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Vulini "Where there is Shade"

The Villa we stayed at for the last four days of our program. It is the home of a Nigerian United Nations employee who married a Kenyan woman. This is the veiw from the oeean.

THE INDIAN OCEAN and his own PRIVATE beach.

Front Veiw 

Main Stairs. Spirals all the way to the castle's huge roof.

Dinning Room. 11 people sat and ate at this table three times a day.

The Living room that I turned into a theater when it was dark by using the program's projector and my laptop to play movies and tv shows on the wall. That's Constanine on his iphone probably playing chess againist someone. We call him Costa and yes he is Greek. Cyprus to be exact. 

Our pool area incase we didn't want to deal with the waves and salt of the ocean

Nairobi

Yeah that's right. Like a BOSS 
Worth and I taking advantage of his father's club membership at the Hilton. 15th floor right next to the Executive Lounge where you need to be a member to enter.

And that the BOSS veiw.

What a CITY

LIES. They didn't even know what a deep dish was. This was in the food court of a big mall here

Carnivores. Said to be one of the top 50 restaurants in the world is a restaurant very much like Fogo de Chao. There is all types of meats cooked on huge skewers and the menu is already set. A waiter comes by with hot minty towels to cleanse your hands and then the feast begins. It's about $40 per person and you start with the soup of the day and for us it was a green "vegetable" soup, which was pretty good. After that they bring you a portable lazy Susan with 6 Salads Greek, Salsa, Sweet Corn, Three Bean Salad, Baby Marrow & Coleslaw and 6 sauces (Garlic, Horseradish, Mint, Apple, Chili & Chutney) to compliment the range of meat as you are given a crash course on the names of the sauces and what type of meat each sauce is for. Each person gets a salad and the table gets bread and butter. At this point they bring cast iron plates and the meat just starts flooding in. We had ostrich meat balls, bull testicles, alligator (didn’t like it at all), camel (too salty), leg of lamb, chicken legs and wings, beef steaks and other things that I don’t eat like pork ribs and anything else pork. There is a flag on top of the lazy Susan and when you want no more meat and surrender you put the flag down and the Susan will be taken and you will have your choice of deserts; Chocolate Mousse, Fruit Salad with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, Ice Cream, Malva Pudding, Cheese Cake or Tea/Coffee. Mwah, a great dinner.

Tuk Tuk

Tuk Tuk (took took) and Matatus are the man forms of transpot in Mombasa. There is great tension and rivary between the drivers of the each though of course there is also a level of respect.  Tuk Tuk is 50 shilings (65 cents) to close places on the Island where as matatus are only 40 shilings to the furthest though you will be packed in like sardines. This is the tuk tuk that brought me back from lunch. The driver's name is Mohmad and he has a brand new Tuk Tuk that he spruced up with the Ferrari logo. In our short conversation of about five mintues I found out that his wife was in Miami, FL for ten years doing this nursing program but now she is back and working at a hostpital here. He never been to the states but she helped him start his business in which he makes more than 2,000 shilings a day after expenses though they have long hours. Some tuk tuk drivers are homeless. After they work there is a place where they park their vehicle and sleep on the three person seat. Due to the pleasant weather thats all the shelter they need from the elements. They awake with the sun and the noise of the city at 6am and begin their day. 

Streets of Mombasa

Left is a Woman and right is a man. 

No Comment

America is Everywhere

Dre wanted to see if he compared to the depiction of the color of Americans.

There is good that the American government does around the world like in this Secondary Lamu school the government funded the construction and currently provide a fully loaded computer lap.


There is even an "American Corner" in the library of the small island of Pemba that offers an airconditioned room and free internet. The boss of this place was so excited to see Americans since Pemba isn't really a touristy place to go. He said that he would tell the embassy that they had us come through probably to insure the future funding. 

Youth Counter Culture

Intro/Background

Examining the Eastern coast of Kenya through the perspective of an African Youth raised in America it is of no surprise that I related and had a certain affinity towards those on the coast in my age group. Looking at these youths and seeing a reflection of myself fostered a desire to critically analysis their experiences and the counter culture that they were able to create which circumvents the constraints of a conservative Muslim culture.

