I had a malaria scare. Luckily, it was just that—a scare. I’m still not sure what was wrong with me*, but for about 48 hours, I had absolutely no appetite, a slight fever, and couldn’t keep my eyes open to save my life. i woke up not wanting to move at all, did a half-assed job of weeding on the farm, and then dragged my feet all the way to the icipe clinic. We had just climbed gambe the day before, so luckily all our hosts accepted the explanation that that’s why I was tired and didn’t worry too much more about me.
On our way to icipe, we passed a hut where a bunch of guys were loafing around. I think the hut belonged to one of ken’s brothers, so when they called to us to stop, we did. What a surprise, they wanted money. A tattered looking old fisherman sold us some story about his critically ill 1 yr old baby, saying he needed KSH100 to take her to the clinic. His friend added that fishermen were the poorest ppl in Kenya. Not knowing too much about the Kenyan healthcare system, I told him that I’d give him the money if he brought me a fish, but I wouldn’t give him something for nothing. They promised to deliver a nile perch to ken’s door tomorrow, and we were on our way. I remember fearing that I’d heard their price wrong. Only KSH100 to fix a girl’s chest problem? Really? Maybe they think I’ll give them USD100 for their fish…and then I got to thinking. There were maybe 8 men there. Between them, they couldn’t scrape together KSH100 to help their friend? Why did they need me? Ppl are poor, but not really THAT poor. Just 3 fish go for around KSH200 to 300.
and that’s something that’s been confusing me for a while. When ppl beg, they always ask for KSH20. you can barely buy anything for KSH20 (maybe 4 bananas,4 pieces of fried bread, or a game of billiards—which most ppl can definitely afford). I finally figured out that for most of them, they don’t beg b/c they actually need it, they beg because it costs them nothing. They think we’ve got so much money we’re happy to go handing it out to everyone we meet. Seeing a mzungu is like catching a leprechaun—free gold! I’m convinced most kids only know 2 english phrases: “mzungu, how are you!” and “give me money!” I’ve started answering them with: “why?” as in, why do you need money? And also, why should I give you money? Why should you get something for nothing? But my ambiguity is wasted, since “why” is not in their repertoire of English. It just buys me enough confusion to escape.
At the icipe clinic, I asked the doctor about healthcare in Kenya. He said that healthcare is a pyramidal. At the lowest level, there are free dispensaries, and then there are government clinics where you get all your drugs and tests for KSH20. The sicker you are, the higher up the pyramid you go, so the ppl at the top are the sickest, but also get the best medical attention. if you can’t afford the KSH20 fee at the government clinic, you get your chief to write you a letter, and the fee is waived. Children under 5 automatically get their fees waived. So. The fisherman lied to me. What a surprise. The doctor also said that fishermen are the richest ppl in kenya (but he must've meant richest of the poor b/c he himself was obviously better off than a fisherman) and that he sees tons of men who come in with kids who’ve been sick for days, but the guys don’t bring them in until they’re critical. And then the guys say they can’t pay the fees, even though they’ll have been out drinking for the past 2 nights. Then he added that if a man can afford to have two wives, he can afford KSH20 for his kids to go to the doctor. Two wives are expensive to keep.
Oh yeah, surprise! Bet you didn’t expect polygamy to rear its head, especially considering how Christian this country is. For example, Kenyan Christians are always amazed that American Christians like to drink alcohol (I know teetotalism isn’t a Christian virtue per se, but it shows you how strict they are), and every night, before we close the center, someone says a prayer, which usually mentions something about the blood of Christ washing ALL OVER the center (really? Hasn’t the poor guy bled enough? And what with the catholics eating him all the time at mass…). Gerald told us, “there’s nothing in the bible against a man marrying two wives”. Um…I haven’t really read it thoroughly, but I guess I always assumed that monogamy was a requirement. Am I wrong? And then Gerald added that Christians can have many wives, but if you want to be a preacher, you can’t have more than two. I hope he meant more than one, but I’ve learned that this country wreaks havoc with my assumptions. Like when I assumed the wwoof ad that pluralized “wives” while requesting Christian workers was a typo or a language barrier (I even pointed it out to Erika for a laugh. Turns out, the joke’s on me).
