A White Woman Smoking in Kibera!

The first week that I was serving at First Love there was a team here from the U.S. who were putting on a VBS-style program at a school in Kibera, the nearby slum. Rochelle and I joined them each day to help out. We would make the hour and a half drive both ways each day with one of the directors (a Kenyan), another intern who is from the Czech Republic, a Kenyan intern, and two of the high school-aged kids from First Love. Needless to say, we are all very very different and come from very different cultures.

Kibera is a pretty rough area; there is deep poverty and suffering there. It is an area that we are careful in and even Kenyans familiar with the area approach with caution. It is very rare to see a mzungu in Kibera.

One day on our drive home, we were all exhausted and no one in our very-full car was talking. Suddenly, all at once, we all exclaimed in unison "A WHITE WOMAN SMOKING IN KIBERA?!?!?" There she was: a middle aged white woman with dark hair, wearing all black, walking down the sidewalk with a cigarette in her mouth. Everyone immediately burst into uproarious laughter; we were literally doubled over in our seats. I think it was especially funny because we all found it funny: the ridiculousness of this bold mzungu woman casually hanging out on the street in Kibera spanned all our cultures and generations.

That was the moment that I knew I was going to be OK here in Kenya: yes, the culture here is very different and there has been so much to adjust to, but finding the common humor in a ridiculous situation comforted me that I would find my place. 

I do feel that I have found my place here but there are still ridiculous things that happen daily or just things that I once would have found strange that I've now gotten used to. Laughter expounds around here on the daily for many reasons, including:

• Reading essays of the junior high students...I suspect that they've been told to use similes and "common" English phrases, but in practice this often just turns out ridiculous. Some of my favorites: "Tears rolled down his cheeks like fat elevens." "I could see the tomatoes bloom on his cheeks as he became embarrassed." "He stared at me like I was a rich piece of mahogany."
• Talking about de-worming: When was the last time you were de-wormed? How often do you de-worm? How often should we de-worm? Uncomfortable? Maybe it's worms!
• Getting hit on/proposed to, over and over again: A little of this I've brought upon myself, but I can only laugh at the boldness of men here. Walking down the street the other day, I had the typical "hello, how are you, fine, how are you?" conversation in Swahili with a shopkeeper. Naturally, his next question was "Would you like to be my fiancee?" I wonder what his success rate with that one is.

I am glad that as weird as things can be around here sometimes, laughter knows no age or culture or language. Sometimes I get through the day on laughter alone, and that is something to be thankful for.