Travel and Personal

Last Moments in Kenya

By Dweep Chanana ⋅ February 17, 2006 ⋅  Email this post ⋅ Post a comment

As I await my flight, it perhaps is fitting to reflect on what the last three months have meant. Yet, it was only yesterday, at midnight, that I started to feel anything.

I am full of wonder for this country. At the local Westlands market, or the upmarket Annabelle Thom in Junction I was struck by the exquisite bracelets and beaded scarves, leather belts, and kikoys. Then there are the Maasai - romanticized with reason - colorful and hardy. And I cannot forget the everyday person on the streets - even of Nairobi - ready to cheat you in business, but otherwise friendly, helpful, and always laidback. The security guard at the airport held my books as I fumbled for my passport. Would a Swiss do that? Ha!

From Lamu in the east to Mt. Elgon in the west, in the space of two hours, one can be on a perfect tree-lined beach, over a snow capped mountain, in the 2nd largest slum in Africa, in the desert, watching the wildebeest migration in the Maasai Mara, or sailing the massive Lake Victoria. Coming from India, I thought no country could surprise me with its diversity. Kenya has. A paradise for shoppers and adventurers, the diversity here is almost as colorful - just on a smaller, more appreciable scale for a tourist.

Professionally, too, this has been a clarion call for my priorities. I have much to look forward too. A very secure if challenging job in Switzerland. Yet, I have found a vitality in the business community here I cannot imagine in Europe or North America. Those countries have forgotten what struggle is. Here, the daily grind gives rise to innovation everywhere. As a reminder, my cab driver tries to buy my completely dysfunctional cell phone (fell into a pool, remember) as I depart. So confident is he that it can be fixed, he doesn’t even want to know what’s wrong with it.

Like a tiger gone man-eater, I have tasted blood. This is the cradle of humanity, with much to offer outside the Maasai Mara. Can the land that gave the world McDonald’s really compare? Can the comforts of life in a developed country compensate for the excitement of tackling problems as fundamental as access to water, health, or markets? Most likely not.

My rambling is not romanticism. I know soon my priorities will have changed. But right now I am looking for an excuse to return, working on several projects that bring me back, at least for a few weeks.

Many times before I have traveled and wanted to return - to Canada for hiking, to China for traveling, to the USA to meet friends, to Switzerland to ski. Add to that Kenya, to experience life and discover myself.