Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Speaking the Language

Sheng is the language of the street in Nairobi. It is a mixture of English, Kiswahili, and tribal slang. It is constantly evolving and is the common language of urban youth. Most of the guys at Light and Power are well versed in Sheng. I’ve been taking classes and trying to learn Swahili, but Sheng is just too crazy and too tough for me. Sheng varies from one neighborhood to another and employs all kind of strange contractions and meanings. In the Eastlands area of Nairobi, for example, someone can take an English word, say it backwards, conjugate it like a Swahili verb, add a Kikuyu infix, and it becomes Sheng. Here’s another example: the term “mbao” is common Sheng for “pound”, which is slang for shilingi ishirini, which is Swahili for twenty shillings, which is Kenyan for 200 cents, which is equivalent to about thirty pennies in the United States. “Mbao” is an average “matatu” or public transportation fare. “Matatu” is slang for three pennies, which in Kenyan shillings is 300 cents or roughly a nickel. I have no idea how this works.

Fun Facts from Kenya (Part 1)

Hippopotamuses can run over 20 kph. If you’re being chased, run side to side. They can’t turn very fast, but in a straight race they’ll catch you quickly.
In Swahili, 7 a.m. means the first hour of the day and is considered one o’clock in the morning.
There are 40 tribes in Kenya. Each has it’s own language, style of dress, and traditional foods.
It is almost always seventy-something degrees in Nairobi. But when it hits the sixties it’s fashionable to break out a winter coat and wool hat.
Kenya has over 1,000 known species of birds, including tens of thousands of pink flamingoes.
It takes two weeks to hand-sew a net for catching tilapia.
Kenya is the second leading exporter of flowers in the world.
The Taco Bell in down town Nairobi is not really a Taco Bell.
During the annual wildebeest migration, up to 2 million wildebeest and half a million zebra travel in massive lines between Tanzania and Kenya.

Back in Nairobi

I just arrived safely in Nairobi and am getting settled again. Thank you so much for your prayers. It was really really great being home for the month of August. I feel refreshed and rejuvenated. I also gained 8 pounds. Upon arrival here, several friends met me at the airport, and I had a nice meal and fun reunion before crashing for the night.

On Again. . .Off Again

I realized there was something wrong when I tried to print the plane ticket. I planned to leave for Kenya the following day but was unable to access my itinerary. I spent an agonizing hour on the internet and phone trying to figure things out, and I was starting to get worried. My flight had been booked for over a month, but when I spoke with British Airways I learned that my reservation had somehow been canceled at the last minute. The travel agency was closed for Labor Day weekend, and it wasn’t possible to rebook a flight with British Airways over the internet or phone on such short notice. Furthermore, the prices for new flights were nearly double what I should pay, and they wouldn’t drop for another week or two. I was supposed to my landlord and pay rent in Nairobi by Wednesday and didn’t know what to do.

It has been difficult preparing mentally and emotionally to return to Kenya. After finally feeling ready, it now seemed I would have to wait. . .But I wasn’t comfortable with waiting. I made a last-ditch effort through a 24-hour travel agent and secured a ticket for early the next morning through Rome and Ethiopia to Nairobi. I began to pack hurriedly and think of all the things I needed to do before leaving. Then the new reservation fell through too. The connection time wasn’t long enough. It had to be canceled. So, I emailed my girlfriend, my friends and coworkers in Kenya and told them not to expect me anytime soon; to cancel plans to pick me up from the airport.

All this back and forth was overwhelming. It left me feeling very discouraged. I went to bed late that night, frustrated and tired, and I gave up on the idea of returning to Kenya anytime soon. It just didn’t seem possible.

In the morning, I asked some friends to pray for me and I read a few verses about Paul’s troubles with travel (Romans 1:13, 1 Thes. 2:17-18). That seemed to calm me a bit, and after breakfast I went to contact family and friends and let them know that I would be around for another week or two. As I opened my email inbox, however, there was a surprise. Miraculously, my travel agent had randomly checked her email during vacation, wrestled with British Airways in the early hours Sunday morning, and booked me a previously full seat on my original flight. I would be leaving in a few hours. . .This has been a hard lesson in trust, patience, and accepting God’s timing. But with His help, somehow I guess I’m on my way.