how very blatantly corrupt their system was. (I believe my own country is very corrupt in more sneaky ways.) It was very a very educational and emotional time. I'll never forget how close I felt and became to my host family when we were all locked in the house together for days on end.
That was the first part. Then one of my very old and close friends back home in Michigan was discovered brutally killed in some way in the middle of nowhere in Indiana and no one had any idea why. It came completely out of the blue and hit me so hard. All of my old group of friends. I wasn't there to be with them and was halfway across the world dealing with the impact of being stuck in the house in a country that had a devastating and corrupt election and was mourning the loss of many of their own. The election took place about December 27, with the "winner" being announced about December 30. I think we waited 3 or 4 days
(like in the American 2000 and 2004 elections with Bush, also not without its own more hidden chicanery in my opinion) I found out about Rylan on January 10th. She'd died on the 7th.
I shut down. I came home from Kenya in mid-February, after traveling a bit and play-acting at feeling normal. Then I began the process of adjusting to American life again, and really dealing with the loss of my friend at home as well as more fully comprehending and absorbing the experience I'd gone through in Kenya. I went back to school, I almost didn't, but I did. Tried to keep myself busy with a routine and the stuff I knew I needed to do. Then I struggled to do my senior year of college. In hindsight, I had far less fun than I could've had that year if I'd just forced myself to get out more and socialize with people-and it probably would have sped up the process of healing, but I just couldn't. I stressed myself out a lot at school, and made things a lot harder at times than they needed to be. But I made it, and I graduated with an expensive degree in a subject I love, studio art, but that stereotypically doesn't yield many high- or even middle-income producing job prospects. I knew I'd have to go about my path a little different than most people from my pretty high-achieving school, and I also felt great about not being entirely sure what I wanted to do. I still don't. But I do know I love to travel and really want it to be a part of my life and perhaps career for a long long time. I am now in the process of figuring out how to do that.