But whatever, I can understand how polygamy isn’t really the issue that alcoholism is in this country. maybe there’s nothing inherently evil in polygamy (jon, don’t get any ideas), as long as all parties agree and there’s no abuse. I mean, in cultures where marriage isn’t really for love anyways, does it matter if your husband already has a wife? Doesn’t it just mean that you’re under the thumb of the older wife instead of the mother-in-law (like in traditional Chinese households)? Whereas alcoholism means that a husband squanders the little money that should’ve been spent on the family on drunkenness instead.
Let's bring it back to polygamy. Shevaun, a vet friend of mine from HK, mentioned once that guys don’t have the balls for polygamy. apparently, polygamous animals all have much larger testicle to body weight ratios than humans. To put it into perspective, she said that the average human male has the same testicle size as a small poodle. Chew on that.
Back on track--men are in charge of decisions and finances, but women are in charge of the home. Half jokingly, a guy at the bar told us that babies can cry but the man doesn’t care; the home can burn down, but the guy doesn’t care. ken told us that ladies aren’t taught to think, so they can be convinced to do anything. They can follow their men around and spend money on “bling bling”, and no one will worry about how they’ll buy food the next day. Food is seen as a woman’s concern, so it’s given surprisingly little emphasis. guys will spend KSH40 to charge up a car battery so they can play their radios all night long (quite literally, even while they're sleeping), KSH80 for a tusker beer, KSH100 for a furaha brandy (and then KSH40 more for the coke mixer), and who knows how much for their NYC cap and cell phone with the fancy ringtone, and be content to eat potatoes with cornmeal constantly (and by constantly, I mean at their 2 meals a day). It’s almost like they’re aping the form of being rich without trying to figure out how ppl get there. And this isn’t just the uneducated squatters who sit around the motorcycles all day and heckle us when we pass. Ken must spend KSH100 daily on gas for his Peugeot to drive the 3km from his home to the town (that’s exactly how he fills it up too—daily. I think we usually buy about 3L of gas at a time. One sunday he was really in a quandary b/c there wasn’t any gas in town). Ken also has this dream of going to America (why? To do a 9 month course…something about becoming a pastor, I think), even though the ticket alone will cost around USD1500. For USD500, he could bring electricity into his home. For prolly around USD500 more, he could get running water, and then for the rest, prolly even an internet connection. But he doesn’t worry about any of this. Why? b/c he’s a man, and his ambitions trump his concern for his home. Don’t get me wrong, ken’s a good guy, but I really really don’t understand ppl’s priorities here.
And now let’s get started on the work ethic. I’m not talking about the whole population. Obviously there are ppl who work hard, go to school, have ambitions, get jobs, etc. but there are a surprising number who are happy to do nothing. Everywhere we see clumps of young men lazing in the shade, drinking beer, asking us for money when we pass. Ken’s dad, Daniel, dropped out of school to be a laborer when his grandfather died. On that income, he supports 2 wives and raised 10 children (one wife was inherited from his brother, who died in 1976). He sent a good number of those kids all the way through school. Daniel’s dad was an alcoholic who gave him nothing, so it’s not like Daniel had some glowing opportunity that other ppl couldn’t get. But even some of daniel’s kids don’t do anything (but it’s hard to tell b/c ppl don’t consider farm work a job…so maybe those kids help him on the farm). I don’t know…it just seems that the prevailing attitude is that ppl are happy to take handouts. How should Kenya solve this or that problem? Obviously, wait for aid from the UN or the US or the world bank or whatever relevant party. How do you send your kids to school? Get a mzungu to sponsor them! Hey why not, it’s free! it's such a big difference from china, where begging is seen as something that only the lowest sector of society does.
Being here really makes me appreciate the US. Sure there’s a lot wrong, but we take for granted all that’s right. At some point in its history, America must’ve been a developing country like Kenya; I can’t fathom how it managed to get from there to where it is now. Thank you forefathers.
Oh yeah, and I don’t have malaria, but I’m changing my medication from doxycycline, which gives me an itchy rash from sun exposure (advertised as “sensitivity to sun”), to lariam, which may give me weird dreams/depression. I’m kinda pissed off at the travel clinic for pushing doxycycline so hard—it’s a bit overprescribed in this area, and some resistant strains have developed. And when I asked them about side effects, I got the answer, “all drugs have side effects”, and not much more, so when I developed the rash, I had a hell of a time imagining what was wrong with me (from worms to scabies to lots of stuff in between). When I asked about lariam, the doctor was really dismissive—pretty much saying that this WILL give me depression, when the odds aren’t that high at all. Anyways, we’ll see.
