Kenyan Voices on Culture, Tribe, Race, and Community: Part 1

This conversation is easily the most enlightening one I have had about culture and tradition since being in Africa.
Hear from two Kenyan men their perspectives on a variety of aspects of the very rich and community-centred Kenyan culture. This is only the opinion of two Kenyan men. Clearly, their perspectives are just that, their own.
To situate myself in this conversation, it is important to know that I was raised in Canada and adopted into a European Caucasian family-so truly, my exploration of Black culture has been akin to the process of educating a pre-schooler, or perhaps, better stated, drinking out of a fire hose.
If an apology is owed to Black women, I will make it here. The views of one man about Kenyan women are certainly not definitive or complete. As a woman born and raised in Canada, I will state with confidence that many western women are equally invested in enhancing (or altering) their looks: hair, nails, eyelashes, buttocks, and etc…
In this conversation we did not have enough time to fully unpack race. We talked about African’s exposure to and feelings about “white” people. (I note parenthetically that the views expressed are more widely held. I am not saying by all Africans, but in the scores of conversations that I have had over six months in five countries, similar views were expressed by many). Western media also plays a huge role in this. The guys explain this very well.
This conversation does not villainize “white” people, rather, both of my friends explain how they and many others view whites as “angels” from “heaven.”
The conversation about paid services provided to a “white” man and the lack of engagement that followed are merely an anecdote. No “people,” group, “race,” or nation is a monolith, and stereotypes are always incomplete often serving to demean or diminish. Thus, not all experiences with “white” people are similar to what is described here. While Eric and Shadrack don’t say this, I feel it is instructive and illustrative of the chasm that exists between African and western cultures…
We are more alike than unalike. Exploring other cultures has been fascinating and the voices that animate the experiences add colour to the palette of life.
(A friend of mine is a Kenyan pastor and she told me that “Shadrack” is a Christian name mentioned in the Bible, chapter 3 of the book of Daniel. “Shadrach” is one of three men thrown into a fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar. Listen to this engaging chat between three great friends and you will see the relevance of this footnote.)
/ @kimvvoice

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Looking forward to part 2!

[@kimvVoice]

Thanks for writing! This was such a fascinating conversation for me! Especially given my background. Really enlightening. The entire hour chat was a lot of fun, and really informative…