Customer Service in Kenya

Just as I was glad and happy to be back in my country Kenya, I always get a quick grip of reality of how normal things are. I wanted to have internet right away so I decided to restore my previous cellular phone numbers which I had a problem remembering as I always stay in Kenya for a short time before going back to Belize.

I walked into Airtel office and ask for assistance at the first counter and was directed where to go. So I went to the sales lady and following is the conversation we had: -

Airtel: (Just looking at me without even smiling or saying hello, her energy told me ‘Just tell me what you want my time is more precious to serve you’)

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Racist? Just a Cover Up of Who You Really Are

Whenever I go to the farmers market here in Belize, I avoid going to stalls served by ‘African/Black Belizeans’. When I do they serve me assuming I’m a Belizean based on my looks. But as soon as they realize I don’t understand creole, I immediately become their subject of mockery. They talk about you when you are just standing there waiting to be served and try to exploit you anyway they can.

One time I was at the market the vendor tried to give me less change because they know how confusing currencies are when you are in a foreign country, only to pretend to be embarrassed when I told him I’m still waiting for my full change. This happens several times.

You will think that because these people are so wrapped up in their strong African/black history, they will welcome you with open arms and embrace you once they realize

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Kenyans Were Given Animal Feeds by the US Gov't

In the nineties there was drought in Kenya and as a result there was shortage of food especially maize (corn) which is highly consumed by many communities. (In Kenya we call it maize, if you say corn people become confused because there are different types of corn (e.g wheat, oats, barley) and maize is one of them, corn is the family name, it is like calling a pistachio nut when we know there are different types of nuts). As a result of the drought, the US government was generous enough to donate corn to the Kenyan government.

Just as the corn was received, a politician who was holding a rally told Kenyans that the corn donated by the US government is specifically grown to feed cattle in the US

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I Do Not Celebrate Valentine's Day

Valentine is around the corner and the media has already begun advertising their products. Stamping in our heads ideas of how love should be celebrated; chocolate, roses and dinner date is a must. It used to be that everything must be in red but not anymore.

Whether you decide to celebrate or not, here is a brief history of Valentine’s Day: -

It originated from the pagan customs between the 3rd and 4th  Century B.C. when the Festivals of Purification were celebrated in Ancient Rome between February 13 and February 18. This was also the time of a Fertility Festival which celebrated a young man's rite of passage and involved animal sacrifices and fertility rituals. During the celebrations the priests would sacrifice a dog and a goat, smearing the animal blood onto the foreheads of two virgin youths of noble birth who, clad only in a goatskin thong.

The names of willing young women were placed into a box or urn and drawn

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The Menonnite and Amish Communities

I’m sure there are a lot of people who have no idea who the Mennonites or Amish are, leave alone knowing their existence. I was one of those couple of years ago; thanks to traveling I cracked out of my shell.

There is a Mennonite community here in Belize located in Spanish Lookout in Cayo which settled in the 1950’s.  They normally go to Belize City on Fridays to sell their products and navigate freely without anyone staring because they are Belizeans and form part of the Belizean culture - this is one good thing about Belize, a multi-cultural country.

Who are the Mennonite and Amish?

Both the Mennonites and Amish originated from Anabaptist movement

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The Swahili Roses I Know

Growing up flowers were a major part of our lives and I started seeing roses as young as I could remember. The smell of the roses was unique, just one rose inside a room would fragrance the whole room and you don’t have to place the rose under your nose to smell it.

When I went to high school I got introduced to another family of roses which looked beautiful than the ones my mom used to bring home. The petals were firm and the colors were rich but had no smell at all. Even when I placed the rose under my nose still could not get any smell and that

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The Coconut Grater - Lessons in Life

Sometimes back in Kenya I ordered a local man who makes coconut grater (locally known as mbuzi - meaning goat) to make me one. Big one just like the old ones, because you can sit comfortably on it when grating coconut.

This type of grater is very old; I guess more than a hundred years, because it is displayed in our Mombasa museum - Fort Jesus. In fact I have never seen anything better than it for processing coconut at home. Earlier we were made to believe that it was used by either the Portuguese or Arabs during those times and we are still using it today. But if you look in the recipes for both the Swahilis, Arabs and the Portuguese, the Swahilis utilize coconut in almost all their recipes and I think the others actually adopted it from us.

The man brought the grater after 2 days and he made it just like the old one

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Is Emotional Energy Transferable?

Do you believe that emotional energy is transferable verbally and written? It’s not only human energy but from my experience almost everything in the world has energy and it always affects us. For instance the picture of Belize River in my blog I posted earlier, I remember very well how I felt when I was there. It was like everything else around me stopped and the river was speaking to me. It was so calm so beautiful so peaceful and after staring deeply I also had the same calm feeling. When I took that photo the energy was also captured and is now transferred to whoever looks at it.

So what is it about this energy? Something that is intangible, something that is possessed by both living and the non living (so we think) like the sea?

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Cutlets

Ingredients

250gm (½ lb.) minced beef
I cup onions very finely cubed
500gm (1 lb.) potatoes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground black-pepper

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Do Africans believe in Obesity?

Yes we do, although it is always a compliment when someone tells you have gained weight, there is a line when you cross, you are considered obese or fat. In Kiswahili language we have some of the ugliest and disgusting names for obese and very thin people that anyone becomes offended when used to describe them.

For a Swahili woman to be a total package she must be curvy and her legs and arms must be smooth and rounded, no hard muscles protruding like with the western women. Muscles on women is considered very ugly, unattractive, unsexy and repels men.

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