Whenever I first came to Kenya, I began to plan various trips that I wanted to take. Now, two months later, I have seen just about everything in Nairobi and felt the need to start seeing the rest of the country. One of the places to see at the top of my list was Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is the 2nd largest freshwater lake in the world (behind Lake Superior I think), and is one of the most striking geographical features in Africa. Once I began to plan this trip, Kisumu became the best place to go because it is on the lake, and is the third largest city in Kenya. Kisumu is also in the heart of Luo-land, the third largest tribe in Kenya, and the one that holds the closest place in my heart. When we first came to Kenya, all of the people I met were Luo: my assistant program director, the cultural assistants and friends who helped teach us about Kenya, a lot of the Kenyans at my work are Luo, and our President Barack Obama is a Luo. I wanted to see this area where all these amazing people come from, and so this past weekend I did.
Just like Barack Obama made a trip to Kenya and the Lake Victoria area when he was young to discover his roots, I feel now that this trip has been the most remarkable one on so many levels, but mainly I felt as if I was able to dig deeper into the heart of Kenya and its people, and really experience this trip as a Kenyan.
I owe this to the amazing people I traveled with. Last week when I was on my rural retreat (see earlier post), the guys from the Initiative for Sports and Social Arts Kibera(One of the organizations that AU Abroad has an internship with this semester) came along, and I had an amazing time with these guys. I said I wanted to go to Kisumu soon, and one of them, Andrew, said he grew up near there and wanted to come along when I go. He also suggested that I go to Kogelo (which is about an hour away and where President Obama’s paternal Grandmother Sarah Obama lives). So I took this trip with the ISSA guys: Andrew, Tony, and OJ, and Andrew’s girlfriend. These people are absolutely amazing as Andrew, Tony, and OJ are best friends and have a lot of fun together and goof around and have the most amazing and funniest conversations. They are also a model for Kenyans, as they are three best friends from three different tribes working for the same organization for the betterment of the country. OJ is a Luo, Andrew is a Luhya (also from Lake Victoria region and neighbors with the Luo), and Tony is a Kamba (from the area we went last year on the rural retreat).
Because of a tight schedule with classes and work, my only option to Kisumu was two overnite busses, as Kisumu is a seven hour bus ride. So, thus, we left Friday nite late and arrived in Kisumu Saturday morning at around 5am. Luckily, the ISSA guys had a friend who lived in Kisumu, Anastacia (or Thetu as they call her), and we crashed with her when we got there until the morning started. She was with ISSA at the very beginning of their organization, and was the program officer for their biggest program: Mr. and Ms. Kibera, but she moved to Kisumu for a new job.) This was my first experience inside a Kenyan young professional’s home, and we used this for our home base for the trip. It was not the unlike what a single young professional would have in DC. It was a small house which would be about studio size, with a kitchen area outside the house on one side and on the other side a shower and bathroom outside the house. When we got to Thetu’s house, she served us maybe the best Kenyan chai I have ever had (that or that it was 530am), and fed us for breakfast. One thing that I have started to learn here is that Kenyans are extremely hospitable, as they will always offer you chai or food when you visit, and I am grateful for this. Once the day broke and it was a reasonable hour, we set out for our day. Walking down Kisumu, I noticed that there were more bicycles on the road than cars. These are called bota-bota, and serve as taxis in Kisumu. It’s a bicycle with a small platform behind it above the rear wheel that the passenger sits. This struck me as both different, and I liked that bicycles were utilized so much. From an environmental standpoint, it keeps pollution down, and people exercise this way too. I wish that in major US cities, or even in Nairobi, bicycles would catch on for public transport. One of the many running jokes of the trip was that you were more likely to get hit by a bike than by a car. (By the way now would be a good time to address the origin of bota-bota. The term involves the Kenyan-Ugandan border and how in the past the way to travel across the border was by bike, if you paid someone they would take you across the border, thus bota-bota.)
