Culture Shocked Mzungus

Our first word! Mzungu is the Swahili word for Englishman or white person. It is not a derogatory term and the Kenyans apparently like Mzungus. We certainly have experienced this "culture shock" that people talk about. Interestingly enough, although Emily and I have been to other countries that are not our own this is the first time we really felt culture shocked. Our first day in Kenya was a tough one. We were extremely tired, having only slept about 10 hours over the previous 3 days. We were surprised by the intense poverty that we saw all around us. The standard of living is very far below what we are all used to. The first two pictures below, for instance, appeared to us to be housing that perhaps the families built themselves; something fast and cheap that provides a roof a place to sleep. We later found out that these are actually rental units. While it is considered a slum, it is a nice slum because it has a nearby water supply, but no electricity or plumbing. This "development" is adjacent to the office where we work. There is no part of the city that we have seen that is void of filth and poverty.

Multiple families would live in what you can see below for about 2000 KSH/month (about $29 USD) per family.

I think that part of our shock also came from the preconceived notions that we had about Kenya being a very dangerous place. Because of this, when people stared at us, which they constantly do, we were unsure if they we just having a look at the rare mzungus, or deciding how they would rob us. While we are still cautious where we travel and are careful not to be out after dark, we have come to feel rather safe in our situation. People are generally friendly and a group of small children that live under a large tree near our building greet us home every day after work with, "Hi howa you?" and a collective "Welcome to Mombassa!!" while their mothers smile and wave to us.

The road from the Mombasa Airport.

Here is a very short clip of some sights and sounds of the taxi ride from the airport to our apartment.

Well...we tried to upload this video and after more than an hour it is not done and we have to leave our internet connection. We'll try again tomorrow!