“Habari!” - “Oh uh nzuri!”

Well my first week of classes and my internship went incredibly well! In a nutshell all of my professors are pretty cool and I am most certainly learning in a different environment then I ever have before. I will go into more detail about specific aspects of my courses in this post and others. But to start this series of posts, what better than the first class I started with: Kiswahili!

Part of the program here is that everyone takes Kiswahili (Swahili is the language of Kenya as well as other East African nations, you add the “ki” to it when calling it a language in Swahili). This class is taught by a professor from the United States International University, but the course is just for us American University Students. We start every morning but starting class at 7:30am – yes 7:30! At AU the earliest class is at 8:55 and I thought that was bad. Factor in the time it takes to get there and most of us are awake by 6am (this also means most of us are asleep by 10:30). Anyway I have thoroughly enjoyed this course because it’s fun to learn another language- plus the way we are learning this I step out of the classroom and I can use everything I just learned.

The structure of the class is quite interesting, we started with some more challenging things – asking names, telling someone your name, asking where someone lives, saying where you go to school, etc. It took about 4 days until we even got to numbers! This is because we are going to be asked these questions and being able to respond in Kiswahili is incredibly important to both our immersion process and our safety (it lets people know that we’re not your typical American tourists).

Here’s me bragging a little at my knowledge of Kiswahili after just one week:

“Hamjambo!

Ninaitwa Wyatt na mimi ni Merikani. Niniashi Westlands lakini ninasoma choo kikuu cha Nairobi. Mimi ni mwanafunzi wa afya umma. Sijaoa. Ninapenda nyama na mboga. Pia ninapenda sana kunyway maji. Nina niaka kumi na nane.

Asenti!

Ni hayo tu.”

This is an introduction speech to a group of people and translates as follows:

“Hello everyone,

My name is Wyatt and I’m from America. I live in Westlands, but am studying at the University of Nairobi. I am a student of public health. I’m not married. I like meat and veggies. I also prefer water to drink. I am 18 years old.

Thanks everyone!

That is all.”

Pretty great, right? I mean with this knowledge I practically blend in already, right? Well no. But surprisingly it isn’t just my 6 year-old level of Kiswahili that makes me stick out. It’s also the fact that I’m white. Every morning on our walk to school, I get constant stares. I am most certainly not from the area, and people are interested in what I’m doing. This is where I’ve given myself a little liberty…when people do stare I make the point to stare right back and when they are close enough say “Habari” which means “news?” a greeting here in Kenya. The responses I’ve gotten have varied, but the most typical is “Oh. Uh. Nzuri!” or good. I can’t imagine how many people have been confused that I can speak Swahili and even respond to them with a little sheng (Swahili slang). This has been great fun for me and I’ve noticed that it always seems to put a smile on other people’s faces. It’s always an adventure just getting anywhere, but this has made it extra fun.

Jumping ahead a few days, there will be a fuller post about my internship and first time in Kibera (one of the largest informal settlements in the world, thought to be second and it is the largest in East Africa). I think it’s worth noting that when I was in Makina (a part of Kibera) and Kibera the stares only got worse. In the Westlands area it is not as surprising to see a white person, but in Kibera it most certainly is. We had someone from the organization I am working with accompanying us, but she put it perfectly “you are like a celebrity here”. Everyone was staring and little kids where saying “How are you?!” and shaking our hands. This was quite an interesting experience, but I was able to respond with a little sheng, or English which usually brought a smile to the kid’s face. This experience was unlike anything I have ever experienced and it is not something I will easily forget.

Despite this often un-wanted attention I am excited to start getting into the Makina community more through my internship and meet more people. I am especially excited to start sharing stories, hearing there’s and talking about what I’d like to do. Our internship partners (Audrey and Eric) promised us that we will become very well known very quickly in Makina. Not only because of the obvious fact we are white, but because we are connected with such an impactful organization. I am going to learn so much I cannot wait to jump right in.

Fun Fact: Newspapers are sold mainly by people walking through the street – they cost only 60ksh and are huge! The Daily Nation is my favorite and I’m going to be a regular buyer.