So we picked up a matatu, and headed out to Kogelo, Obama’s ancestral homestead to visit his grandmother. We took the matatu to the nearest town to Kogelo (an hour outside of Kenya), and had to take motor bota-botas (motorcycle taxis) the rest of the way about 15 more minutes to Kogelo. As we were going into the middle of nowhere, I had glimpses of the Lake off in the distance at certain points. We also drove past traditional Luo homesteads (round mud huts with thatched roofs), and I got excited because it seemed like this was going to be an authentic experience. The bota-bota dropped us off right outside the Obama homestead, and as we walked up, I was a little disappointed because it seemed not traditional and had just been remodeled it looked like. It also has a full time security post on the grounds from Kenyan police due to the rise of our current President. When we walked through the gate, OJ asks me “Ryan, can you believe that this moment is happening?” I hadn’t really thought about it being a big moment, but then it hit me that I am really going to meet the US President’s grandmother at her homestead in Kenya! The Kenyans were excited to, as they were brushing their hair, checking their clothes and whatnot. So when we got there the guards said that she comes out at 11am, so we had a few minutes to wait. Plastic chairs were arranged in small groups that the grandmother could walk around and greet and talk with each one. I asked OJ how to say hello in Luo so I could be ready to greet her when she came to our group. When she first waked out of hew house and over to greet the other group that was first to be talked to, one of my friends saw her first. They pointed her out and said “there’s Mama Sarah”. She is just this simple elderly Kenyan woman, wearing a traditional looking green dress with a red cloth wrapped around her head (as you see many Kenyans wearing), and walked with a cane. She reminded me a lot of my own Grandmother, who is similarly elderly, still walks on her own and lives on her own, and is still going strong. The parallels with my own Grandmother continued as through the course of our conversation, Sarah Obama gave off this very unassuming, down to earth vibe, as well as her mind is also extremely sharp, and my grandma is the same way. After a few minutes of visiting with another group, she came over to receive her visitors… us. We all first introduced ourselves, saying our name and greeting her… (I said hello to her in Luo, but cannot remember the word at this time), said my name and that I came from Illinois, to which I was told she responded that is where the President planted his political roots, and everyone else greeted her, and she responded with greetings in each of their respective tribes (it still amazes me that Kenyans can tell the difference amongst themselves). While talking to her she explained how this is where her husband (Barack’s grandfather), and her lived her, as well as her son (Barack Obama Sr.) lived here and both males are buried here. She gave a little history of her son (like what we all have heard countless times from the media and our President during the election), and also talked about how the President came and stayed here when he younger to learn about his family. She asked about me, and one of my friends explained to her in Luo who I was, that I was a student and also working here and what not, as well as who they were and what ISSA does. She spoke with us for about fifteen minutes, and before the end my friend asked her if we could get pictures. She said yes and specifically said because of me and that when I go back to America and tell people of this event that a picture would be the only way to prove that (as the security protection were adamant about not letting anyone take pictures with her or of the homestead). I am still in awe of the whole experience. Who would have ever thought that I could just walk into the American President’s grandmother’s homestead, in Africa no less a half a world away, and she would be this nice and assuming and come out and greet and talk with us like it were a friendly conversation over a card game or something. She has also become a public figure in Kenya, as she is now a UN Goodwill Ambassador for either health or the environment or something like that( I am not sure). Sarah Obama is such a lovely woman, and now when I am back in Nairobi and people ask about my trip and I tell them I met her, their eyes sparkle and they get this amazing sense of pride and admiration for her. This was an amazing highlight of my trip, and it was only the beginning of the weekend and the first thing we did on the trip- I was worried that the trip reached its peak at the beginning and would only go down from there.
