KENYA: A different similarity of cultures

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By Furera Bagel, Ph.D

I have always loved Kenya even before I ever visited, but Prior to year 2015, my only recollections at the mention of that country were Mau-mau, Safari, jumping Masai and Mount Kilimanjaro. Of course I now know Africa’s tallest mountain is in Tanzania, and thanks to Goh Cheng Leong’s geography textbook “Certificate Physical and Human Geography” where erroneously, most of my generation were made to believe it’s a mountain in Kenya.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived Kenya on that cold April morning was the behaviour of the majority of the people which differs greatly from Nigerians. I perceive them as very reserved and unfriendly but to my surprise, I later discovered many Kenyans regard most Nigerians as brash, aggressive and rich.

There is a general belief among many Kenyans that Nigerians are extremely wealthy. This misconception undoubtedly might be due to the flamboyant and colourful nature of many Nigerian men residing there, most especially when it comes down to their relationships with Kenyan girls. An understanding of their delusion came when an Uber driver showed me houses in Kilimani area of Nairobi, where he claimed some Nigerians referred to as wash-wash guys allegedly pay as much as 80KhS monthly as house rent. After further inquiry, I learned wash-wash word is a Kenyan local term for money counterfeiting syndicates synonymous to Nigeria’s 419 or yahoo-yahoo.

Unlike Most Nigerians, Kenyans I met differ a lot from us in their behaviours, in the sense that majority of them are nonviolent. They abhor any form of confrontation and would rather consent to a bully than make a scene or fight back. I had witnessed many encounters where I ended up alone voice in protest against something I deemed unacceptable, although sometimes one just has to play Roman while in Rome. A validation of this perceived docility came one day when I was at a bank for a transaction. On my way out after completing my business, I noticed the exit door was locked and people were just standing, waiting for the doors to be unlocked. After about 30 minutes it turned out a security guard locked it on an excuse that he had to go somewhere. My mind was busy conjuring all manners of verbal invectives customers will vent on him; I felt pity for the poor guy as he was opening the door. To my shock and disbelief, everyone simply went past him without even a glance and just continued on about their business, Chai!!! Trust the Nigerian in me,  I made sure I gave him a hard, stern look as I passed by him. 

Another aspect of our apparent diversity is food. I witnessed quite a few marriages between Nigerians and Kenyans but only one of them happened to be Yoruba, that was possibly due to the fact that they knew that most Kenyans couldn’t stand the pepper they couldn’t live without. Kenyans prefer their food simple and healthy; they detest seasonings and in most cases allow just a small amount of salt. The most popular cuisine in Kenya is Chappati, a thin pancake of unleavened wholemeal bread cooked on a griddle. It is a popular meal to all Kenyans and most East Africans by extension despite its origins in a neighbouring subcontinent, one of the legacies of Indians in Kenya.

As an Indian movies enthusiast, I couldn’t help but notice the influence of Indian language and culture on Kenyans, though it wasn’t so surprising when I learnt majority of Indians have been in Kenya since 1896 -1901, part of the colonial enterprise manpower recruited to build the railways. 

As usual, the linguist in me also couldn’t ignore Indian words I picked in Kiswahili. For example, a car is Gari in both Kiswahili and Indian languages and it’s the same with Pesa, which means money in both languages. The popular mobile money platform used by many Kenyans known as M-Pesa, further validates these observations. Then there is Biryani, a mixed rice dish that also originated from India.

There are some Kenyan cuisines that are similar to some Nigerian ones, like Mandazi, which is puff-puff, Pilau is Jollof without all the garnishing, and it is what the Hausa knows as garau-garau.  

The influence of foreign cultures on Kenyans and Kiswahili language did not stop with only Hindi language. In fact, Arabic played a greater role in linguistic aspects as Kiswahili has borrowed extensively from Arabic just like Hausa language. I remember my incredulous feeling the first time I watched Kiswahili news on KTN, a Kenyan channel.  

I couldn’t contain myself when I heard words like Waziri, halali, Jamhuri, asubuhi, hekima, hamsini, ishirini, haiba, mwallimu, rahima, tauba, etc. There are so many Kiswahili words that sound exactly or similar to Hausa words due to the high level of borrowing from Arabic by both languages.

Assimilation wasn’t too difficult, I was able to break the ice after realising Kenyans are a lot different from us yet so similar in many cases. I was able to make friends and know people from different parts of Kenya. I found out one of their biggest challenges to be tribalism. Hardly does one make a conversation with a Kenyan without the issue creeping in. But I was able to make friends out of different tribes and tried to understand them. I know Kikuyu’s who come from central Kenya to be the most industrious in culinary love with Gideri which they eat delightfully. The Luo from Nyanza area brag about being the most intelligent in the country and that is Obama and Lupita’s tribe, they also love to eat fish. The Luhya from western Kenya are considered to be the strongest, most of the rugby players belong to that tribe and they love to eat Ugali (corn meal) and chicken. The Kalenjins are from Bomet county and they are considered the fastest, most of the champion runners from Kenya belong to them and they love to drink milk. I also know that the Masai are the most popular Kenyan tribe and their cousins the Turkana to be the fiercest people. It is said that a Turkana can kill a lion with bare hands. For me, Kamba and Meru have the most beautiful girls.

My time in Kenya afforded me the opportunity to visit many counties and see some out of the many beautiful places the country has to offer as tourists attraction, like Nairobi National park, Nakuru national park, Naivasha, Carnivore, Mombasa, etc. It really is indeed a place worth visiting and it is memories shall stay with me forever.

 

Furera Adamu Garba, is Lecturer at the Department of Nigerian Languages and Linguistics, Bauchi State University Gadau.

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