Questions and Answers post #1

This Q&A post consists entirely of questions asked by K students. Other questions will be addressed in the next post

From Sophomore Nikki:

Does your major align with the major that the program is geared toward? And if so, does this help, and if not, is that a disadvantage?

I’m a Psychology major with a minor in English and a concentration in African Studies (Yeah, I know, no overlap there to speak of), and, really, the only way that the Kenya program overlaps with my field of studies is with regards to my concentration. Honestly, the Kenya program classes are 90% geared towards sociology, but I don’t personally think it matters what your major at K is, as long as you have an interest in the sociological composition of Kenya. In my group, we have multiple science majors, two polisci majors, and very few people who study sociology specifically, but I think we’re all doing pretty well. I’m not sure whether the lack of class overlap will prove to be a disadvantage once I return to K, honestly, but honestly, Kenya is so worth it that I’m really not too concerned about any disadvantages.
Do most people speak English? If not, how well can you communicate with Nairobians with your level of Kiswahili (did you take Kiswahili before going to Nairobi)? Is it difficult to communicate, feel comfortable, and integrate into the culture with your language skills?

I did not take Kiswahili before going to Kenya. I knew scant amounts from a free online course I sort-of worked on every once in a while, but by the time I got to Kenya, essentially all I could say was ‘hujambo’. After taking the Kiswahili 1 and 2 courses offered with the K program, I guess I’m at middle-school reading and listening comprehension level, and I feel very comfortable speaking it, too. Apart from your general blanking on words, I find it easy to comfortable communicate with Kenyans in Kiswahili. I also find that they’re super awesome about filling in the gaps in your information – I’ve talked to multiple unfamiliar Kenyans in Kiswahili who have been quick to offer a word when I forget one, or explain what they just said if I didn’t completely understand it. Mostly they’re really pleased when people make the effort to learn even some Kiswahili – which only just became an official national language with the new constitution. English is widely spoken and 90% of the people I encounter are fluent. Those who aren’t generally still know it, they just use it less frequently in daily life and so can be a bit rusty. I think the most difficult part of communicating is just getting to the point where you can understand Kenyan English accents without trouble; since I’ve got to that point,  I’ve had no problems.

Do you feel that your cultural experience was inhibited by taking classes with only K students rather than at the Nairobi University?

Honestly, not really. To an extent, I wonder how my experience would be different if I took classes with Kenyans, but the American education system is so different from that of Kenya that I think classes with just K students is the best way to ensure that K students are able to function as students at the University. You always have the option of auditing a class – my friend Megan is taking a high-level German course with Kenyan students, for example – and you have ample opportunity to experience the culture of the university and the country without being in classes with other Kenyans.

Do you think this makes it more challenging to make friends with the locals?

In my experience, it has been difficult to make friends with a large amount of locals. I’m not really one for clubbing or going out at night in general – I live pretty far out of the city, so it’s difficult to get in and out of town, especially cheaply, and it’s also, just really not my scene –which limits my sphere of potential friends, but there’s also the fact that most Kenyan women my age aren’t very open to forming friendships, and most Kenyan men are more open to forming sexual relationships than platonic relationships. However, I have made a lot of friend with older Kenyans – one of the directors of the K program in Kenya (Mama Roseanne), for example, as well as my host sisters (one 12, one 25), along with other people through them. Perhaps having classes with more Kenyans my age would have changed that, perhaps not. I don’t regret my level of involvement with Kenyans, however – host families really are an amazing experience

Is it difficult to acclimate to the culture? What is the hardest thing to get used to? How do you feel living in a completely different culture for an extended period of time?

I was pretty nervous about acclimating to the culture before going to Kenya, but, overall, I think that I have acclimated well and quickly. Flexibility is essential to adjusting well. Some things will come across as entirely shocking to you – widespread views on FGM, for example, or perhaps traditions regarding the treatment of wives and widows. It’s important to remember that Western culture is not necessarily correct about everything and that, even if you don’t agree with traditional views on the treatment of women, addressing this with Kenyans is both difficult and discouraged.

I personally really appreciate the chance to completely immerse myself in Kenyan culture. A lot of their views and practices are entirely familiar, but then again, a lot of them are also alien. I think it’s helped me, personally, become both more flexible and more pragmatic about things.