I was very wrong in that sense, and as we were heading back to Kisumu, my friend Andrew (who grew up near a small village between Kisumu and Kogelo called Buwanda) told me “I think we should stop by my house. I want to say hi to my mom.” I got really excited because I was going to get the opportunity to experience and get a taste of a real Kenyan lifestyle, and this was going to be an amazing, unique event that as a white foreigner I never dreamed I would have this opportunity to experience real Kenyan life while I was here. So we got off the matatu near his house, and set off down a path for about a mile until we reached his homestead. Andrew grew up in very beautiful area with tall rolling green hills and shrubbery. As we were walking down the path Tony pointed to a group of trees that lined one side virtually the whole way down and pointed out that they were guava trees. When we reached Andrew’s family homestead, the first thing that I noticed that it was a decent-sized home with a couple cows out front who greeted us by mooing when they saw us in between lunching and grazing on their grass, and a few chickens roaming around. Andrew’s mother was not home yet, and so we just relaxed on some of the big boulders out front of the house in the shade under the trees. There were little kids who were running around playing (who I believe were Andrew’s nieces and nephews and other neighbor kids, as his older brother and his wife lived right next door), and once they spotted us they ran over and greeted us. Andrew told me that they were going to slaughter a chicken for lunch, and that they had to find the one that was going to be the lunch. They joked that it had run off that morning as no one had seen it. Once it was spotted, it was difficult to catch and was extremely funny watching Andrew and OJ chasing after it around the house diving under bushes and around trees trying to catch it. By about the third time around the house, Tony got up from sitting next to me, walked to a corner, waited for the chicken to come near, and just grabbed it and handed it to Andrew, who gave it to his nephews to do the slaughtering. They invited me back to the back to watch, so I accepted out of politeness and went near. For the second weekend in a row, I was watching an animal be killed for our food. I have to admit, it is easier to watch a chicken be slaughtered than a goat, as it is less of a process. Once the chicken was killed, Andrew, OJ, and I went for a walk in the area and he showed me around, pointing out his primary school and introducing me to some of his neighbors. While walking back to his house, Andrew told me “Ryan, when you meet my brother you have to greet her in Luhya, and told me how to say hello” (which I also don’t remember but it will come back to me). So when we got back she was there and I could see the resemblance to Andrew. She was dressed like a normal modern Kenyan, wearing a t- shirt and trousers, and when I greeted her she laughed at my Luhya. Andrew’s girlfriend Melissa and his mom helped began chopping up cabbage and preparing our meal, and we went outside and relaxed, where Andrew had stalks of sugarcane he chopped up and taught me how to eat right off the stalk. (You have to remove the very hard wooden outer part, and then bite and rip off the inner part, suck the juice out of it and then spit out the rest). (It’s kind of like a bigger, tougher, more complicated sunflower seed, but at the same time is extremely good. We went through about three very big sugar cane stalks between our group. (The sugar cane stalks are about 5 feet long).
This traditional Kenyan family dinner was the chicken that I saw slaughtered, and ugali and cabbage/mixed vegetables. The ugali tasted different than when I make it (and I make really good Kenyan food I must say), but it was good. I was explained that they grind up their own corn meal to make it, and that is why it was different a little bit than the bought maize flour that we buy. It was a good dinner, followed by good chai. Chai is different here, as they heat up the milk, and heat up water separately, and mix them together with the tea bag. It is thicker and really good as well, as Kenya is blessed with having some of the best tea (and coffee) in the world. We took pictures after with the family, and then said an after dinner prayer (this is a very catholic family, as most of Kenya is very religious and has visible prayers all of the time,) and left to go back to Kisumu. When we got back to Kisumu a couple hours later, we went to a market to buy supplies for a dinner, which we had at Thetu’s house. That dinner was beef stew, ugali, and sukumawiki. (This is the most traditional Kenyan dinner, and one that I have to admit I am really good at making.) You know, it has just occurred to me that most of you don’t know what I am talking about with this dinner. Beef stew is self explanatory, it is just beef that is thrown into a pot with a tiny amount of water, and it is just cooked over a burner and boiled. All you really need is the juice from the meat, but most Kenyans also throw in this mchuri meat seasoning which adds some good spice, and when I cook it I also chop up onion and throw it in too. Sukumawiki is essentially steamed kale (or collard greens, which I believe it is called in America). It is named Sukumawiki because it translates to “push the week”, which means that it is very cheap to buy stalks and you can usually make enough to last a week, or pushing the week for the poor people. Ugali is the other main dish and it is my specialty of all three. It is just maize flour and water. You bring water to a boil and then periodically add maize flour while stirring the whole time, until it gets to be a very dense, spongy like cornmeal cake. It was fun to be with these young Kenyans, who were cooking, as it was like a real authentic experience.
