Recently, a client and her husband got back from a 2-week safari trip to Kenya and Tanzania. As she regaled me with stories from their travels (and there were many, as you can imagine), we happened upon a subject that she’d found particularly interesting.
The first thing she noticed right off the bat was they had no trouble making their way through the airport – everything was in English. And turns out that wasn’t just for the benefit of the tourists. Most of the signs they encountered throughout the country were in English. Road signs, business names, advertisements, menus – everything.
Naturally, they were curious about this, and questioned their tour guide. She explained that Kenya has strong English and Indian influences due to the British colonization of Kenya in the 1920s. And when the Brits came, they brought Indian workers with them.
As a result, though Swahili is the national language, English is the official working language of Kenya. Christianity is the most prominent religion in Kenya, claiming about 80% of the population. Other religions are practiced, of course, but none are as popular. Kenya’s second largest religion is Islam at about 12%. And only a small portion of the population practices religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
This struck my client as surprising, as she had expected to encounter very little English on their trip, and thought traditional African religions would be more popular than anything else.
Their guide continued to inform them of current issues Kenyans are facing regarding politics. The people, she said, were generally very angry with and distrusting of politicians because they’ve proven to be so corrupt. Many Kenyans are very religious, and politicians use that to their advantage: promoting strong moral and family values that are so important to Kenya’s citizens, only to have it all come to nothing once they’re elected.
As a result, people are putting more of their faith in businessmen. They figure a businessman HAS to be the better option. After all, anything’s better than a politician.
Sound familiar?
My client certainly thought so. She said she found the entire discussion to be powerfully revealing. As they continued to drive along, she couldn’t help but reflect on how similar Kenya is to America. She had expected to come to a country radically different from her own, only to encounter issues and beliefs that reminded her of her own life.
With all the anger, fear, and disconnect we’re subjected to these days, it’s easy to forget how much we have in common. That no matter where we’re from, at the end of the day we’re all just people doing our best to get by.
Overall, my client said one of the most amazing things she brought back with her was a new sense of comradery with far-off community of people.
“The details may be very different,” she said, “but we’re all more alike than we realize.”
What a refreshing lesson! One I think we can all stand to remind ourselves of as we progress through these interesting times.
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