Globalization is a great factor in the manifestation of this youth culture, which is not necessarily a negative thing. Globalization is not innately evil or bad. It is the homogenous domination of one culture over other cultures that is not palatable.  If the dissemination of information, technology and knowledge is done in an egalitarian and mutually respectful way then societies and cultures learn from each other and share ideas that will empower the masses and help the progression of the human race. We should not race to lose/sacrifice our culture in the hopes of attaining the dominant races culture because of the “white privilege” that might come with it; we should pace and look at aspects of the “dominate culture” that we can incorporate in to our own culture. 

Methodology/Field Work/Discoveries

To examine/assess the situation and the issue I had to not make the mistake that many scholars do which is going into the environment wanting to look at something specific instead of immersing yourself in the culture and eventually noticing the reoccurring trials and themes.

Though I am African and share a come history with these youths did not mean that the reason I was able to be accepted in this group is tied to the color of my skin though of course it didn’t hurt. The best way to move away from the out group of “wazungu” and into the in group of Mombasa youth was to interact and allow yourself to be known. So through joining in on open soccer games at Fort Jesus everyday, talking to those that we can relate to and exchanging numbers and hanging out during the night scenes they stopped telling me that their name was for example “Cappuccino” and showed their true face and called themselves by their given names like, Abdullah.  Tourist never get to this because they seem to only want to know the surface information and the basic/ easy way to communicate to them which the youths are okay with only because of the monetary benefits that follow. To further speak on that; One evening after playing soccer and walking back to the homestay I ran into a local youth who just so happen to speak French. We had a 15-minute conversation in which I asked him why he is a guide and how he feels about the tourist. He said that he liked them because as a hustler who dropped out of secondary school to try to take care of his siblings they give him the business he needs to survive. I asked him if there was ever a time when the tourist doesn’t pay ?  This question triggered a story about a British man that agreed to paying 500 shillings ($7) an hour for a historical tour and after three hours when the youth should have been paid 1500 the British guy gave him only 500 shillings.  At this point I found out how he really felt about tourist. He said that he refused to take what the British guy gave him and I quote he said, “fucking English they do this a lot. They want me to beg but I won’t I’m working out here and if he doesn’t want to pay me then to hell with him.” This told me that just like blacks who work anywhere in service to the status quo their contentment is tied to the money that they can gain but their happiness is mostly theatrical and scripted. On a different day after leaving soccer I saw some of these same youths around smoking and I asked why do they smoke even though I suspected it to be a coping mechanisms to help feel better and revert back to who they are outside of the characters they play all day. He said that “it’s good it takes your mind off things and let you just enjoy “.

In Lamu I witnessed the same things. A scripted "play" being recreated whenever they think tourist are coming. Beach boy culture is the epitome of this. They too had names that were easy. I met a guy named Happy, Dolphin and Akon. I saw the same usage of drugs amongst youth in Lamu. One day the captain of our ship and the crew were smoking weed while we were heading to Shela.

In Zanzibar there was the same culture because tourism is also big there. Pemba on the other hand though had similar issues it was not due to tourism since tourism isn’t big there. Which further tells us that tourism isn’t the problem but that poverty and lack of economic gain is. In Pemba we saw youth doing their own form of hustling; after the rain children collected sand to sell, drugs was still being done, and there was even a festival where on a majority Muslim island alcohol was being served and consumed. Drug use was not witnessed in Pemba though we did go to the rehabilitation centers. Interesting enough, even though there were nicknames in Pemba every youth I met told me their given name when asked and then in time I hear their nickname from other youths. These names were not objects or random things and was usually a version of their name or their character or appearance.

Critical Analysis

The source of most of these youth issues/problems, which lands them outside of school and as tour guides or some way in the service to foreigners is money and being economically unsecure. I did an empirical study of these youths and these are the points that I would like to bring up regarding the tour guide culture of the youths in Mombasa.  These youth sacrifice a lot of their time to learn German, French, Italian, and other European languages so that they may be able to show these Europeans around who didn’t care to learn much about the culture or the language leaving the burden of communication on these determined youths in search of monetary gain. The stress of wearing a “mask” everyday and trying to find a place in this ever so expanding globalized world coupled with the lack of mobility due to finances leads some of these youths to drugs.  These youths hold views of the States and Europe as if the streets are paved with gold and that there are no problems in America if you work hard; not understanding the systems set in place those countries are the same systems that the African governments are trying to synthesize. 