That Saturday was one of the most fun, and one of the most beneficial days that I have had while here in Kenya. When I came here I not only wanted to experience as much of Kenya as I could with traveling and learning, but I also wanted to dig as deeply into the culture and experience what real Kenyan life was like as much as I could. As a mazungu (white foreigner), that serves as an obstacle mostly, because how could I have a real Kenyan experience. However, on that Saturday I felt that I really had. Being in Kogelo, seeing the traditional Luo huts, (watching a guy in the process of thatching the roof) in the process on the walk back from Sarah Obama’s homestead all helped contribute to this. As did meeting Barack Obama’s grandmother, who is just a simple Kenyan woman and still lives like that. But going to Andrew’s home, eating sugar cane and a slaughtered chicken, and seeing how he grew up really made me feel like I got the experience that I wanted to have but did not see how was going to be possible while here.
The next day was the day to experience Kisumu. The lake is the dominating feature of the area so we headed down to it at mid-day. The first time I saw the lake I did not think it was a lake, but a green field. This is because in the bay around Kisumu, it is dominated by water hyacinth that has completely eaten up and taken over that part of the lake. You can not even see the water from the part of Kisumu closest to the lake. It is all plants that even are flowering. I thought this was really sad and asked about treatment. Andrew said that you could kill the plants, but that would also kill the fish (which is a huge industry in the area and historically the way of life of the Luo people, much like the Massai are pastoral herders, the Luo are known as fisherman). Andrew also explained to me that they hyacinth are strong and used to make baskets and what not, so at least they have made a functional purpose out of this unfortunate pollution to the lake. Along the lakefront bay, or hyacinth bay as it looks, are numerous fish shacks which I was excited to go to and one of the things that I wanted to do most when I was planning a Kisumu trip. So we had fried fish for lunch. When you walk into the shack, they have fish displayed on a table that are fresh from the lake, and they bring more in as they are caught and cut up and fried (all fish on display are already freshly fried lightly once). So you pick your fish and choose to have it friend again or fried or cooked in a stew with sukuma. It all comes with ugali as well. I have to say that the fish that we got was the best fish I have ever had in my life!!
After the amazing fish feast, we headed out for an hour and a half walk or so through Kisumu and up the lake to an area called hippo point that is the best view of the lake in the area, and way past all the plants to the real part of the lake. The last thing that I wanted to do before leaving Kisumu (as we had a 9pm bus back that nite), was watch the sunset over the lake. So we got there in late afternoon and stayed a couple hours until sunset. OJ, Tony, and I all ventured out onto some rocks on the shore and sat among some kids who were fishing. For me this trip was coming full circle. Here I was in the Luo region, on the most important and vital feature of their region Lake Victoria. I had met with a prominent family member of the most famous Luo on Earth the day before, and now was sitting here watching some Luo children fishing. These kids were practicing the same heritage that their ancestors had as well. Then I watched as OJ (also a Luo) took their rod and began fishing. On this trip I had had the whole Luo and Luhya (the Lake Tribes), and full Kenyan experience. I had met and spoke with the elderly and parental figures, was with the youth, my friends the whole time (in Kenya, the youth age group is defined as 18-35), and was sitting here watching Kenyan children play around the lake, much like their older family had I am sure when they were younger. The sunset over the lake was absolutely beautiful, and as the sun was setting, I saw a fisherman’s boat pass right under the sunset, returning to the dock for the evening. The last thing that I did in Kisumu was get a bota-bota (the bicycle type), from Thetu’s house to the bus station. Andrew said he couldn’t let me leave with Kisumu without getting one, as it is a pretty distinct part of Kisumu.
The trip was a very quick one (I was only in Kisumu from 5am Saturday morning-9pm Sunday nite), but there was really no other way to do the trip with my time constraints. It was the best trip that I have had so far and the most amazing weekend here. I feel very fortunate to have these Kenyan friends that I did to give me the real Kenyan experience I dreamed about but did not think would be possible. I am forever grateful to my friends the ISSA guys OJ, Andrew, and Tony, as well as to Andrew’s girlfriend Melissa for coming on this trip and making it so much fun, and the former ISSA girl Thetu for showing me around Kisumu and letting us crash at her place and use it as a base. When I came to Kenya, I knew that it would be the trip and experience of a lifetime, and I am sure that this trip will be up there as one of the biggest causes for this remarkable experience.
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