Kenya ni Yetu (Kenya is our country): We saw these bumper stickers everywhere,
and I saw it at least once painted on the side of a roadside shop. Kenyans
clearly have a great love for their nation and with pride comes the essential
drive to improve, something many nations wallowing in misery could clearly
stand to gain. We enjoyed Kenya as well. Here's why.
"Jambo! Kiwabu!" (Hello! Welcome!): We heard it again and again, even in remote
villages like Isaiolo, not the most touristy of destinations. Kenyans were
welcoming down to the last one. Women selling bananas through bus windows
would ask us where we were from, and when we told them, respond, "Welcome
to Kenya." One gentleman, when Ericka said she was from Nicaragua,
responded with the name of her president: very impressive. Little children
waved at us from the roadside and almost never followed through with a request
for money; they seemed to just want to say hello to the mazungus.
(Almost) nobody peeing at roadside: It seems like a little thing, but having
people urinating by the roadside is a really culturally off-putting, and
elsewhere in Africa you don't have to drive two blocks before passing someone
watering the gutter (women included). Kenya's relative cleanliness and
personal pride were refreshing. Neither did we find village after village of
children running around in dirty underpants. It might be Kenya's relative
affluence, but I attribute it to cultural pride, and so does Ericka. Even in
her country, men at least go behind a tree to take a whiz.
Land in production: Land that had not been reserved for game parks was almost
universally in productive use. We saw tea plantations, coffee farms, thick
stands of timber, dense fields of corn and broad vegetable plots. We did not
see the trademarks of mechanized production, tractors and combines, but rather
lots of manual labor. But we saw hundreds of furrows plowed in contour, and
that means smart choices. Seeing the land pressed into service was refreshing.
Girls' Education: Everywhere we went signs exhorted families to ensure their
girls were being educated; every village had numerous schools and at least two
or three schools dedicated exclusively to the education of young women of all
ages. This is one of the fastest way to encourage economic development - the
statistics prove it - and Kenya's investment in its human capital will not go
unrewarded.
Cleanliness and order: Everywhere we saw hedgerows and carefully tended
gardens. Markets, even when they were open air, were built in a way that
encouraged drainage. People respected the police, and we encountered enough
random police vehicle checks (they seem to be looking for drugs, weapons, and
illegal Somalis) to understand what the police are doing with their time. Too
many countries suffer from chaos that retards economic development, and have
police forces that seem to be in the full time bribe-taking business.
Good management: the game parks impose and enforce a curfew on when you can
circulate in the park; getting a visa was a simple affair of $50 at the airport
(at a quick-moving line and a clerk who told us "Jambo!") Kenyans
have good business sense and make it easy to spend your money there, but take
care to ensure the rules protect the resources. Smart, and good business.
