Album Rating: 5.0

Yeah, I am the guy. Exactly which part of Kenya did you visit?

Album Rating: 4.5

I was volunteering at an orphanage in Nairobi (out near Karen) for three months. So, unfortunately, most of my time was spent in the city. I did manage to get to Mombasa for a nice little holiday, and I did some work in the Nakuru area as well. We also spent some time near, oh man my memory of town names is already slipping, Naivasha? I also did a week at a children's outreach program near the KCC factory (and accompanying slum), I can't remember exactly where it was, but it was the one that burned to the ground a few months ago. That shit hit me harder than anything I've ever seen on the news, watching houses I had helped build burn down, watching people that I knew lose what little they had, ugh.



anyway, yeah, just down south and mainly just around Nairobi. Oh and of course I did a safari in the Masai Mara.

Album Rating: 5.0

A safari in Maasai Mara and a trip to Mombasa is a must if you come here, ironically I still haven't done the former! Yeah, the slum is called Mukuru kwa Njenga and it also hit me hard. I went there with a few friends to visit and help a poor family and saw the carnage and it was so sad. Was depressed for a week after that. And Naivasha is actually right so your memory isn't that bad.

Album Rating: 5.0

Naivasha is actually one of the best places in Kenya for a weekend out. Hope you did that otherwise you need to come back here and do it!

Album Rating: 4.5

what the hell Hillary? Benkim and I had previously talked about me being in Kenya and I was explaining what I did there.



are you seriously that fucking pathetic that you're seeing red right now cause I called your dumb ass out for buying Beats by Dre.? Everyone knows I went to Kenya and volunteered. I don't think I'm special because of it, it's just what happened. Volunteering is overrated anyway (especially in Africa) and I'm the first one to admit that it was more of a vacation than work for me. You really are just the worst.



anyway, @ the non-mouthbreather:



yeah both things are a must, but I really don't like how Kenyan safari guides are. They don't respect the trails or land at all, they tear shit up trying to get their clients as close to lions or whatever as they can, they milk HARD for tips. I did a safari in Tanzania and it was a much more pleasant experience. They respect their land and wildlife there.



I did have a night out in Naivasha actually! I had been pretty intimidated since arriving, but I got nice and drunk with some super friendly locals and I started to feel more comfortable in Kenya after that. I can't remember where we went (literally, I only remember walking into the first bar) but everyone said that it was appropriately epic. We had to get up at 6 to go hand out food and oh man volunteering never felt so awful.



Are you Kenyan?

Album Rating: 5.0

Yep, Kenyan 100%. Born and bred in Nairobi. I agree with you fully about the tour guides. My brother who is in the industry finds them abominable! It's fucked up how a Kenyan will just see $$$$ as soon as they see a white folk. Of course it is different is some parts. Tanzanians are well known even by us to be more respectful and courteous. It's just a culture thing.

Album Rating: 4.5

yeah but the worst part is that the reason they do it is because these rich tourist assholes have, in the past, given them crazy huge tips for getting them close to cheetahs or whatever. Like, we foster that behaviour. My guide got reported by another company, and while we were leaving, he had us lie to the park rangers for him. It felt awful.



I agree that it's fucked up how they see white and think $$$$, but it makes sense. I dunno, travelling in Africa as a (comparatively) wealthy person, especially one from Canada, it was a weird experience. It got me so annoyed how people only saw money when they looked at me (ironic cause I'm poor as fuck, maybe not by their standards) but what I took away from all that was "wow, what a fucked up an imbalanced world we live in." I'm sure I'd see the world the same way if I had been raised in squalor in Nairobi, say.

Album Rating: 5.0

Yeah I agree. The thing is it's not just those guys. Board a bus or a "matatu" and as a white folk and you will be shocked. I have seen guys charged 500 shillings when the actual fare was like 20 shillings!



BTW don't beat down volunteering as much. I know the experience was not as you expected but believe me it makes a HUGE difference here. I am taking community resource management in University and without you volunteering folk and your cash, so many poor folks here would have nothing!

Album Rating: 4.5

oh yeah haha believe me, nearly every time I got on a matatu they tried to rip me off. I was like BITCH I know the score, where's my change? going to markets was the absolute worst though.



and yeah i mean i like the idea of volunteering but it was just so upsetting to see how easily it could be (and was) abused. the money is just always used so inefficiently (in my limited experience), but at least it's something, you're right.

Album Rating: 3.0

What are the markets like?

I was like BITCH I know the score, where's my change?

Plays in my head with the voice of Dave Chappelle.

Album Rating: 2.0

overly dramatic and kind of annoying....

Album Rating: 5.0

OMG I know what you mean about the inefficiency! I am taking a degree in Community Resource Management in University and I see how funds for community work is abused and it's appaling!

You have to be firm with the matatu conductors or you will be ripped off! I see it all the time.

Album Rating: 4.5

-they all swarm at you right away

-they first find out where you're from, then use that to try to bond over a common enemy with you ("oh you're Canadian? my brother! we sure do hate those Americans!" "oh you're English? we sure do hate those Americans!" "oh you're American? we sure do hate those Europeans!")

-hassle non-stop, impossible to show interest without getting hounded

-they start at amount 10 times the reasonable price, they act like you're raping their kids when you haggle them down to a reasonable amount

-they dont respect women so if youre there with female friends, you have to do their bargaining for them, or possibly pretend you are their husband (they respect married women)



good times! I got better and better at it, but the first time was so frustrating that I left in under 5 minutes. The next time I went back, I was super firm and maybe a little rude and told them NO I do not need dozens of people to guide me around the various stalls. I will walk at my own pace and fuck off very much please.

Album Rating: 4.5

benkim - that's super cool what you're studying. I hope you can, in at least some small way, help to eradicate some of the inefficiency. Volunteering can and should be a wonderful thing, and Kenya has great need for international support. But I'm discouraged from doing something like that again unless I am 100% confident in the program and its directors.

Album Rating: 5.0

LMAO!! The market experience happens to everyone not just foreigners. Once you give anything as much as a glimpse you have to be ready to be hounded LOL! Show them weakness and you are broke within minutes!

Album Rating: 5.0

The problem is the people running the organizations don't have any education and knowledge about running them efficiently. No planning, no prioritizing, no guidelines. It's just "money is here, let's buy some stuff and take it to some poor people." The problem ironically is aid money is way too available for people to bother to do those things.

Album Rating: 3.0

Yeah I've never seen it that bad but I love fucking with market salesman, play the idiot tourist. "sorry, I seem to have misplaced my change! I only have this..."

Or walk away to feign disinterest and come back later. After all they're probably more desperate for your service than they are of yours. One time I did this and got a different stallholder to the one before but just as I was about to get a deal the original seller noticed me and came running to his friend to warn him little shit. Some of the people I was with were so awful at haggling though. Would let themselves be taken to every stall they were pushed to and oggled over every item.



I'm going to South Africa in August. I'd love to go Mozambique or somewhere in the central TRF zone but I have no idea in what context it would be. I'll be taking a geography degree so maybe that would come in use. I have some serious reservations about aid though. The same mindset exists here, "let's just throw money at it". All it does is put a plaster over the problem but it doesn't really work and just takes focus away from building long term infrastructure and improving trade links. But if you oppose charity you're vilified.

Damn Anarchist, news article.

Album Rating: 3.0

I just wrote that on my phone how the fuck do you think I feel