Kenya Dig It? ~ Twinsies

We’ve all heard that Kenyans were thrilled to hear about the US election—a president whose father hailed from their country is unprecedented, after all. The national holiday was shown over here and apparently included “eating, drinking beer, slaughtering bulls and goats, dancing in the streets, etc..”*

 

But I’ll be you didn’t know that, as far as quite a lot of Kenyans were concerned, it was always all about Obama.

 

Last September, when I was still wandering around Mombasa being amazed that it really existed, America was starting to hear more about this Obama fellow and his race against Hillary and some Republicans.  A few of us were becoming increasingly interested; most Americans were growing more aware of him.  But here he was just getting into the swing—getting ahead of others, yes, but still one of many.

 

And yet, there on the other side of the world, I would strike up conversations with people that became, “So, are you voting for Obama?”

 

At first I was thinking it was fun to be able to talk politics with people.  But as I went along, something occurred to me: these people were actually paying attention to another country’s politics.

 

Hell, I couldn’t say the same.  I only knew about the big race between incumbent president Mwai Kibaki and challenger Raila Odinga because I was visiting the place and studying and had to get the hell home before the election in case there were riots.  But these guys were paying attention to politics on the other side of the world.

 

Partly it’s that a lot of Kenyans do feel they have a personal stake in it. In some people’s eyes, his ties to Kenya made him Kenyan, and they would have an in with the White House, at least symbolically. But then I found out it went deeper than that, to things that never mattered in America.

 

Kenya is made up of tribes and sub-tribes and all sorts of weird political fractions that Americans are only vaguely aware of.** In their eyes, Obama is not just pretty-much-Kenyan. Obama is Luo—and that comes with a whole lot of baggage I can only vaguely describe. But as far as most Kenyans were concerned, this baggage was significant. I remember a lot of Odinga supporters were excited at a tie that would have never occurred to me: Odinga was also Luo. If he got in, and Obama got in, there would be Luos in both presidencies, and this would strengthen ties between the countries more than if Obama got in but Kibaki (a Kikuyu, I believe) remained president.

 

This also led to some curious ways of judging, depending on people’s culture and their own personality. Some were more about the actual policies; some judged Obama for better or worse based on their tribal affiliation, which would make sense in this culture but really doesn’t in ours; some had downright sily reasons no matter how you look at it.*** It was totally fascinating, and definitely gave a different perspective to the presidential race that I kept while watching it here.  It helps keep you from taking your own culture’s assumptions for granted, too.

 

Plus, it was fun for me to have a connection to this whole celebration.  To be able to celebrate an event with someone on the other side of the world is pretty cool.

 

 

*That’s at least what my buddy Joseph said.  (I’m paraphrasing a bit here because Joseph’s a somewhat haphazard speller and punctuator.)  The beer and food aren’t a big surprise, but the slaughtering is a special occasion indeed.

 

**By which I mean that if we’re really paying attention we may be aware that there are Maasai and not-Maasai in Kenya.

 

***Favorite of the last: a mistrust of Obama based on the expectation that, as a Luo, he is not circumcised.  In one group of tribes circumcision marks the passage into adulthood; some of the more literal-minded members of this group are under the impression that the circumcision is what makes you an adult, and so anyone who isn’t does not have it done is not fully adult and not qualified to lead.