An example: in my first four days in Kenya, I attended a Kikuyu wedding and preparations therefore. It was completely overwhelming, because I was inundated with an entirely new schema of societal niceties to adjust to less than twenty-four hours after my arrival in the country. I was sent off with a bunch of the cousins – people I’d never met before, people not even technically in my host family – to drive around the city and explore while the mamas worked on last-minute organization, which immediately forced me to reexamine and adjust my preconceptions about safety (such as, don’t get into a car with strangers). The wedding itself was another experience altogether – I abstained from attending the ‘young peoples’ party, which occurs after the reception and is an opportunity for the bride and groom and people their age to drink and dance without elder members of the family around – and still, I was out of the house for twelve hours just attending the singing down of the bride (the bride’s family goes to her house before the ceremony to sing her outside), the service, and the reception, surrounded by three hundred people I barely knew. And a lot of the study abroad experience is like that: I’ve been forced out of my comfort zone, but as a result of that, my comfort zone has expanded tremendously. Later on in the autumn, when I went to a birthday party for some of the cousins, again with tens of strangers, I wasn’t fazed at all.

Being in a completely different culture for an extended period of time is challenging. I would be lying if I said that I haven’t, on any occasion, wished fervently that I was back in a society that doesn’t indulge in so much touching – personal space standards have been pretty difficult for me to adjust to. However, I’ve spent the past two and a half weeks in Britain for Christmas at this point and, among other things, I find myself missing the shopkeepers who touch your arm as they engage you in haggling for a final sale price.

And I guess that’s the thing of it: all change is ultimately just change, and as long as you’re flexible about it, you will ultimately adjust. I’ve adjusted so well to Kenyan culture that being in Britain has been pretty difficult for me, just from a socio-cultural standpoint – especially at the beginning. Immersing myself in Nairobi culture for months on end, however, has become an experience that I definitely value.

Do you feel comfortable in Nairobi?

This is a difficult question to answer. I’ve had some moments where I felt incredibly uncomfortable  – my first time taking a matatu into the city by myself, for example, because they dropped everyone off outside the city due to graduation traffic, in an area of town where my host mother always locks the car windows. Since then, however, that part of town – Ngara – has become one of my favorite places to go shopping for fruit or secondhand clothes or getting my hair done.

There are definitely some uncomfortable moments, and there are definitely some skeevy people, but when it comes down to it, my answer to this question is Yes. It took me time to adjust to the pace of Nairobi (fast, yet slow) and to build up a Nairobi-appropriate set of, shall we say, street smarts. At this point, though, I can say that I’ve napped on a matatu, I’ve listened to my ipod while walking around (just in estates, but still), I’ve taken street taxis in addition to hired taxis, I’ve engaged in lengthy conversations with perfect strangers on street corners in European Nairobi, and I haven’t felt unsafe while doing these things. I feel like I am in tune with the city, like I know it pretty well. Knowing Kiswahili helps tremendously, as does knowing the matatu routes and the fact that I can trust Mama and Roseanne to help out, pick me up, etc if I am ever truly in a pinch. I still, on occasion, get into uncomfortable situations. There are definitely some questionable characters – for example, I ran into some man on the street a few weeks ago who, after complimenting me on my Kiswahili skills and admittedly fantastic hair, tried to convince me that I didn’t know the proper way to get to my ICRP bus stop. A woman passing by took me aside at that point and confirmed that he was definitely a pickpocket of some sort – but there are situations and people like this the world over. I pay attention to possible areas of danger – Lillian is good about texting us about potential riot-causing situations in the city so we can avoid those areas – and keep up with the news. That, accompanied with plain common sense, has worked wonders towards my attitude about living in Nairobi. I would ultimately say that I am cautious in Nairobi, but that I definitely feel comfortable in the city overall, 98% of the time.

From sophomore Brittany:

I’m applying to Kenya right now. I’m working on reading you blog. I was wondering what classes you’re taking and what your ICRP is about.

In Kenya, there are three required courses: Kiswahili I, Geographies of Development, and the ICRP. Kiswahili I gets you to about a second-grade level with the language; GoDev is a series of lectures (each with a different lecturers) and essays based on the trips we take to various places in Kenya, such as Masai Mara and Kisumu. The ICRP is based on 45 hours of volunteer-type work on your placement (more on mine later), followed by a 10-15 page sociology paper about your experiences in an academic context. For the other three classes, we were offered a choice of four classes, of which we could pick three. The options were Kiswahili II, African Oral Literature, Gender and Development, and Kenyan Political Science course. I signed on for the first three of those – Kiswahili II has brought my proficiency level up a great deal, Oral Literature consists of lots of readings and presentations on the readings, and in Gender  we cover a lot of  developmental issues faced by women in Kenya.

As for my ICRP, I have been placed at New Life Home Trust, which is a children’s home/orphanage. There, I help care for infants who have been abandoned or orphaned, many of whom are HIV positive. I’ve yet to settle on a paper topic for my ICRP, but it will probably have to do with comparing the development of children living in this type of situation (in a group home, without an overall parental presence but with multiple other people their age) with children who grew up in a situation more like mine (two parents and a low number of siblings). Possibly.

Keep the questions coming!  Ask in comments here, or email me here. I’ll answer the next batch soon