Kenya - First Impressions

After a 25 hour flight, I had finally arrived in Kenya. It was such a wonderful sight to walk through the airport security and see my Kenyan buddy, Muchiri, holding an AIESEC sign. He then helped take me to the Intern House in Kileleshwa, where I will be staying for the next two months in Kenya. I live there with eight other international students – from Brazil, Mexico, Germany, France, and Netherlands. We also have a wonderful cook named Noah who serves as our taxi driver as well. So many people in the apartment makes for lively nights and I always look forward to going back after work.

The day after I arrived, I had to learn how to get to work using public transportation. The other interns at LivelyHoods (where I’m interning) take taxis but I like to follow the saying – when in Kenya, do as the Kenyans do! The most popular form of transportation here are the matatus – minivans that can fit up to 14 people (or even more during rush hour) at a time. Each matatu is often decorated with interesting themes – I’ve seen some that have Jesus written all over it. They usually play loud reggae music as they drive (although occasionally, you find the one driver who enjoys  American 90s music like the Backstreet Boys). I was first pretty nervous taking a matatu since to me, they were very chaotic. There was no definite bus stop, no definite time table for the matatus, no set map route for the matatus, and everyone I asked said that you just know which matatu to take to get somewhere.  My first day riding the matatus – I had gone the long way at first and ended up taking two hours to get to work. Then on the way back, the matatu dropped me off in a location that I did not recognize, and I ended up calling a taxi. Over the course of the week, however, I have somewhat mastered the art of matatu-riding (at least to and from work) and now, I look forward to the cheap and fun transportation system! I’ve realized that the matatus do follow a definitely route, even though it is not written down. And there are definitely advantages to no clear bus stops – you can get off wherever you want, and you never have to rush somewhere to catch a matatu since there is no clear time schedule. As a result, Kenyans seem much more relaxed with their time, which is something we can all learn to do a bit more.

- Jennifer Qiao