*acute reaction to shistosome infection
On our way to icipe, we passed a hut where a bunch of guys were loafing around. I think the hut belonged to one of ken’s brothers, so when they called to us to stop, we did. What a surprise, they wanted money. A tattered looking old fisherman sold us some story about his critically ill 1 yr old baby, saying he needed KSH100 to take her to the clinic. His friend added that fishermen were the poorest ppl in Kenya. Not knowing too much about the Kenyan healthcare system, I told him that I’d give him the money if he brought me a fish, but I wouldn’t give him something for nothing. They promised to deliver a nile perch to ken’s door tomorrow, and we were on our way. I remember fearing that I’d heard their price wrong. Only KSH100 to fix a girl’s chest problem? Really? Maybe they think I’ll give them USD100 for their fish…and then I got to thinking. There were maybe 8 men there. Between them, they couldn’t scrape together KSH100 to help their friend? Why did they need me? Ppl are poor, but not really THAT poor. Just 3 fish go for around KSH200 to 300.
and that’s something that’s been confusing me for a while. When ppl beg, they always ask for KSH20. you can barely buy anything for KSH20 (maybe 4 bananas,4 pieces of fried bread, or a game of billiards—which most ppl can definitely afford). I finally figured out that for most of them, they don’t beg b/c they actually need it, they beg because it costs them nothing. They think we’ve got so much money we’re happy to go handing it out to everyone we meet. Seeing a mzungu is like catching a leprechaun—free gold! I’m convinced most kids only know 2 english phrases: “mzungu, how are you!” and “give me money!” I’ve started answering them with: “why?” as in, why do you need money? And also, why should I give you money? Why should you get something for nothing? But my ambiguity is wasted, since “why” is not in their repertoire of English. It just buys me enough confusion to escape.
At the icipe clinic, I asked the doctor about healthcare in Kenya. He said that healthcare is a pyramidal. At the lowest level, there are free dispensaries, and then there are government clinics where you get all your drugs and tests for KSH20. The sicker you are, the higher up the pyramid you go, so the ppl at the top are the sickest, but also get the best medical attention. if you can’t afford the KSH20 fee at the government clinic, you get your chief to write you a letter, and the fee is waived. Children under 5 automatically get their fees waived. So. The fisherman lied to me. What a surprise. The doctor also said that fishermen are the richest ppl in kenya (but he must've meant richest of the poor b/c he himself was obviously better off than a fisherman) and that he sees tons of men who come in with kids who’ve been sick for days, but the guys don’t bring them in until they’re critical. And then the guys say they can’t pay the fees, even though they’ll have been out drinking for the past 2 nights. Then he added that if a man can afford to have two wives, he can afford KSH20 for his kids to go to the doctor. Two wives are expensive to keep.
Oh yeah, surprise! Bet you didn’t expect polygamy to rear its head, especially considering how Christian this country is. For example, Kenyan Christians are always amazed that American Christians like to drink alcohol (I know teetotalism isn’t a Christian virtue per se, but it shows you how strict they are), and every night, before we close the center, someone says a prayer, which usually mentions something about the blood of Christ washing ALL OVER the center (really? Hasn’t the poor guy bled enough? And what with the catholics eating him all the time at mass…). Gerald told us, “there’s nothing in the bible against a man marrying two wives”. Um…I haven’t really read it thoroughly, but I guess I always assumed that monogamy was a requirement. Am I wrong? And then Gerald added that Christians can have many wives, but if you want to be a preacher, you can’t have more than two. I hope he meant more than one, but I’ve learned that this country wreaks havoc with my assumptions. Like when I assumed the wwoof ad that pluralized “wives” while requesting Christian workers was a typo or a language barrier (I even pointed it out to Erika for a laugh. Turns out, the joke’s on me).
But whatever, I can understand how polygamy isn’t really the issue that alcoholism is in this country. maybe there’s nothing inherently evil in polygamy (jon, don’t get any ideas), as long as all parties agree and there’s no abuse. I mean, in cultures where marriage isn’t really for love anyways, does it matter if your husband already has a wife? Doesn’t it just mean that you’re under the thumb of the older wife instead of the mother-in-law (like in traditional Chinese households)? Whereas alcoholism means that a husband squanders the little money that should’ve been spent on the family on drunkenness instead.
Let's bring it back to polygamy. Shevaun, a vet friend of mine from HK, mentioned once that guys don’t have the balls for polygamy. apparently, polygamous animals all have much larger testicle to body weight ratios than humans. To put it into perspective, she said that the average human male has the same testicle size as a small poodle. Chew on that.