Mr Lamu 1989. This guy though he doesn't look like it is over forty years old. When he was twenty he won the Mr Lamu Award and therefore goes my that name. He too is part of this youth culture and would be considered a beach boy though I've met his wife.

Nanini means "and what" in Kiswahili. I know the youth that wrote this on the walls off Mombasa Old Town. These two words get to the point about the issues the youths are facing. They feel like the rejected/ neglected ones which is why their counter culture was created. They see no place for them in the scheme of the Africa that exists now because they aren't sons of chief and because they are marginalized they transform that space into a place they call home.

Youth knowledge of the world here is fascinating. Most know more about america and it's policies than Americans. Aljazeera, Citizen TV, CNN and WWE (yes wrestling) are the most watched amongst the whole population.

Land Freedom Army (Mau Mau) Suit Against The British

"Kenyan nationals, from left, Ndiku Mutua, Jane Muthoni Mara and Wambugu wa Nyingi are claiming compensation for alleged acts of brutality against them by the British colonial government during the 1950s Mau Mau rebellion. Their case opened in London on April 7." Was in Kenyan Paper "The Daily Nation"

"The British justified their imperial adventures in Kenya by saying they set out to “civilise” the natives.

The methods they used were among the most barbarous employed by any occupying power in the last century and included arbitrary detention of populations in whole regions and the torture and murder of thousands of individuals whose only crime was to defend their right to ancestral land."

Those that oppose the master narrative and dominance was dealt with inhumanely and forgotten. Yet those "Nationalist" we know about were just loyalist to the colonial powers which is understandable because history is a set of lies agreed upon and is always written by the victors. Napoleon and Churchill said the previous words. The voices that are silent to those unheard were the true heros who I acknowledge as so. I will follow this law suit against the british to see if there is a victory here for the revolution. 

These men fought for their lands and were mutilated and tortured by the british but when independence came it was the soliders of independence that benefited but instead it was the sons of loyalist chiefs who bought into white superiority and tried to attain white privilege. This explains why Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of the first president and also decent of loyalist chiefs is rich and own lands that doesn't belong to him. His father use to just go and take land from the people. A banker yesterday told me that Jomo use to come to Mombasa and see nice big buildings built and would go to the owner and give him a shilling saying that the property is now his and they couldn't do anything about it. Sounds like familiar....

Mau Mau hid for Months in these caves.

Great place to hide from the British. There are elaborate tunnels that would take them in and out and was pleasantly cool though I must say it's no place for a tall person. 

The tree that these roots belong to is beyond ancient and if it could speak that stories it must know and the things it must have seen. Fascinating. Even in the heart of these gaves you say the roots. Strong Roots here.

Yeah I thought it was my name too. especially from afar. 

As I kuSafari (Travel)

Capoeira in Zanzibar

Karibu Pemba

Zanzibar

Zanzibar view from Sultan's House

Zanzibar

Smallest plane I've ever been on heading for a 35 minute flight to Pemba. 

On a dala dala. The mode of transport here. It's as uncomfortable as looking at this picture. Best picture I could take. Dre fell asleep and woke up with a baby in his lap. Yes that just how it is. Zanzibar is touristy and has been influenced a lot by outsiders whereas Pemba is protected because Bill Gates bought a lot of the lands to perserve the culture so that another billionaire can't come and capitalize on these Swahili locals.

Nursery school paintings

Painting on a Nursery school

Bao tree used by the witch doctors. This tree use to worshiped before the coming of islam. But till this day Pemba is well known by the east coast countries as having the best mgangas (witch doctors). I met a successful business man from Kenya who journeyed to this small island of Tanzania for a few days to visit the beaches and talk to a witch doctor. He liked me and said that he will pray for me and seconds later he said that I was to ever go to one don't ask for anything specific.

Marriage in Pemba
No that's not the Bride but that is the groom

Religious leader, groom and father of bride.

Cows are used for so man y things on this island and yes they all have the hump on their back on Pemba.