From Hometown to Homeland

Inside a special souvenir edition of The Standard Sunday newspaper ("37-pages on New American President"), under the headline, "Hours and there will be a Black Man in White House..." was one sentence that summed it all up: "Kenyans are watching with glowing faces and hearts throbbing with joy and ecstasy for although Obama will be the American President, he acknowledges and pays homage to our country as the land of his father."

As I'm sure was the case in the U.S., hardly one sentence was written without some mention of how "historic," "unprecedented," "significant," or "awesome" the inauguration would be. And the front pages leading up to January 20 reflected the joy and ecstasy of Kenyans.

The inauguration festivities weren't as wild as those for election night. (President Kibaki declared the following day a public holiday.) But it was, nonetheless, reason to celebrate as thousands went straight from work into bars.

Most national networks plugged in to CNN's coverage, occassionally breaking in to update viewers on what Obama's Kenyan relatives - those who flew to DC and those who remained in Kogelo - were doing. Kogelo, "the small village where [Obama's] father was born," has seen a boon in tourism since their native son's rise to the global stage. And, according to a local newspaper, "it is difficult to suppress the assumption that the 'development' would now spread to other areas of Kenya."

Yikes.

Kenya Dig It?

On New Year's Day, I went with a friend to her extended family's home in the heart of Maasai land, a dot in the vast bush at the Tanzania/Kenya border. The small village of about 50 people gathered at the house to celebrate. It was the single greatest concentration of beaded necklaces and stretched earlobes I've ever witnessed in person.

My classes started this week. From what I can tell so far, Catholic University of Eastern Africa is going to be the gourmet filet mignon to University of Dar es Salaam's gas station beef jerky*.

• CUEA: Lecturers show up to scheduled class time and place. UDSM: No schedule. No lecturers. Try next week. (Oh, that course has been cancelled.)
  
• CUEA: Lecturers provide each student a packet of reading materials. UDSM: Lecturers provide a single copy to a student to make copies and distribute for the other 100+ students in the class.
• CUEA: Second semester ends in April. UDSM: Second semester, due to the strike delay, begins in April.
  
• CUEA: One person per desk. UDSM: Two people per chair.
• CUEA: Regular toilets. UDSM: Squat toilets. Both: BYOTP.
  

All things, so far, have confirmed my instinct that Nairobi would be an overall better experience for me. When I left Chicago, I wanted to become part of the community and people of Dar es Salaam. Unfortunately, that was a tall order and I found myself friends, almost exclusively, with expats. But now I am friends, almost exclusively, with local Kenyans. More people speak English in Nairobi than in Dar. There are more mzungus here so I'm not such a spectacle. But, aside from these reasons, I'm more confident and adapted in Nairobi. Dar was my learning curve, perhaps.

I set out to be a participant, not an observer. I'm finally realizing that here.

*One thing that Dar es Salaam has that Nairobi does not, however, is this establishment, boasting Chicago's finest.