Back on track--men are in charge of decisions and finances, but women are in charge of the home. Half jokingly, a guy at the bar told us that babies can cry but the man doesn’t care; the home can burn down, but the guy doesn’t care. ken told us that ladies aren’t taught to think, so they can be convinced to do anything. They can follow their men around and spend money on “bling bling”, and no one will worry about how they’ll buy food the next day. Food is seen as a woman’s concern, so it’s given surprisingly little emphasis. guys will spend KSH40 to charge up a car battery so they can play their radios all night long (quite literally, even while they're sleeping), KSH80 for a tusker beer, KSH100 for a furaha brandy (and then KSH40 more for the coke mixer), and who knows how much for their NYC cap and cell phone with the fancy ringtone, and be content to eat potatoes with cornmeal constantly (and by constantly, I mean at their 2 meals a day). It’s almost like they’re aping the form of being rich without trying to figure out how ppl get there. And this isn’t just the uneducated squatters who sit around the motorcycles all day and heckle us when we pass. Ken must spend KSH100 daily on gas for his Peugeot to drive the 3km from his home to the town (that’s exactly how he fills it up too—daily. I think we usually buy about 3L of gas at a time. One sunday he was really in a quandary b/c there wasn’t any gas in town). Ken also has this dream of going to America (why? To do a 9 month course…something about becoming a pastor, I think), even though the ticket alone will cost around USD1500. For USD500, he could bring electricity into his home. For prolly around USD500 more, he could get running water, and then for the rest, prolly even an internet connection. But he doesn’t worry about any of this. Why? b/c he’s a man, and his ambitions trump his concern for his home. Don’t get me wrong, ken’s a good guy, but I really really don’t understand ppl’s priorities here.
And now let’s get started on the work ethic. I’m not talking about the whole population. Obviously there are ppl who work hard, go to school, have ambitions, get jobs, etc. but there are a surprising number who are happy to do nothing. Everywhere we see clumps of young men lazing in the shade, drinking beer, asking us for money when we pass. Ken’s dad, Daniel, dropped out of school to be a laborer when his grandfather died. On that income, he supports 2 wives and raised 10 children (one wife was inherited from his brother, who died in 1976). He sent a good number of those kids all the way through school. Daniel’s dad was an alcoholic who gave him nothing, so it’s not like Daniel had some glowing opportunity that other ppl couldn’t get. But even some of daniel’s kids don’t do anything (but it’s hard to tell b/c ppl don’t consider farm work a job…so maybe those kids help him on the farm). I don’t know…it just seems that the prevailing attitude is that ppl are happy to take handouts. How should Kenya solve this or that problem? Obviously, wait for aid from the UN or the US or the world bank or whatever relevant party. How do you send your kids to school? Get a mzungu to sponsor them! Hey why not, it’s free! it's such a big difference from china, where begging is seen as something that only the lowest sector of society does.
Being here really makes me appreciate the US. Sure there’s a lot wrong, but we take for granted all that’s right. At some point in its history, America must’ve been a developing country like Kenya; I can’t fathom how it managed to get from there to where it is now. Thank you forefathers.
Oh yeah, and I don’t have malaria, but I’m changing my medication from doxycycline, which gives me an itchy rash from sun exposure (advertised as “sensitivity to sun”), to lariam, which may give me weird dreams/depression. I’m kinda pissed off at the travel clinic for pushing doxycycline so hard—it’s a bit overprescribed in this area, and some resistant strains have developed. And when I asked them about side effects, I got the answer, “all drugs have side effects”, and not much more, so when I developed the rash, I had a hell of a time imagining what was wrong with me (from worms to scabies to lots of stuff in between). When I asked about lariam, the doctor was really dismissive—pretty much saying that this WILL give me depression, when the odds aren’t that high at all. Anyways, we’ll see.
*acute reaction to shistosome infection
3 comments:
Enjoy your crazy dreams :). Some people actually like them, and I know one person whose doctor recommended Larium over doxy AND malarone even though all three were covered by her insurance. That seems crazy to me, but just letting you know that I think you'll be fine. Glad you don't have malaria.
One of the big problems is handouts. A lot of people are used to them because Mzungus do give out money, and NGOs do give out handouts. In a lot of ways, good intentioned NGOs are responsible for a great deal of laziness in the poor cultures that they try to help. I'm super happy you aren't perpetuating that. The laziness of a lot of males comes out even more on farms. Farming is typically done by women (viewed as a domestic chore).
I don't think I agree with your summary of people's priorities though. It's true, lots of poor people are lazy and many aren't that smart. This is true everywhere. In Kenya there are a lot more poor people (and they're way more prevalent) than in the US. If you hung out with poor people in the US, I'm sure you'd feel similarly. People want to succeed, but when you grow up in poverty, you may not have the clearest idea of how to do that.
What could the lazy people do to improve their lives? Unemployment rates in Kenya were around 40% in 2001 (couldn't find more current numbers). Laziness implies that people have opportunities that they aren't taking. But what good is an expensive college degree if you still can't get a job? Try offering someone 100 ksh a day to do your laundry and cook for you. Or 300 ksh to drive you around on their motorcycle to run errands. I'd bet you get takers. 100 ksh a day is probably close to the median income in Kenya (apparently the national mean is < 200 ksh a day). 20 ksh isn't so shabby, though the people who are asking for it sound like they're on the "well off" side of poor.
Arghhh…i wrote a huge long comment, but then the connection died and i lost it. But here’s the gist of it…
I think the weird priorities and the poverty are two different issues. Ken, our host, is absolutely not lazy, but he’s already spent USD450 on visa processing fees alone. I guess if your sister is the one washing your clothes in the lake, cooking your food over a charcoal fire, and carrying the water for your bath, then you don’t really have to be concerned about getting running water or electricity, but still…it’s amazing how little he’s concerned about improving his family’s standard of living.
Ken’s cousin, vicky, is one of the flyest kenyans i know. He earns KSH100 a day (on average) by charging ppl’s car batteries, but he has like 5 pairs of shoes (one of which is white faux leather with pointy tips) and a gym membership. It’s the responsibility of his 80 yr old grandmother to feed and house him, so he’s free to spend exactly 100% of his income on bling.
As for the laziness, i’m pretty sure that there are opportunities that ppl don’t take advantage of. A road is being built right next to the shade where young men sit and drink beer. The ppl building this road with their pickaxes and shovels are of all sorts—old and young, women and men. I can’t believe that if a young man tried to get a job building that road, that he wouldn’t get accepted before an old woman.
And in uganda, amin kicked out all the asians and seized their businesses. When he got ousted, the government had to invite all the asians back, b/c they realized that the economy was going nowhere fast without them (this is taken almost exactly from the lonely planet east africa). Maybe the fact that asians can do what ugandans can’t can be attributed to education, but comparing poor chinese ppl and poor kenyans, the chinese just seem more ambitious. But maybe that’s b/c i generally meet chinese ppl in cities…i dont’ know, generalizations are hard.
We did meet someone who told us that in the cold war years, kenya recieved more western aid than the rest of africa combined. That’s a lot of money ! and where’s it all gone ?
The lariam is going pretty well. I do like the dreams…i even woke up laughing one night b/c there was a person in my dream with really funny looking eyes. And it’s a relief not to have to worry about eating so that i can take my medicine.
Again, I agree that some people have priorities that are messed up. Without the benefit of our education and upbringing, I understand how the priorities get messed up. I also think that the amazing amount of aid that Kenya received hurt them in the long run. Why work when you can have a handout? On one hand, I don’t really blame them for being lazy. With so much unemployment and the availability of an “easier path” through leeching or getting aid, why work? Also, how old is Vicky? I know I blew all my money on "bling" until I was about 23 and out of college. Until then, my parents not only roomed/boarded me, but also paid for a crapload of tuition.
Overall, I think a lot of people dream big. Instead of trying to make small improvements to their life, they want to make drastic ones (see lottery ticket purchasers). This may explain the US Visa even though it costs 6-12 months worth of salary. Even a crappy job in the US could pay something like 3 months of salary per day (granted cost of living is also orders of magnitude higher).
Anyway, my only point is that there are a lot of poor people in Kenya. Poor people in general aren’t very good at financial planning or making money (hence, they are poor). It’s easy to see how this part of society became more prevalent in Kenya than in the US, and I find it hard to judge them too harshly because I honestly have no idea what it would be like to be born into that society.
But don’t put all poor people into the same bucket. A lot of poor people work very hard, but just don’t have the right tools to get out of poverty. If you want to help these hardworking people, consider a donation to One Acre Fund (www.oneacrefund.org).
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